A photo of a Palestinian flag being displayed outside Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) Capitol office has quickly drawn criticism in light of the recent horrific Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.
The photo, shared by Reese Gorman, a Washington Examiner reporter, quickly amassed over 2 million views, triggering responses from U.S. lawmakers and citizens.
Tlaib, a member of the progressive “Squad” and a U.S. representative of Palestinian heritage, has frequently expressed her perspective on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. On Sunday, Tlaib labeled Israel an “apartheid” state.
“I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity,” she wrote. “The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”
Tlaib’s months-long display of the Palestinian flag outside of her office on Capitol Hill comes as the world processes the devastating Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, which claimed the lives of at least 900 Israelis, primarily civilians, according to The New York Post. The decision to continue displaying the Palestinian flag has generated backlash from other members of Congress.
READ MORE: Largest U.S. aircraft carrier deployed near Israel
In response to the news about a Palestinian flag still being featured outside of Tlaib’s office, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) tweeted, “The halls of Congress belong to America. They should be reserved for flags that embody our great nation. The Palestinian flag should not have a place here. That’s why I sponsored an appropriations amendment to end this silliness.”
Rep. Tlaib has previously posted on social media about her Palestinian heritage, stating that while Palestinians may face restrictions in other countries, she proudly displayed the flag in her office.
In January, she tweeted, “Palestinians may be banned from flying their flag under an apartheid government, but we can still proudly do it at my office.”
This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.
Last year, a student fell unconscious after walking out of a bathroom at Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado. When Jessica Foster, the school district’s lead nurse, heard the girl’s distraught friends mention drugs, she knew she had to act fast.
Emergency responders were just four minutes away. “But still four minutes — if they are completely not breathing, it’s four minutes too long,” Foster said.
Foster said she got a dose of naloxone, a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, and gave it to the student. The girl revived.
In 2021, a student at Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, overdosed in class after snorting a fentanyl-laced pill in a school bathroom. (Parker Seibold/KFF Health News/TNS)
Forty-five miles away in Colorado Springs, Mitchell High School officials didn’t have naloxone on hand when a 15-year-old student overdosed in class in December 2021 after snorting a fentanyl-laced pill in a school bathroom. That student died.
Colorado Springs’ school district has since joined Pueblo and dozens of other districts in the state in supplying middle and high schools with the lifesaving medication, often known by one of its brand names, Narcan. Since passage of a 2019 state law, Colorado has had a program that allows schools to obtain the medicine, typically in nasal spray form, for free or at a reduced cost.
Not all schools are on board with the idea, though. Though more districts have signed on since last year, only about a third of Colorado districts had enrolled in the state’s giveaway program at the start of this school year. And within the dozen counties with the highest drug overdose death rates in the state, many school districts had not signed up in the face of ongoing stigma around the need for the overdose reversal medication.
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends that schools, including elementary schools, keep naloxone on hand as fatal opioid overdoses rise, particularly from the potent drug fentanyl. And 33 states have laws that expressly allow schools or school employees to carry, store, or administer naloxone, according to Jon Woodruff, managing attorney at the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, which tracks naloxone policies across the country.
Jessica Fosteris the nurse supervisor for Pueblo School District 60. Last year, Foster administered Narcan to a student who had fallen unconscious in the hallway outside of a school bathroom. (Parker Seibold/KFF Health News/TNS)
Among those, about nine states require at least some K-12 schools to store naloxone on-site, including Illinois, whose requirement goes into effect in January. Some states, such as Maine, also require that public schools offer training to students in how to administer naloxone in nasal spray form.
Rhode Island requires all K-12 schools, both public and private, to stock naloxone. Joseph Wendelken, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said in the past four years naloxone was administered nine times to people ages 10 to 18 in educational settings.
In early September, the medication also became available over the counter nationally, though the $45 price tag per two-dose package has some addiction specialists worried it will be out of reach for those who need it most.
Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado, gets naloxone at no cost from a local nonprofit called the Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association. (Parker Seibold/KFF Health News/TNS)
But the medicine still isn’t as publicly widespread as automated external defibrillators or fire extinguishers. Kate King, president of the National Association of School Nurses, said reluctance to stock it in schools can stem from officials being afraid to provide a medical service or the ongoing cost of resupplying the naloxone and training people to use it. But the main hang-up she’s heard is that schools are afraid they’ll be stigmatized as a “bad school” that has a drug problem or as a school that condones bad choices.
