Palestinians were living under occupation for decades before the war. A Palestinian and an Israeli united to show the world their reality

Leah Asmelash, CNN
Sun, November 3, 2024 at 1:00 AM MDT

Midway through the documentary “No Other Land,” journalist and activist Basel Adra recounts a 2009 visit to his village by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In a navy suit and crisp tie, surrounded by security detail and photographers, Blair walked through the village for seven minutes, Adra says in a voice-over.

He visits the local school, Adra says. He passes by Adra’s family’s home. He nods along to something someone says off camera, the footage shows. He shakes a hand. He smiles.

Months later, after Blair returns to the UK, Israel cancels the demolition orders held for the school and home in the street he visited, Adra says. In the mere handful of minutes, Blair accomplished what villagers had been trying to do for years.

“This,” Adra says, “is a story about power.”

“No Other Land” tells of the continued demolition of Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the Hebron mountains of the West Bank where Adra and his family still live. But as we see the demolition — the local playground torn down, his family moving their beds and other belongings into a cave, his brother shot and killed by soldiers, attacks by Jewish settlers — Adra and the rest of the filmmakers also show us a community trying to survive.

Adra’s filming begins in 2019 and stretches until 2023, chronicling the Israeli government’s attempt to evict the villagers by force, having claimed the land for a military training facility and firing range in 1981. (During the lengthy legal battle, before the Israeli supreme court ruled in favor of demolishing homes in the villages in 2022, Israeli prosecutors argued that Palestinian residents only began squatting in the area when it was declared a firing range, after previously using the land as seasonal pasture. Residents countered, saying the IDF had blown up Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta decades earlier, in 1966).



The documentary has already won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, and began a one-week run at Lincoln Center in New York this weekend. Still, Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, two of the filmmakers behind the documentary, told CNN that American distributors have been hesitant to pick up “No Other Land,” despite widespread acclaim from critics.

Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham in "No Other Land." - Antipode Films

While the documentary finishes before the events of last year’s Hamas attack, which took the lives of roughly 1,200 people in Israel, its release comes at a time when war in the Middle East is accelerating, as Israel’s offensive in Gaza have left at least 42,500 people dead since October 8, 2023. While promoting the film at the New York Film Festival in October, Abraham and Adra unexpectedly cut their US tour short to be with their families as the violence escalated. Even as the movie succeeds, they told CNN, little on the ground back home has improved.

Speaking from Adra’s family home in Masafer Yatta, they spoke with CNN about life under occupation, and what, if anything, their documentary might change.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What motivated you to pick up the camera in the first place? Was making a documentary always the goal?

Basel Adra: No, it wasn’t. It was documenting. To document the things around me was the goal, and it always felt important to catch the incidents that’s happening around us as evidence of the reality of what’s happening. And then, after years, the guys joined, and we decided together that we want to make a movie.

Yuval Abraham: I came here as a journalist, so documenting was part of the job. It’s something that I believe in. I came into journalism out of realizing that there is so much that is not being told in the land that we live in that needs to be told. But for me, the act of documenting, whether it’s by writing or by filming, always has a purpose or an audience in mind, most of the time. Whereas for Basel, it’s also that, but as he said, it’s also the way to survive when you’re being attacked, or when your community is.

You started filming this in 2019 and you wrapped it up before the events of October last year. Do you think the film has changed or taken on new meaning because of what’s happened since then?

Abraham: Of course, the movie meets the audience at the moment where the audience is. Now, Palestine and Israel are on the news 24/7 for the past year. To me, the film is showing the reality on the ground before October, and it’s showing essentially the decades-long occupation of Palestinians. And I think one of the reasons why we made the movie is, for me, is because — October 7 is an atrocity — but the world was not paying attention, almost at all, to the violent life that Palestinians are living under for decades before October

A child is seen playing in Masafer Yatta. - Antipode Films

This adds so much urgency for me to the film right now. It’s clear that, to anybody who watches our film and looks at the reality of the farmers in Masafer Yatta, living under Israeli military control is not something sustainable and it’s not something just. It’s not something that can continue. Me and Basel were born in the ‘90s. If we would have reached a political solution then, imagine how many more people would be alive today? And it’s unfortunate that people are now talking about the need for political change only after, in a way, human beings are paying with their blood.

I know with the recent escalation, you had to cut your time in the US short. How did it feel to go from touring this documentary all over the world, getting awards, etc., to zooming back home to Palestine and Israel?

Adra: It’s different. It’s not easy to go to the festivals and succeed, and journalists talk about it, the audience wants to see it, and it’s been sold out in many festivals. But coming back to the reality here, it’s sad to see that the situation is going, changing to be worse than it was even before.

Abraham: It’s a question that we always ask ourselves: What can we do to cause change? To end the occupation, to reach a political movement? Now, I think after really a year, it’s hard not to talk about Gaza, honestly, because you see every single day, literally, houses filled with families being bombed and little children obliterated or burnt alive. And now in the north of the Gaza Strip, there is an ethnic cleansing. It’s one of the biggest atrocities of our age and time, and the atrocities of October 7 cannot justify what has been going on every single day since.

What kind of footage do people need to see for the United States to change its foreign policy in a way which would be constructive for the people who are living here, in a way which will push us towards some kind of political solution?

Those of us who want to see a future where this oppression ends have to call for a change. And so can our film do that? I don’t think it can do that. It’s very hard to speak about the power now of documentary and footage, when there is so much footage. You can now Google. I mean, just open Twitter and open Facebook, you see so much endless footage of violence and nothing is changing. It’s a complicated position that we are in, so I don’t know what can change.

So, you don’t necessarily feel hope that things can change, because there’s footage everywhere?

Abraham: This is why we made a documentary, because there is a difference between just posting a random instance of violence to watching our film, which tells a very strong human story of a community for four years, trying to survive on their land. We hope that watching a film will have some kind of impact that these videos that we post on social media does not have.

At the end of the day, we’re not powerful people, and if the people who have power are not using their power to change the reality, then things are not going to change. We can make a million documentaries about it, but they’re not going to change their reality.

When was the moment where you decided, ‘I’m done waiting on other journalists; I’m going to tell my own story?’

Adra: Well, this is like back in the beginning, of documenting what’s going on. What I saw, like the missions happening, the attacks are happening here in Masafer Yatta. But it’s not a story, even, it’s a routine in our lives. So there I started using social media, writing articles and filming what is happening.

Abraham: There are times in history when policy becomes invisible to the people because it happens so much. It’s just routine. It’s part of the routine oppression. I think of South Africa, for example. There were times when it was just considered normal, under the apartheid regime, to have certain people who cannot vote for the main government. It was just normal. You didn’t need to report about it. And this is what’s really happening here in Masafer Yatta. Yesterday, houses were demolished. Was it reported anywhere? It’s not going to be reported, because this is the day-to-day life, the routine life, under the military occupation.

Scenes from "No Other Land." - Antipode Films

One of the challenges we face as journalists or even as activists, is how to take a policy that is a routine, that the people are not able to see, and to make them see it. And this is one reason to make the film, to make this policy a story that will be so strong that will show the human aspects of it in such a powerful way that people will be interested to see it.

I’ve heard some places have been hesitant to maybe distribute the documentary theatrically. Is that something that you have run into?

Adra: Yeah, we still don’t have a distributor in the US, we think it’s because of the subject, they’re not taking it. We wish this will change in the future, because we really want the movie to be shown around the US, and we want millions of people to see it.

What are you hoping the impact will be?

Adra: We want political change for the situation here.

Abraham: Change is possible, especially if there is willingness from the US leaders to allow us to reach the point of change. The United States is very much complicit in what we are seeing in our movie. For a better future for Palestinians and for Israelis, we need change in US foreign policy, and we hope that the film will contribute to that.

Like that moment with Blair, for example.

