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Wednesday evening at 2035 Whiskey Road was the site of a shocking and frightening encounter. At approximately 7:30 p.m., Aiken Department of Public Safety officers were called to investigate the sound of gunfire near a local Walmart store. There, they discovered a 13-year-old girl, pale and in shock. She had been shot in the abdomen and arm.

The police set their attention on Stephen Foreman, a 32-year-old Aiken resident. Shortly after the incident Foreman had phoned the authorities and stated he was located at the nearby KFC restaurant. He was apprehended and taken to Aiken County Detention Center, where no bond has yet been set.

Foreman reported to officers he had discarded a gun at the Walmart. Sure enough, a black Colt 1911 semi-automatic handgun was found near the bottom shelf of the cards section. Additionally, officers located a .45 caliber shell casing during their search.

What remains unknown is the nature of the connection between the victim and the suspect. Thus far, there has been no motive determined, and the victim’s condition is also uncertain. The Aiken Department of Public Safety is still investigating the event, ensuring that justice is served and the public remains informed.

Records show Siemens agreed to boycott of Israeli goods to secure $360 million deal with Turkey.

By Alana Goodman, The Washington Free Beacon

Germany-based conglomerate Siemens agreed to boycott Israeli products to secure a $360 million deal to provide Turkey with high-speed trains, according to copy of the contract obtained by a pro-Israel watchdog group that contradicts months of public denials from the company.

The agreement, which includes a signature and seal from Siemens, has a provision that “providers of goods and works, and their associates and subcontractors, shall be in strict compliance with the Boycott Regulations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of the African Union.” The Organization of the Islamic Conference enforces a boycott of Israel.

The news could raise legal issues for Siemens in the United States, where multiple states have instituted financial penalties for companies that participate in anti-Israel boycotts. The Zachor Legal Institute, the watchdog group that obtained a copy of the contract, said it has added Siemens to its list of scrutinized companies.

“Although modern-day Siemens has expressed regret for their use of forced labor during the Nazi regime, this new evidence of boycotting Israel indicates that this company is still willing to prioritize profits by engaging in economic warfare, this time against the Jewish State of Israel,” said Ron Machol of the Zachor Legal Institute.

New York and Arizona officials told the Washington Free Beacon they are looking into the allegations to see if any action is necessary under the states’ anti-boycott laws.

Siemens has for months denied a report by German media outlet Südwestrundfunk that the company signed on to the anti-Israel provision as part of the $360 million Turkish railway deal in 2018.

“Neither Siemens AG nor Siemens Turkey signed a boycott declaration in 2018 in connection with the tender for high-speed trains,” said Florian Martini, a spokesman for Siemens, in February.

Siemens spokesman Wolfram Trost sent the Free Beacon an identical statement when asked this week about the contract. He declined to comment when asked if Siemens agreed to comply with the boycott regulations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, as stated in the contract.

The Zachor Legal Institute said it has raised the matter with several state law enforcement bodies. At least 36 states have laws or orders opposing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Some of these laws limit government-related business with companies that boycott Israel, such as public pension fund investments or contracting work.

Arizona has been one of the most active states on this issue and has blacklisted 19 companies, including Unilever, Danske Bank, and SNS Bank. State treasurer Kimberly Yee (R.) told the Free Beacon that the state doesn’t have any investments with Siemens but that her staff will “monitor the allegations raised on this issue to see what actions, if any, are necessary.”

“The Arizona Treasury diligently follows our state’s anti-BDS law,” said Yee. “When credible evidence exists that a company is in violation of Arizona law, our staff investigates the issue and then takes appropriate steps.”

New York, which holds investments in Siemens through its state pension fund, said it is also looking into the issue. Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for New York comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D.), told the Free Beacon that the office is “aware of the published reports and will be looking into the matter according to our regular review process.”

DiNapoli previously warned companies that “there will be consequences if their anti-Israel activities expose our investments to financial harm.”

The post Germany’s Siemens facing American scrutiny for agreeing to boycott Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

President Biden laughs off House Oversight Committee investigation of allegations he was involved in international bribery scandal.

The post WATCH: Biden pushes back on bribery allegations, asking ‘Where’s the money?’ appeared first on World Israel News.

On June 2, 29-year-old Izzac Murillo of California was given a sentence of 54 years to life for the assault and murder of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son that occurred on July 24, 2015.

The Porterville Police Department had responded to a call about an unconscious toddler beaten severely. A statement released by the Tulare County District Attorney’s office describes the severity of the abuse. It stated that “Doctors compared the totality of injuries as “similar to what would be seen in a car collision victim whose abdomen had impacted the steering wheel violently.”

