Israel’s UN ambassador: Response to Iran will be ‘very painful’
EXCLUSIVE: The world is watching for Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attacks on Oct. 1, and the nation’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, promised it would be “very painful” in order to deter Iran from attacking again in the future. Danon emphasized Israel’s authority over the decision on how they strike back at Iran – they won’t be paying much heed to President Biden’s insistence on “proportionality.” “We will decide about the timing, the location,” he said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. “The regime is vulnerable, and it’s up to us to decide which message we want to send to them,” Danon went on. “It will be very painful for the Iranian regime, and they will think twice in the future whether to attack Israel or not.” Iran rained down some 200 missiles on Tel Aviv on Oct. 1. A looming counterattack has awaited Iran in the two weeks since – and Biden has urged Israel to avoid striking nuclear or oil facilities and limit the counter-strike to military sites. Danon said the world needs to do more to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. “God forbid, if they will have a nuclear bomb,” said Danon. “We all can imagine what they will do with that. So, I don’t think we should wait for that day. I expect the U.S., Europe and other strong democracies to take action against Iran today.” Since Oct. 7, 2023, Iran has been fighting Israel through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Its missile attack earlier this month represented the first direct attack from Iran on Israel since April. Over the past week, Iran’s foreign minister has traversed the Middle East to shore up backing from other nations, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and Jordan. Soon, he’ll travel to Egypt and Turkey. In the U.S., Biden has come under pressure from progressives to use leverage and condition aid to Israel to avoid further civilian casualties. Once a vocal antagonist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the right, Danon insists the Netanyahu government of today is united – even as condemnation for Israel’s actions pours in from other parts of the globe. ISRAEL DECIDES ON POSSIBLE IRAN TARGETS: ‘PRECISE AND DEADLY’ “We have no place to go. That’s why we stand united, committed to fight back and to protect our people and our nation.” Some have called for a day-after plan once Israel determines its enemies defeated in Gaza and Lebanon. “We can speak about reconstruction only after we defeat Hamas,” Danon said. “All of those who care about the future of the Palestinians in Gaza should support Israel,” he went on. “If we allow Hamas to stay there, there will be no future for Gaza.” In Gaza, eradicating Hamas, which have controlled the strip since 2006, leaves open the question of who will maintain the authority. And as Israel furthers its incursion into Lebanon to push back Hezbollah, Danon called on the local population to starve Hezbollah of its power and reclaim their sovereignty from Tehran’s influence. “I approached the Lebanese people, I even spoke to them in Arabic, I urged them to take responsibility over the future, not to allow Iran to use Lebanon as a launch pad against Israel,” he said, referring to a United Nations Security Council session earlier this month. “Lebanon is for the Lebanese people, not for the interest of Iran.” NETANYAHU HITS BIDEN ADMIN, SAYS ISRAEL – NOT US – WILL DECIDE HOW TO HANDLE IRAN Different from its goal of eradication of Hamas in Gaza, Danon said Israel is looking to push Hezbollah back in Lebanon and away from its own northern border. “We want to go back to the situation where Hezbollah is not on the border with Israel according to U.N. Resolution 1701. Hopefully, this time, it will be better implemented,” said Danon. “We are pushing them back, and I hope it will be completed soon.” Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, established a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah, where the terror group is not sitting along Israel’s border. United Nations peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL, were tasked with enforcing that resolution, but Hezbollah quickly moved back into the area. For the past two weeks, Israel has been telling U.N. peacekeepers to move 5 km (3 miles) back from the so-called Blue Line – a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – for their own safety. FROM CEASE-FIRE PUSH TO BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN ISRAEL: US SEEMINGLY ACCEPTS INVOLVEMENT IN ESCALATING WAR They’ve so far refused to do so, but Danon said he is still in conversations imploring the UNIFIL troops to relocate for their safety. “We think it’s a mistake [to stay put], but we will continue to do our best to make sure that the U.N. forces are not targeted by accident. But you know, when you are in the crossfire between Hezbollah and the IDF, it’s not safe.” Danon has often found himself on the front line of tense relations between Israel and the United Nations as the organization has continuously demanded the IDF cease hostilities. “We have seen that the U.N. forgot about the moral issues that they have to advocate for,” said Danon. Asked if he still believed in the U.N. as a force for peace and security, he said: “Well, the idea was good… Unfortunately, today, it’s being used by hostile forces to attack the victims and not to condemn those who attack other countries and civilians.”
Vistara flight from Frankfurt to Mumbai receives security threat on social media; safety protocols taken
On October 16, with the growing number of calls claiming a threat to flights in the recent past, the Central Government decided to double the number of sky marshals on the flights originating from the airports across the country.
