₦airaland Forum

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that oil companies will spend "at least" $100 billion in Venezuela.

"The top 14 companies are coming here," Trump told Fox News ahead of the meeting with oil executives at the White House.

"They're going to go in, they're going to rebuild the whole oil infrastructure. They're going to spend at least $100 billion," Trump said.

The US carried out a Jan. 3 military operation in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Trump said his administration would "run" Venezuela and its oil assets during a transition period.

The Trump administration has intensified military operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September, citing efforts against narcotics trafficking.

Trump said the American military has "knocked out" 97% of the drugs coming into the US by water.

"We are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It's very, very sad to watch and see what's happened to that country, but the cartels are running and they're killing 250,000 to 300,000 people in our country every single year," he added.



- Venezuela 'wouldn't know how to have an election right now'

Trump said Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will be coming "next week sometime" to Washington, DC. “And I look forward to saying hello to her.”

The Nobel Committee awarded Machado the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to defend democratic rights and promote a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to democracy in Venezuela.

"I've heard that she wants to do that. That to be a great honor," Trump replied when asked if he would accept the Nobel Prize if she wanted to hand it to him.

Trump said Venezuela "wouldn't even know" how to have an election at present.

"The country has become third world, and they wouldn't know how to have an election right now, we're going to rebuild the oil and the oil infrastructure will be in charge of it ... we're going to rebuild the country, and ultimately you can have elections," he added.

Trump said Cuba "totally" relies on Venezuela for money and for oil.

"Cuba gives protection to Venezuela, and Venezuela gives Cuba money through oil, and it’s worked that way for a long time, but it doesn’t work that way anymore, so I don’t know what Cuba's going to do. I think Cuba's going to fail," he added.

The US Justice Department has quietly stepped back from one of its most controversial claims against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, retreating from the assertion that Maduro led a formal drug cartel known as the Cartel de los Soles (or Cartel of the Suns).

In a revised indictment unsealed on January 3 as US forces attacked Caracas and abducted Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, prosecutors abandoned the language that described the Cartel de los Soles as a structured criminal organisation.

Instead, they reframed it as a patronage system and a culture of corruption tied to drug money inside Venezuela’s military and political elite, according to the indictment brought against Maduro.

The shift marks a significant reversal from the Trump administration’s earlier position.

In 2020, US prosecutors accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles, portraying it as a powerful drug trafficking organisation.

That language was later echoed by the US Treasury Department in July 2025 when it designated the Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organisation, and again in November when Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a similar designation.

‘It is not a group’

According to the indictment, the term Cartel de los Soles refers to officials at the top of this system, a name derived from the sun insignia worn by high-ranking Venezuelan military officers.

But experts on Latin American crime have long argued that the term Cartel de los Soles is not the name of a real cartel. Instead, it is Venezuelan slang, dating back to the 1990s, used to describe officials accused of being corrupted by drug trafficking proceeds.

"The idea that the Cartel de los Soles is a unified terrorist organisation is largely a Western construction. It's been circulated not because it reflects empirical reality, but because it provides geopolitical utility — it creates a ready-made justification for intervention," Jenaro Abraham, a political scientist and professor of Latin American politics at Gonzaga University, told TRT World recently.

The revised US indictment appears to concede that point.

Where the original filing referred to the Cartel de los Soles more than 30 times and labelled Maduro as its leader, the new version mentions the term only twice.

It goes on to say that the defendants allegedly turned Venezuela into a narco-state, using government power to protect and facilitate massive cocaine shipments destined for the US.

"They allegedly collaborated with designated foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), including FARC (and successors), ELN, Sinaloa Cartel, Zetas/CDN, and Tren de Aragua, providing protection and support in exchange for profits," the indictment reads.

It also states that Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, participated in and protected a patronage system.

Maduro has denied all charges.

SOURCE: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.trtworld.com/article/1fdaf2b367b5/amp

"I single-handedly ENDED 8 WARS, and Norway, a NATO Member, foolishly chose not to give me the Noble Peace Prize."

US President Donald Trump says he doubts "NATO would be there for us if we really needed them," slamming the transatlantic security alliance in a post on his Truth Social platform.

In pictures: Massive crowds of people in Venezuela's capital Caracas march in display of support for government of abducted President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores

Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1346051080890463&id=100064567517750

US President Donald Trump has accused Nicolas Maduro of imitating his dancing as he celebrated the abduction of the Venezuelan leader in a freewheeling speech to Republican lawmakers.

Trump's comments come on Tuesday after a New York Times report that Maduro's regular public dancing in defiance of US threats convinced White House officials that it was time to act.

"He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a little bit," Trump told lawmakers at the Kennedy arts center in Washington — which was recently renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by his handpicked board.

