Bring Them Home: The 5 Americans Still Held Hostage by Hamas

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There are still five American hostages being held by Hamas. And though our leaders seem to have forgotten them, the American people have not.

Hamas murdered 1,200 people in Israel in the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, and took more than 250 hostages. While some hostages have been freed, there are still roughly 130 hostages still being held by Hamas – not all of whom are still alive. Five of them are U.S. citizens.

The five American hostages who are still in Hamas’ captivity are; Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, Omer Neutra, 22, Edan Alexander, 20, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23. (Read more from “Bring Them Home: The 5 Americans Still Held Hostage by Hamas” HERE)

Report Exposes Continued Labor Abuses by Major Chinese Fashion Giant

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Public Eye, a Swiss-based human rights advocacy group, has issued a scathing rebuke against Chinese fashion giant Shein, alleging the company’s involvement in labor abuses despite promises of improvement.

In a follow-up report released on Sunday, Public Eye reiterated its concerns over Shein’s labor practices, stating that “illegal working hours and piecework wages remain a typical feature” for workers associated with the company. The report also highlighted suspicions surrounding Shein’s opaque finances and the disappearance of its founder from the public eye.

Shein, known for its ultra-fast fashion model offering a vast online inventory of clothing at remarkably low prices, has faced mounting scrutiny over its supply chain practices. The company’s business model relies on exploiting cheap labor and materials, including textiles potentially harvested by forced labor.

Public Eye’s investigation included interviews with textile workers employed by Shein and its suppliers in China. Despite Shein’s code of conduct limiting work hours to 60 per week, workers reported enduring grueling 75-hour work weeks, often with inadequate compensation.

“I work every day from 8:00 in the morning to 10:30 at night and take one day off each month. I can’t afford any more days off because it costs too much,” shared one worker interviewed by Public Eye.

Wages for textile workers were reported to be modest, ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 yuan per month (approximately $830 to $1,380 USD). The report also highlighted instances of undocumented and unpaid work, with workers coerced into correcting mistakes on their own time under threat of fines.

Furthermore, Public Eye raised concerns about safety standards in Shein factories, noting a prevalence of smoking in environments filled with flammable textiles and chemicals. There were also indications of potential child labor practices.

Despite Shein’s efforts to address criticism, including commissioning an audit on supplier factory wages, Public Eye dismissed these measures as inadequate and criticized the audit for downplaying the severity of labor abuses.

Photo credit: Flickr

State Dept. Report on Israel’s Use of U.S. Weapons Gives Ammo to Both Sides

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A State Department report on Israel’s use of U.S. weapons tried to please both pro- and anti-Israel voices, creating a slew of contradictory headlines.

“Biden administration says Israel is not violating U.S. weapons terms,” reported NBC. “US says Israel’s use of US arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete,” said the AP. “Biden administration acknowledges possible Israeli weapons misuse in report to Congress,” reported USA Today.

Few linked to the actual document, so that readers could look through it and judge for themselves.

The reason for the confusion is clear: although the State Department did not find any actual evidence that Israel had used American weapons in ways that violate international humanitarian law or international human rights law, it also claimed that it was “reasonable” to assume that Israel had done so, given “given Israel’s significant reliance on U.S.-made” weapons. (Read more from “State Dept. Report on Israel’s Use of U.S. Weapons Gives Ammo to Both Sides” HERE)

Hamas Changed Cease-Fire Deal to Count Hostages as ‘Alive’ or ‘Bodies’ in Proposed Prisoner Swap: Report

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Hamas changed the language in the cease-fire deal it accepted Monday to count the bodies of dead hostages in a proposed swap for Palestinian prisoners, according to a shocking report.

The deal signed by Hamas also included an end to the war in Gaza — something the Israeli side said it would not accept.

Israeli officials have blasted the proposal as significantly different from what Israel had initially said it would agree to.

One of the biggest changes came in the language around the 33 Israeli hostages who were set to be released in exchange for a cease-fire.

While the original deal called for 33 living hostages, Hamas changed the wording to include 33 hostages “alive or bodies,” officials told public broadcaster KAN TV. (Read more from “Hamas Changed Cease-Fire Deal to Count Hostages as ‘Alive’ or ‘Bodies’ in Proposed Prisoner Swap: Report” HERE)

The US Spent So Much Time Fighting Insurgents That It Forgot ‘What It Means to Actually Fight a War,’ a US Vet in Ukraine Says

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An American veteran who fought in Ukraine said the US military spent so long focused on fighting insurgents that it forgot “what it means to actually fight a war.”

“We have neglected a lot of the training” on “how to fight and survive in a peer-on-peer adversary war,” the veteran, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Business Insider.

He said that “in the US military, we mostly have been focusing on a guerilla war” and battling insurgents, with places with Iraq and Afghanistan in mind. The US military invested decades, billions of dollars, and thousands of lives into fights in these places.

The former soldier spoke about how his training with the US military a number of years ago compared to what he saw in Ukraine, where he started fighting when Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022 and left last December. . .