Abraham: It just gives you an example of people’s lives here are getting ruined, and for people in power who are sitting in Washington, DC or in New York or in London, to change that is a matter of lifting their finger to exert pressure on Israel to stop.

Of course, in the long term, we hope that the film — and not only our film, activism and work that we are doing on the ground and abroad — will lead to an end to this occupation, and to a political solution that is based on Palestinians having freedom, and Palestinians and Israelis both having political and individual rights. And the way to do that is the US changing their foreign policy. That is one of the main things that need to change, and if our film can contribute to that, even just a little bit, then I’m very, very happy that we made it.

A Palestinian-Israeli collective made one of 2024's most lauded docs. Will it be released in the US?

JAKE COYLE
Updated Sat, November 2, 2024

FILE - Palestinian Basel Adra, right, and Israeli Yuval Abraham receive the documentary award for "No Other Land" at the International Film Festival, Berlinale, in Berlin, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

This image released by Antipode Films shows a scene from "No Other Land". (Antipode Films via AP)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Police disperse people protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, near the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — Basel Adra, a Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, spent five years making a movie that depicts daily life in Adra’s village under Israeli occupation. The resulting film, “No Other Land,” has been hailed as one of the year's most powerful documentaries, winning prizes at international film festivals.

It’s also stoked controversy, prompted death threats for its makers and — despite the acclaim — remains without an American distributor.

Opening this week in France and next week in the United Kingdom, the feature-length documentary has already sold in many international territories. Its status as an Academy Awards contender remains intact — after hosting it during the New York Film Festival, the Lincoln Center will screen the film for a one-week, Oscar-qualifying run beginning Friday. But the filmmakers believe the monthslong inability to find a U.S. distributor boils down to political reasons, with Election Day in the presidential contest between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump looming.

“Maybe they’re afraid to be defunded if Trump wins,” says Abraham, speaking in an interview from Paris alongside Adra. “But Basel risked his life for years since he was a young boy to film this material. That requires a lot of courage. Can we not have one distributor with the courage, OK, to take a certain risk, but to distribute such an acclaimed and such an important documentary?”

“No Other Land” began long before the current chapter of the war in Gaza. It’s told largely from the perspective of Adra, who was born in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the occupied West Bank.

The area, a rugged mountainous region south of Hebron, has for decades been a site of protest against the Israeli government, which ordered Palestinians off the land to make room for a military training ground.

In 1980, the Israeli military declared Masafer Yatta a closed “firing zone." Israeli authorities said the residents — Arab Bedouin who practice a traditional form of agriculture and animal herding and have lived on the land since before 1967 — only used the area part of the year and had no permanent structures there at the time.

Adra was born into this; his father was an activist on behalf of the community and Adra was 5 when his mother first took him to a demonstration.

Following a 2022 court decision, the army set up checkpoints and regularly demolished community structures — including a school. A camera, Adra says, “became the only tool beside our steadfastness.” He captured the regular demolitions of homes, the violent encounters with Israeli settlers and the ongoing effect the struggle has had on the villagers.

“I started filming when we started to end,” he says in the film, which takes place between 2019 and 2023.

It’s a long-term, on-the-ground portrait of the realities of life under Israeli military law. Families are uprooted. Children grow up in poverty. People die. But its makers never envisioned how much worse things could get.

Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective (the other two directors are Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor), “No Other Land” wrapped shooting last October, just as the Hamas attack occurred and Israel’s war in Gaza began.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed over 1,200 people across southern Israel, taking some 250 people hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive on the Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, over half of whom are women and children, say Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. In the West Bank, frequent raids into Palestinian cities and towns that Israel says are aimed at Palestinian militants, as well as mounting violence from Jewish settlers, have driven up the death toll since Oct. 7 to more than 760 killed.

“I look at the news just over the past few days. Hundreds of people in Gaza being killed, Israeli hostages dying, massacres happening every day, nonstop,” says Abraham, a Jewish journalist from southern Israel. “And we’re here showing a film in air-conditioned cinemas. There’s a big dissonance in participating in festivals when nothing is festive and everything is becoming worse.”

The war in Gaza — and now the war in Lebanon and the specter of one with Iran — has inevitably altered the landscape for “No Other Land,” a film that marries documentary filmmaking and activism to put a human face to Palestinian suffering. It's won awards in Berlin, Switzerland, Vancouver and South Korea. But for Adra, little of that matters.

“We made this movie to not lose Masafer Yatta, to not lose our homes,” says Adra. “It’s very successful for the movie, but when I go back to the reality, it’s changing for the worse. So there’s this conflict on my mind. The movie is succeeding and has publicity, people want to watch it, but it’s not helping what’s happening on the ground. It doesn’t change anything.”

“No Other Land” was enmeshed in controversy soon after its February debut at the Berlin Film Festival. While accepting the documentary award, Adra spoke about the difficulty of doing so “when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza.” Abraham called for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In Germany, where anti-Israel statements have acute sensitivity, numerous politicians criticized the filmmakers for making no mention of Israeli victims or Hamas. Claudia Roth, Germany’s culture minister, said the speeches were “shockingly one-sided.” Kai Wegner, mayor of Berlin, called them “intolerable relativization.” Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, called it “blatant antisemitic discourse.”

Abraham, who says he received death threats, was “enraged” by the response. As a descendent of Holocaust victims, he believes labeling criticism of Israeli policies as antisemitic empties the phrase of meaning.

“We called for equality between Palestinians and Israelis. We called for an end to the occupation. We spoke about what we see as the political roots of the violence that exists in our land. To me, this the most important message that there can be,” says Abraham. “It feels like we’re living in the ‘1984’ novel where you make these kinds of statements and that’s somehow labeled as controversial.”

Adra and Abraham's relationship, one they hope can stand for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, is a central component of “No Other Land.”

Together, they rush to document the arrival of tanks or military bulldozers; they lament the little attention their social media posts or articles find online; they ponder their futures.

But there is also tension in their differences. One lives under civilian law, the other under military law. Whether Adra will be able to pass through checkpoints to travel abroad is always in question. In the film, their Palestinian co-director, Ballal, is seen skeptically questioning Abraham’s place in the struggle.

“It could be your brother or friend who destroyed my home,” Ballal tells him.

“As an Israeli, I believe that the status quo is harmful for Israelis for the simple fact that security in the land is mutual,” Abraham tells The Associated Press. “People are dependent on one another. We cannot expect to have security if Palestinians don’t have freedom.”

Even before the war in Gaza, Adra and Abraham struggled to gain international attention for Masafer Yatta.

Now, their cause is dwarfed by the destruction in Gaza, and it’s difficult for them to feel any hope. Days after Oct. 7, Adra’s cousin was shot and killed point blank by a settler, an incident captured in the film. “For me,” says Adra, “there’s nothing clear where this is going.”

In meetings with distributors, the filmmakers say, there's been a lot of interest. “They say they love the film, but then they're hesitant,” says Abraham.

Whether U.S. film distributors have grown too cautious politically was also a prominent question for the Trump drama “The Apprentice,” which only found a home with Briarcliff Entertainment shortly before it was released last month. “Union,” a well-received documentary about labor organization at Amazon, recently resorted to self-distributing its release.

“Once upon a time, American film distributors and exhibitors embraced controversy — especially when it came to acclaimed movies whose controversy was inextricably intertwined with their humanity,” the New York magazine critic Bilge Ebiri wrote of “No Other Land.” “Are these companies holding back out of budgetary reasons, out of cowardice, out of political disagreement?”

“It’s not allowing the conversation even to begin by silencing our voices, the voices of a Palestinian who is resisting the occupation and the voice of an Israeli who is also against occupation and believes in a future of equality and justice for everyone,” Abraham says. “Why are you blocking these kinds of voices from entering the space of mainstream cinema in the U.S.?” (The film also lacks an Israeli distributor.)

However it gets seen, the filmmakers hope “No Other Land” remains a vital document to the current crisis.