"But he's a violent guy, and he's killed millions of people. He's tortured. They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they're closing up."

Trump did not give further details about the alleged torture chamber, or elaborate on his so-far vague plans for the United States to "run" oil-rich Venezuela following the abduction of Maduro.

Leftist Maduro regularly appeared on stage dancing to a techno remix of his mantra "No War, Yes Peace" as US forces massed in the Caribbean in late 2025.

Trump is known for dancing to the disco song "Y.M.C.A." at his rallies.

But while Trump hailed the "brilliant" US special forces raid that abducted Maduro and his wife on Saturday, most of the speech was about firing the starting gun on the crucial 2026 US midterms.

The 79-year-old returned to the theme of his dancing, and other moves, as he ran through a list of his policy priorities ahead of November's crucial election to decide who holds Congress.

'So unpresidential'

"My wife hates when I do this," Trump said regarding his exaggerated imitation of what he said was a trans weightlifter. "She said, 'it's so unpresidential.'"

Trump added that "she hates it when I dance," adding: "Could you imagine FDR dancing?"

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was in office from 1933 until 1945, was paralysed from the waist down by polio in 1921.

Trump also referred to the fact that his speech was on the fifth anniversary of the US Capitol attack by supporters irate at what he still falsely calls his "rigged" election loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

He was impeached for the second time over the riot — and warned Republicans that the same thing could happen if they do not win this year's midterm elections.

"You got to win the midterms, because if we don't win... I mean, they'll find a reason to impeach me," he said, referring to rival Democrats.

Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 January 6 rioters on his first day back in office on January 20, 2025.


Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4MTwlZl4po?si=wTiF0kWvbgYj4DS4

The president of the Beersheba District Court Judge Benny Sagi, who was the judge of Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption case, was killed on Sunday after a vehicle crashed into his motorcycle while he was traveling on Route 6.

According to police, a vehicle that was driving off-road came up onto the highway and hit Sagi’s motorbike, TImes of Israel said.

Magen David Adom said medics and paramedics who arrived at the scene described the accident as “shocking.”

The president of the Beersheba District Court Judge Benny Sagi was killed on Sunday after a vehicle crashed into his motorcycle while he was traveling on Route 6.

According to police, a vehicle that was driving off-road came up onto the highway and hit Sagi’s motorbike.

Magen David Adom said medics and paramedics who arrived at the scene described the accident as “shocking.”

Antichristian2:
These are spoils of war!

Read Numbers 31 towards the end!

What war was fought in Iraq? Bombed a country, killed the leader, imprisoned all politicians and killed 2M+, hanged the president. How's that war??

Give me two examples of people from those countries imposing their ideology on people, also many of those countries are destroyed by USA, so they shouldn't complain when they duet back to their countries for refuge

CyynthiaKiss:
Nobody is against migration , but illegal means is what is destroying countries, after all most Ist world countries were built by immigrants ..
As if that is not enough, some of those immigrants always move around with their bad behaviour, telling people they met on ground how they should live their life .. Isn’t that madness ?
Any migrant that came to Europe through visa will never misbehave, because of the stress involves in getting visa..

In Uk for example, immigrants from Pakistan, Iran , Iraq other Islamic countries have taken it upon themselves to be misbehaving , and be imposing their useless ideology on people, the same ideology that made you to flee your country .These are people that came illegally, and Uk government gave them an asylum on humanitarian basis,only to turn around and start behaving like senseless people they are with their useless behaviour..
They are the ones giving good immigrants in Europe bad names.
The unfortunate part of their behaviour is that when the wave of anti immigrantion policy comes, it will sweep everyone both good and bad immigrants..

This is not even actually all about immigration, it’s an Islamic radicalism that is prevalent among Muslim migrants..

They should integrate with the society they found themselves in, and stop this Islamic nonsense or they should go home !

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was abducted from Caracas along with First Lady Cilia Flores, appeared in a United States court on Monday, facing a range of charges linked to the Donald Trump administration’s accusations describing him as a “narco-terrorist”.

US troops abducted the couple on Saturday and flew them by helicopter to a US warship – and then to New York, where they are facing a trial on multiple US charges, including drug trafficking and weapons charges. But Maduro was not charged with fentanyl trafficking.

cotic. Fentanyl, which the US dubbed a “weapon of mass destruction” last month, is a major driver of overdose deaths in the US.

Here is everything you need to know about what the US is accusing Maduro of.

Where were Maduro and his wife indicted?
The indictment was filed in the Southern District of New York under seal before Christmas Day, December 25.

The document, which was unsealed on Saturday, accuses the abducted Venezuelan president of heading a “corrupt, illegitimate government” propped up by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with thousands of tonnes of cocaine.