“School districts are very careful regarding their image,” said Yunuen Cisneros, community outreach and inclusion manager at the Public Education & Business Coalition, which serves most of the state’s school districts. “Many of them don’t want to accept this program, because to accept it is to accept a drug addiction problem.”
That’s the wrong way to think about it, King said. “We really equate it to our stock albuterol for asthma attacks, our stock epinephrine for anaphylactic reactions,” she said.
Colorado health officials could not say how often naloxone had been used on school grounds in the state. So far this year, at least 15 children ages 10 to 18 have died of fentanyl overdoses but not necessarily in schools. And in 2022, 34 children in that age group died, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment. That included 13-year-old José Hernández, who died in August 2022 from a fentanyl overdose at home just days after starting eighth grade at Aurora Hills Middle School. His grandmother found his body over the bathroom sink in the early morning.
With the arrival of this new school year, supplies of naloxone are on hand for kids in more Colorado schools. Last year, state lawmakers appropriated $19.7 million in federal aid to the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund, which is accessible to school districts, jails, first responders, and community service organizations, among others.
“It’s the most we’ve ever had,” said Andrés Guerrero, manager of the state health department’s overdose prevention program.
According to data provided by Colorado’s health department, 65 school districts were enrolled in the state program to receive naloxone at low or no cost at the start of the school year. Another 16 had reached out to the state for information but hadn’t finalized orders as of mid-August. The remaining 97 school districts either didn’t stock naloxone at their schools or sourced it from elsewhere.
Guerrero said the districts decide whom to train to administer the medicine. “In some cases, it’s just the school nurses. In some cases, it’s school nurses and the teachers,” he said. “And in some cases, we have the students as well.”
In Durango, the 2021 death of a high schooler galvanized students to push for the right to carry naloxone with them to school with parental permission — and to administer it if need be — without fear of punishment.
It took picketing outside a school board meeting to get permission, said Hays Stritikus, who graduated this spring from Durango High School. He’s now involved in drafting legislation that would expressly allow students across the state to carry and distribute Narcan on school grounds.
“The ultimate goal is a world where Narcan is not necessary,” he said. “But that’s just not where we live.”
Some health experts disagree that all schools should stock naloxone. Lauren Cipriano, a health economist at Western University in Canada, has studied the cost-effectiveness of naloxone in secondary schools there. While opioid poisonings have occurred on school grounds, she said, high schools tend to be really low-risk settings.
More effective strategies for combating the opioid epidemic are needle exchange sites, supervised drug consumption sites, and medication-assisted treatment that reduces cravings or mutes highs, Cipriano said. But those approaches can be expensive compared with naloxone distribution.
“When the state makes a big, free program like this, it looks like they’re doing something about the opioid epidemic,” she said. “It’s cheap and it looks like you’re doing something, and that’s, like, political gold.”
Denver Public Schools, the largest school district in Colorado, started stocking naloxone in 2022, said Jade Williamson, manager of the district’s healthy schools program.
“We know some of the students are on the forefront of these things before older generations,” Williamson said. “To know where to find it, and to access it when needed through these adults who’ve trained, whether that’s a school nurse or a school administrator, I think it brings them some sense of relief.”
The state’s seven largest districts, with more than 25,000 students each, all participate in the state program. By contrast, a KFF Health News analysis found, only 21% of districts with up to 1,200 students have signed up for it — even though many of those small districts are in areas with drug overdose death rates higher than the state average.
Some school districts figured out a path to getting naloxone outside of the state program. That includes Pueblo School District 60, where lead nurse Foster gave naloxone to a student last year.
The Pueblo school district gets naloxone at no cost from a local nonprofit called the Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association. Foster said she tried signing up for the state program but encountered difficulties. So she decided to stick with what was already working.
Moffat County School District RE-1 in Craig, Colorado, gets its naloxone from a local addiction treatment center, according to district nurse Myranda Lyons. She said she trains school staffers on how to administer it when she teaches them CPR.