“We wanted to send the message that the status quo is very harmful and it should change,” says Adra. “A political solution is needed. That was before Oct. 7. We don’t want to get to a day such as Oct. 7. We want to warn global leaders to take actions and stop being complicit with the occupation.”

Still wrecked from past Israeli raids, hospitals in northern Gaza come under attack again

ISABEL DEBRE, JULIA FRANKEL and LEE KEATH
Sat, November 2, 2024 

FILE - A Palestinian woman reacts over the body of a child as she sits by bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Jabaliya refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital, northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahmed Alarini, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - A woman sits on a bed in a room of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Israeli soldier shows the media an underground tunnel found underneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Palestinian medics treat a wounded person using torchlights after running out of power at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya during the ongoing bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip, Nov. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahmed Alarini, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS


JERUSALEM (AP) — They were built to be places of healing. But once again, three hospitals in northern Gaza are encircled by Israeli troops and under fire.

Bombardment is pounding around them as Israel wages a new offensive against Hamas fighters that it says have regrouped nearby. As staff scramble to treat waves of wounded, they remain haunted by a war that has seen hospitals targeted with an intensity and overtness rarely seen in modern warfare.

All three were besieged and raided by Israeli troops some 10 months ago. The Kamal Adwan, al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals still have not recovered from the damage, yet are the only hospitals even partially operational in the area.

Medical facilities often come under fire in wars, but combatants usually depict such incidents as accidental or exceptional, since hospitals enjoy special protection under international law. In its yearlong campaign in Gaza, Israel has stood out by carrying out an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and raiding at least 10 of them across the Gaza Strip, some several times, as well as hitting multiple others in strikes.

It has said this is a military necessity in its aim to destroy Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. It claims Hamas uses hospitals as “command and control bases” to plan attacks, to shelter fighters and to hide hostages. It argues that nullifies the protections for hospitals.

“If we intend to take down the military infrastructure in the north, we have to take down the philosophy of (using) the hospitals,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of Hamas during an interview with The Associated Press in January after the first round of hospital raids.

Most prominently, Israel twice raided Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the biggest medical facility in the strip, producing a video animation depicting it as a major Hamas base, though the evidence it presented remains disputed.

But the focus on Shifa has overshadowed raids on other facilities. The AP spent months gathering accounts of the raids on al-Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, interviewing more than three dozen patients, witnesses and medical and humanitarian workers as well as Israeli officials.

It found that Israel has presented little or even no evidence of a significant Hamas presence in those cases. The AP presented a dossier listing the incidents reported by those it interviewed to the Israeli military spokesman’s office. The office said it could not comment on specific events.

Al-Awda Hospital: ‘A death sentence’

The Israeli military has never made any claims of a Hamas presence at al-Awda. When asked what intelligence led troops to besiege and raid the hospital last year, the military spokesman’s office did not reply.



In recent weeks, the hospital has been paralyzed once again, with Israeli troops fighting in nearby Jabalia refugee camp and no food, water or medical supplies entering areas of northern Gaza. Its director Mohammed Salha said last month that the facility was surrounded by troops and was unable to evacuate six critical patients. Staff were down to eating one meal a day, usually just a flat bread or a bit of rice, he said.

As war-wounded poured in, exhausted surgeons were struggling to treat them. No vascular surgeons or neurosurgeons remain north of Gaza City, so the doctors often resort to amputating shrapnel-shattered limbs to save lives.

“We are reliving the nightmares of November and December of last year, but worse,” Salha said. “We have fewer supplies, fewer doctors and less hope that anything will be done to stop this.”

The military, which did not respond to a specific request for comment on al-Awda hospital, says it takes all possible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.

Last year, fighting was raging around al-Awda when, on Nov. 21, a shell exploded in the facility's operating room. Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, two other doctors and a patient’s uncle died almost instantly, according to international charity Doctors Without Borders, which said it had informed the Israeli military of its coordinates.

Dr. Mohammed Obeid, Abu Nujaila’s colleague, recalled dodging shellfire inside the hospital complex. Israeli sniper fire killed a nurse and two janitors and wounded a surgeon, hospital officials said.

By Dec. 5, al-Awda was surrounded. For 18 days, coming or going became “a death sentence,” Obeid said.

Survivors and hospital administrators recounted at least four occasions when Israeli drones or snipers killed or badly wounded Palestinians trying to enter. Two women about to give birth were shot and bled to death in the street, staff said. Salha, the administrator, watched gunfire kill his cousin, Souma, and her 6-year-old son as she brought the boy for treatment of wounds.

Shaza al-Shuraim said labor pains left her no choice but to walk an hour to al-Awda to give birth. She, her mother-in-law and 16-year-old brother-in-law raised flags made of white blouses. “Civilians!” her mother-in-law, Khatam Sharir, kept shouting. Just outside the gate, a burst of gunfire answered, killing Sharir.

On Dec. 23, troops stormed the hospital, ordering men ages 15 to 65 to strip and undergo interrogation in the yard. Mazen Khalidi, whose infected right leg had been amputated, said nurses pleaded with soldiers to let him rest rather than join the blindfolded and handcuffed men outside. They refused, and he hobbled downstairs, his stump bleeding.

“The humiliation scared me more than death,” Khalidi said.

The hospital’s director, Ahmed Muhanna, was seized by Israeli troops; his whereabouts remain unknown. One of Gaza’s leading doctors, orthopedist Adnan al-Bursh, was also detained during the raid and died in Israeli custody in May.

In the wreckage from the November shelling, staff found a message that Abu Nujaila had written on a whiteboard in the previous weeks.

“Whoever stays until the end will tell the story,” it read in English. “We did what we could. Remember us.”

Indonesian Hospital: ‘Patients dying before your eyes’

Several blocks away, on Oct. 18, artillery hit the upper floors of Indonesian Hospital, staff said. People fled for their lives. They'd already been surrounded by Israeli troops, leaving doctors and patients inside without enough food, water and supplies.

“The bombing around us has increased. They’ve paralyzed us," said Edi Wahyudi, an Indonesian volunteer.

Two patients died because of a power outage and lack of supplies, said Muhannad Hadi, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian territories.

Tamer al-Kurd, a nurse at the hospital, said around 44 patients and only two doctors remain. He said he was so dehydrated he was starting to hallucinate. “People come to me to save them. … I can’t do that by myself, with two doctors,” he said in a voice message, his voice weak. “I’m tired.”

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had facilitated the evacuation of 29 patients from Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals.

The Indonesian is Northern Gaza’s largest hospital. Today its top floors are charred, its walls pockmarked by shrapnel, its gates strewn with piled-up rubble — all the legacy of Israel's siege in the autumn of 2023.

Before the assault, the Israeli army claimed an underground command-and-control center lay beneath the hospital. It released blurry satellite images of what it said was a tunnel entrance in the yard and a rocket launchpad nearby, outside the hospital compound.

The Indonesia-based group that funds the hospital denied any Hamas presence. “If there’s a tunnel, we would know. We know this building because we built it brick by brick, layer by layer. It’s ridiculous,” Arief Rachman, a hospital manager from the Indonesia-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, told the AP last month.

After besieging and raiding the hospital, the military did not mention or show evidence of the underground facility or tunnels it had earlier claimed. When asked if any tunnels were found, the military spokesman's office did not reply.

It released images of two vehicles found in the compound — a pickup truck with military vests and a bloodstained car belonging to an abducted Israeli, suggesting he had been brought to the hospital on Oct. 7. Hamas has said it brought wounded hostages to hospitals for treatment.

During the siege, Israeli shelling crept closer and closer until, on Nov. 20, it hit the Indonesian’s second floor, killing 12 people and wounding dozens, according to staff. Israel said troops responded to “enemy fire” from the hospital but denied using shells.

Gunfire over the next days hit walls and whizzed through intensive care. Explosions sparked fires outside the hospital courtyard where some 1,000 displaced Palestinians sheltered, according to staff. The Israeli military denied targeting the hospital, although it acknowledged nearby bombardment may have damaged it.

