October 20 top stories
It is October 20. Here are today’s top stories.
Biden wants $60B for Ukraine, $10B for Israel
President Biden gave an address last night to say he is requesting Congress to provide about $60 billion to support Ukraine’s military and about $10 billion to support Israel’s military.
Biden in his speech said Hamas and Putin (Russia) represent different threats but both are the same in their desire to “completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”
Biden said “We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win, I refuse to let that happen.”
Biden said these conflicts can seem far away but that they remain vital for America’s national security because if (Hamas and Russia) don’t pay a price, they keep going and bring a higher cost and threat to America and the world.
Church in Gaza hit by Israeli airstrike
The grounds of a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City were hit by an Israeli airstrike last night. A Gazan official said at least 16 people were killed and many others were buried under rubble. The church compound was sheltering multiple Christian families and the airstrike hit when dinner was being distributed.
The Israeli military said they did not intend to strike the church. They said the fighter jets involved were trying to destroy a Hamas command center near the church because it was launching rockets and mortars toward Israel.
The New York Times said the church is a five-minute walk from the Ahli Arab Hospital, which had an explosion on Tuesday night that killed hundreds of people. Both Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for causing the explosion.
AP News said Israel has carried out bombardment of areas in south Gaza where Palestinians had been told to seek safety. The U.N. said some Palestinians in Gaza who moved south after Israel’s warning have decided to go back north because there’s no difference. One Palestinian said they might as well die in their own house.
The U.N.’s Secretary General Guterres went to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza today and called on all international parties to work together to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. There are about 200 trucks full of aid that are waiting to cross the border.
American hostages being released by Hamas
CNN reported that two Americans who have been held hostage by Hamas have been released. They are a mother and a daughter. The release is based on humanitarian grounds because the mother is in poor health. The release happened after negotiations between Qatar and Hamas.
The Israeli military said it believes that the majority of the 203 hostages taken by Hamas are alive and that over 20 of them are children.
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Threats to Jews and Muslims rising in the U.S.
There have been increasing incidents of threats against Jewish and Muslim people in America.
In the Chicago area, a man was arrested on Thursday and charged with two hate crimes for allegedly verbally abusing and threatening to shoot two Muslim men at an apartment complex. His name is Larry York.
In a separate but similar incident, a man in the Detroit area named Carl Mintz was arrested last week and charged with making a threat of terrorism after he posted on Facebook a statement that read, “Hey! Anyone in the Metro Detroit area want to go to Dearborn & hunt Palestinians?”
In Miami, a man named Alier Ojedasalas was arrested after he made threats to bomb a Jewish school. The man said “I am Hamas” to a security guard and claimed that he was carrying C-4 explosives.
In New York, a banker with Citigroup was fired after she posted on Instagram an endorsement of Hitler. Her name is Nozima Husainova. She wrote a comment in response to a post criticizing Israel, “No wonder why Hitler wanted to get rid of all of them” with a smiley face. A spokesperson for Citi said she was fired and that hate speech will not be tolerated in their bank.
So these are four incidents across the U.S. of rising hate towards Arab or Jewish persons that seem to be triggered by the Israel-Hamas war.
Another incident that I have already reported on is the tragic stabbing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois, who died. His mother was seriously injured. A 71-year-old suspect is in custody.
The U.S. Department of Justice said they are working closely with state and local officials to identify and respond to hate crimes and threats of violence.
Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia election case
Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, pleaded guilty in a Georgia court to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state. His trial was about to begin with jury selection.
Chesebro is the second former Trump lawyer to plead guilty this week with the first being Sidney Powell.
Chesebro faces a prison sentence of one to five years and will testify in the case against other defendants, which include Trump himself.
Chesebro is the one who came up with an idea to get Georgia electors to sign documents falsely claiming that Trump, not Biden, won the popular vote in Georgia.
Jim Jordan loses third House speaker vote
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) did not quit his bid to become the House Speaker but lost a third round of voting today.
25 House Republicans voted against Jordan on the third ballot and he’s losing support with every round.
The last House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, had to go through 15 rounds of voting.
Axios said there’s no clear way out for House Republicans right now, who remain divided between conservative and ultra-conservative views.
The latest, at the time of signing, is that House Republicans held a secret ballot vote on whether Jordan should stay or drop out of the Speaker race. The majority said Jordan should be out.
That is all the top stories for today. Stay with the light.
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/biden-israel-ukraine-primetime-address
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-israel-ukraine-war-49354728b347178a4bf7508a0dc8f1d2
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/world/middleeast/israel-airstrike-gaza-city.html
https://apnews.com/live/israel-hamas-war-news-10-19-2023
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/19/garland-u-s-attorneys-threats-jewish-muslim-people-00122446
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/10/20/chesebro-guilty-plea-trump-georgia/