The child was brought to a hospital with bruises on the head, face, and chin, along with abrasions on his lips and gums. He had severe internal bleeding from lacerations and ‘complete severing of the bowel.’ The toddler had swelling and bruising on his genitals.

Upon questioning, Murillo denied responsibility for his actions. Investigators retrieved rope and brass knuckles from inside Murillo’s bedroom.

Adriana Vasquez, the 2-year-old’s mother, was a methamphetamine user and had two other children exposed to Murillo’s violence. She was charged with child abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death and an additional two counts of child abuse, leading to an eight-year prison sentence in May 2018.

The 54-year prison sentence for Izzac Murillo serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting children from abuse and reinforces the consequences of violence. Unfortunately, a young life was taken too soon, and the family’s pain will remain for an eternity.

The two leaders also discussed military and intelligence cooperation, and artificial intelligence.

By JNS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about Iran “at length” on June 8.

Netanyahu “reiterated his consistent position that returning to the nuclear agreement with Iran would not stop the Iranian nuclear program and that no arrangement with Iran will obligate Israel, which will do everything to defend itself,” according to a readout from the prime minister’s office.

The Israeli leader also expressed appreciation for the U.S.-Israeli military and intelligence cooperation, “which is at an all-time peak,” and for recent “sincere talks” between the two countries.

Netanyahu “suggested advancing Israeli-American cooperation on artificial intelligence,” and the two discussed “the challenges and opportunities in the region,” per the readout.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller later stated that the two leaders “discussed areas of mutual interest, including expanding and deepening Israel’s integration into the Middle East through normalization with countries in the region.”

Blinken “discussed the need to uphold the commitments made at regional meetings in Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh to avoid measures that undermine the prospects for a two-state solution,” Miller added. “He also discussed broader regional challenges, such as the threat posed by Iran, and underscored the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and our 75-year-old partnership.”

The post Iran arrangement would not obligate Israel, Netanyahu tells Blinken appeared first on World Israel News.

“This is election interference at the highest level,” says Trump after historic decision by Department of Justice to indict former president over classified documents.

By The Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw.

The Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states.

The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump’s convicted.

But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges.

The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump’s lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt.”

Speaking with Fox News Thursday night, Trump accused the Biden administration Department of Justice of “election interference at the highest level,” and called the Biden White House “the most corrupt” administration in American history.

“They are trying to deflect all of their dishonesty by bringing this ridiculous boxes hoax case.”

“They’re not going to get away with it.”

Trump denied any wrongdoing, citing the Presidential Records Act, which he said “makes me totally innocent.”

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he faces, legal experts — as well as Trump’s own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which polices the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy.

The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction.

Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a Monday meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming.

The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.

FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained.

The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said.

The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The post Trump indicted in classified documents case appeared first on World Israel News.

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Less than two weeks before the 2016 Iowa GOP presidential caucus, then-candidate Donald Trump attempted to solidify his Christian bona fides during a speech at Liberty University. Trump declared, “We’re going to protect Christianity…. Two Corinthians, 3:17, that’s the whole ballgame…is that the one you like?”

Though he would eventually garner overwhelming support from America’s conservative Christian voters, the usually self-assured candidate appeared somewhat out of his comfort zone. The awkward phrasing aside, the follow-up question – “is that the one you like?” – revealed almost explicitly that the campaign would appropriate language that did not come naturally to the candidate.

Seven years after Trump’s speech at Liberty University, what are we to make of the intermingling of religion and populism? Enter Tobias Cremer’s The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism, and Right-Wing Identity Politics in the West, which evaluates this question on four interrelated arguments using Germany, France, and the United States as case studies.

First, Cremer argues that right-wing populist movements emerge in response to new social cleavages. Traditional social divisions around class and religion have given way to an identity-based divide between cosmopolitans and localists. As Cremer writes, “many voters are beginning to think…more in terms of a new contest over the status of ethnocultural, racial and civilizational identities of majority populations in the West.” A number of factors have contributed to this new split in Western societies, including secularization, globalization, and immigration.

Second, amid the rise of right-wing populism, Cremer argues that religious identity is turning into a cultural, rather than religious, concept. The secularization of religious identity creates a useful tool for right-wing populists who “use Christian symbols and language as cultural identity markers, while often remaining distanced from Christian doctrine, ethics and institutions.”

In addition, right-wing populists leverage religious language to imbue a spiritual significance to things associated with the nation – territory becomes a “sacred homeland” and immigrants become “dangerous others.”

Third, Cremer argues that right-wing populist rhetoric is usually most successfully making inroads among non-religious voters or non-practicing Christians for whom Christianity can be more of a cultural marker. Religious practice, on the other hand, has tended to correlate with a relative “immunity” to populism. Germany’s right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, for example, performed much better among non-religious voters in elections between 2014 and 2021. Cremer also notes that, despite later success, Trump’s early support in the 2016 GOP primary was strongest among the religiously unaffiliated.

