Israelis, Palestinians on edge even as risk of flare-up ebbs

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis and Palestinians braced for new violence Friday with tensions high following the deadliest Israeli raid in over two decades, even as the likelihood of a major escalation in the conflict appeared to ebb.

The raid in the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp descended into a gun battle Thursday that killed at least nine Palestinians, while clashes elsewhere left another dead. Gaza militants then fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes overnight — but the exchange was limited, following a familiar pattern that allows both sides to respond without leading to a major flare-up.

Israel’s defense minister, meanwhile, instructed to the military to prepare for new strikes in the Gaza Strip “if necessary” — also appearing to leave open the possibility that the violence would subside.

Nevertheless, the flare-up posed an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and drew “deep concern” from the State Department ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's expected trip to the region next week. The raid also prompted the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel.

While residents of Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank remained on edge Friday, midday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, often a catalyst for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, passed in relative calm.

At the funeral of a 22-year-old killed in clashes sparked by the initial raid, crowds of Palestinians carried the young man’s body aloft and waved the flags of both Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority, and militant Hamas, which rules Gaza. In the streets of the town called al-Ram, masked Palestinians threw stones and set off fireworks at Israeli police, who responded with tear gas.

But so far, both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes seemed limited so as to prevent escalation into a full-blown war. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

The Palestinians’ rockets were fired toward the south of Israel, while Israel’s nonlethal airstrikes were on targets in Gaza, such as training camps and an underground rocket-manufacturing site.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed the military dealt a “tough blow” to Palestinian militants in Gaza and said the army was preparing to strike “high-quality targets ... until peace is restored to the citizens of Israel.”

On Friday, Israeli police were out in force in Jerusalem, as scores of Muslim worshippers gathered for prayers in the stone courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and chanted in solidarity with those killed in the Jenin raid.

Tensions at the holy site, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, have triggered violence in the past, including a bloody Gaza war in 2021. The site is considered the third-most sacred in Islam and the holiest place in Judaism.

“In spirit and blood, we will sacrifice you,” Muslim worshippers shouted. “Greetings Jenin, Greetings Gaza.”

Eyad Shaher, a 45-year-old construction worker from Bethlehem who prays weekly at Al-Aqsa, said he was relieved to have a peaceful morning.

“Thank God it was good and there were no problems after that cursed day,” he said, referring to Thursday’s events.

Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank last spring, following a series of Palestinian attacks. Jenin, which was an important a militant stronghold during the 2000-2005 intifada and has again emerged as one, has been the focus of many of the Israeli operations. Among the dead in Thursday’s raid were seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

So far this year, 30 Palestinians have been killed, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in the confrontations also have been killed.

Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, warned Friday that “the Israeli escalation in Jenin is dangerous and disturbing and undermines international efforts to advance the priority of the peace agenda.” The UAE recognized Israel in 2020 along with Bahrain, which has remained silent on the surge in violence.

News of the nine killed in Jenin and the overnight rockets blared from phones and radios in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday as young Palestinians milled around and women hawked raisins.

Ibrahim Salameh, a 21-year-old smoking on the steps of Damascus Gate, said he had never been so scared. On Wednesday, he said, his teenage neighbor was killed as police entered the Shuafat refugee camp to demolish an attacker’s home.

“Every day there’s more and more fear, more tension,” he said. “Somehow I’m living with this idea that at any moment I could be shot dead.”

In the West Bank, Fatah announced a general strike and most shops were closed in Palestinian cities. The PA declared Thursday that it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship, and also due to U.S. and Israeli pressure.

The PA has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp.

Israel says its raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Bank, which Israel captured along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories to form any eventual state.

Israel has established dozens of settlements in the West Bank that now house 500,000 people. The Palestinians and much of the international community view settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, even as talks to end the conflict have been moribund for over a decade.

By Isabel Debre

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Egypt unveils tombs and sarcophagus in new excavation

SAQQARA, Egypt (AP) — Egypt on Thursday unveiled dozens of new archaeological discoveries, including two ancient tombs, at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside of the capital Cairo.

The artefacts, unearthed during a year-long excavation, were found beneath an ancient stone enclosure near the Saqqara pyramids and date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties of the Old Kingdom, spanning from roughly 2500 B.C to 2100 B.C., the excavation team said.

One of the uncovered tombs belonged to a priest from the fifth dynasty known as Khnumdjedef, while the other tomb belonged to an official named Meri, a palace official who held the title of “the keeper of the secrets,” the team said. Other major findings from the excavation include statues, amulets, and a well-preserved sarcophagus.

