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A documentary about an Israeli ex-soldier’s efforts to rescue his family from the October 7 Hamas attacks premiered under heavy police presence on Wednesday, after initially being cut from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) lineup. Groups supporting Israel and the Palestinians faced off outside the venue before the screening of “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” which charts how retired Israeli general Noam Tibon saved his family and others during the 2023 Hamas attack.There were no reported incidents of violence during the protests.  The Canadian-produced film drew significant attention ahead of TIFF, after it was briefly withdrawn from the festival. Organizers cited a lack of “legal clearance” for certain footage used, triggering protests from more than 1,000 entertainment industry figures including Amy Schumer and Debra Messing, who signed a petition accusing TIFF of silencing Jewish voices. TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey denied reports that director Barry Avrich was asked to secure rights to use actual Hamas bodycam footage of the attacks.”At no point did we ask the filmmakers to seek approval or clearance from Hamas, a terrorist organization,” Bailey told the Globe and Mail newspaper this week. “That is, of course, something that we wouldn’t do.”Before introducing the film on Wednesday, Bailey conceded TIFF mishandled the film’s submission process. “I want to apologize, especially to the Jewish community, for mistakes I made in the lead up to this day,” he told a packed 2,000-seat venue in downtown Toronto. – ‘Flag of a family’ -The film recounts Tibon’s journey from Tel Aviv to Nahal Oz, a kibbutz on the border with Gaza, where his son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters were hiding in a safe room after Hamas fighters entered the community. Avrich said he was drawn to the story as a father, and that it does not have a political message. “This film is wrapped in the flag of a family,” he told the premiere audience. Protesting outside the venue, Palestinian-Canadian Bassem Ramli told AFP he was not objecting to the contents of the film specifically, but opposed TIFF’s decision to allow the former Israeli army general on its red carpet.  “This person does not deserve to be celebrated as a hero, let alone at this time,” the 39-year-old said. “Would it be OK to have, say, a senior Russian general being right now celebrated as a hero? I don’t think this is something that would be really accepted,” he added. Waving an Israeli flag outside the theatre, Jeffrey Raphael teared up when asked about the anger surrounding the film. “I understand there is perspective from Palestinians in the film festival, so why can’t we hear other perspectives?” the 55-year-old said. The Hamas attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,656 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.During the post-premiere Q&A, when the moderator mentioned the Palestinian toll from the Israeli offensive, substantial numbers of the apparently pro-Israeli audience booed and jeered. 

The S&P 500 rose to a fresh record Wednesday behind a surge in Oracle shares as markets looked ahead to key consumer pricing data expected to influence US interest rate decisions.The Federal Reserve has been widely expected to cut interest rates at its meeting next week, but there is debate about whether the central bank …

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Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov arrived in Israel on Monday, a day after she was released more than two years after her kidnapping in Baghdad.Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the release of Tsurkov, who had been held hostage since March 2023.”Elizabeth Tsurkov, who had been held hostage in Iraq and was released last night, has landed in Israel,” said a joint statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Mossad intelligence service.The statement added that she had transited through Cyprus, while Israeli media said she would be taken to Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv.While Iraq said “outlaws” kidnapped Tsurkov, Trump announced she was released by the powerful pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah group.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Tsurkov “was just released” by Kataeb Hezbollah “after being tortured for many months”, and had arrived at the US embassy in Baghdad.Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, said later in a statement that “following extensive and high-level security and intelligence efforts… authorities succeeded, on September 9, in locating and reaching the site of her detention.”Tsurkov was delivered to the US embassy to “facilitate her reunion with her sister, a US citizen,” he added. The former captive’s sister, Emma Tsurkov, thanked Trump, his special envoy Adam Boehler, the US embassy in Baghdad and the non-profit group Global Reach for their roles in securing the release.”My entire family is incredibly happy. We cannot wait to see Elizabeth and give her all the love we have been waiting to share for 903 days,” she posted on social media.Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, went missing in Iraq in March 2023.She had likely entered Iraq on her Russian passport and had travelled to the country as part of her doctoral studies.Her research focused on the Levant, and she worked extensively on Syria during its civil war as well as on Iraq. She speaks English, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic.Numan said Tsurkov was kidnapped by a “group of outlaws” without naming any party, and added that Iraq’s security forces “will continue to pursue all those involved in this crime and ensure they are held accountable.”- ‘Peace through strength’ -In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release, saying US measures against hostage diplomacy played a key role.”Less than a week after @POTUS (Trump) signed an executive order to strengthen efforts against hostage diplomacy, Princeton student Elizabeth Tsurkov has been released,” Rubio wrote.”This is peace through strength in action,” he added, thanking Iraq’s Sudani for his support.Tsurkov was active on social media, with tens of thousands of followers on X. She describes herself as “passionate about human rights”.In Baghdad, she had focused on pro-Iran factions and the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr as part of her research on the region.She was abducted as she was leaving a cafe in the Iraqi capital’s Karrada neighbourhood, an Iraqi intelligence source told AFP in 2023.Israeli authorities blamed Kataeb Hezbollah for her disappearance, but the group implied that it was not involved.- Kataeb Hezbollah? -In 2023 Kataeb Hezbollah did not claim the abduction, but a source in the group told AFP Tuesday Tsurkov was released to spare Iraq any “conflicts”.She “was released according to conditions, the most important of which was to facilitate the withdrawal of US forces without a fight and to spare Iraq any conflicts or fighting”, the source said.”She was released and not liberated. No military operation was carried out to free her,” the source added.Like other armed groups trained by Iran during the war against the Islamic State group (IS), Kataeb Hezbollah was integrated into the regular security forces as part of the Hashed al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF).However, the faction has developed a reputation for sometimes acting on its own.The group and other Iran-backed Iraqi factions have been calling for the withdrawal of US troops deployed in Iraq at Baghdad’s invitation as part of the anti-IS coalition. US forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria were repeatedly targeted by Kataeb Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.They have responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks have halted.The US and Iraq have announced that the anti-IS coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq in 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region in the country’s north.

