Important Takeaways:
- Some see God’s divine intervention in an earthquake that struck southern Syria and Lebanon on the very day as an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel was anticipated.
- Israel has been bracing for an attack by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah ever since the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
- Some have felt the delay in a response may have been because the Islamic State wanted to wait for the Tisha B’Av, or the 9th of Av on the Jewish lunar calendar, which began on Monday evening and continued until nightfall on Tuesday.
- However, the Associated Press reported that a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Hama at 11:56 p.m. local time Monday night. The official Syria state news outlet said it was a 4.8 magnitude quake. Aftershocks continued into Tuesday morning.
- “In Damascus and Beirut — the capital of neighboring Lebanon, where the earthquake was also felt — residents descended to the streets fearing a stronger quake that would collapse buildings,” according to the AP.
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Important Takeaways:
- Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses aren’t going away. Neither are the protests.
- The sudden resignation of Columbia University’s president is quickly resurfacing tensions over the Israel-Hamas war that roiled college campuses this spring — a movement primed to escalate as students return to class.
- Organizers at a string of campuses have started planning demonstrations. And some schools are responding with changes to free speech rules that concern academic freedom advocates. The friction sets up a fraught return to school in a matter of days.
- “We are committed to continuing our activism because we understand that it is not just one individual but the entire institution that is complicit in the ongoing genocide,” said Cam Jones, a lead organizer of the protests at Columbia, in a statement to POLITICO. “We will not rest until Columbia divests and Palestine is free.”
- Schools are adjusting how they will regulate protests, prompting some concerns from First Amendment and academic freedom groups.
- The American Association of University Professors this week condemned what it described as “overly restrictive policies dealing with the rights to assemble and protest on campus.”
- “The mood at both Yale and Columbia and colleges around the country is that what happened at the end of last semester isn’t really over,” said Craig Morton, an organizer with Yalies4Palestine who is facing three charges, including two misdemeanors for trespassing and a charge of disorderly conduct.
- “People are aware of the threat,” he said in an interview. “But people are still pretty intent on getting out there in the fall and continuing to protest.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Suburban New York officials looking to stop violent protesters from obscuring their identities have banned wearing masks in public except for health or religious reasons.
- The county’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved the ban on face coverings on Aug. 5. Legislator Howard Kopel said lawmakers were responding to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war.
- The law makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone in Nassau to wear a face covering to hide their identity in public. It exempts people who wear masks “for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”
- Blakeman said that while mask-wearing campus protesters were the impetus for the ban, he sees the new law as a tool to fight everyday crime as well.
- Nassau County acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. She did not follow up with a plan.
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Important Takeaways:
- Houthis launch attacks on 3 ships, 2 US destroyers in nearby seas, group says
- Its attacks have forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and stoked fears of the Israel-Hamas war spreading and destabilizing the Middle East.
- Earlier, the Houthis said on Monday they launched attacks on three ships in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and two US destroyers in the Red Sea.
- The group, which describes its attacks as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza, said the ships were the Larego Desert and the MSC Mechela in the Indian Ocean, and the Minerva Lisa in the Red Sea. It did not name the destroyers.
- There was no immediate confirmation from shipping companies or the US military of any attacks in those areas.
- The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not specify when the attacks took place, but said in a televised speech the group had used missiles against the ships and drones against the US destroyers.
- The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in retaliation for their attacks on vessels.
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Important Takeaways:
- How could Iran’s attack on Israel affect gas prices? What you should know
- Iran, one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, has long been engaged in a shadow war with Israel, but there have been concerns the Israel-Hamas war could become a broader regional conflict.
- Any ripple effects on gas prices depend on the countries’ next moves and whether they seek further retaliation against the backdrop of an already raging war, said Michael Walden, Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University.
- “We’re uncertain about what’s going to happen,” he said. “And so the impacts are going to be very dependent upon what does evolve.”