In the indictment, Maduro is charged alongside his wife, his son, and three others.

The charges are the same as those in an earlier indictment brought against him in a Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first term of US President Donald Trump.

What are the charges?
The main charges brought against Maduro and his identified associates relate to “narco-terrorism” and conspiracy to import cocaine. The offences carry potential maximum sentences of life imprisonment under US law.

In the indictment, charges are on four counts: “narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices.

The US officials accuse Maduro and others of working hand in hand with the region’s largest drug trafficking groups, including in Colombia and Mexico.

The US’s own data shows that Venezuela is not among the world’s major drug producers.

Trump has recently claimed that Maduro is behind the Tren de Aragua gang that Washington has proscribed as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO)”.

But US intelligence agencies have said there is no evidence that Maduro is linked to Tren de Aragua.


What are the accusations against Maduro?
In the indictment, the US law authorities have focused on Venezuela’s decades-long role in the cocaine trade.

“For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States,” the indictment’s introduction reads.

It identifies Maduro as “at the forefront of that corruption”, claiming he aimed to “transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States”.

“[Maduro] allows cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members,” the indictment notes.

The document also alleges that Maduro “provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.”

But experts have questioned the charges against Maduro – which appear to stem from allegations that Venezuelan territory is used for drug trafficking.

“It has really serious implications,” Charles Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Venezuela, told Al Jazeera. “If they read the indictment that the Southern District of New York issued against Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, his wife, you could probably use that same indictment against any prime minister or president in the world where there’s drug trafficking going on inside the country.”

US President Donald Trump said that Venezuela would turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the US.

The “interim authorities” of Venezuela will be turning over the “high quality, sanctioned oil to the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump describes US attack on Venezuela as a 'brilliant operation'
Speaking to the New York Times (NYT) via a short telephone interview today about the US attack on Venezuela and the mission to capture its president, Donald Trump celebrated what he described as a “brilliant operation”.

According to the publication, Trump said:

A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people.

It was a brilliant operation, actually.

Asked if he had sought congressional authority for the operation and what is next for the South American country, the US president told the NYT that he would address those questions during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

In a defiant video that was posted online, Venezuela’s defence minister, Vladimir Padrino López, accused the US of launching a “deplorable” and “criminal” regime change operation and said the “barbaric” invading forces had “desecrated our sacred land”.

“This invasion represents the greatest outrage the country has ever suffered,” Gen Padrino López declared, adding that Venezuelan authorities were still trying to calculate how many civilians had been killed or injured during helicopter attacks in urban areas.

Venezuela’s defence chief called on citizens and soldiers to unite to resist the foreign “invasion”. He said:

They have attacked us but they will not vanquish us … we will form an indestructible wall of resistance. Our vocation is peace, but our heritage is the fight for freedom.

What we know so far
If you are coming to the blog now or are after the latest updates in one handy post, here is a summary of everything we know so far about the US attack on Venezuela:

Donald Trump has claimed the US has “captured” Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them out of the South American country after a pre-dawn assault on Caracas and the surrounding region.

Venezuela’s government accused the US of launching a series of attacks against civilian and military targets in the South American country, after explosions rocked its capital, Caracas, before dawn on Saturday.

In a statement, Venezuela’s government urged citizens to rise up against the assault and said Washington risked plunging Latin America into chaos with “an extremely serious” act of “military aggression”. “The entire country must mobilise to defeat this imperialist aggression,” it added.

Explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday. In its statement, Venezuela’s government confirmed that the city had come under attack, as well as three other states: Miranda, La Guaira and Aragua.

Venezuela has accused the US of trying to “seize control” of country’s resources, in particular its oil and minerals. Th country has called on the international community to denounce what it called a flagrant violation of international law that put millions of lives at risk.

In the early hours of Saturday the president of neighbouring Colombia, Gustavo Petro, called for an immediate emergency session of the UN security council, saying on social media that Venezuela had come under attack.

Iran on Saturday condemned Saturday’s attacks on Venezuela, after Caracas accused the United States of being behind explosions that rocked the capital.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Iranian foreign ministry in a statement said it “strongly condemns the American military attack on Venezuela and the flagrant violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country”.

Iran’s statement was put out before Donald Trump’s Truth Social post confirming that the US had conducted “a large scale strike” on Venezuela (see 9.31am GMT).

The Israeli military examined the possibility of recruiting children of foreign workers, according to internal documents obtained by Hebrew Channel 12. The proposal emerged amid a shortage of active-duty soldiers and reservists following prolonged military operations in Gaza and other parts of the Middle East.

The plan reportedly aimed to recruit around 100 individuals aged 15 to 25 but was later suspended after leadership changes at the Population and Immigration Authority. Official data indicates that 3,752 children of foreign workers currently reside in Israel within the eligible age range.