For three weeks, wounded poured in — up to 500 a day to a facility with capacity for 200. Supplies hadn’t entered in weeks. Bloodstained linens piled up. Doctors, some working 24-hour shifts, ate a few dates a day. The discovery of moldy flour on Nov. 23 was almost thrilling.

Without medicines or ventilators, there was little doctors could do. Wounds became infected. Doctors said they performed dozens of amputations on infected limbs. Medics estimated a fifth of incoming patients died. At least 60 corpses lay in the courtyard. Others were buried beneath a nearby playground.

“To see patients dying before your eyes because you don’t have the ability to help them, you have to ask yourself: ‘Where is humanity?’” asked Dergham Abu Ibrahim, a volunteer.

Kamal Adwan: ‘This makes no sense’

Kamal Adwan Hospital, once a linchpin of northern Gaza’s health system, was burning on Thursday of last week.

Israeli shells crashed into the third floor, igniting a fire that destroyed medical supplies, according to the World Health Organization, which had delivered the equipment just days before. The artillery hit water tanks and damaged the dialysis unit, badly burning four medics who tried to extinguish the blaze, said the hospital’s director, Hossam Abu Safiya.

In videos pleading for help over the past weeks, Abu Safiya had fought to maintain his composure as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital. But last weekend, there were tears in his eyes.

“Everything we have built, they have burned,” he said, his voice cracking. “They burned our hearts. They killed my son.”

On Oct. 25, Israeli troops stormed the hospital after what an Israeli military official described as an intense fight with militants nearby. During the battle, Israeli fire targeted the hospital’s oxygen tanks because they “can be booby traps,” the official said.

Israeli forces withdrew after three days, during which Palestinian health officials said nearly all of Kamal Adwan's medical workers were detained, an Israeli drone killed at least one doctor and two children in intensive care died when generators stopped working.

Days later, a drone struck Abu Safiya’s son in nearby Jabalia. The 21-year-old had been wounded by Israeli snipers during the first military raid on Kamal Adwan last December. Now he is buried in the yard of the hospital, where just Abu Safiya and one other doctor remain to treat the dozens of wounded pouring in each day from new strikes in Jabalia.

The Israeli military said troops detained 100 people, some who were “posing as medical staff.” Soldiers stripped the men to check for weapons, the military said, before those deemed militants were sent to detention camps. The military claimed that the hospital was "fully operational, with all departments continuing to treat patients.” It released footage of several guns and an RPG launcher with several rounds it said it found inside the hospital.

Kamal Adwan staff say more than 30 medical personnel remain detained, including the head of nursing, who is employed by MedGlobal, an American organization that sends medical teams to disaster regions, and Dr. Mohammed Obeid, the surgeon employed by Doctors without Borders who previously worked at al-Awda Hospital and had moved to Kamal Adwan.

The turmoil echoed Israel’s nine-day siege of Kamal Adwan last December. On Dec. 12, soldiers entered and allowed police dogs to attack staff, patients and others, multiple witnesses said. Ahmed Atbail, a 36-year-old who had sought refuge at the hospital, said he saw a dog bite off one man’s finger.

Witnesses said the troops ordered boys and men, ranging from their mid-teens to 60, to line up outside crouched in the cold, blindfolded and nearly naked for hours of interrogation. “Every time someone lifted their heads, they were beaten,” said Mohammed al-Masri, a lawyer who was detained.

The military later published footage of men exiting the hospital. Al-Masri identified himself in the footage. He said soldiers staged the images, ordering men to lay down rifles belonging to the hospital guards as if they were militants surrendering. Israel said all photos released are authentic and that it apprehended dozens of suspected militants.

As they released some of the men after interrogation, soldiers fired on them as they tried to reenter the hospital, wounding five, three detainees said. Ahmed Abu Hajjaj recalled hearing bursts of gunfire as he made his way back in the dark. “I thought, this makes no sense — who would they be shooting at?”

Witnesses also said a bulldozer lumbered into the hospital compound, plowing into buildings. Abu Safiya, Abu Hajjaj and al-Masri described being held by soldiers inside the hospital as they heard people screaming outside.

After the soldiers withdrew, the men saw the bulldozer had crushed tents that previously sheltered some 2,500 people. Most of the displaced had evacuated, but Abu Safiya said he found bodies of four people crushed, with splints from recent treatment in the hospital still on their limbs.

Asked about the incident, the Israeli military spokesman’s office said: “Lies were spread on social media” about troops’ activities at the hospital. It said bodies were discovered that had been buried previously, unrelated to the military’s activities.

Later, the military said Hamas used the hospital as a command center but produced no evidence. It said soldiers uncovered weapons, but it showed footage only of a single pistol.

The hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout, remains in Israeli custody. The military released footage of him under interrogation saying he was a Hamas agent and that militants were based in the hospital. His colleagues said he spoke under duress.

The fallout

Hagari, the military spokesperson, said hospitals “provide a life of their own ... to the (Hamas) war system.” He said hospitals were linked to tunnels allowing fighters movement. “And when you take it, they have no way to move. Not from the south to the north.”

Despite often suggesting hospitals are linked to Hamas' underground networks, the military has shown only one tunnel shaft from all the hospitals it raided — one leading to Shifa's grounds.

In a report last month, a U.N. investigation commission determined that “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza.” It described Israeli actions at hospitals as “collective punishment against the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Some patients now fear hospitals, refusing to go to them or leaving before treatment is complete. “They are places of death,” Ahmed al-Qamar, a 35-year-old economist in Jabalia refugee camp, said of his fear of taking his children to the hospital. “You can feel it.”

Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal who has also worked in Gaza during the war, said the sense of safety that should surround hospitals has been destroyed.

43ft nude Trump statue pops up again in swing state – and local GOP leader isn’t happy

Madeline Sherratt and Kelly Rissman
Fri, November 1, 2024


A 43-foot tall nude effigy to Donald Trump has popped up once again just days before Election Day – this time along a busy highway in swing state Pennsylvania.

The giant statue of the former president appeared on Thursday along Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia where it caught the attention of locals, police – and Philadelphia’s Republican party leader.

The city’s GOP chair Vince Fenerty caught wind of the monstrosity through police scanners and immediately filed an obscenity report to police, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

While the space had been rented for 24 hours, due to its graphic nature, police requested the structure be taken down, the outlet reported.

The 6,000 pound statue, dubbed “Crooked and Obscene,” has been touring the US in recent weeks as Trump battles it out against Kamala Harris in the upcoming election.

In September, it was erected in a fenced-in lot next to Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas.

It then appeared in Detroit and Phoenix before it was last seen in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 27, reported The Cap Times.

The artist behind the foam and rebar effigy has remained anonymous and has turned down interviews, reported the Detroit Free Press.

However, they said the intention behind the statue was to serve “as a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability, and the public personas of political figures,” Arizona Central reported.

The effigy seen in Las Vegas (AFP via Getty Images)

So far, it’s attracted mixed reviews.

“I think it’s hilarious,” a former Democrat named Miguel told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Evan Pollack, an iron worker, agreed: “It’s hilarious that someone put that amount of work into something so insane.”

Another suggested the artist wrap a Puerto Rican flag around the lower half of the giant sculpture – a reference to the recent offensive joke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

This isn’t the first time Americans have been graced with nude statues of the Republican presidential nominee. In 2016, five unclothed Trump statues popped up in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Seattle.

That project was called “The Emperor Has No Balls” and was created by Indecline, a group that describes itself as an “activist art collective.”

This election, a wave of bronze satirical statues poking fun at the former president have also sprung up, including a bronze tiki torch and poop statue in Washington DC.

STATEHOOD OR INDENPENCE

Florida House GOP member becomes 100th sponsor of Puerto Rico Status Act
Emily Brooks
Fri, November 1, 2024

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) signed on to the Puerto Rico Status Act this week, The Hill has learned, becoming the 100th sponsor of the bill.