In the US military, he explained, “I believe that a lot of the training that we have is tailored more to fighting in a guerilla warfare nowadays than it is to actually fighting a near-peer adversary like it would be with Russia or China.” He said that it is an issue that many NATO members face. (Read more from “The US Spent So Much Time Fighting Insurgents That It Forgot ‘What It Means to Actually Fight a War,’ a US Vet in Ukraine Says” HERE)

Israel Raids, Shuts Down News Service in the Country

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Israeli authorities raided and shut down Qatar-based television news network Al Jazeera in Israel with the unanimous approval of the Israeli government, according to an official statement.

“The Government, today, unanimously approved the closure of Al Jazeera according to the proposal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office released Sunday read.

The orders, signed by Karhi, reportedly went into immediate effect.

Netanyahu conceived and advanced the law based on his conviction that Al Jazeera was “harming the state,” the statement implied. Karhi implemented the law after having received “at least one security opinion and the approval of either the Government or the Security Cabinet.”

“Al Jazeera correspondents have harmed the security of Israel and incited against IDF soldiers. The time has come to eject Hamas’s mouthpiece from our country,” Netanyahu said, the statement reported. (Read more from “Israel Raids, Shuts Down News Service in the Country” HERE)

Another Arab Country Rejects Hosting Hamas Terrorist Leaders

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Despite its previous wars and rhetoric against Israel since the Jewish State’s founding — don’t get us started on Queen Rania — the government of Jordan, though a senior diplomat, entirely rebuffed the suggestion that Hamas leaders could move to the Kingdom from their current home base in Qatar.

Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy political chief for Iran-backed Hamas, said in a recent interview that if Qatar decided to boot the terrorist leaders, Hamas would “move to Jordan.”

Jordan, however — after its air force joined in the defense of Israel during Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on the Jewish State — said that’s not an option. And it’s not the first time rejecting Hamas attempts to move their “political” (read: terrorist) operation to Jordan after the Kingdom banned Hamas in 1999

Jordanian diplomat Ziad Majali reminded that “Hamas behaves as if there’s no state and no authority in Jordan that will decide and determine how to act and how to conduct itself” and made it clear that “Jordan has closed the book on Palestinian cells — and we do not intend to reopen it.” (Read more from “Another Arab Country Rejects Hosting Hamas Terrorist Leaders” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

China Hosts ‘Unity’ Talks Between Palestinian Fatah and Hamas Terrorists

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday that representatives from the two main Palestinian factions, the terrorist organization Hamas and Fatah, made progress at recent “unity talks” held in Beijing.

Lin said Hamas and Fatah sent representatives to Beijing at China’s invitation for “in-depth and candid dialogue on promoting Palestinian reconciliation.”

“The two sides fully expressed their political will of realizing reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, had discussions on many specific issues, and made encouraging progress,” he said.

No announcements have been made and the talks were held without much fanfare. Lin did not indicate exactly when this “dialogue” occurred and the question that allowed him to broach the subject was clearly planted with Chinese state media, so Lin’s press conference on Tuesday looked like the Chinese Communist regime trying to squeeze a little good press out of meetings that did not accomplish much.

Lin said the Palestinian factions “agreed to continue this dialogue process so as to achieve Palestinian solidarity and unity at an early date.” (Read more from “China Hosts ‘Unity’ Talks Between Palestinian Fatah and Hamas Terrorists” HERE)

Putin Likely Didn’t Order Death of Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny, U.S. Intel Agencies Say

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American intelligence agencies have found that the death of Russian opposition leader and dissident Alexei Navalny was likely not ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Navalny’s February death in a prison camp in Russia’s Arctic regions prompted the United States and other countries to levy additional sanctions on the Russian economy, and derailed negotiations on prisoner exchanges. However, multiple American intelligence agencies, including the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, have assessed that Putin did not directly order the death of Navalny, according to the WSJ.

“The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous,” Navalny ally Leonid Volkov said, according to the WSJ. Navalny survived being poisoned with a Russian nerve agent in August 2020.

“Navalny was a high-value prisoner, politically, and everybody knew that Putin was personally invested in his fate. The chances for this kind of unintended death are low,” Polish Institute of International Affairs director Slawomir Dębski told the WSJ.

However, the American intelligence assessment did not clear Putin of any culpability for the death of the Russian opposition leader who was reportedly to be part of a proposed prisoner swap that could have also included jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for a Russian operative accused of assassinating a Georgian dissident. (Read more from “Putin Likely Didn’t Order Death of Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny, U.S. Intel Agencies Say” HERE)

Christian Homes in Egypt Attacked and Burned by Islamist Extremists

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Islamist extremists reportedly set fire to several Christian houses and businesses in southern Egypt last week.

The violence broke out on Tuesday night in the village of Al-Fawakher, which is home to about 3,000 Christian families. The local Christian community had recently received a permit to construct a new church building, prompting backlash from some Muslim hardliners.

“The attacks are believed to have been triggered by an attempt to build a new church in Al-Fawakher village in Minya [province],” one local source, who asked to remain anonymous, told The New Arab. “When religious fanatics failed to expel Christians from their homes as a form of punishment, the extremists [reportedly] burned down their houses while they were still inside.”

Video circulating on social media appears to show crowds of people dancing and celebrating in front of the burning buildings. (Read more from “Christian Homes in Egypt Attacked and Burned by Islamist Extremists” HERE)