Christopher deKay, superintendent of Ignacio School District 11Jt, said its school resource officers already carry naloxone but that the district enrolled in the state program, too, so that schools could stock the medication in the nursing office in case a resource officer isn’t around.
“It’s like everything — like training for fire safety. You don’t know what’s going to happen in your school,” said deKay. “If the unthinkable happens, we want to be able to respond in the best way possible.”
Lubb-dupp. Lubb-dupp. Those are the words that health care professionals often use to mimic the sound of your heartbeat. That steady, regular sound is made by your heart valves opening and closing as blood circulates through your heart.
You may have heard the term “heart murmur.” A murmur is an extra heart sound that can be heard by a stethoscope. Sometimes, the murmur sounds like a humming, which can be faint or loud. It might be temporary or persistent. Heart murmurs may be present at birth or develop later in life during pregnancy, phases of rapid growth like adolescence or from a fever or anemia.
The murmur may disappear as quickly as it comes if it has a temporary cause. However, a murmur also could be persistent and loud, easily heard and sound like a churning mill wheel or cooing seagull. This might indicate a serious heart problem.
What causes a heart murmur?
Multiple factors can cause a murmur. It could be a heart valve problem or a hole in the heart.
The valves in your heart act as doors between the chambers, or rooms, of the heart. In the case of a murmur, a valve may be tight or leaky. When heart valves are very tight or narrow, this is called stenosis. A murmur also might be from a leaky valve, called regurgitation.
A murmur also may occur from high blood flow in people with a fever or with low red blood cells, called anemia.
Some people have a family history of heart murmur and heart disease. Some are born with a congenital condition causing a murmur. Others have had a recent severe infection or illness that could damage a heart valve and need immediate medical attention.
What are the symptoms?
Innocent or harmless heart murmurs don’t typically cause symptoms, and most aren’t serious.
Symptoms of a serious or worrisome heart murmur depend on the cause and require evaluation by a health care professional. These symptoms may include:
— Blue or gray lips or fingernails
— Chest pain
— Fainting
— Fever
— Leg swelling
— Lingering cough
— Shortness of breath
— Sudden weight gain
— Swollen liver or neck veins
— Worsening fatigue
How is it diagnosed?
It’s common for a heart murmur to be detected during a physical exam being given for another reason. If a health care professional hears a murmur, you’ll be asked questions about your personal and family history that could indicate a reason for the murmur.
Several criteria are used to determine if a murmur is innocent or worrisome, including:
— Volume — The loudness of the murmur is evaluated on a scale from 1 to 6. The loudest heart murmur is a 6.
— Location — The location of the murmur in the heart will be identified, along with whether the sound spreads to the neck or back.
— Pitch — The murmur may be high-, medium- or low-pitched.
— Timing of the murmur — A murmur that occurs when blood leaves the heart is a systolic murmur. A murmur that occurs when the heart fills with blood is called a diastolic murmur. A murmur also may be heard throughout the heartbeat. When the murmur is heard as blood passes through the heart, it may be a sign of a larger heart problem.
You will need to undergo testing to determine the cause of the heart murmur. Your health care professional will likely order an ultrasound picture of your heart, called an echocardiogram or echo, to show detailed images of your heart’s valves, chambers, structure and function.
Once the cause has been found, some people will need repeated evaluation. Others may need surgery to treat the cause of the murmur, especially if it is to adjust a tight or leaky valve or to close a hole in the heart.
In some situations, people may need to take antibiotics before going to a dentist to protect the heart valves from potential infection. This infection, called endocarditis, can be spread via the bloodstream during dental work.
It’s important to learn if a heart murmur is innocent or serious so you can get the proper treatment.
DreamWorks Animation cut about 70 positions, as many entertainment companies have adjusted their staffing levels amid rising production costs and this summer’s work stoppages.
“Roles affected were across corporate functions, feature, television and technology departments as part of an overall cost-reduction,” DreamWorks Animation said in a statement released on Sunday.
The Glendale-based company produces movies including “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Abominable” and upcoming “Trolls Band Together.” News outlet Deadline was the first to report on the layoffs, which affected roughly 4% of DreamWorks Animation’s workforce.