The legislation would authorize a federally sponsored plebiscite for Puerto Ricans to resolve its political status, with a choice of independence, statehood or sovereignty in free association with the United States. Companion legislation in the Senate has support from 27 senators.

Mills’s addition to the legislation comes as the island territory has been thrust into the center of controversy in the height of election season after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at former President Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) speaks to reporters as he arrives to the House Chamber for the final vote series of the week on Sept. 25, 2024.

But Mills’s office said his decision to join the bill was unrelated to the recent controversy and that he was considering joining before the comedian’s comments.



“I am honored to support the Puerto Rico Status Act as the 100th co-sponsor of HR 2757, which upholds the right of U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico to participate in a self-determination process,” Mills told The Hill in a statement. “This legislation is a significant step forward, authorizing a federally sponsored plebiscite that gives Puerto Ricans the choice between independence, sovereignty in free association with the United States, or statehood.”

A version of the legislation in the last Congress had 63 cosponsors and passed the House in 2022, but it stalled in the Senate. Only 16 Republicans voted in support of the bill that year.

Mills is the 15th House Republican to sign on to the 118th Congress’s version, though three of the GOP members who support the bill are delegates rather than full voting representatives.

“I am committed to this bill and look forward to supporting the choice of the Puerto Rican people,” Mills said. “There has been a strong historic bond between Puerto Rico and the United States. The bottom line is that Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S. military, they deserve at least the option of statehood.”

Puerto Ricans will hold a nonbinding referendum on Puerto Rico’s status Nov. 5 on statehood, independence or independence with free association.

A YouGov survey conducted Oct. 28 found that 59 percent of U.S. adults supported making Puerto Rico a U.S. state if its residents voted in favor of it.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Poll: Puerto Ricans in Florida overwhelmingly support Harris, view Trump unfavorably

Syra Ortiz Blanes
Fri, November 1, 2024 

Kamala Harris Michigan Moore. Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on October 28, 2024 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

The vast majority of Puerto Ricans in Florida back Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House bid and have a negative view of former president Donald Trump, according to a survey released days after a comedian made offensive comments about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally.

The Puerto Rico Research Hub at the University of Central Florida polled about 150 Puerto Ricans who predominantly live in Central Florida through an online survey in the last half of October. They found that 85% of those polled would vote for Harris while only 8% said they supported Trump. Six percent said that they would vote for an alternative candidate. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percentage points.

Previous polling has also suggested that Puerto Ricans in the state broadly dislike Trump, though he did make inroads in 2020 in areas of Florida with large numbers of Hispanics, including people with roots in the American territory. Thursday’s survey results raise questions about whether comedian Tony Hinchcliffe calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a recent Trump rally in Madison Square Garden could influence the outcome of some key swing states in a dead-heat race.

READ MORE: ‘Disgusted:’ Offensive remarks about Puerto Rico at Trump rally ignite furor in Florida GOP

The researchers said that they received a lot of responses to their poll after the New York City rally and noted the incident’s close proximity to Election Day.

“This might be a call for action for a lot of people that weren’t thinking about voting but now they have a reason to,” said Fernando Rivera, a sociology professor and the Hub’s director.

According to the poll, 88% of Puerto Ricans said they had an unfavorable opinion of the former president, compared to five percent who had a favorable opinion. Seventy-two held a favorable view of Harris and 10% held a negative opinion.

The researchers noted that despite that there are more than a million Puerto Ricans living in the state, there will likely not be a sizable impact on the presidential election in Florida. Trump is ahead in the state, according to several polls. But they said it remains to be seen whether the comedian’s remarks play a role in states where the race is tight, such as Pennsylvania, home to about 472,000 Puerto Ricans, and North Carolina, which has about 130,000 residents with roots on the island.

The survey also found that Puerto Ricans are also politically engaged in the presidential race, with 69% saying they are paying a lot of attention to developments.

“How ironic it would be that the Puerto Rican vote has the potential to become the October surprise. But obviously, we will see what is the impact of this,” Rivera said. “There’s a lot of communication between Puerto Ricans here and Puerto Ricans in other battleground states such as Pennsylvania.”

The researchers received responses throughout the state, including in areas where there is a high concentration of Puerto Ricans such as Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Hillsborough counties. Dr. Sara Belligoni, a postdoctoral scholar at the Puerto Rican Research Hub, said that the sample of people surveyed had a good representation of age, gender, employment status and location. She noted that most of those surveyed had a bachelor’s degree or above, and the majority were also born in Puerto Rico.

Issues that ranked as important for those surveyed included education, healthcare, cost of living, abortion and reproductive rights. But the researchers noted that policy priorities within Puerto Rican communities can vary depending on when they arrived in Florida or whether they had come from Puerto Rico or another state.

The Trump campaign previously told the Miami Herald in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico does not “reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

The Harris campaign has capitalized on the comedian’s comments as an opportunity to court voters with roots on the island. While Trump was at the rally in New York, Harris met with Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania. She also released her policy plans for Puerto Rico that day, which included fostering economic growth, increasing affordable housing and supporting small businesses.

This week, the Harris campaign released a Spanish-language ad featuring a narrator with a Puerto Rican accent. The ad rejects the floating garbage island comparisons, uses Puerto Rican lingo and protest chants, and shows images of notable Puerto Ricans throughout history.

“On Nov. 5, Trump will understand that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” the narrator says, while the ad displays photos of the former president throwing paper towels into a crowd while visiting Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Many people on the island and across the United States viewed that moment as demeaning and insulting.

Several high-profile Puerto Ricans, including celebrities Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, and Luis Fonsi, have come out in support of Harris in the days after Hinchcliffe’s remarks. On Thursday, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez opened for the vice president at a rally in Nevada, another swing state. She spoke in support of Harris’ platform and told the audience that Trump at Madison Square Garden “reminded us who he really is and how he really feels.”

“It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day. It was every Latino in this country, it was humanity, and anyone of decent character,” she added.

It is not the first time that Trump comes under fire for offensive comments about the American territory. A former Homeland Security official said Trump once wondered whether Puerto Rico could be swapped for Greenland and described the island as “dirty” and its people “poor.” The Trump administration set onerous restrictions on billions of disaster funds after Hurricane Maria over concerns of mismanagement, slowing down the disbursement of recovery relief. Trump has also previously called Puerto Rico “one of the most corrupt places on earth.”

In the poll, just over half of Puerto Ricans were registered Democrats, while 38% had no party affiliation. Eight percent identified as Republicans. Many Democrats hoped they would gain new voters after a massive influx of Puerto Ricans came to Florida after Maria. But they have since said that Puerto Ricans were not as reliable a Democratic as they expected. Thursday’s poll found that despite most of those surveyed identifying as Democrats, 85% of Puerto Ricans support candidates for reasons other than party affiliation.

Puerto Rico prepares for Election Day as a third-party candidate makes history

DÁNICA COTO
Sat, November 2, 2024

A campaign poster promoting the Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement gubernatorial candidate Juan Dalmau, is displayed on an electrical box in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)ASSOCIATED PRESS

A supporter waves a Puerto Rican Independence Party flag while holding a campaign poster promoting the Citizens' Victory Movement mayoral candidate Manuel Natal, during a caravan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)ASSOCIATED PRESS

A campaign poster promotes New Progressive Party gubernatorial candidate and Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress Jenniffer González, above a campaign poster of resident commissioner candidate Luis Villafañe, defaced with the Spanish words for corrupt and rogue, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)ASSOCIATED PRESS

A billboard promoting Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement gubernatorial candidate Juan Dalmau towers over a highway, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)ASSOCIATED PRESS

A view of La Perla neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo by Alejandro Granadillo)ASSOCIATED PRESS


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The two parties that have dominated Puerto Rican politics for decades are losing their grip as they face the stiffest competition yet from a younger generation fed up with the island’s corruption, chronic power outages and mismanagement of public funds.