Egypt’s most renowned archaeologist and director of the excavation, Zahi Hawass, personally unveiled the new discoveries from the stone enclosure, known as Gisr al-Mudir.

“I put my head inside to see what was inside the sarcophagus: A beautiful mummy of a man completely covered in layers of gold,’′ Hawass said.

The Saqqara site is part of a sprawling necropolis at Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1970s.

Thursday’s unveiling comes amid a flurry of new discoveries announced by Egyptian authorities over the past week. Near the southern city of Luxor, authorities said they found dozens of burial sites from the New Kingdom era, dating from 1800 B.C. to 1600 B.C. Discovered nearby were the ruins of an ancient Roman city, it said.

In a separate announcement Tuesday, a group of scientists from Cairo University revealed previously unknown details about a mummified teenage boy dating to about 300 B.C. By using CT scans, the team of scientists were able to shed new light on the boy’s high social status by affirming the intricate details of the amulets inserted within his mummified body and the type of burial he received.

Egypt often publicly touts its ancient discoveries to attract more tourists, a significant source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped North African country. The sector suffered a long downturn after the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising.

Egypt’s tourist industry was also hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and is currently suffering from the fallout from the war in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine formerly comprised a large source of tourists visiting Egypt.

Associated Press writer Jack B. Jeffery contributed to this report from Cairo.

Originally reported by Mohamed Wagdy

Nighttime Israeli arrests haunt Palestinian kids and families

BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Yousef Mesheh was sleeping in his bunk bed when Israeli forces stormed into his home at 3 a.m.

Within moments, the 15-year-old Palestinian said he was lying on the floor as troops punched him, shouting insults. A soldier struck his mother’s chest with his rifle butt and locked her in the bedroom, where she screamed for her sons.

Yousef and his 16-year-old brother, Wael, were hauled out of their home in Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank. Yousef was in a sleeveless undershirt and couldn’t see without his glasses.

“I can’t forget that night,” Yousef told The Associated Press from his living room, decorated with photos of Wael, who remains in detention. “When I go to sleep I still hear the shooting and screaming.”

The Israeli military arrested and interrogated hundreds of Palestinian teenagers in 2022 in the occupied West Bank, without ever issuing a summons or notifying their families, according to an upcoming report by the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked.
The charges against those being arrested ranged from being in Israel without a permit to throwing stones or Molotov cocktails. Some teens say they were arrested to obtain information about neighbors or family members.

In the vast majority of the military’s pre-planned arrests of minors last year, children were taken from their homes in the dead of the night, HaMoked said. After being yanked out of bed, children as young as 14 were interrogated while sleep-deprived and disoriented. Water, food and access to toilets were often withheld. Yousef said soldiers beat him when he asked to relieve himself during his seven-hour journey to the detention center.

The Israeli army argues it has the legal authority to arrest minors at its discretion during late-night raids.

Lawyers and advocates say the tactic runs counter to Israel’s legal promises to alert parents about their children’s alleged offenses.

In response to a petition to the Supreme Court by HaMoked two years go, there had been some small improvement when Israel asked the military to first summon Palestinian parents about their accused children. But the progress was short-lived. Last year, the Israeli military rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank ages 12-17 in late-night arrests, according to HaMoked. Rights activists say they believe such tactics are meant to create fear.

“The fact that the military is making no effort to reduce these traumatic night arrests indicates to us that the trauma is part of the point,” said Jessica Montell, director of HaMoked. “This intimidation and terrorizing of communities seems actually part of the policy.”

According to figures reported to the Supreme Court, the army summoned Palestinian parents to question their children only a handful of times in 2021. Last year, not a single family received a summons in nearly 300 cases HaMoked tracked in the West Bank.

Petty offenses and cases where children were released without charge — as happened to Yousef — were no exception. HaMoked said the numbers are incomplete because it believes scores of similar cases are never reported.

“They are not implementing the procedure they created themselves,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director for Defense for Children International in the Palestinian territories. “The beating and mistreatment of children during night arrests is really what we’re concerned about.”

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli military said it tries to summon Palestinian children suspected of minor offenses who have no history of serious criminal convictions. But, the army argued, this policy does not apply to serious offenses or “when a summons to an investigation would harm its purpose.”