A source familiar with the discussions described the proposal as a “win-win situation,” stating: “These are children who were born in the State of Israel, grew up here, attended an Israeli school, speak Hebrew as their mother tongue, and do not know any other culture. These are high-level guys who really want to integrate because they do not know anything else.”

Fejoku:
Was John The Baptist an Arab? Was David an Arab? Was Solomon an Arab? Was the people who built up the heritage site Arabs? Commonsense is really not common. Palestinians should continue to cry for a separate state without denying the right of Israel to exist. They should manage what eventually will be given to them.

Where was Abraham born? Where dus he live?

Israel plans to seize large parts of a major occupied West Bank historic site, according to a government document, and illegal settlers put up a new outpost overnight, even as the country faces pressure to crack down on settler violence in the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Civil Administration announced its intention to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the West Bank, in the document obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel’s largest seizure of archeologically important land.

The move came as Israeli settlers celebrated the creation of a new, unauthorised settlement near Bethlehem, and a Palestinian lawyer said a West Bank activist has been detained and hospitalised.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said Israel may have committed war crimes when it forcibly expelled 32,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps this year.

Israel to seize heritage site

The Israeli order released on November 12 lists parcels of land it intends to seize in the Sebastia area. Peace Now, which provided the document to AP, said the popular archeological site, where thousands of olive trees grow, belongs to the Palestinians.

It is the site where Christians and Muslims believe Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) was buried.

Israel announced plans to develop the site into a tourist attraction in 2023.

Excavations have already begun, and the government has allocated more than 30 million shekels ($9.24 million) to develop the site, according to Peace Now and another rights group.

The order gives Palestinians 14 days to object to the declaration.

The largest parcel of historical land previously seized by Israel was 286 dunams (70 acres) in Susya, a village in the south of the occupied West Bank, Peace Now said.

Settlers inaugurate new illegal outpost

Israeli settlers said they established a new unauthorised outpost close to Bethlehem.

The chairman of the local Etzion settler council, Yaron Rosenthal, welcomed the settlement.

The new outpost is close to the busy junction where on Tuesday, one Israeli was stabbed to death.

Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack, but in a statement called it “a normal response to the occupation’s attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause,” vowing that Israeli aggression wouldn’t go unchallenged.

Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now’s settlement watch programme, said the outpost is on land that used to be an Israeli military base. Photos that settlers shared online show temporary homes at the site and bulldozers at work.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza — areas designated for Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, largely on illegal settlements, in addition to over 200,000 more in contested East Jerusalem.

Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expressed concern that the latest spate of violence by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

"I hope not," Rubio told reporters recently, when asked whether the occupied West Bank events could endanger the Gaza ceasefire.

"We don't expect it to. We'll do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen."

Before Israel existed, the land was called Palestine under British rule. In 1941, even David Ben-Gurion was listed as “Palestinian” on official documents — because all residents, Jews included, held Palestinian nationality.🇵🇸✊🏻

🧾 History is clear. Archives don’t lie‼️

Anna Liedtke, a German journalist and Freedom Flotilla activist, said she was sexually assaulted while held by 'Israeli' forces.
Liedtke’s case highlights alleged systemic abuses against Palestinians in 'Israeli' detention facilities.
Anna Liedtke, a 25-year-old German journalist and activist with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, has publicly revealed that she experienced sexual assault while held by 'Israeli' forces.

Liedtke, who was aboard the vessel Conscience attempting to break the naval blockade of Gaza, said she was raped during a transfer between 'Israeli' prisons.


The journalist described her detention as lasting five days following the interception of the ship. She stated that the assault occurred while being transferred from Ktzi’ot to Givon prison during routine strip searches.

Liedtke emphasized that she is speaking out not only for herself but also to highlight the daily abuses faced by Palestinian prisoners in 'Israeli' detention. "Palestinians in the Zionists’ eyes are not viewed as human," she said. "It’s as cruel as this sounds, so I’m sharing it publicly to show the world what’s happening inside those prisons."

She added that justice for her experience goes beyond punishing the perpetrators. "Justice would mean an end of Zionism, the occupation, genocide, and these prison systems. Justice, in the end, means the liberation of Palestine," Liedtke said.

The journalist called for solidarity and continued activism. "The most important thing is that your struggle continues. Whenever we experience this kind of violence, the best and most revolutionary thing we can do is not be silent."

Rights groups say Liedtke’s account contributes to growing concerns over sexual abuse and mistreatment in 'Israeli' detention facilities. Her testimony is part of wider calls for international attention to the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and the ongoing blockade of Gaza.