For the first time in the island's governor's race, a third-party candidate has a powerful second lead in the polls ahead of the U.S. territory's election Tuesday — and some experts say there’s a possibility he could win.

“This election is already historic,” said political analyst and university professor Jorge Schmidt Nieto. “It already marks a before and an after.”



Juan Dalmau is running for Puerto Rico’s Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement, established in 2019. A Gaither international poll this month shows Dalmau closing in on Jenniffer González, a member of the New Progressive Party and Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress. She beat Gov. Pedro Pierluisi in their party’s primary in June.

Gaither’s poll shows Dalmau with 29% of support versus González’s 31% as he nearly caught up with her since a different poll in July showed him with only 24% compared with González’s 43%. Coming in third was Jesús Manuel Ortiz, of the Popular Democratic Party, followed by Javier Jiménez of Project Dignity, a conservative party created in 2019.

Under pressure

Puerto Rican politics revolve around the island's status, and up until 2016, the New Progressive Party, which supports statehood, and the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the status quo, would split at least 90% of all votes during general elections, Schmidt said.



But that year, U.S. Congress created a federal control board to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances after the government announced it was unable to pay a more than $70 billion public debt load. In 2017, Puerto Rico filed for the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history.

The debt was accrued through decades of corruption, mismanagement and excessive borrowing, with Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority still struggling to restructure its more than $9 billion debt, the largest of any government agency.

Puerto Ricans have largely rejected and resented the board, created a year before Hurricane Maria slammed into the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing the electrical grid.

In 2020, Pierluisi won but received only 33% of votes. His opponent from the Popular Democratic Party received 32%. It marked the first time either party failed to reach 40% of votes.



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The power outages that have persisted since the elections, coupled with the slow pace of hurricane reconstruction, have frustrated and angered voters. Under Pierluisi, the government signed contracts with two companies, Luma Energy and Genera PR, which together oversee the generation, transmission and distribution of power. Outages have persisted, with the companies blaming a grid that was already crumbling before the hurricane hit due to a lack of maintenance and investment.

“Disastrous things have occurred during this four-year term, especially with the electric energy,” Schmidt said. “It has affected everyone, regardless of social class.”

Voters, he said, are viewing Tuesday’s elections “as a moment of revenge.”

Dalmau said he would oust both companies in an “organized fashion” within six months if he becomes governor. Ortiz said he would cancel Luma’s contract, while González has called for the creation of an “energy czar” that would review potential Luma contractual breaches while another operator is found.

However, no contract can be canceled without prior approval of the federal control board and Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau.

The candidates also are under pressure to create affordable housing, lower power bills and the general cost of living, reduce violent crimes, boost Puerto Rico’s economy, with the island locked out of capital markets since 2015, and improve a crumbling health care system as thousands of doctors flock to the U.S. mainland.

Dalmau, who suspended his campaign for two weeks in mid-October after his wife had emergency brain surgery, also has said he would eliminate tax breaks for wealthy U.S. citizens from the mainland.

Apathy dominates

Despite their promises to turn Puerto Rico around, candidates face persistent voter apathy.

In 2008, 1.9 million out of 2.5 million registered voters participated in that year’s election, compared with 1.3 million out of 2.3 million in 2020.

This year, nearly 99,000 new voters registered and more than 87,000 reactivated their status, according to Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission.

“A much higher number was expected,” Schmidt said.

He noted that those middle age and older favor González and her pro-statehood party, while those younger than 45 “overwhelmingly” favor Dalmau, which means that if a majority of young voters participate on Tuesday and fewer older ones do so, he might have a chance of winning.

The Bad Bunny factor

The months leading up to the Nov. 5 elections have been contentious.

Reggaetón superstar Bad Bunny paid for dozens of billboard ads criticizing Puerto Rico’s two main parties. In response, the governor’s New Progressive Party financed a billboard ad suggesting an obscenity in reference to Bad Bunny.

On Friday, the singer published a page-long letter in a local newspaper deriding González's pro-statehood party.

While the artist has not endorsed any local officials, the sole person he recently began following on Instagram was Dalmau.

Meanwhile, a so-called “cemetery of corruption” was set up Thursday in the capital, San Juan, featuring large black-and-white pictures of nearly a dozen politicians from the island’s two main parties who have been charged or sentenced by federal authorities in recent years. It was created by Eva Prados with the Citizen Victory Movement, who is running for Puerto Rico's House. By Friday, police reported that the pictures were destroyed or stolen.


As the race heats up, the number of formal complaints about alleged electoral crimes also has increased. These include people who say they received confirmations for early voting when they made no such request.

A persistent question

Voters on Tuesday also will be asked for a seventh time what Puerto Rico’s political status should be.

The nonbinding referendum will feature three choices: statehood, independence and independence with free association, under which issues like foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship and use of the U.S. dollar would be negotiated.

Regardless of the outcome, a change in status requires approval from the U.S. Congress.

“For a lot of people, it’s a demoralizing exercise to vote in a non-binding referendum,” said Christina Ponsa-Kraus, a professor at Columbia Law School. “The reason Puerto Ricans have voted seven times is that every time they vote, Congress doesn’t do anything.”

The push for a change in status doesn’t depend on whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump win in the U.S. mainland.

“The stakes are more than just who becomes president, but who is in control of Congress,” Ponsa-Kraus said as she called on Congress to offer Puerto Rico “non-colonial options.”

She added that it’s hard to say whether the gubernatorial run by Dalmau, who has long represented Puerto Rico’s Independence Party, would affect the plebiscite vote.



“My sense is that … people can distinguish between a candidate and a status option,” she said. “I believe that Puerto Ricans have historically not supported independence because they do not want to lose their citizenship, and they do not want to lose the ability to move back and forth freely between the mainland United States and the island.”

____

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america


Jennifer Lopez Says ‘Every Latino in This Country’ Offended by Trump’s MSG Rally

Storyful
Fri, November 1, 2024 


Jennifer Lopez, campaigning with Kamala Harris on October 31 in Nevada, said Donald Trump’s campaign had offended “every Latino in this county” following his rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Trump’s rally in New York saw a comedian Tony Hinchcliffe mock Puerto Rico, describing the island as “a floating island of garbage.”

Lopez, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, said: “At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels. It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day, okay? It was every Latino in this country, it was humanity and anyone of decent character.”


A number of other Puerto Rican celebrities like Lopez have also been critical of Trump in recent days. Reggaeton star Nicky Jam withdrew his support for Trump just a month after endorsing the Republican candidate.

Bad Bunny, one of the world’s biggest Latin music stars, posted a video with his 45 million Instagram that threw support behind Harris. 

Video Transcript

Buenos, not Las Vegas.

Now, you guys know I'm no stranger to this town.

No, I've been on stage here many, many times.

Too many times to count.

But this is the most important stage I've ever been on.

And let me tell you, it has never felt the way it does tonight.



It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you.

The energy in here is just electric.

Do you feel it?

It's amazing this, the election is just five days away and there's so much at stake.

The choices facing America now are monumental and you guys have made this place a city where dreams come true where people from all walks of life have planted a flag in hopes of creating a better future for themselves and their families.

And you are the ones who are going to send the message that Nevada is Harris country.

Kamala Harris is running for the people who dream for the parents working overtime, the kids studying by street light, the teenagers practicing in the basement.


She's the only candidate that wants to raise the minimum wage and make college more affordable.

Keep the department of education and even put a teacher in the vice president's job.

On the other hand, her opponent wants to kill the Affordable Care Act and eliminate the Department of Education right now.

We are on the brink of an election that demands a choice, a choice between backwards and forwards, a choice between the past and the future.

A choice between divided and united.

And if you are anything like me and you value the idea that in this country, any child from any background can not only work their ass off to bring their dreams to life and be able to do so with dignity and respect for their neighbors.