The cuts last week follow other companies that have been reducing their expenses amid this summer’s dual Hollywood strikes by film and TV writers and actors that have delayed or suspended many productions. Local businesses including talent agencies, production companies and prop houses have felt the financial squeeze.
Two weeks ago, the Writers Guild of America ended their 148-day strike against major studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. when both sides reached a tentative agreement. Writers have until Monday at 1 p.m. to vote on it.
Film and TV actors led by SAG-AFTRA remain on strike and are continuing negotiations on Monday with the AMPTP.
Even once that strike were to end, industry observers said it would take some time to get productions back up and running to the levels before the strikes. Many crew members have also been out of work due to the production shut downs.
Unrelated to the strikes, animation has been an area that has been significantly affected by the boom in streaming and its later course correction. Companies like Netflix heavily invested in animation as a way to attract younger audiences, but after facing a slow down in subscriber growth, cut part-time animation related jobs and canceled series. HBO Max also canceled shows.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots issued a statement in “solidarity with the Palestinian people” on Monday after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding thousands more.
“Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family who are currently resisting 57 years of settler colonialism and apartheid,” the statement read in part. “As black people continue the fight to end militarism and mass incarceration in our own communities, let us understand the resistance in Palestine as an attempt to tear down the gates of the world’s largest open air prison. As a radical Black organization grounded in abolitionist ideas, we see clear parallels between black and Palestinian people.”
“We, too, understand what it means to be surveilled, dehumanized, property seized, families separated, our people criminalized and slaughtered with impunity, locked up in droves, and when we resist they call us terrorists,” the statement continued. “We, too, dream of a world where our people may live freely on decolonized land. May the borders, checkpoints, prisons, police and watchlists that terrorize our communities crumble and may the world we build from their ashes honor those who have fallen in struggle.”
READ MORE: Hamas beheaded Jewish babies, IDF says
BLM Chicago also made a post in support of Hamas terrorists, sharing a silhouetted image of one of the terrorists flying a powered parachute, which was used to drop into a music festival where more than 250 civilians were killed.
“I stand with Palestine,” the photo’s caption read.
Support for Hamas terrorists was heard around the world, including Australia, where a crowd of mostly Muslim pro-Palestine protestors gathered near the Sydney Opera House in Australia Monday night, chanting “Gas the Jews.”
According to The Daily Mail, local police allowed Monday night’s pro-Palestinian protestors outside of the Sydney Opera House to chant violence against the Jews and burn the Star of David; however, local police arrested a pro-Israeli protestor for attempting to raise an Israeli flag.
In the face of the alarming hostage situation in Gaza, where at least 14 Americans have been confirmed dead, with more believed to be kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, the United States has not ruled out the potential deployment of a high-risk special operations commando rescue mission.
“We take the safety and security of Americans overseas very, very seriously,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, emphasizing the nation’s commitment to ensuring the safe return of its citizens, according to the Washington Examiner.
He added, “You have seen us act as efficiently and effectively as we can to get Americans that are being held hostage or wrongfully detained, in some cases, back home with their families. We will continue to do that in this case as well.”
Kirby also noted that there is a “very grim possibility” that American citizens were captured by Hamas during the terrorist attacks against Israel.
“We have to accept the very grim possibility and the likelihood that there are Americans being held hostage,” Kirby said. “We’re in constant touch with Israeli officials right now to try to get a sense of the whereabouts of all the unaccounted-for Americans because who knows where they are or what condition they’re in.”
“We don’t even know if, or how many, are being held hostage. But how we would go about doing that? Obviously, we wouldn’t detail too much publicly,” Kirby also stated on CNN. “I would tell you, broadly speaking, that we will do what we need to do to protect our national security interests there in the region.”
Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien stressed the urgency of the situation, suggesting the immediate deployment of special forces to Israel.
“We ought to have the FBI hostage rescue team also deployed to Israel,” he stated.
READ MORE: U.S. military weapons from Afghanistan may have been used to kill Americans in Israel: Report
The situation in Israel has taken an unprecedented turn, with Hamas’ aggression and tactics being likened to those of ISIS. According to The Washington Examiner, a senior U.S. official pointed out the significant difference of the current situation from past conflicts, describing the acts of Hamas as “ISIS-level savagery.”