Source: https://youtube.com/shorts/-jBkaPkDwuo?si=LuH2tOv0XH-QVvht

While churches fill with worshippers and festive greetings pour in, Christmas in India is unfolding amid more fear and tension rather than celebration with countless reports of attacks, intimidation and disruptions on Christian gatherings and decorations.

The attacks have been linked to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh‑affiliated and right‑wing Hindu groups in several states, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.

Police have made arrests and stepped up security, as religious leaders warn against intimidation and call for the protection of constitutional rights.

At a mall in Chhattisgarh’s capital city, Raipur, Christmas decorations were vandalised by a mob of right‑wing activists.

“Around 80-90 people barged in. For the last 16 years, since we began operations here…I have never seen such behaviour. The mob threatened us…shouted at us. They indulged in violence,” an employee of the mall was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a key Hindu nationalist organisation, issued public appeals urging Hindus to refrain from celebrating Christmas, describing participation in the festival as a threat to “cultural awareness,” Indian media reported.

Critics say these calls have contributed to an atmosphere of exclusion and emboldened groups to harass vendors, disrupt celebrations and intimidate Christians during the season.

In Kerala, a group of children, mostly under age 15, participating in a Christmas carol procession were attacked and their instruments destroyed by a man identified locally as affiliated with the RSS on December 21, The News Minute reported.

Police arrested him and he was charged under laws including those prohibiting communal violence.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)
state leader C Krishnakumar dismissed the incident by falsely claiming the group of children were a “drunken criminal gang” and insinuated political motives behind their carolling, a remark that parents and local residents described as deeply hurtful and misleading, given the minors involved.

BJP state vice‑president Shone George echoed this line, saying “if the carollers are indecent, they will definitely get beaten up”.

The comments alarmed families and rights advocates and prompted some parents to consider legal complaints for defamation and psychological harm to the children.

In a strong condemnation of the attack, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) organised protest carols across the district.

In Madhya Pradesh, two separate incidents were reported where a local BJP district vice‑president assaulted a visually impaired woman attending a prayer meeting, with mob harassment also reported during church gatherings.

In several cities, street vendors selling Christmas items such as Santa hats and decorations were intimidated and harassed, with bystanders and vigilantes accusing them of promoting “non-Hindu culture”, including in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, where Bajrang Dal members verbally confronted women and children wearing Santa Claus hats and urged them to celebrate only at home, according to social media video footage and police statements reported in Indian media.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the attacks on Christmas celebrations as antithetical to India’s secular ethos.

Vijayan also highlighted pressure by RSS-linked groups on schools and institutions to cancel Christmas events and warned any infringement on constitutional rights would not be tolerated.

Heightened police deployment has been reported at churches and sites of potential tension, for example, at a historic church in Hisar, Haryana, where authorities positioned officers to prevent clashes after right‑wing groups announced their own events nearby.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) issued statements expressing deep concern about rising attacks on Christians during the Christmas season and urged government action to protect citizens’ constitutional rights.

The Bombay Catholic Sabha similarly condemned the brutal intimidation of Christians and called for protective measures.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Cxoux3FhB/

Afriifa:
I don't see any picture of a Santa Clause being detained.

1. https://youtube.com/shorts/XFPTxkupp28?si=G4P0TgEbSKwtyHPV

2. https://youtube.com/shorts/TnzH_vIdvKc?si=kRb3aU0fFhY3lw_k

Israeli police on Sunday forcibly dispersed Christmas festivities held by Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel, arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus and confiscated equipment from the event
https://middleeasteye.pulse.ly/t9t20nccmv

Wafa Agency
Israeli colonists raze vast areas of agricultural lands north of Ramallah Israeli colonists set fire to heavy machinery in Bethlehem-area town Israeli forces uproot dozens of olive trees west of Salfit Colonist attack in Hebron-area town injures eight-month-old Palestinian infant Israeli forces demolish Palestinian shack east of Ramallah Israeli colonists raze vast areas of agricultural lands north of RamallahIsraeli colonists set fire to heavy machinery in Bethlehem-area townIsraeli forces uproot dozens of olive trees west of SalfitColonist attack in Hebron-area town injures eight-month-old Palestinian infantIsraeli forces demolish Palestinian shack east of Ramallah
Home Presidency 17/January/2022 05:28 PM
Greek Orthodox Patriarch says Zionist extremists want to expel Christians from the Holy Land
Greek Orthodox Patriarch says Zionist extremists want to expel Christians from the Holy Land
President Mahmoud Abbas with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III. (WAFA Images)
RAMALLAH, Monday, January 17, 2022 (WAFA) - The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, today told President Mahmoud Abbas that extremist Zionist groups want to expel Christians from Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land.