Then it isn't much of a choice at all.

Whether you're from Castle Hill in the Bronx.

Yes, baby or Sunrise Manor in East Las Vegas.

We all want a world where our kids feel safe and free and valued by their president because whoever leads this country matters, that's how we make the greatest America.

Because I remember, I remember growing up thinking my president cared about me, cared about my parents, cared about my neighbors and my community, not just some Americans, but all Americans.

I believe that our kids and this wonderfully progressive, innovative and inclusive young generation deserve that too.



And it is in our hands, it's in, it's our responsibility to provide that for them.

You know, when I started in TV, and film, I could get roles playing the maid or the loudmouth Latina but I knew I had more to offer.

And I think there are a lot of people in this country who feel the same way who know that they are capable of more and we all just want a chance to prove it.

And elections are about choosing leaders who support that.

Not one who stands in the way.

Kamala Harris gets it raised by a hard working mother in Oakland, California.

Working long hours, strict budget made rent every month until they could buy a home surrounded by a community of firefighters and teachers, nurses, construction workers, small business owners.



I don't know.

That sounds a lot like my upbringing and probably many of yours, Kamala Harris gets it.

I know as president of the United States, Kamala will fight for our freedom, the freedom of immigrants and immigrant families to chase the American dream, the freedom of workers to afford housing education, food and life's essentials and the freedom of women to choose what we do with our bodies.

I believe in the power of women.

Ladies, where are my ladies at?

I believe that women, women have the power to make the difference in this election.

I believe in the power of Latinos where my Latinos at, I believe in the power of our community.



I believe in the power of all our votes.

I believe that together we are the difference in this election.

I know that together we are the difference in this election.

Kamala Harris chose a career in law to fight for middle class families like her own from her start as a courtroom prosecutor to becoming the district attorney.

Then California's attorney general, then a US senator and now as vice president, she, she has only ever had one client.

You the people.

And in each of those roles she took on scammers who ripped off their customers, predators who abused women and cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.



There is no candidate in the history of the presidency that is more qualified and there is no job that Kamala Harris can't do.

Kamala Harris gets it and that's what her policies are about.

She will put forward an actual plan to make housing more affordable, to cut taxes for middle class families, to help small businesses get a foothold to expand the child tax credit, to fight inflation by cracking down on grocery monopolies to take on those who rip off consumers.

And what's that all about?

At the end of the day?

It's about helping you get ahead.

It's about you and you and you, and you and you.

It's about us, all of us no matter what we look like who we love or who we worship or where we're from.



Her opponent.

On the other hand, doesn't see it that way.

He has consistently worked to divide us at Madison Square Garden.

He reminded us who he really is and how he really feels.

It wasn't just Puerto Ricans that were offended that day.

OK?

It was every Latino in this country.

It was humanity and anyone of decent character.

Look, you, you go, you, I'm a lover.

You guys know that about me.

I'm a lover.

I am not a fighter.

I am not here to trash anyone or bring them down.

I know what that can feel like and I wouldn't do it to my worst enemy or even when facing the biggest adversary, I think America has internally ever had.

But over Kamala Harris's entire career, she has proven us to us who she is.

She has shown up for us every day for the people and it's time for us to show up for her.

It's time for, for us to all answer presente.

I am an American woman.

I am the daughter of Guadalupe Rodriguez and David Lopez, a proud daughter and son of Puerto Rico.

I am Puerto Rican soy boricua Carajo.

And yes, I was born here and we are Americans.

I'm a mother, I am a sister.

I am an actor and an entertainer.

And I like Hollywood endings.

I like when the good guy or in this case, the good girl wins.

And with an understanding of our past and a faith in our future, I will be casting my ballot for Kamala Harris for president of the United States.

You can't even spell American without Regan.

This is our country too and we, we must exercise our right to vote on November 5th, please.

And remember Somos Una Naion Bajo Dios indivisibly.

Con Libertad I Eia parados.

Let's get, yeah, I promised myself I wouldn't get emotional.

But you know what, you know what?

We should be emotional.

We should be upset.

We should be scared and outraged.

We should, our pain matters.

We matter, you matter, your voice and your vote matters and, and look, don't be afraid to make people around you uncomfortable.

Invite people around you to be the change to go out there and vote.

Nobody likes having tough conversations or talking about politics.

But trust me, I've been in some of these rooms.

I see the way power works in this country.

They love it when you do nothing.

Ok?

A non vote is an agreement.

It just makes it easier easier for them to do whatever they want, whatever serves them.

And this election is about your life.

It's about you and me and my kids and your kids don't make it easy.

Make them pay attention to you.

That's your, that's your power.

Your vote is your power.

Make a plan to vote early.

Ok?

If you, if you have a mail ballot sign the envelope, return it to any dropbox in your county.

It is too late to put it in the mail.

Ok, tomorrow Friday, November 1st is the last day to vote early in person.

If you can't vote early, make a plan to vote on election day.

November 5th.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Find a vote center or ballot dropbox near you at Will vote.com/nv.

I will vote.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I will vote.

You are absolutely right.

I'm sorry, I got carried away.

Let's do this.

Las Vegas.

I am so proud of all of you for showing up today.

Thank you so much and it is my deep honor to introduce a woman who has the opportunity in just a few days to make history.

 Nigeria's hunger crisis deepens with 33 million at risk, report says

MacDonald Dzirutwe
Fri, November 1, 2024

FILE PHOTO: Food supplies are pictured before a food aid distribution by volunteers of the Lagos food bank initiative in a community in Oworoshoki, Lagos, Nigeria


LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria faces one of its worst hunger crises with more than 30 million people expected to be food insecure next year, a one third jump from this year due to economic hardship, a joint report by the government and United Nations said on Friday.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is grappling with a cost of living crisis that led to deadly protests in August.

Economic hardship has worsened after President Bola Tinubu started austerity reforms, including devaluing the naira and ending a decades-old petrol subsidy, fuelling inflation.

The analysis, conducted twice a year in 26 states and the federal capital, projected that 33.1 million people would be food insecure by August next year. That compares with 24.8 million by end of this year.

"Several factors are driving this trend, but most prominently are economic hardship coupled with record high inflation, a record rise in food prices and record high transportation costs," a statement accompanying the report said.

Chi Lael, World Food Programme spokesperson in Nigeria told Reuters that "economic decisions to strengthen the country in the long term, in the short term have felt like a direct attack on people's wallets, hitting hardest every time they try to buy food."
Finance Minister Wale Edun said on Thursday 5 million households had so far received cash handouts of 25,000 naira ($15.45), as part of the government's programme to help the most vulnerable families.

High food prices have contributed the most to inflation, which advanced to 32.70% in annual terms in September from 32.15% in August.

Flooding and insecurity in northern states continued to hit agriculture, further driving up food prices beyond the reach of many families.

Last month's floods destroyed an estimated 1.6 million hectares of crops, mainly in the northern food basket states, potentially causing production losses of a combined 1.1 million tonnes for maize, sorghum and rice, the joint statement said.

That is enough to meet the daily food needs of about 13 million people for a year.

In financial terms, the potential cereal crop losses amount to almost $1 billion in economic losses, the statement added.

($1 = 1,618.2600 naira)

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ros Russell)

29 Nigerian children may be sentenced to death for protesting against cost-of-living crisis
DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN
Fri, November 1, 2024 a

FILE - People run away from tear gas during a protest on the street in Kano, Nigeria, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sani Maikatanga, File)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Twenty-nine children could be facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest against the country’s record cost-of-living crisis. Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a plea.

A total of 76 protesters were charged with 10 felony counts, including treason, destruction of property, public disturbance and mutiny, according to the charge sheet seen by The Associated Press.

According to the charge sheet, the minors ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.

Frustration over the cost-of-living crisis has led to several mass protests in recent months. In August, at least 20 people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested at a protest demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people.