The army would not comment on Yousef’s arrest, but said his brother, Wael, faces charges related to “serious financial crimes,” including “contacting the enemy,” “illegally bringing in money” and helping “an illegal organization.” These charges typically reflect cases of Palestinians communicating with people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Although HaMoked found most cases were soon dropped, the late-night arrests haunted children long after.

Since his Nov. 7 arrest, Yousef “is not like he was before,” said his mother, Hanadi Mesheh, who also recounted her ordeal to the AP. He can’t focus in school. He no longer plays soccer. She sleeps beside him some nights, holding him during his nightmares.

“I feel like I’m always being watched,” Yousef said. “I’m frightened when my mother wakes me in the morning for school.”

Similar stories abound in the area. The northern city of Nablus emerged as a major flashpoint for violence last year after Israel began a crackdown in the West Bank in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks in Israel.

Last year Israeli forces killed at least 146 Palestinians, including 34 children, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported, making 2022 the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank in 18 years. According to the Israeli army, most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. Palestinian attacks, meanwhile, killed at least 31 Israelis last year.

Israel says the operations are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians have decried the raids as collective punishment aimed at cementing Israel’s open-ended 55-year-old occupation of lands they want for a future state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Nighttime arrest raids are not limited to the West Bank. Israeli police also carry out regular raids in Palestinian neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

Last fall in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Rania Elias heard pounding on the door before dawn. Her youngest son, 16-year-old Shadi Khoury, was sleeping in his underwear. Israeli police burst into their home, shoved Khoury to the floor and pummeled his face. Blood was everywhere, she said, as police dragged him to a Jerusalem detention center for interrogation.

“You can’t imagine what it’s like to feel helpless to save your child,” Elias said.

In response to a request for comment, the Israeli police said they charged Khoury with being part of a group that threw stones at a Jewish family’s car on Oct. 12, wounding a passenger.

Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultra-nationalist government, parents say they fear for their children more than ever. Some of the most powerful ministers are Israeli settlers who promise a hard-line stance against the Palestinians.

“This is the darkest moment,” said activist Murad Shitawi, whose 17-year-old son Khaled was arrested last March in a night raid on their home in the West Bank town of Kfar Qaddum. “I’m worried for my sons.”

By ISABEL DEBRE

Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Balata refugee camp, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Ted Cruz Called Out For Hypocrisy After Mocking Joe Biden's Tropical Vacation

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) either has a very bad memory or simply likes being humiliated.

That’s the only reasonable explanation for why he attempted to mock President Joe Biden for vacationing in the US Virgin Islands while much of the U.S. is plagued by a frigid winter storm.

Although it can be argued that having the president sunbathing in St. Croix while many of his fellow Americans are shivering makes for bad optics, Cruz is the wrong person to make that argument.

How so? You might remember the smarmy Texas Republican came under fire in February 2021, after he jetted off to Cancun, Mexico, avoiding power outages in his state caused by historic winter weather.\

Originally reported by: David Moye on Wed, December 28, 2022 at 3:50 PM EST

Florida investigating ‘Drag Queen Christmas’ show. It was billed as ‘adult content.’

Florida’s top business regulators are investigating complaints against “A Drag Queen Christmas” annual event in Fort Lauderdale that, according to the organizer, required attendees who were minors to be accompanied by a parent and warned about “adult themes and content.”

It is the second time this year in which Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is scrutinizing a drag queen performance for allegedly exposing children to a “sexually explicit performance.” Both politically tinged investigations stemmed from complaints that were amplified by conservative activists on social media.

The investigations come as Republicans across the country increasingly criticize drag performances, which involve entertainers of all genders dressing in elaborate and sometimes provocative costumes and enacting choreographed routines that feature songs from popular artists.

DeSantis, who is widely believed to be considering a run for president in 2024, has vowed to hold accountable businesses that expose children to “sexualized content,” and his office has hinted at potential criminal charges, though none have been filed.

“Exposing children to sexually explicit activity is a crime in Florida, and such action violates the Department’s licensing standards for operating a business and holding a liquor license,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday. The statement was first shared with the conservative blog The Floridian.

The investigation is being handled by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which has arrest powers. But the governor’s office said the extent of the investigation into the Drag Queen Christmas annual event could extend to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for “potential criminal liability.”

A spokesperson for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, where the Christmas-themed drag queen event took place on Monday, said on Wednesday that the organization had not yet been contacted by the state.