Qatar’s prime minister warned Wednesday that an unprecedented Israeli strike in Doha targeting Hamas killed hope for Gaza hostages, calling for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to be “brought to justice”.His comments came a day after deadly strikes targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar — a US ally — a first in the oil-rich Gulf that rattled a region long shielded from conflict.”I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told CNN.Doha is “reassessing everything” around their involvement in future ceasefire talks and discussing next steps with Washington, he added in comments cited in CNN’s live blog after an interview with the broadcaster.The attack, just three months after Iran launched a retaliatory strike on a US airbase in Qatar, also cast serious doubt on Qatar-mediated Gaza ceasefire talks and undermined security reassurances to the Gulf from key ally Washington.Earlier Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed that Israel would “act against its enemies anywhere” while Netanyahu urged Qatar to expel Hamas officials or hold them to account, “because if you don’t, we will”.Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political bureau since 2012 with Washington’s blessing, and has been a key mediator in Gaza talks alongside Egypt and the United States.Israel’s military said it struck Huthi targets in Yemen on Wednesday, including in the capital Sanaa, killing 35 people according to the rebels.Palestinian militant group Hamas said six people were killed in Tuesday’s strikes in Qatar, but its senior leaders had survived, affirming “the enemy’s failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation”.The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action.Trump said he was not notified in advance and when he heard, asked his envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar immediately — but the attack had already started.Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sought to justify the decision, telling an Israeli radio station: “It was not an attack on Qatar; it was an attack on Hamas.”- ‘Shaken conscience of world’ -Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran said Israel “represents a real danger to the security and stability of the region”.”It is in an open war with everyone, not just with the Palestinian people,” he said.In Gaza City on Wednesday, the Israeli military destroyed another high-rise building as it intensified its assault on the territory’s largest urban centre, despite mounting calls to end its campaign.The military issued an evacuation warning to those living in and around the Tiba 2 tower, before later saying it had “struck a high-rise building that was used by the Hamas terrorist organisation”.AFP images showed huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky as the residential tower in western Gaza City crashed to the ground.In the aftermath, young girls rushed to pick dust-covered dough out of the rubble.Siham Abu al-Foul told AFP she couldn’t take anything with her when the army issued the evacuation orders.”They brought down the tower and we came running and there was nothing left… Everything we fixed in two years was gone in a minute.”The Israeli military said it had struck 360 targets since Friday and vowed that it would “increase the pace of targeted strikes” in the Gaza City area in the coming days.The Gaza war has created catastrophic humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million, with the United Nations last month declaring a famine in Gaza City and its surroundings.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she would push to sanction “extremist” Israeli ministers and curb trade ties over the dire situation.”What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” she said.- ‘Not thrilled’ -Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders in Qatar sparked international condemnation.Trump said he was not notified in advance of the Israeli strikes and was “not thrilled about the whole situation”.”I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” he said in a social media post, adding Hamas’s elimination was still a “worthy goal”.Canada said it was reassessing its relationship with Israel following the Doha strikes.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,656 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.bur-acc-glp-aya/jsa