The death sentence was introduced in the 1970s in Nigeria, but there have been no executions in the country since 2016.

Akintayo Balogun, a private lawyer based in Abuja, said the Child Rights Act does not allow any child to be subject to criminal proceedings and sentenced to death.

“So taking minors before a federal high court is wrong, ab initio, except if the government is able to prove that the boys are all above 19 years,” Balogun said.

The court eventually granted 10 million naira ($5,900) bail to each the defendants and imposed stringent conditions they are yet to meet, Marshal Abubakar, counsel to some of the boys, said.

“A country that has a duty to educate its children will decide to punish those children. These children have been in detention for 90 days without food,” Abubakar said.

Yemi Adamolekun, executive director of Enough is Enough, a civil society organization promoting good governance in Nigeria, said authorities have no business prosecuting children.

“The chief justice of Nigeria should be ashamed, she is a woman and a mother,” Adamolekun said.

Despite being one of the top crude oil producers in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Chronic corruption means the lifestyle of its public officials rarely mirrors that of the general population. Medical professionals often strike to protest meager wages.

The country's politicians and lawmakers, often accused of corruption, are some of the best-paid in Africa. Even the president’s wife — her office nowhere in the constitution — is entitled to SUVs and other luxuries funded by taxpayers.

Nigeria’s population of over 210 million people — the continent’s largest — is also among the hungriest in the world and its government has struggled to create jobs. The inflation rate is also at 28-year high and the local naira currency at record lows against the dollar.

On Thursday, Nigeria was classified as a “hotspot of very high concern,” in a report from United Nations’ food agencies, as large numbers of people are facing or are projected to face critical levels of acute food insecurity in the West African country.


Police fire tear gas during a protest against Nigeria's cost-of-living crisis in Abuja on Aug. 1, 2024.

Nigeria charges 76, including minors, with treason after August protests

Camillus Eboh
Fri, November 1, 2024 

Protesters shout slogans as they participate in a protest along a road in Lagos,

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria charged 76 people, including 30 minors, with treason and inciting a military coup after they took part in deadly August protests against economic hardship, court documents showed on Friday.

Protesters in August demonstrated in Abuja, the commercial capital Lagos and several other cities to show discontent with economic reforms that have led to rampant inflation and inflicted increasing hardship on ordinary Nigerians. President Bola Tinubu has vowed to pursue the changes which he says are needed to keep the country afloat.

Amnesty International said at least 13 people died during clashes with security forces on the first day of protests.

A rights group said the minors have been held since August by the Nigerian police after participating in protests against worsening insecurity and deprivation in the country.

The charge sheet said the suspects had been investigated between July and August. A police spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on the minors' detention.

The minors were granted bail and the case will come to trial in January, their lawyers said.

Nigerians are grappling with a severe cost-of-living crisis and widespread insecurity which has damaged the farming sector, with armed gangs kidnapping residents and school children for ransom in the north.

(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Microsoft workers fired over Gaza vigil say company ‘crumbled under pressure’

Michael Sainato

THE GUARDIAN
Sat, November 2, 2024

A silent protest on 29 December called out Microsoft’s business dealings with Israel and the war in Gaza.

Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Two Microsoft employees who were fired last week after organizing a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza say the company retaliated against them for their pro-Palestinian activism.

The two, Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist, and Hossam Nasr, a software engineer, organized the event outside Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on 24 October. They were fired later that evening.

“Microsoft really crumbled under pressure, internally and externally, to fire me and to shut down and retaliate against our event, not because of policy violations, simply because we were daring to humanize Palestinians, and simply because we were daring to say that Microsoft should not be complicit with an army that is plausibly accused of genocide,” said Nasr, who has been criticized on social media and in internal Microsoft employee communication groups over his support for Palestine.

Both employees were members of No Azure for Apartheid, a group of Microsoft workers protesting the company’s sale of its cloud computing technology to Israel.

Related: ‘A betrayal’: Google workers protest Israeli military contract at vigil for ex-intern killed in airstrike

The group demands Microsoft sever all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government, disclose all ties with Israel, call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza, and protect and uphold the free speech of employees.

Microsoft denied that the two, who are originally from Egypt, were fired for their activism. “We remain dedicated to maintaining a professional and respectful work environment and provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. But, importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not disrupt business operations and be aligned to our company policies and behavior expectations,” a spokesperson said.

“We do not permit employees to use devices like bullhorns and speakers in public areas to disrupt the work of their colleagues. We were clear about our policies in advance with the event organizers and instructed that this gathering take place on public property. The organizers chose to disregard this guidance and were terminated.”

But Mohamed and Nasr reject allegations that the vigil was disruptive and claim it was in accordance with Microsoft policies. They say that the event, which sought to raise money for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, followed the same procedures as other employee charity events regularly held by other employee groups. The vigil was set up outdoors during lunchtime on the Microsoft headquarters campus, with a microphone for speakers and some chairs and signs set up for attenders.

According to No Azure for Apartheid, more than 200 employees attended the vigil in person and virtually.

Nasr and Mohamed both claimed they were in communications with Microsoft ahead of time, and addressed any concerns that were brought up before the lunchtime event, the purpose of which they said was to honor Palestinian lives lost in the conflict and call attention to Microsoft’s ties to Israel. They said police were called to the event but only observed it, and that only a microphone for speakers was used.

“They never at any point said that termination was on the table or even the disciplinary consequences were on the table,” Nasr told the Guardian.

They both questioned how it happened that Nasr’s dismissal was publicized by the group Stop Antisemitism before they themselves were notified they had been fired. Nasr provided a call log showing he received a call from Microsoft at 9pm on 24 October, while the group posted on social media that Nasr was “no longer with Microsoft” an hour and a half earlier.

Nasr also alleged a double standard at the company, arguing that he had experienced repeated internal investigations and reprimands for comments about Gaza that he had posted on Microsoft internal employee groups, while posts he flagged internally for racism or personal attacks against him did not result in any disciplinary actions.

He pointed to posts insinuating he and another employee are “members of Hamas or just supporters”. As far has he knows, these never resulted in reprimands. He also said HR opened an investigation into a post of his that said: “With or without your sympathy, Palestinians will attain the dignity, the freedom, the respect, and the liberation that they deserve, everywhere from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” However, he reported, the company did not act when another employee wrote: “From the river to the sea, Israel will forever be.”



A Microsoft representative declined to comment on the specific examples.

The No Azure for Apartheid group characterized the firings as retaliatory and alleged Microsoft has engaged in intimidation toward Palestinian voices. The group disputed Microsoft’s claims of policy violations by the employees and is calling for their reinstatement and an explanation for the leak of their termination before the employees were themselves notified.

A Palestinian employee at Microsoft who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation told the Guardian that Microsoft’s internal message board has been full of messages in recent days expressing anger at the firings. They also accused Microsoft of double standards when it comes to enforcing harassment and behavior policies toward Palestinian voices.

“It was unjust and very intentional as a message to the community to silence the loudest voice in our community,” said another Palestinian worker at Microsoft who requested to remain anonymous.

A spokesperson for Microsoft did not comment on the ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ campaign, its demands, or allegations of bias.

Related: Microsoft sails as AI boom fuels double-digit growth in cloud business

The spokesperson added the company was investigating the allegation that a social media post about the terminations was published by Stop Antisemitism before the employees were informed.

A report by the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reported that the Israeli military has increased the purchase of services from Microsoft Azure since October 2023 and for years it had been the main cloud service provider for Israel. The company has also funded several Israeli startups that provide services to the military.

“Microsoft is refusing to hear its worker demands,” said Mohamed. “This is what’s happening within Microsoft. People are calling them out, and they’re even refusing to engage and look at serious concerns that come with the use of these technologies.”

US tech firms who do business with Israel have faced rising unrest internally in the last year. In April, Google fired more than 50 workers in response to a protest over the company’s military ties to the country.