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Category: Politics

Israeli airstrike in Damascus kills high-ranking Iranian general, says Iran

Israeli airstrike in Damascus kills high-ranking Iranian general, says Iran

The Associated Press reports: An Israeli airstrike in a Damascus neighbourhood on Monday killed a high-ranking Iranian general, Iranian state media has said. Iranian officials and allied militant groups in the region vowed revenge for the killing but did not immediately launch any retaliatory strike. The killing of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in Syria, comes amid ongoing fears of the Israel-Hamas war sparking a regional spillover. Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria…

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In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza’s ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths

In Christmas Day message, pope decries Gaza’s ‘appalling harvest’ of civilian deaths

Reuters reports: Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians. In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address, Francis also called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants “abominable” and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza. Speaking…

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Zelenskiy hails downing of Russian jets in upbeat Christmas message

Zelenskiy hails downing of Russian jets in upbeat Christmas message

The Guardian reports: Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the shooting down of two Russian fighter jets on Christmas Eve and said “this Christmas sets the right mood for the entire year ahead”. In a Christmas message marking the first time Ukraine has officially observed the holiday on 25 December rather than 7 January, Zelenskiy also referred to Ukraine’s claim to have destroyed a further three Russian fighter planes on Friday. “The stronger our air defence, the fewer Russian devils will be in…

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Putin quietly signals he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine

Putin quietly signals he is open to a cease-fire in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: President Vladimir V. Putin’s confidence seems to know no bounds. Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia’s invading troops were doing “what we want.” “We won’t give up what’s ours,” he pledged, adding dismissively, “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.” But in a recent push of back-channel…

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The rising threat of Christian nationalism

The rising threat of Christian nationalism

Tim Alberta writes: This Christmas season, I have been reflecting on the words of my favorite author, C. S. Lewis, who once observed: “I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” Speaking about American evangelicalism was never my intention. Having grown up steeped in Christianity’s right-wing subculture—the son of a megachurch minister, a follower of Jesus, someone who self-identified as “evangelical” since childhood—I was a reliable defender of…

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Message to the world from Bethlehem: ‘STOP this Genocide NOW’

Message to the world from Bethlehem: ‘STOP this Genocide NOW’

  Christ in the Rubble — A Liturgy of Lament Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Bethlehem Saturday December 23rd, 2023 We are angry… We are broken… This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful. More than 20,000 killed. Thousands are still under the rubble. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day. 1.9 million displaced! Hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. Gaza as we know…

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Pope laments war in Holy Land on solemn Christmas Eve

Pope laments war in Holy Land on solemn Christmas Eve

Reuters reports: Pope Francis lamented war in the land of the birth of Jesus on Sunday, where Christmas Eve brought only fresh bloodshed and an intensification of fighting across the length of the Gaza Strip. Hours before midnight tolled for Christmas in the Holy Land, Palestinian health officials reported at least 70 dead in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza. The Israeli military spokesperson’s office said it was looking into the report. Israel reported the highest two-day death toll for…

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Syrians cancel Christmas festivities in solidarity with war-battered Gaza

Syrians cancel Christmas festivities in solidarity with war-battered Gaza

The New Arab reports: Christmas cheer has deserted the streets of Syria’s cities, where the main churches have limited celebrations to prayers in solidarity with Palestinians suffering war in Gaza. “In Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, people are suffering,” the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Mor Dionysius Antoine Shahda, told AFP. The northern Syrian city’s central district of Azizia is usually home to a bustling festive market and a huge Christmas tree, while its streets are adorned with lights…

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Israel said to mull sparing Hamas chiefs, exiling them, to free hostages and end war

Israel said to mull sparing Hamas chiefs, exiling them, to free hostages and end war

The Times of Israel reports: Israel is reportedly weighing the option of not killing Hamas leaders in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif, if and when the opportunity arises, and instead handing them immunity of sorts and deporting them to Qatar or another country, according to a Sunday report. The agreement would only be made as part of a solution that would secure the release of all hostages held in Gaza and end the war against the terror group, the…

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Biden continues to undermine UN efforts; he once defended ‘killing women or children’

Biden continues to undermine UN efforts; he once defended ‘killing women or children’

The Intercept reports: An estimated 570,000 people in the Gaza Strip are now starving. Three-quarters of the territory’s 36 hospitals are closed. The remaining nine, all in southern Gaza, are “partially functional.” The shuttered hospitals in the north are serving as impromptu shelters for some of the 85 percent of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced, but did not trek south to escape the ravages of Israel’s ground invasion. Beyond an estimated death toll of 20,000, according to the…

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How Biden is enabling human rights violations by Israel and obstructing the application of U.S. law

How Biden is enabling human rights violations by Israel and obstructing the application of U.S. law

Vox reports: The recent high-profile killings of three Israeli hostages, two women in a Gaza church, and 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members have raised new global alarm at Israel’s targeting of civilians amid its war in Gaza. The deaths came as part of its ground assault, and as it continues a bombing campaign that even staunch Israel ally President Joe Biden has called “indiscriminate.” Yet, he continues to push for additional, essentially unconditional aid to Israel — despite the fact that some foreign affairs experts…

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Democrats in key states see Biden as dragging the party down

Democrats in key states see Biden as dragging the party down

The New York Times reports: Democrats in battleground states are growing increasingly anxious about President Biden’s low approval ratings, worrying that voters’ persistent antipathy toward his leadership could not only cost the party the White House but also weigh down the candidates who are sharing the ballot with him. These Democrats fear that the Biden campaign is late in building a strong organization in the handful of states that are likely to determine next year’s presidential election. They point to…

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The cruelty and futility of Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza

The cruelty and futility of Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza

Alexander B. Downes writes: Immediately after Hamas’s terrorist attack of Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 Israelis, Israel imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed,” as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put it. For weeks, supplies into Gaza were reduced to a trickle. Although the recent cease-fire increased the number of trucks carrying aid to about 150 per day, that is a drop in the bucket compared to…

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Americans beg for help getting family out of Gaza

Americans beg for help getting family out of Gaza

The Associated Press reports: Fadi Sckak has already lost his father to the violence in Gaza. He wants to help his mother escape that fate. “I just want to see my mother again, that’s the goal,” said Sckak, a university student in Sunnyvale, California. The 25-year-old is one of the Palestinian couple’s three American sons, including an active-duty U.S. soldier serving in South Korea. “Being able to hold her again. I can’t bear to lose her.” His mother, Zahra Sckak,…

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‘You no longer represent us’: NJ Muslims mobilize against longtime congressman over Israel stance

‘You no longer represent us’: NJ Muslims mobilize against longtime congressman over Israel stance

Politico reports: Last time Rep. Bill Pascrell faced a serious primary challenge, he ended up winning by a 20-point margin after the Arab American community rallied in support of the New Jersey Democrat. Now that same constituency is turning against him, posing a major threat to the 14-term House member over his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Arab Americans protested outside his district office in Paterson, home to Little Ramallah, the largest Palestinian American enclave in the country. They’ve held…

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Nikki Haley surges in New Hampshire poll to within four points of Republican leader Trump

Nikki Haley surges in New Hampshire poll to within four points of Republican leader Trump

The Guardian reports: The former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has pulled within four percentage points of frontrunner Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s 2024 Republican presidential primary, a contest which could prove closer than expected for the ex-president, according to a new poll. In an American Research Group Inc poll released on Thursday which had asked voters whom they preferred in the New Hampshire primary scheduled for 23 January, Haley earned 29% support to Trump’s 33%. That meant the gap…

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