The heinous acts of violence and destruction have drawn widespread condemnation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a strong statement, saying, “Hamas terrorists bound, burned, and executed children. They are savages. Hamas is ISIS.”
The U.S. has been quick to support Israel, responding to its urgent plea for arms and ammunition. John Kirby confirmed on MSNBC that new military aid, including interceptor missiles and artillery ammunition, is on its way to Israel.
This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida started work Monday on a $404 million fifth airline terminal, the airport’s most significant project in more than a decade.
During a groundbreaking ceremony, Broward County officials said the terminal will cover 230,000 square feet and should be finished in 2026.
The terminal will have five airline passenger gates for domestic flights, increasing the airport’s total to 71 gates, Mark E. Gale, CEO of Broward County Aviation Department, said in an interview.
The terminal is being built due to surging passenger and airline traffic, officials said. Through August of this year, 23.7 million passengers have gone through the airport. That’s a significant increase from the 21.3 million passengers during the same period in 2022. The new terminal will be able to handle 4 to 5 million more passengers, officials said.
The Fort Lauderdale airport expansion is expected to lead to about 3,400 direct and indirect construction-related jobs, including at more than a dozen area small businesses. Upon completion, officials estimated the new terminal will lead to the hiring of 1,000 to 1,250 people to fill permanent jobs.
JetBlue Airways Corp. — the New York-based airline that’s the second-biggest airline by passenger market share at the airport — is managing construction of the terminal on behalf of Broward County. JetBlue has hired: Parsons as program manager; M. Arthur Gensler & Associates for design work; KEITH as construction engineer inspector; and Hunt/Moss to handle risk management of the building project.
Joanna Geraghty, president and chief operating officer of JetBlue, said in a statement that Fort Lauderdale airport has been important to the airline’s growth. JetBlue now serves more than 40 destinations from the airport, she said, 23 years after its first flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Fort Lauderdale.
“We are thrilled to continue our work as an active partner [with Broward County aviation officials] on further expansion to increase capacity,” Geraghty said.
The terminal will be paid for through a variety of sources, including airport bonds backed by the airlines and $80 million in state grants from the Florida Department of Transportation, Gale said.
The additional terminal will have its own dedicated passenger screening, baggage screening and passenger baggage claim. There will be food and beverage operators, plus retail outlets in the terminal, but none of those plans are finalized. After the terminal is finished, an automated people mover could be added.
A two-level pedestrian bridge will connect the new Terminal 5 to Terminal 4, so that on one level passengers who’ve gone through security can go back and forth. People who have not cleared security can use the other level.
Also, the new terminal will connect to the adjacent Cypress parking garage. Passengers will be able to access the terminal from the airport’s main entrance and from Perimeter Road.
Gale said during terminal construction there will be “minimal disruption” to passengers coming and going to the airport’s four terminals.
Meanwhile, Broward County aviation officials and Spirit Airlines and JetBlue — the airport’s two biggest airlines with 28.2% and 20.2% passenger market share, respectively — had begun talking about the possibility of a new terminal before the pandemic emerged in early 2020.
“The desire to grow, particularly by JetBlue and Spirit, … was the impetus for why we embarked on it,” Gale said, of the early discussions about building another airport terminal.
Then in July 2022, Broward-based Spirit agreed to be acquired by JetBlue, in a $3.8 billion deal to create the fifth-largest U.S. airline. The U.S. Department of Justice continues reviewing the planned combination of the two airlines and eventually will approve or reject it.
Gale said it’s likely JetBlue and Spirit will have gates in the new airport terminal. However, those details aren’t finalized and will depend somewhat on whether federal regulators approve JetBlue’s purchase of Spirit. which employs about 3,400 people in South Florida.
In addition to those two leading airlines, Southwest, with a 14.2% market share, is the third-largest airline at Fort Lauderdale airport. The other major U.S. airlines — Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines — also fly in and out of the airport. American is the top global airline and has the biggest market share at Miami International Airport.
Also, discount airlines Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines and Avelo Airlines are increasing their presence at Fort Lauderdale airport.
“We believe those airlines may have an interest in growing in the future,” Gale said. “Our goal is to try to make sure we can provide a variety of airline services to the citizens of Broward County.”
