Federal officials sound alarm on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab hate crimes
(WASHINGTON, D.C) — Federal security agencies are sounding the alarm about alleged hate crimes targeting Muslim Americans and communities perceived to be Muslim, according to a new report obtained by ABC News.
The new joint intelligence bulletin (JIB) – published a week after the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel that precipitated the ongoing Israel-Hamas war – notes that “these communities are more likely to be attacked during periods of heightened sociopolitical tensions and increased anti-immigrant sentiment,” and are “more likely when perceived as retribution after acts of international terrorism in the United States and abroad.”
The report from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center, comes nearly a year to the day after the Oct. 14, 2023 murder of Wadea Al-Fayoume. The 6-year-old Palestinian boy was fatally stabbed in Plainfield Township, Illinois, in an alleged hate crime linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. His 71-year-old landlord, Joseph Czuba, has been criminally charged for allegedly stabbing Wadea 26 times, and his mother a dozen times. Czuba has pleaded not guilty.
Czuba allegedly yelled “you Muslims must die!” during the attack, according to the JIB.
The JIB also cites a woman’s alleged attempt last month in Texas to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian American child at a community pool, a middle school teacher in Georgia allegedly threatening last December to slit a seventh-grade Muslim student’s throat, and the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in November 2023 while they were walking in Vermont, leaving one paralyzed from the waist down.
Amid ongoing news and debate concerning the Israel-Hamas war, the Jewish community has also seen a rise in hate crimes, as well as other bias incidents, according to reports.
A recent Anti-Defamation League analysis of FBI data found that reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crime incidents increased 63% in 2023 to 1,832, compared to the year before – the highest number ever recorded by the FBI since it began collecting data on such incidents in 1991.
“Bias incidents surged after the 7 October HAMAS attack on Israel and have since decreased to levels consistent with reporting prior to the conflict, a trend previously observed with other international conflicts or events,” the JIB further noted.
(LONDON) — As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the White House on Thursday, the Biden administration is facing frustration from other western allies over its refusal to let Ukraine use western long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia.
The request is a priority for Zelenskyy that he is pressing for this visit, but so far the administration has seemed unyielding in its opposition. That has prompted unusual public expressions of frustration in recent days from some NATO countries.
The prime minister of Denmark, which has been a significant supplier of military aid, this week at the U.N. General Assembly said the public discussion of “red lines” had been a “mistake,” that is “simply giving the Russians too good a card in their hands.”
“It would be really good to stop the delays. And I think that the restrictions on the use of weapons should be lifted,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Bloomberg in a television interview.
Britain and France have both indicated they are ready to allow Ukraine to use their own long-range cruise missiles that they have supplied to hit inside Russia, but want the U.S. to give approval.
U.S. officials have briefed two key reasons for opposing the decision, saying they are concerned it could prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to further escalate and that the strikes would make insufficient difference to the war, meaning the risk of escalation isn’t worth the military payoff.
Ukraine and some of its other key allies strongly disagree, arguing Putin is bluffing.
Zelenskyy in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts for Good Morning America on Monday said Ukraine could use the missiles to hit airbases that Russia is using to drop hundreds of powerful bombs in eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he believed Britain, France, Germany and Italy were ready to allow the strikes but that the decision needed to come from the U.S.
“The main role is in the United States, in the president of United States, Biden. Everybody’s looking up to him, and — we need this to defend ourselves,” said Zelenskyy.
Putin has turned to loud nuclear saber-rattling in an effort to deter the U.S. from accepting Ukraine’s request. The Russian leader on Wednesday announced changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine clearly directed at Ukraine and U.S. The changes said Russia will now treat aggression from non-nuclear states supported by nuclear powers as a “joint attack.”
Putin’s loud threats suggest that the Kremlin at least does not agree with the U.S. assessment that allowing Ukraine to hit targets deeper inside Russia will make little difference to the war.
The U.S. has provided Ukraine with long-range missiles known as ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) that have a range of nearly 190 miles. Amid the debate over whether to let Ukraine use them deeper into Russian territory, Russia has moved back most of its aircraft to bases out of range of the missiles, reducing their potential effectiveness.
Germany, another key ally for Ukraine, though has expressed opposition to supplying its own long-range missiles, despite Ukraine’s requests. Germany’s leader Olaf Scholz this week again reiterated that refusal, saying it is “not compatible with my personal stance … We will not do that.”
Some U.S. political figures have suggested Germany’s opposition is also a concern to the Biden administration.
(NEW YORK) — In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes the war with Russia is “closer to an end” than many believe and called on allies to strengthen Ukraine as he arrived in the United States for a week of high-stakes diplomacy.
“The plan of victory is strengthening of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said during a sit-down interview with Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts. “That’s why we’re asking our friends, our allies, to strengthen us. It’s very important.”
Zelenskyy spoke with Roberts as he visited New York on Monday for the United Nations General Assembly this week as part of a trip to the U.S. where he has promised to present what he calls his “Victory Plan” to President Joe Biden, as well as other key American political leaders.
See more of Robin Roberts’ exclusive interview with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska at 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday on ABC News Live and streaming on Hulu on Thursday.