Griffin wrote in his statement the event had been “marketed to children.” Later, he noted in an email that the touring show had, at various times, been promoted as open to all ages at venues across the state.

A spokesperson for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts contended that attendees were warned in a disclaimer that the show was intended for a mature audience.

“Admission is limited to patrons 18 years of age or over, unless accompanied by a parent,” read a Dec. 22 version of the performing arts center’s website touting the event, according to the internet archive.

The center appears to have amended that disclosure in the days leading up to the show. A Dec. 17 version of the event page claimed the event “was an all-ages show” that “may contain adult content.”

The performing arts organization’s spokesperson said ticket buyers were informed of the show’s adult themes in an email before the performance. The cast features former contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In a video posted on Twitter, conservative social media activist Chris Nelson was heard shouting at performers midway through the show about children being present at the event. The crowd booed him and the performer told him he was addressing a 35-year-old in the audience, not children.

“It is not right to have drag shows with children at all,” Nelson said as he was escorted out of the venue by law enforcement officers at the event.

“You should arrest them for having children at this thing,” he told the officers. “That is who you should be arresting.”

Nelson’s tweet of the video had been viewed more than 2 million times as of Wednesday.

If the state tries to revoke the center’s liquor licenses, it could be a serious regulatory blow. According to state records, the organization holds three such licenses. Two are licenses for performing arts organizations that serve beer, wine or liquor, and one is a broader license that allows consumption of beer, wine or liquor on the premises.

Events at the center for the performing arts are largely supported by donations to the nonprofit Broward Performing Arts Foundation, according to the center's website.

On Tuesday, Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Melanie Griffin sent a letter to event organizers of the drag show’s Miami stop at the James L. Knight Center, warning them they could lose their liquor license if they allow children to attend the event. The show took place on Tuesday night.

In August, Florida business regulators targeted a daytime Miami drag-queen show seen by children. They said the event was a public nuisance and proclaimed that the restaurant was violating a series of Florida criminal laws against “lewdness.”

That event was investigated by the state after a video, amplified to a national audience by Canadian conservative activist Lauren Chen, showed a partially clad drag performer leading around a little girl during a brunch performance.

“I actually want something to be done about this,” Chen said in a July 3 video posted on her YouTube Channel, which has half a million followers.

DeSantis said the state would seek to revoke the business’ liquor license, but no action has been taken yet.

“The situation is ongoing and R House ownership is continuing to work with the city Department of Business and Professional Regulation, through their attorney, to rectify the situation,” R House ownership said in a statement on Wednesday.

Originally reported by: Ana Ceballos, Kirby Wilson on Wed, December 28, 2022 at 1:35 PM EST

Palm Beach man, 41, impregnated a 13-year-old, cops say. He blames the rape on voodoo

West Palm Beach, FL - West Palm Beach man accused of the incestuous rape and impregnation of a 13-year-old child didn’t deny the charge, authorities say.

“...during a post-Miranda interview with [41-year-old Jean Innocent], he stated that he believes VOODOO caused him” to rape the girl, according to an arrest report by West Palm Beach police investigators.

Innocent remains in Palm Beach County Jail, charged with one count of incest, one count of impregnation of a child and two counts of sexual battery of a child in familial or custodial care. His bond is $28,000.

Innocent remains in Palm Beach County Jail, charged with one count of incest, one count of impregnation of a child and two counts of sexual battery of a child in familial or custodial care. His bond is $28,000.

Originally reported by: David J. Neal on Tue, December 27, 2022 at 5:20 PM EST

Taliban suspend university education for women in Afghanistan.

The Taliban government has suspended university education for all female students in Afghanistan, the latest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women.

A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter published by the education ministry said the decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the order will go into effect immediately.

Girls were barred from returning to secondary school in March, after the Taliban ordered schools for girls to shut just hours after they were due to reopen following months long closures imposed after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

Human Rights Watch criticized the ban on Tuesday, calling it a "shameful decision that violates the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan."

"The Taliban are making it clear every day that they don't respect the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially women," the rights watchdog said in a statement.

After seizing power in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban attempted to project a more moderate image to gain international support.

But while it has has made numerous promises to the international community that it would protect the rights of women and girls, the Taliban has been doing the opposite, systematically clamping down on their rights and freedoms.

Women in Afghanistan can no longer work in most sectors, require a male guardian for long-distance travel and have been ordered to cover their faces in public.

Originally reported by: Ehsan Popalzai and Ivana Kottasová on December 20, 2022 via CNN.