- The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. was $3.63 as of Monday, according to AAA, up almost 4 cents from a week earlier and 22 cents from a month ago. The price was down 3 cents from a year ago, however.
- Oil benchmarks had risen on Friday in anticipation of Iran’s retaliatory assault, with prices soaring to their highest since October.
- If you are planning a last-minute road trip, though, it may be worth going somewhere closer or putting off travel until a later date. Drivers who can take other modes of transportation, such as walking or biking, could consider that as well.
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Important Takeaways:
- US warship shoots down 3 Houthi drones targeting commercial vessels in Red Sea: CENTCOM
- The development could signify a serious escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
- “Today, there were four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea,” a statement by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) explained. “These three vessels are connected to 14 separate nations.”
- USS Carney was in the southern Red Sea, just north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, when it shot down three Houthi drones heading in its direction, a U.S. official told Fox News, adding that the action was taken in self-defense. The drones were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the official claimed.
- After the first incident on Sunday, Unity Explorer was hit later that afternoon by another UAV and sustained minor damage. USS Carney destroyed another UAV that was headed toward the ship.
- Two other vessels, named Number 9 and Sophie II, were struck by missiles that afternoon. USS Carney was able to shoot down a UAV headed toward Sophie II.
- After the first incident on Sunday, Unity Explorer was hit later that afternoon by another UAV and sustained minor damage. USS Carney destroyed another UAV that was headed toward the ship.
- Two other vessels, named Number 9 and Sophie II, were struck by missiles that afternoon. USS Carney was able to shoot down a UAV headed toward Sophie II.
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Important Takeaways:
- Maher: Israel-Hamas War Opening America’s Eyes To How Colleges Have Indoctrinated Students With A Stew Of Bad Ideas
- Bill Maher on Friday joked “if ignorance is a disease, Harvard Yard is the Wuhan wet market,” in his monologue on this week’s ‘Real Time’ where he addressed anti-Israel sentiment being openly expressed on colleges across the country.
- MAHER: Don’t go to college. If you absolutely have to go, don’t go to an elite college because as recent events have shown it just makes you stupid. Elite schools should no longer be called elite, just say expensive.
- There are few if any positives to come out of what has happened in Israel but one of them is opening America’s eyes to how higher education has become indoctrination into a stew of bad ideas, among them the simplistic notion that the world is a binary place where everyone is either an oppressor or oppressed. In the case of Israel, oppressors being babies and bubbes.
- The same students who will tell you that words are violence and silence is violence were very supportive when Hamas terrorists went on a rape and murder rampage as if they were the Vikings. They knew where to point the fingers—at the murdered—and then it was off to ethics class.
- Now, I recognize that a certain amount of foolishness is expected of college kids, but mixing Jägermeister with tomato juice isn’t the same as siding with terrorists. 34 student groups at Harvard signed a letter that said the apartheid regime is the only one to blame, proving they don’t know what constitutes apartheid.
- They don’t know much of anything actually, but it doesn’t deter them from having an opinion. They’ve convinced themselves Israel is the most repressive regime in history because they have no knowledge of history or even a desire to know it. And actual history doesn’t come up in their intersectionality of politics and genderqueers identities class.
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Important Takeaways:
- Taliban Releases Statement Following the Israel-Hamas War — Urges Islamic Nations and International Community to Act Against Israel
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) has released an official statement in the wake of the recent Israel-Hamas war. The statement outlines the Taliban’s stance on the issue and calls upon Islamic countries and international organizations to take action against Israel.
- The statement explicitly calls for these entities to “prevent the violence of the Israeli occupying forces against the innocent people of Palestine” and to resolve the issue “on the basis of granting the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.”
- The Jerusalem Post reported:
- The Taliban has reportedly asked Iran for passage to Israel to help Hamas continue its terror against the Jewish state, according to multiple foreign media reports from October 7.
- The Taliban has allegedly asked for passage to ‘conquer Jerusalem’ if Iran, Jordan and Iraq are willing to support their troops.
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