Zelenskyy declined to provide details of the plan before presenting it to Biden later this week, but he made clear that it was aimed at strengthening Ukraine with the goal of forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate on fair terms. Zelenskyy indicated he did not believe Putin was currently ready for real negotiations.
“It’s not about negotiation with Russia,” Zelenskyy told Roberts. “It’s a bridge to a diplomatic way out, to stop the war. Only in the strong position we can push, we can push Putin to stop the war, diplomatic way.”
A source close to Zelenskyy told ABC News the plan consists of five points and that its core includes specific figures and amounts of military assistance for Ukraine, as well as certain diplomatic and political steps. The plan does not include any proposed concessions to Russia, the source said, but is aimed at forcing the Kremlin to end the war.
Zelenskyy said the plan was an “urgent” one, intended to end the war quickly, not prolong it “one year, or two years or three years.”
Later this week, Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Washington to meet with Biden as well as presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
There are doubts a second Trump administration would continue similar levels of support to Ukraine and could perhaps push it into negotiations. Trump in the debate with Harris two weeks ago declined to say he wants Ukraine to win the war and his running mate JD Vance has said Ukraine should give up Russian-occupied territory and abandon ambitions to join NATO.
Zelenskyy said he hoped the U.S. election wouldn’t influence support for Ukraine but that he understood U.S. policy could change and “therefore we need to prepare in advance.”
That is why the “Victory Plan” is important, he said, saying he wants to discuss it with the candidates.
Zelenskyy again expressed gratitude to Americans and apologized for having to ask again for support.
“I’m so sorry. I know that you have your challenges. But I have to underline it and to repeat,” he said. “We can’t now be weak. We can’t relax. Because we didn’t stop Putin. Didn’t stop him in his crazy ideas. That’s why we have to be strong and I’m asking to understand us. And I think that we are closer to the peace than we think. We are closer to the end of the war. We just have to be very strong, very strong.”
Zelenskyy also repeated his appeal to the United States to drop its restrictions on the long-range missiles they have provided to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.
Zelenskyy said he would raise the issue again with Biden again this week, saying it would allow Ukraine to strike Russian airbases used to launch hundreds of bombs into eastern Ukraine. He said he believed other allies such as France, Britain, Italy, and Germany would allow it but that the U.S. needed to lead the decision.
“But the main role is in the United States, in the president of United States, Biden. Everybody’s looking up to him, and we need this to defend ourselves,” he said.
Putin, meanwhile, has warned that the use of Western weapons to strike targets in Russia would mean NATO countries are at war with Russia and promised a response.
Zelenskyy’s request comes amid heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine where Russia has been making steady advances in recent weeks. Russian forces are also still struggling to reverse Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine has said it seized hundreds of square miles and dozens of villages inside the Kursk region in the early days of its surprise offensive.
Zelenskyy told Roberts that Putin is “afraid” of the Kursk operation.
“It’s true. He’s afraid very much,” Zelenskyy said. “Why? Because his people saw that he can’t defend, that he can’t defend all his territory.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine launched the surprise operation because of intelligence suggesting that Russia had been preparing to mount its own offensive into Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.
“They have the desire to occupy the city of Sumy,” he said. “And we decided that we need preventive steps. We had to move in with our troops. And we did it so that they did not occupy our north.”
Zelenskyy also accused Russia of using Chinese satellites to photograph Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, perhaps in preparation for possible strikes on them.
“The recent information is that, Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities,” Zelenskyy told Roberts. “And in our experience, if Russia takes photos of certain objects, then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects.”
Zelenskyy did not say whether the Chinese satellites Russia has used were commercial satellites or controlled by the Chinese government. He said he would share information Ukraine had with leaders at the General Assembly this week.
Asked to comment on Monday, China’s embassy in Washington did not respond.
Zelenskyy was joined by his wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, who is also attending events at the General Assembly.
Zelenska, who is addressing events focusing on the impact of the war on children, said she was also seeking to campaign for greater international help in returning tens of thousands of Ukrainian children deported to Russia. She said at least 19,500 remained held in Russia, but that the true number could be significantly higher.
She said so far only 308 children had been returned through negotiations, saying she hoped a 30-country coalition would find a way to do more.
“This can’t carry on like this. If we are going to bring our children back at this rate, we will need more than 30 years to bring them back,” she said. “So we need to bring pressure to bear to make sure they can be brought back.”
(NEW YORK) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Egypt on Wednesday for fresh talks on an Israel-Hamas cease-fire, and as tension with Hezbollah persists at the Israel-Lebanon border.
Here’s how the news is developing:
11,000 students killed in Gaza, education ministry says
The Palestinian Ministry of Education said Tuesday that some 11,000 students have been killed and more than 17,000 others have been injured in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s campaign there started on Oct. 7.
The ministry also said 500 schools and universities have been bombed across the territory in almost one year of war.
Islamic Jihad rocket commander ‘eliminated’ in Gaza, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces said it “eliminated” the head of the Islamic Jihad militia group’s southern rocket and missile unit in a Monday airstrike on a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.
