TV News LIES

he war in Gaza has hardened positions in the Middle East and around the globe. But two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian, say that after that war began in 2023, they became like brothers. It is a brotherhood born out of trauma and one recounted in their forthcoming book, The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land.

Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon lived parallel lives. Both ran travel agencies and believed that travel and education could bring societies closer together. They first met a decade ago over tea in Jerusalem, where Abu Sarah, a Palestinian, was born, and they stayed in touch over the years on Facebook.

The Hamas-led attack on Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023, changed everything.

Inon's parents, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, were among the more than 1,100 people killed in that attack. Militants killed them at their home in Netiv HaAsara, near Israel's border with Gaza.

Inon was in northern Israel that day. In the aftermath, he says it was Abu Sarah who reached out and saved him "from falling down into the trauma, into the pain, drowning in this ocean of sorrow and agony."

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A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors

Every state that has so far enacted the compact has Democratic electoral majorities, including California, New York and Illinois. But legislation has been introduced in enough states to reach the 270-elector threshold, including swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The legislation relies on two provisions of the US constitution, which would face intense legal scrutiny if and when the compact comes into force. Article II, section 1 of the constitution authorizes each state to appoint electors “in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct”. The constitution does not require states to even have a vote for president, never mind delegating those electors as a state’s voters choose.

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When the Democratic party’s governing body adjourned its meeting on Saturday in New Orleans, supporters of Palestine and an end of the genocide in Gaza had few reasons to celebrate. The Democratic tinmajority of the party’s voters with distinctly negative views of Israel.

Last summer, a Quinnipiac Poll found that 77% of Democrats agreed that “Israel is committing genocide”. Last month, an NBC poll found that 67% of Democrats felt more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis, compared with 17% who felt more sympathetic to Israelis.

But the DNC continues to operate as if fully sealed off from the party’s voters on such matters. When the national meeting got under way on Thursday, the party’s resolutions committee proceeded to quickly discard a pair of resolutions critical of Israel.

One urged “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory” as well as “pausing or conditioning US weapons transfers to any military units credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law”. Another included opposition to “military actions that endanger civilians or exacerbate repression” in Iran.

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The US Department of Justice has requested that a federal appeals judge overturn convictions for members of far-right groups Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were previously found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the violent siege of the US capitol in 2021.

Jeanine Pirro, the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, signed separate motions on Tuesday to vacate convictions for a slew of individuals, including the Proud Boys’ leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs as well as Stewart Rhodes, a former attorney who founded the Oath Keepers’ militia.

The filings represent the latest move the Trump administration has made to absolve the January 6 rioters, a group composed largely of the president’s supporters who stormed the US capitol in a desperate attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.

Several members of the two far-right groups were later sentenced to prison for their attempted roles to obstruct a peaceful transfer of power. The lengthiest prison term was given to Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, who faced 22 years behind bars.

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The US military said it killed four more people in a boat strike in the eastern Pacific ocean on Tuesday, marking the third deadly attack on vessels in the region in four days.

The US Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced the killings in a social media post, claiming, without providing evidence, that the men killed were “narco-terrorists”.

The US military’s boat strikes have now killed at least 174 people since September.

Military officials have consistently alleged that the targets of its lethal boat strikes were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” but have not presented intelligence or specific details about the individuals to support those assertions.

Legal experts and human rights advocates have repeatedly condemned the strikes as extrajudicial killings that violate US and international law, saying the military cannot execute civilians whom it accuses of crimes.

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A U.S.-sanctioned Chinese tanker tested President Trump’s new blockade on travel through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, passing through the trading corridor to the Gulf of Oman.

Under Trump’s blockade, which began on Monday morning, the U.S. military says it is blocking Iranian ports and stopping vessels that paid tolls to Iran.

Rich Starry, a medium-range tanker, traveled through the strait on Monday afternoon, making it through the waterway on a second attempt, according to shipping data from Kpler. The ship is carrying around 250,000 barrels of methanol, Reuters reported.

The ship flies under the Malawi flag, but the African country has stated that it has no official registration for ships. The vessel has a Chinese crew on board, according to Reuters.

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The Department of Homeland Security has ordered thousands of furloughed employees to return to work despite most of the agency remaining unfunded by Congress amid the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

In a statement to USA TODAY, the agency said it "will be utilizing available funding" to recall its entire workforce. It wasn't clear how many employees in total have been ordered to return to work. The agency, which is among the largest departments in the federal government, employs more than 260,000 people.

The return-to-work notices come after President Donald Trump on April 3 signed a memorandum ordering all DHS employees to receive pay and benefits lost during the partial government shutdown.

In the order, Trump directed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to use funds with “a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS to provide each and every employee of DHS with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them" if not for the shutdown.

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The struggle over a fallen police barrier lasted less than a minute, but it has forever altered the course of student Muhammad Ali’s life.

On June 3, 2024, the 21-year-old University of Pittsburgh senior was protesting in support of a pro-Palestine encampment in the center of campus. University police had set up metal barriers, held together with zip ties, to keep protesters from delivering food, water, and supplies to the encampment. Frustrated, some protesters tried to move the barriers.

Ali bent down to pick up a fallen barrier. An officer grabbed the other side and tried to pull it from his hands. After a brief exchange of words, Ali let go and stepped back, his hands raised. He thought that was the end of it. Weeks later, Ali was charged with multiple crimes, including three felonies. The most serious charges against him carry a maximum sentence of 34 years in prison.

Ali’s attorney and supporters say he is being treated harshly because he is Muslim and brown. They point out that the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office filed criminal charges against other protesters, but nearly all of them were offered plea deals with lesser charges, or a pretrial rehabilitation program that if completed would leave them with no criminal record.

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