President Abbas received in his Ramallah office the Greek Orthodox patriarch and his accompanying delegation during which the Patriarch briefed the President on the latest situation in the Holy City and the frequent attacks against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, especially Christians, clergy and churches, and the continuous intimidations against Christians who exercise their natural right to worship.

He explained that the heads of churches have resolved to carry out an international campaign that will put the Christian world in the picture of the violations committed by the extremist Zionists against the Holy City, especially the attacks on Orthodox real estate threatened to be seized by these extremist Zionist groups in Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Square in Jaffa Gate (Bab Al-Khalil) in Jerusalem’s Old City, which he said is a corridor for pilgrims to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the various monasteries and churches.

He thanked President Abbas for the efforts made by the State of Palestine and the continuous support it provides to preserve Islamic and Christian holy sites, especially to preserve the Christian presence in Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories.

The Patriarch also spoke about projects that are being implemented by his church to contribute to strengthening the status of pilgrimage sites that receive millions of Christians around the world, such as the project of restoring Mar Elias Monastery, restoring Mar Mitri School in the Old City of Jerusalem and launching the “Our Jerusalem” project, which includes 400 apartments and a shopping center in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, all aimed to strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, as well as projects in Beit Jala and Beit Sahour and in the city of Bethlehem in cooperation with the Higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs, which includes housing projects and a cultural center on the land granted to the National Orthodox Society in Bethlehem.

"We in Jerusalem, Mr. President, derive our resolve from you, and from your directives. We continue the process of construction and steadfastness and work towards achieving a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees the rights of the oppressed and preserves the true identity of the city of Jerusalem," said the Patriarch.

For his part, the President welcomed the Patriarch and his accompanying delegation, congratulating them on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year, wishing that the current year would be a year of peace and the realization of the Palestinian people's hopes for freedom and independence.

He stressed that the State of Palestine will continue its support for all its people in Jerusalem, and to protect Islamic and Christian holy sites in light of the attacks the city is being subjected to by settlers and extremist groups.

"We share with you the importance of carrying out more vital projects that contribute to the consolidation of the Christian presence in Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land, and we highly value your undertaking such projects and your international campaign aimed at exposing violations against the believers in the Holy Land," President Abbas told his guests.

“For our part, we will continue to work to support the steadfastness of our people in Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land, and to continue in the international campaign that we launched for this goal,” he added.

The Israeli Knesset has approved an extension of a law that allows the closure of foreign media channels on grounds of “harming state security”, keeping it in force until the end of 2027.

The Knesset’s plenary passed the bill late on Monday in its second and third readings. The proposal, submitted by Likud MP Ariel Kalner, was approved by 22 votes in favour and 10 against.

Read: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251223-knesset-extends-law-restricting-foreign-media-until-2027/

US Vice President-elect JD Vance said criticism of Israel should not be equated with antisemitism, emphasizing a clear distinction between opposing specific policies and harboring hatred toward Jewish people.

“I would say there’s a difference between not liking Israel (or disagreeing with a given Israeli policy) and anti-semitism," Vance said in a reply to his post on the US social media company X late Monday.

Responding to excerpts from an Atlantic report on the increase in antisemitism among younger generations, Vance criticized the coverage, saying: "Mainstream journalism is just profoundly uninteresting and lame, consumed by its own pieties."

"To write an article about the ‘generational divide’ in anti-semitism without discussing the demographics of the various generations is mind boggling," he added.

"The most significant single thing you could do to eliminate anti-semitism and any other kind of ethnic hatred is to support our efforts to lower immigration and promote assimilation," he said. "But these guys won't do that, because they all lack curiosity and introspection."

He also shared an analysis cited by Charles Fain Lehman of the Manhattan Institute, in which the author said "foreign-origin is a much better predictor of antisemitism than ideology or age."

Vance last week had said he disagreed with fellow Republicans who have warned of a rise in antisemitism within the party. Speaking to NBC News, he said: "Judging anybody based on their skin color or immutable characteristics, I think, is fundamentally anti-American and anti-Christian."

“I do think it’s important to call this stuff out when I see it,” Vance said, adding that in his conversations with young conservatives, "I don’t see some simmering antisemitism that’s exploding."

The remarks come after Sunday’s attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.

MEXICO CITY — President Trump’s order of a partial blockade on oil tankers going to and from Venezuela and his claim that Caracas stole “oil, land and other assets” from the United States mark a significant escalation of Washington’s unrelenting campaign against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Asked about Venezuela on Wednesday, Trump said the United States will be “getting land, oil rights and whatever we had.”

“We want it back,” he said without further elaboration. It was unclear whether Trump planned to say more about Venezuela in a televised address to the nation late Wednesday night.