Ahmed Aish Salame al-Hashash was the commander of the Islamic Jihad’s rocket forces in the southern Rafah area, the IDF said in a statement. He was “an important source of knowledge of rocket fire within the Islamic Jihad terror organization in Gaza,” the IDF added.
Al-Hashash was killed while “operating inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis,” the IDF said, referring to one of the areas designated by the Israeli military as safer locations for civilians amid the devastating campaign in Gaza.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.
The IDF often launches strikes inside Gaza humanitarian zones in pursuit of militant leaders.
Gaza Health Ministry identifies more than 34,300 people killed
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry published a 649-page document identifying 34,344 people killed in the strip between Oct.7, 2023 and Aug. 31, 2024.
The document includes the name, age, gender and identification number of each person killed.
The first 13 pages of the document include names of people all under 1 year old.
The document only includes the names of those the Health Ministry said it has been able to identify. Thousands more who are a part of the overall death toll are considered missing, the ministry said.
The current death toll in Gaza is 41,226 as of Sept. 16, according to the Hamas-run ministry.
Blinken to travel to Egypt
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Egypt this week to discuss efforts to reach a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal, the State Department said.
Blinken will travel to Egypt Wednesday through Friday to co-chair the opening of the U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, the department said.
He will also meet with Egyptian officials “to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages, alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and helps establish broader regional security,” the State Department said in a statement.
State Department doesn’t have timeline on new cease-fire proposal
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller declined to predict when a new Gaza cease-fire and hostage release deal proposal might be ready.
“We continue to engage with our partners in the region, most specifically with Egypt and Qatar, about what that proposal will contain, and making sure — or trying to see that it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement,” Miller told reporters Monday.
“I don’t have a timetable for you other than to say that we are working expeditiously to try to develop that proposal, try to find something that would bring both the parties to say yes and to formally submit it,” Miller added.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously said more than a week ago that a proposal would be presented to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days.”
Miller said Monday that — just like in the negotiations overall — the main hurdles for creating the new proposal were the security situation in the Philadelphi corridor and the number of hostages and Palestinian prisoners that would be released.
‘Trajectory is clear’ at Israel-Lebanon border: Gallant
Time is running out for a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict at the Israel-Lebanon border, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in an overnight phone call.
“Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas — the trajectory is clear,” Gallant told Austin per a readout from the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Gallant “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the removal of Hezbollah presence in southern Lebanon, and to enabling the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes,” the defense ministry said.
Cross-border fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah — which is aligned with Iran and Hamas through the so-called “Axis of Resistance” — has been near-constant since Oct. 8.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in the north of the country amid the fighting, with Israeli leaders repeatedly threatening a significant military operation to pacify Hezbollah forces operating in southern Lebanon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Sunday statement that the “current situation will not continue. This requires a change in the balance of forces on our northern border. We will do whatever is necessary to return our residents securely to their homes.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israel now says Houthi missile was hit by interceptor
A missile described by the Houthis as a “new hypersonic ballistic missile” was hit by an Israeli interceptor, Israeli military officials said Sunday, after initially saying it got through its defenses and fell in an open area.
An Israeli interceptor hit the missile fired into central Israel from Yemen, causing it to fragment, according to Israeli officials. The missile was not destroyed, but caused no damage, the Israeli officials said.
“The conclusion into the review of the surface-to-surface missile that was fired this morning is that there was a hit on the target from an interceptor, as a result of which the target fragmented but was not destroyed,” an Israeli military official said in a statement.
The Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the missile attack, claiming in a statement that it was aimed at an “important military target” in the Tel Aviv region. The Houthis claimed the missile flew some 1,267 miles in less than 12 minutes and that Israeli anti-missile defenses “failed to intercept” the weapon.
The Israel Defense Forces initially confirmed to ABC News that its defenses failed to intercept the missile but changed its conclusions upon further investigation.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
IDF: ‘High probability’ 3 hostages were killed by Israeli airstrike in November
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces released the results of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of three hostages, whose bodies were recovered from Gaza by IDF forces in December.
The three hostages — two soldiers, Ron Sherman and Nik Beizer, and civilian Elia Toledano — were killed “as a byproduct” of an Israeli airstrike on the compound where they were being held, according to the investigation. The IDF said the strike was targeting a Hamas commander, and that they believed the hostages were being held elsewhere.
“The findings of the investigation suggest a high probability that the three were killed as a result of a byproduct of an IDF airstrike, during the elimination of the Hamas Northern Brigade commander, Ahmed Ghandour, on November 10th, 2023,” the IDF said Sunday in a statement.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Netanyahu vows to inflict ‘high price’ for Houthi missile attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against the Houthi movement after a missile fired from Yemen fell in central Israel on Sunday morning.
“This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen at our territory,” Netanyahu said before a cabinet meeting. “They should know that we exact a high price for any attempt to attack us.”
“Whoever needs a reminder of this, is invited to visit the port of Hodeidah,” the prime minister added, referring to Israel’s bombing of the strategic Yemeni port in July after a Houthi drone strike killed one person in Tel Aviv.
“Whoever attacks us will not evade our strike,” Netanyahu said.