Anthony Cordo, executive vice president of Visit Lauderdale, said a bigger airport means a boost in convention business and tourism in Broward County. The nearby convention center is also undergoing an expansion expected to be completed in late 2025.
“Terminal 5 gives us capacity to add new routes,” said Cordo, who attended Monday’s airport groundbreaking ceremony. “That is critical to getting the large-scale conventions we’re working to get.”
The United States Border Patrol has arrested thousands of “special interest aliens” from the Middle East trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, leaked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) documents show, according to Fox News.
“Special interest aliens” are defined as people from foreign countries that have conditions that promote or protect terrorism, or that may pose a threat to U.S. national security.
From Oct. 2021 to Oct. 2023, border agents apprehended 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan, 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran and 538 from Syria, the leaked data shows.
Additionally, agents encountered 12,624 from Uzbekistan, 30,830 from Turkey, 1,613 from Pakistan, 164 from Lebanon, 185 from Jordan, 123 from Iraq and 15,594 from Mauritania.
It is unclear how many of the “special interest aliens” were removed or released into the United States.
“Border Patrol sources tell me they have extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries,” Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin tweeted. “I’m told unless they have committed a crime previously in the US, or they are on some sort of federal watchlist, there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the US so there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints.”
NEW: Internal CBP data provided & confirmed by CBP sources reveals thousands of “special interest aliens” from mostly Middle Eastern countries have been apprehended by Border Patrol while crossing into U.S. illegally over last 2 years.
The report comes after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Saturday, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding thousands more.
A mob of pro-Palestine protesters held a demonstration in Times Square after the attacks, blaming Israel for the terrorism that left hundreds of Jewish men, women and children dead.
During the demonstration, protesters shouted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The Anti-Defamation League has warned the pro-Palestine chant can be seen as an anti-Semitic call for the elimination of Israel.
A crowd of mostly Muslim pro-Palestine protestors gathered near the Sydney Opera House in Australia Monday night, chanting “Gas the Jews.” The demonstration comes after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel over the weekend, killing more than 800 people and wounding thousands more.
A video of the roughly 2,000-person protest shared on social media shows the crowd chanting remarks against Jews, including “gas the Jews” and “f-ck the Jews.”
NEW: Pro-Palestine crowd gathers at the Sydney Opera House in Australia chanting “gas the Jews” and “f*ck the Jews.”
Sick people.
The demonstration comes as the FBI issued a statement about potential attacks in the United States.
According to The Daily Mail, local police allowed Monday night’s pro-Palestinian protestors outside of the Sydney Opera House to chant violence against the Jews and burn the Star of David; however, local police arrested a pro-Israeli protestor for attempting to raise an Israeli flag.
Daily Mail Australia reporters noted that at one point, a large crowd of pro-Palestinian protestors attempted to set an Israeli flag on fire with firecrackers prior to stomping on the flag and shredding it in public. The Daily Mail reported chants of “Allahu Akbar” (translated as “God is great” in Arabic) and “death to the Jews” from Muslim protestors.
Monday’s protest was organized by the Palestine Action Group Sydney. The rally began at the town hall in the Central Business District before protestors marched to the Opera House, which was lit up in blue and white to show support for Israel after the devastating attacks by Hamas over the weekend killed hundreds of civilians.
READ MORE: 31 Harvard groups blame Israel for Hamas killing 700 civilians
While the leaders of Monday’s rally reportedly urged protestors to show respect to the police, multiple protestors were seen swarming the police barrier outside of the Sydney Opera House. More than 100 law enforcement officers were present at the rally. However, the police did not respond with force, even as Muslim protestors threw flares and other objects at the police.
On the other hand, the Daily Mail reported that a man carrying an Israeli flag was arrested by police officers for “disrupting the peace” before he had the opportunity to raise the flag.
In the video, Businessman Mark Spiro can be seen dragged away from the rally by three police officers. Spiro can be heard repeatedly stating, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
In response to Spiro’s repeated comments, one of the officers told the businessman, “You’ve been arrested in relation to a breach of the peace.”