Fourth, and closely related, the ability of right-wing populists to overcome the relative immunity correlated with religious practice depends “on the availability of a ‘Christian alternative’ in the political landscape and…on churches’ and faith leaders’ willingness and ability to publicly denounce the populist right and create a social taboo around them.”

In Germany, the populist right has been held in check because Christian voters have long found a home in mainstream parties and the major churches have been vocal in condemning the AfD’s appropriation of religion. In France, however, the center-right political bloc has eroded, with French politics divided between President Macron’s center-left movement and the far-right represented by Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. Forced to choose between the two primary options, many practicing Christians have chosen the right-wing populist parties. Moreover, Cremer observes that Catholic bishops have softened their rhetoric toward the far right.

In the United States, meanwhile, Cremer observes that globalization, immigration, and other factors fostered an identity crisis and malaise in a large section of the population. Trump took advantage and, in doing so, transformed the Republican Party into a more identitarian – rather than faith-driven – political entity. Absent any political alternative, and with faith leaders not cultivating a taboo against right-wing populism, immunity to right-wing populism has diminished among practicing Christians.

Cremer’s book is a rigorous analysis of the interplay between religion and right-wing populism and a necessary read for understanding the politics of the past decade. But what are its implications for the future, particularly the United States?

The democratized and decentralized character of American Christianity renders it difficult for a voice or small group of voices to speak on its behalf and cultivate social taboos that apply to politics. If trust in institutions continues to decline, alongside secularization, the prospects for a definitive Christian witness vis-à-vis populism, akin to what Cremer argues has happened in Germany, seems unlikely.

The book also offers a cautionary lesson for American Christians moving forward. The transformation of Christianity into a cultural concept in the West has facilitated its subordination into a prop in the service of nationalistic populism. But what is the end that Christians seek? Is it the kingdom of God? Or the expansion of their own power under the pretense of sacralizing a nation? The intermingling of Christianity and nationalism risks reducing the potency of the Gospel message by making the former a cover for the latter.

The post “Two Corinthians” – Religious Populism in the West appeared first on Providence.

The congregation claimed that the city had visited their property more than 126 times over a two-year period.

By World Israel News Staff

The city of Miami Beach has reached a settlement agreement, involving a payment of $1.3 million, with a small Orthodox synagogue that had filed a lawsuit claiming discriminatory treatment.

Congregation Bais Yeshaya D’Kerestir, which meets in a private home owned by Rabbi Arie Wohl, argued that their invitation-only services rendered the building’s usage similar to any private residence, and thus it should not be subject to frequent inspections.

The congregation, also known as the “Keristier Shteible,” claimed that the city had visited their property more than 126 times over a two-year period, allegedly to enforce various city laws, including pandemic restrictions on large gatherings, as per a lawsuit filed in April 2022.

The lawsuit also claimed that the city had installed a surveillance camera in 2021 that focused solely on their property, accusing the city of violating their First Amendment rights through discriminatory and arbitrary enforcement of zoning laws.

Miami Beach was “wrongfully discriminating against Plaintiffs’ First Amendment protected rights of religious exercise and assembly through discriminatory and arbitrary enforcement of the City’s zoning ordinances,” the congregation claimed.

The city for its part argued that a religious institution was operating in a residential building, which was against the city’s zoning laws.

Despite these claims, the city agreed to settle the lawsuit to avoid a protracted court battle, paying the congregation $1.3 million, some $100,000 more than the purchase price of the home in 2020, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

As part of the settlement, the congregation agreed to certain conditions, including improving the condition of its driveway, refrain from using outdoor speakers for prayer activities – something never done with Orthodox synagogues regardless – and limiting the number of cars parked in the area outside the property.

Both the city and the congregation agreed on a new process to deal with future code violations, and the congregation agreed not to apply for a religious tax exemption for the property. Despite the contentious nature of the dispute, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told The Miami Herald, “Ultimately, we do support the celebration of faith in our community.”

This case is not an isolated incident, as there have been similar disputes in other locations. For instance, in University Heights, Ohio, a court battle was recently settled between the city and a congregation called the Alexander Shul. In that case, the settlement involved the synagogue paying $1.59 million and an agreement to construct a new synagogue that meets state building codes.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find updated information on the current situation in Israel with the Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Rabin Medical Center. As of my last update in September 2021, I recommend checking the most recent news sources for the latest updates.

The post City of Miami Beach settles discrimination case against Jewish synagogue for $1.3 million appeared first on World Israel News.