Epic clash: Pressed by Fox News, Kamala Harris comes out swinging
Kamala Harris’ first interview on Fox News was a contentious affair, and at times she and Bret Baier wound up talking over each other. But while the vice president repeatedly ducked some questions, she also had several moments when she appeared to be standing up to her least favorite network–undoubtedly something she hoped to achieve. WHY TRUMP, BATTLING MEDIA HOSTILITY, IS DECLARING WAR ON FACT-CHECKERS She showed passion, even anger, raising her voice, on a question about most of the country believing we’re on the wrong track, saying that Donald Trump was “unfit to serve” and “unstable.” Turning questions into broadsides against the former president was her signature move. But what about half the country that supports him, Baier asked. “Are they stupid?” No, but “he’s the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish,” Harris said. Trump is the one talking about “an enemy within,” and using the military against Americans. “He’s talking about locking people up because they disagree with him.” Several times she told Baier “you and I both know” before lobbing a grenade at Trump, trying to project an image of standing up to both Fox and her opponent. She wanted this fight. AS A CAUTIOUS KAMALA LOSES MOMENTUM, DEMOCRATS ARE PANICKING OVER A TRUMP WIN Among the questions Harris didn’t want to answer: Does she support taxpayer-funded transgender surgery for federal inmates, as she did in 2019? “I will follow the law,” she said flatly, insisting Trump had done the same. (The Trump camp shot back that the first such surgery took place in 2022, during her tenure.) Didn’t she know that Joe Biden had been diminished? She danced around that one. Why hasn’t she made progress on these issues during her time as vice president? “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said, pointing out that she hasn’t spent most of her life in Washington. That was a cleanup of her disastrous response on “The View” that she couldn’t think of a single thing where she differed from the president. TRUMP COUNTERS HARRIS MEDIA BLITZ BY RIPPING BOB WOODWARD, HOWARD STERN AND HER HURRICANE BRIEFING The Fox anchor spent the first chunk of the interview on immigration, following up again and again to pin her down. At first Harris conceded the obvious: “We have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired.” Why didn’t you fix it? Trump killed their most recent attempt at a bipartisan bill, though nothing was accomplished when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Had she changed her position since her 2019 campaign, when she said border crossings should be made legal? “I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings,” Harris responded, without explaining the change. Asked about crimes committed by illegal immigrants, such as the murder of Laken Riley, Harris called them “tragic cases” and said her heart went out to their families. There were times when her answers seemed thin, and other times when she slipped in a litany of her proposals. The confrontational session was Harris’ first of this short campaign, after a series of softball sitdowns with people openly supporting her candidacy. Fox News got the exclusive, and Harris got what she wanted: A defiant half hour in which she could try to change minds among the largest audience by far in cable news. She should abandon her friends like Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert and do more tough interviews, because that’s how you show voters you can take the heat.
Delhi Police initiates probe in 7 hoax threats to flights, registers FIR
Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani said, “Airport police has responded to seven incidents involving reported bomb threats this month. After thorough verifications and inspection, all threats were confirmed to be hoaxes.”
CJI Chandrachud decides on his successor, nominates…
Justice Chandrachud took over as the CJI on November 9, 2022. Judges of the Supreme Court retire by the age of 65
‘Reducing J-K to UT…’: Kapil Sibal’s big statement one day after Omar Abdullah’s oath taking ceremony as CM
As Jammu and Kashmir turned another page in its troubled history, the 54-year-old Omar Abdullah was sworn in along with five other ministers, three from the Jammu region and two from the Kashmir Valley.
Trump rips Harris on illegal immigration during Latino voter town hall: Hispanic voters ‘most against it’
Former President Donald Trump ripped the Biden-Harris administration for the nation’s illegal immigration crisis during a town hall event with undecided Hispanic voters, arguing that Hispanic voters “are most against” illegal migration across the border. “We have to have a lot of people come into our country. We just want them to come in legally through a system, because [the Biden-Harris administration] released hundreds of thousands of people that are murderers, drug dealers, terrorists. They’re coming in totally, nobody knows who they are, where they come from, and the people that are most against it are the Hispanic people,” Trump said in the event that aired Wednesday evening. “They are totally against it,” he added, after he was asked by a Spanish-speaking voter who would occupy farm and produce jobs if illegal immigrants are deported under his administration. “Noticias Univision Presenta: Los Latinos Preguntan … Donald Trump Responde” aired at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, spotlighting immigration, the economy, and Trump defending his previous administration in the hour-long pre-recorded event. The town hall, which was hosted by Televisa anchor Enrique Acevedo, is the second held by Univision this election cycle, after hosting Vice President Kamala Harris last week. HISPANIC VOTERS RAIL AGAINST ‘DISHONEST’ BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER RECORD AS POLL SHOWS TRUMP GAINING IN KEY STATES Trump’s appearance on Univison comes as he works to earn Hispanic voters’ support, with recent polling showing he’s making gains with the voting bloc. One Republican voter who resides in the battleground state of Arizona questioned Trump about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, asking the 45th president if he believes the migrants are eating cats and dogs, as he has previously cited on the campaign trail and during his presidential debate against Harris. Trump said he will travel to Springfield and provide “a full report” after his visit. INEFFECTIVE PLANNING, LACK OF CONNECTIONS HAS DEMS ON EDGE IN ‘KEY’ BATTLEGROUND: REPORT “I was just saying what was reported, that’s been reported. And eating other