The blockade, which aims to cripple the key component of Venezuela’s faltering, oil-dependent economy, comes as the Trump administration has bolstered military forces in the Caribbean, blown up more than two dozen boats allegedly ferrying illicit drugs in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, and threatened military strikes on Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a rambling post Tuesday night on his social media site. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”

Not long after Trump announced the blockade Tuesday night, the government of Venezuela denounced the move and his other efforts as an attempt to “rob the riches that belong to our people.”

Leaders of other Latin American nations called for calm and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after a phone call with Maduro, called on U.N. members to “exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”

Also Wednesday, Trump received rare pushback from the Republican-dominated Congress, where some lawmakers are pressuring the administration to disclose more information about its deadly attacks on alleged drug boats.

The Senate gave final approval to a $900-billion defense policy package that, among other things, would require the administration to disclose to lawmakers specific orders behind the boat strikes along with unedited videos of the deadly attacks. If the administration does not comply, the bill would withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget.

The bill’s passage came a day after Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the U.S. military campaign. The meetings left lawmakers with a mixed reaction, largely with Republicans backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it.

The White House has said its military campaign in Venezuela is meant to curb drug trafficking, but U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration data show that Venezuela is a relatively minor player in the U.S.-bound narcotics trade.

Trump also declared that the South American country had been designated a “foreign terrorist organization.” That would apparently make Venezuela the first nation slapped with a classification normally reserved for armed groups deemed hostile to the United States or its allies. The consequences remain unclear for Venezuela.

Regional responses to the Trump threats highlight the new ideological fault lines in Latin America, where right-wing governments in recent years have won elections in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador.

The leftist leaders of the region’s two most populous nations — Brazil and Mexico — have called for restraint in Venezuela.

“Whatever one thinks about the Venezuelan government or the presidency of Maduro, the position of Mexico should always be: No to intervention, no to foreign meddling,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to look for a peaceful solution and avert any bloodshed.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also urged Trump to pull back from confrontation. “The power of the word can outweigh the power of the gun,” Lula said he told Trump recently, offering to facilitate talks with the Maduro government.

But Chile’s right-wing president-elect, José Antonio Kast, said he supports a change of government in Venezuela, asserting that it would reduce migration from Venezuela to other nations in the region.

“If someone is going to do it, let’s be clear that it solves a gigantic problem for us and all of Latin America, all of South America, and even for countries in Europe,” Kast said, referring to Venezuelan immigration.

In his Tuesday post, Trump said he had ordered a “complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.” Although the move is potentially devastating to Venezuela’s economy, the fact that the blockade will affect only tankers already sanctioned by U.S. authorities does give Venezuela some breathing room, at least for now.

Experts estimated that between one-third and half of tankers transporting crude to and from Venezuela are part of the so-called dark fleet of sanctioned tankers. The ships typically ferry crude from Venezuela and Iran, two nations under heavy U.S. trade and economic bans.

However, experts said that even a partial blockade will be a major hit for Venezuela’s feeble economy, already reeling under more than a decade of U.S. penalties. And Washington can continue adding to the list of sanctioned tankers.

“The United States can keep sanctioning more tankers, and that would leave Venezuela with almost no income,” said David A. Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. “That would probably cause a famine in the country.”

The growing pressure, analysts said, will probably mean the diminishing number of firms willing to take the risk of transporting Venezuelan crude will increase their prices, putting more pressure on Caracas. Purchasers in China and elsewhere will also probably demand price cuts to buy Venezuelan oil.

SOURCE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZZfpdF6iY

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday visited St. George Hospital in southern Sydney to meet Ahmed Al Ahmed, the Muslim man who stopped one of the gunmen during the deadly Bondi Beach attack that left 15 people dead.

Standing beside Al Ahmed’s hospital bed, Albanese praised the 43-year-old father of two for his extraordinary courage, calling him a symbol of national unity in the face of terror.

“Ahmed, you are an Australian hero. You put yourself at risk to save others,” Albanese wrote later on X. “In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians.”

Al Ahmed was seriously wounded after charging at one of the attackers, seizing his weapon and turning it back on him, forcing the gunman to surrender. Al Ahmed was shot multiple times and suffered injuries to his arm and shoulder. Hospital officials said his condition was stable.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, Albanese warned against allowing fear or hatred to divide the country.

“This is what terrorists seek, but we will not allow our country to be divided,” he said. “We will unite, we will embrace each other, and we will get through this.”

Police said the attack unfolded on Sunday evening along Bondi Beach when a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son opened fire on crowds. Fifteen people were killed and at least 42 others were wounded and taken to hospitals across Sydney.

One of the attackers was shot dead at the scene, while the second sustained critical injuries and remains under guard, police said. Authorities have formally classified the incident as a terrorist act and continue to investigate possible motives and connections.

