After a two-month search, Israel has taken vengeance on a Palestinian militant believed to have jubilantly displayed the severed head of an Israeli soldier, killing him with a helicopter-launched missile.
The helicopter attack in Gaza that killed Hazem Rahim and another militant late Thursday partly fulfilled a pledge by the Israeli army chief to "show no forgiveness" to the men who gloated over the corpses of six Israeli soldiers in May and held the body parts for ransom.
The missile pulverized a white Subaru driving through the crowded Zeitoun district of Gaza City. The Islamic Jihad organization identified them as its members, and the Israeli army said at least one of them was involved in the deadly roadside bombing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The May 11 incident was one of the more gruesome in the recent conflict in Gaza: the bomb shattered an armored personnel carrier transporting explosives, scattering the remains of the six soldiers.
Militants paraded through the streets with body parts. Video footage flashed on Arab television showed two masked Islamic Jihad activists displaying the head of an Israeli soldier on a table.
Israeli security officials say they believe Rahim was one of the men in the video. He was known to be involved in the negotiations for the return of the remains, initially demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Rahim's name was on an Israeli list of Palestinians to be hunted down for desecration of the soldiers' bodies, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Also on Friday, Palestinian witnesses said a teenager in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip was killed by militants in an argument when he tried to stop them from planting a weapon near his house targeting Israeli patrols. Palestinian officials said the man was killed by Israeli gunfire.
Israel's relations with the EU plunged further with a warning from the regional group's foreign policy chief, Javiar Solana, that Europeans cannot be ignored in Mideast diplomacy.
Solana's two-day visit to Israel turned frosty after the EU voted as a bloc for a resolution in the UN General Assembly demanding that Israel dismantle the barrier it is building in the West Bank and compensate Palestinians for land that has been confiscated.
In a meeting with Solana on Thursday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the European vote would make it difficult for Israel to involve the EU in the peace process.
But Solana fired back that the Europeans will remain involved.
Europe "is a very important international power and is going to play a role whether you like it or not," he said on Friday.
Meanwhile, an Israeli court cleared the way for the deportation of an American Jewish member of the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that tries to protect Palestinians from Israeli military operations.
Jamie Spector, 32, a social worker from San Francisco, lost an appeal against an order barring her entry into Israel, and was to be deported early yesterday, said her lawyer, Gaby Lasky.
The decision came just two days after a judge overturned a similar ban against a member of the same organization on the condition that she not engage in political activity.
Two members of the group were killed by Israeli military personnel last year, with one woman crushed by a bulldozer as she opposed the army's destruction of Palestinian homes.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
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