things, too, that they’re not supposed to be. But this is, all I do is report. … I was there, I’m going to be there and we’re going to take a look and I’ll give you a full report when I do. But that’s been in the newspapers and reported pretty broadly,” Trump responded. CNN DATA REPORTER PREDICTS TRUMP WILL WIN ‘HISTORIC’ NUMBER OF BLACK AND HISPANIC VOTERS “I will say this, as far as Springfield is concerned, because I do know that situation. You have a city of 52,000 people, and they’ve added almost 30,000 migrants into the city. If you were a person that lived there, if you lived in Springfield, Ohio, and all of a sudden you couldn’t get into a hospital, you couldn’t get your children into a school, you wouldn’t be able to buy groceries. You can no longer pay the rent because the government’s paying rent,” he continued. “….If any of that happened, it would be a disaster for you.” Polling published this month found Vice President Kamala Harris has an edge over Trump among self-identified Hispanic voters in two key battleground states, Arizona and Nevada, but Trump has made gains among younger male Hispanic voters compared to four years ago, according to a pair of Suffolk University/USA Today polls. A Fox News poll published Wednesday found that Harris received majority support among Hispanics, at 52%, and voters under age 30, at 54%, however, those stats trail President Biden’s support in 2020, according to the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey. That poll overall found Trump has a two-point average over Harris overall, which is a reversal from last month, when Harris had a narrow advantage. While in Florida, various recent polling found Trump leading Harris among Hispanic voters, the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday. Trump continued fielding various questions from audience members, including one female full-time student in Florida who asked how he plans to tackle the spiraling national debt, which is worrying her. “We have record national debt. We’ve never had anything like it before. We were getting ready to start paying down debt, and then we got hit with a thing called COVID, or the China virus,” he responded. “What’s going to solve the problem is growth. It’s a thing called growth that nobody even talks about from the Democrat standpoint, because they don’t know about growth. But we’re going to bring companies in. We’re going to bring tremendous business to our country, and that’s going to solve that. Also, waste, fraud and abuse. And we have Elon Musk, who’s a fantastic guy and a fantastic genius. He’s a genius at a lot of things, but he’s a great business person,” he explained, citing his plan to make tech billionaire Elon Musk the “secretary of cost-cutting” if he’s re-elected. TRUMP OUTPERFORMING 2020 SUPPORT AMONG HISPANICS, WHO PREFER HIM ON IMMIGRATION, POLL SHOWS A stay-at-home mom from North Carolina asked Trump if he agreed with his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, on her pro-choice abortion stance in her new memoir that suggested a woman’s right to choose an abortion is a “fundamental right of individual liberty.” NEW POLL SHOWS WHO HISPANICS ARE BACKING IN SOUTHWEST SWING STATES “First of all, I told Melania that she has to go with her heart and she has to do what she has to do. She has to support what she wants to support. And she wrote a great book. It was just, it’s the number one bestseller. I hope you all go out and buy it, but it’s really a great book. But I want her to do what she wants to do. I wouldn’t be one to oppose what I think,” he responded. “They wanted to get rid of Roe v. Wade and let it come back to the States. And I’ve done that,” he added on abortion. “And now the people are voting on it, and you’re going to see it’s going to heal. It will never heal. It would have never healed if
‘Crucial that we act together…’: Congress breaks silence on India-Canada diplomatic row
The Congress has broken its silence on the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada.
MEA makes big statement, holds PM Trudeau ‘solely responsible’ for damage to India-Canada relations
Justin Trudeau on Wednesday acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
US bombers strike Yemen weapons facilities controlled by Houthi forces
The United States has attacked five military sites controlled by Houthi forces in Yemen by using B-2 bombers for precision strikes against weapons storage locations. “U.S. forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement. “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified.” DISAPPROVAL MOUNTS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD AS US AVOIDS DIRECT ACTION AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS Austin said the employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrated U.S. global strike capabilities to “take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere.” “For over a year, the Iran-backed Houthis, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, have recklessly and unlawfully attacked U.S. and international vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden,” he said. The Houthis’ illegal attacks continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce, threaten environmental catastrophe, and put innocent civilian lives and U.S. and partner forces’ lives at risk, he said. U.S. FORCES DESTROY MULTIPLE HOUTHI WEAPONS, VEHICLES IN PAST 24 HOURS: CENTCOM Austin said the attack was approved by President Joe Biden. “At the direction of President Biden, I authorized these targeted strikes to further degrade the Houthis’ capability to continue their destabilizing behavior and to protect and defend U.S. forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways. “Again, the United States will not hesitate to take action to defend American lives and assets; to deter attacks against civilians and our regional partners; and to protect freedom of navigation and increase the safety and security in these waterways for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels. “We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that there will be consequences for their illegal and reckless attacks. I am grateful for the professionalism and skill of the brave American troops who took part in today’s actions and who continue to stand guard in defense of our Nation.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Early assessments by the U.S. Central Command indicate that none of the strikes injured any civilians. Here’s some background about the Houthi effects in the Middle East and throughout shipping corridors in the region: This is a developing story.