While supporters of #Hamas are allowed by Australian government to celebrate massacre of Israelis in #Sydney, the #Australian Police arrests Australians who show support for #Israel. This man was arrested only over carrying an Israel’s flag. #UK & its colonies are supporting… pic.twitter.com/1tNJGiLCjd
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) October 9, 2023
According to The Daily Mail, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley acknowledged Tuesday morning that he had not been aware of Monday’s protest. He later urged people to “calm down and stay at home.”
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns noted Tuesday that he “deplored” Monday’s anti-Israeli rally, describing the rally as standing “against the tenets of our multicultural community.”
In the aftermath of Monday’s rally, Australian police are facing mounting criticism for allowing the anti-Israeli rally to proceed while urging Jewish residents to “stay home.”
Co-CEO of the Executive Australian Council of Jewry Alex Ryvchin stated, “I think it’s frankly disgusting to have people coming out in support of the horrific atrocities that we’ve seen in Israel – over 700 people killed, there are accounts of gang rape, of children snatched from the hands of their parents.”
Ryvchin added, “And people in our own country think that is a cause to rally and celebrate and cheer. Then we saw the scenes of violence, of burning of flags, of chanting explicitly about Jews, not just about Israel. It’s really terrifying to hear that we have people who hold these sentiments here in our homeland.”
Dwayne Johnson says he totally gets why people have criticized him and Oprah Winfrey for asking the public to donate to their Maui fund.
“When we first launched the fund, there was some backlash,” Johnson said in a video posted to his Instagram page on Sunday, after joking that he keeps “receipts.” “I get it and I completely understand, and I could’ve been better — and next time I will be better.”
The People’s Champ said he remembers how it feels when money is tight, commenting, “I understand money ain’t falling out of the sky and it isn’t growing on trees. And there’s a lot of people out there who’s living paycheck to paycheck, and I get it and I know what that’s like.”
Oprah Winfrey is sitting on stage talking into a microphone and gesturing with her hand while wearing glasses
“I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck — seven bucks, I know,” he added.
Clarifying that he was only speaking for himself, he recalled being “easily pissed off” and “frustrated” when living paycheck to paycheck. He continued: “And the last thing you want to hear when you’re living paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money, especially when the person asking you for money already has a lot of money.”
Johnson and Winfrey started the People’s Fund of Maui in August, days after wildfires tore through West Maui, including Lahaina, where flames destroyed homes, businesses and historic, cultural landmarks. More than 100 people died in the blaze, named the deadliest fire in the United States in the last century.
The fund connects donations directly to people affected by the wildfires in the form of $1,200 monthly checks. To start the fund, the pair of celebrities donated $10 million each to seed the charitable foundation. For the rest, Johnson and Winfrey asked the public for help.
A flood of voices online blasted Winfrey and Johnson’s invitation for donations, with some asking how they expected the public to give when many Americans “barely can pay rent, barely can put food on the table for our families.” Others demanded that the celebs instead fund the project by digging deeper into their pockets or rallying their wealthy friends in Hollywood and Washington, D.C.
TV personality Nick Cannon joined the backlash, commenting on his “Daily Cannon” podcast that he supported the criticism against Winfrey and Johnson.
“It’s in poor taste for a billionaire to ask anyone for money,” Cannon said. “I don’t care what the situation is.”
Winfrey addressed the backlash in September, telling “CBS Mornings” that she had been “terrorized and vilified” online. “I was so excited and I got up the next morning and I saw all of this vitriol and I was like, ‘Whoa, what happened here?’” Winfrey said.
Earlier this year, Winfrey bought more than 870 acres on Maui, expanding her holdings on the island to more than 1,000 acres of land. After the acquisition, Forbes estimated her net worth at $2.5 billion.
Johnson’s net worth is around $270 million, and he was ranked by Forbes as among the top five earners in entertainment. He reportedly rents a massive vacation estate on Oahu. However, Johnson, who is of Samoan descent, also does have roots in the Hawaiian islands — as a child, he lived with his mother on Oahu before they were evicted when he was 14 and had to leave Hawaii.
During his apology, Johnson also announced that the first round of monthly checks have been given to “the thousands and thousands of survivors” over the last several weeks. He shared how his part in the rebuilding effort with others is inspired by his culture, and said it is a “reflection of who we are as Polynesian people.”