The attack has shaken Australia, prompting an outpouring of tributes for the victims and for civilians like Al Ahmed who intervened to save lives. Flags were lowered in parts of Sydney, and vigils were held along the beachfront on Monday night.

Officials said additional security measures remain in place as the nation mourns and investigators work to establish how the attackers carried out the assault.

SOURCE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mln5Bszegw

BlackViper:
Are Israel and America religious ideologies or identities?

but support for the statehood of palestine is an ideology right?

When Ahmed al-Ahmed tackled and wrested a gun from an alleged shooter at Bondi beach, he was simply thinking that he “couldn’t bear to see people dying”, his cousin says.

Less than a day later, al-Ahmed remains in a critical but stable condition at St George hospital in Sydney. Since the attack, the 43-year-old father of two young girls has catapulted to international fame and been hailed as a hero by the Australian prime minister, the New South Wales premier and the US president.

Anthony Albanese singled out al-Ahmed at a press conference on Monday, paying tribute to his actions as an example of “Australians coming together”.

“Ahmed al-Ahmed … took the gun off that perpetrator at great risk to himself and suffered serious injury as a result of that, and is currently going through operations today in hospital,” Albanese said.

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, visited al-Ahmed in hospital and posted on Instagram praising the “real-life hero”.

“Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk,” Minns wrote. “There is no doubt that more lives would have been lost if not for [al-Ahmed’s] selfless courage.”

At least 16 people, including one of the alleged gunmen, were killed in the mass shooting during a Hanukah celebration on Sunday evening.

Extraordinary footage of the scene shows al-Ahmed rushing towards one of the shooters, leaping on to him and wrestling the gun from his hands.

Jozay, a cousin of Al-Ahmed, said he was recovering from his first surgery and had two more to come. “He took a lot of medication, he can’t speak well,” Jozay said after leaving the hospital on Monday evening.

Another cousin, Mustafa al-Asaad, told the Al Araby television network that al-Ahmed intervened as a “humanitarian act”.

“When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn’t bear to see people dying,” he said.

“It was a humanitarian act, more than anything else. It was a matter of conscience … He’s very proud that he saved even one life.

“When he saw this scene, people dying of gunfire, he told me, ‘I couldn’t bear this. God gave me strength. I believe I’m going to stop this person killing people’.”

Al-Asaad said his cousin was an Australian citizen of Syrian origin, from the city of Idlib. After spending an hour with him on Monday morning, he said his cousin told him “God gave me courage” and that he didn’t regret his actions.

Al-Ahmed’s parents, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed and Malakeh Hasan al-Ahmed, told ABC news their son was shot four to five times in his shoulder during the altercation.

“My son is a hero. He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people,” his father told ABC.

The couple had only arrived in Sydney from Syria months prior, and had been separated from their son since he came to Australia in 2006.

Al-Ahmed’s mother told the ABC she kept “beating myself up and crying” when she received the call her son had been shot.

“He saw they were dying, and people were losing their lives, and when that guy [the shooter] ran out of ammo, he took it from him, but he was hit,” she said. “We pray that God saves him.”

According to his parents, al-Ahmed had been having a coffee with a friend in Bondi when he heard the shots ring out. They said he would have done anything to protect anyone.

“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street,” his father said.

“He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another. Especially here in Australia, there’s no difference between one citizen and another.”

‘He really is a superhero’
Lubaba Alhmidi AlKahil, the media director for the Australians for Syria Association, visited al-Ahmed on Monday afternoon to deliver a tray of food and a bouquet of flowers. She said he had undergone successful surgery and was recovering, but was still in pain.

“What he did, he really is a superhero,” she said. AlKahil hadn’t met al-Ahmed prior to the tragedy but said the community was “very proud” of him.

“You might not believe it, but while we were watching the news, a lot of us had the feeling that he looks Syrian, he looks really Syrian,” she said. “Then we found, he is Syrian.”

She said al-Ahmed came from a “lovely family” that was surrounding him with care and prayers.

“This is not strange for a Syrian individual, the community is lovely, supportive, with strong bonds. We’ve refused injustice and persecution [in Syria] and it’s not strange that one of us had the feeling: ‘No, I will not watch, I will die to help.’”

For AlKahil, the profound tragedy also brought a sense of fear.

“As Muslims, every time there’s an attack we say to ourselves, oh no, people will say it’s Muslims that are bad,” she said. “We are scared to leave our houses if we’ll be accused.

“But our religion is a religion of peace and we are very peaceful people. This proves that.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CulNf-eeW6c?si=_qVz0nLqLefTPkLs

MASTAkiLLAh:
He isn't Muslim, he's Christian

Ahmed AlAhmed is a Muslim from Syria.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-15/bondi-beach-shooting-fruit-shop-gunman-hero-parents-speak/106143864