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a contentious meeting Wednesday, with relations strained between their countries and protests held against Herzog’s London visit.Herzog’s visit came as Starmer has in recent months toughened his criticism of how Israel is waging its war in Gaza, and put the UK on the path to recognise a Palestinian state.The pair shook hands in front of photographers and TV cameras in Downing Street, with few smiles on display, as the meeting got underway Wednesday afternoon.In the face-to-face, Starmer condemned Israel’s air strikes against Hamas leaders in Doha the previous day, a Downing Street spokesperson said.”He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see,” the spokesperson added.Starmer also raised “huge concern” about the “man-made famine” in Gaza and called for the resumption of aid and the “halting of offensive operations”.”We had a very frank and open discussion…. It was a meeting between allies, but it was a tough meeting,” Herzog said after the talks. He repeated Israel’s denial that famine was happening in Gaza.The United Nations declared famine last month in parts of Gaza, warning that 500,000 people face “catastrophic” conditions.- Palestinian state -The Israeli president said he used the meeting to reiterate that a “unilateral resolution regarding a Palestinian state will be adverse and negatively affect any future process”.Starmer announced in late July his government would join France, Canada and other countries in recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September unless Israel takes specific steps towards peace in Gaza.Calling for the return of hostages, Starmer and Herzog agreed that Hamas could not be part of any peace process, according to Downing Street.The Israeli president’s office said he would also “protest the notion of sanctions against the only democracy in the Middle East”, meaning Israel.The UK has sanctioned Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for inciting violence against Palestinians.Rights groups and some UK lawmakers, including from the ruling centre-left Labour party, have said the government should not have allowed Herzog to visit.- Protests -Starmer’s government has also come under pressure from critics of Israel to say the country has committed genocide with its military campaign in Gaza.Shouts of “stop the genocide” could be heard from a protester outside the Downing Street gates as Herzog arrived.A protester threw a red smoke canister towards Herzog’s convoy as it left. Police were seen detaining a person and removing the canister after the vehicles drove away.London insisted this week it has not determined that Israel is committing genocide, following the publication by a parliamentary watchdog committee of a September 1 letter by then-foreign secretary David Lammy.It stated: “As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’.”The Government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”Starmer’s official spokesman has said that the letter — written just prior to Lammy becoming interior minister in a government reshuffle last week — “reflects the UK’s position that we’ve not come to any conclusion” on the matter.

Israeli air strikes on Huthi-held Yemen killed 35 people and wounded more than 130 on Wednesday, the Iran-backed rebels said, days after their prime minister and half the cabinet died in a major attack.The Huthi armed forces’ media operation in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, was hit in the attacks, along with a Huthi complex in Jawf province, the group said.Israel has launched repeated attacks on Huthi targets during the Gaza war, as the Iran-backed rebels fire missiles and drones at Israel and Red Sea shipping, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian cause.Thirty-five people died and 131 were wounded, Huthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi posted on X, adding it was not a final toll.The toll included 28 dead and 113 wounded in Sanaa, and seven dead and 18 wounded in Jawf, which borders Saudi Arabia, Alasbahi said.A large plume of grey smoke billowed above Sanaa as the strikes echoed across the city, which has been controlled by the Huthis for more than a decade.- High-profile assassinations -The Huthis’ prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, nine ministers and two cabinet officials were killed as they attended a government meeting in the Sanaa area last month.The killings were the most high-profile assassinations of Huthi officials during nearly two years of hostilities with Israel over the Gaza war.The latest air strikes come after a drone launched from Yemen struck Ramon airport in southern Israel on Sunday, wounding one person.Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said journalists working for the September 26 and al-Yaman newspapers were among those killed at the “Moral Guidance Headquarters” in Sanaa.The Israeli military also said it struck the armed forces’ media operations, among other facilities.The targets included “military camps in which operatives of the terrorist regime were identified, the Huthis’ military public relations headquarters and a fuel storage facility that was used by the terrorist regime”, an Israeli military statement said.The Huthis’ Al-Masirah television said the strikes in Jawf hit a Central Bank branch building in the city of Al-Hazm, wounding employees.The Huthis said they fought back with air defences, without giving details.Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Huthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks against Israel.In response, Israel has carried out rounds of retaliatory strikes in Yemen, mainly targeting infrastructure such as ports, power stations and the international airport in Sanaa.

Israel warned its enemies Wednesday they were not safe anywhere, a day after strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar — a US ally — drew a rare rebuke from President Donald Trump.Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed that Israel would “act against its enemies anywhere”, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Qatar to expel Hamas officials or hold them to account, “because if you don’t, we will”.Israel’s military said it struck Huthi rebel targets in Yemen on Wednesday, including in the capital Sanaa, as AFP journalists reported strikes on the Huthi armed forces’ media operation.In a statement, the army said its targets included “military camps in which operatives of the terrorist regime were identified, the Huthis’ military public relations headquarters and a fuel storage facility” used by the group.The rebel-run health ministry in Sanaa said at least 35 people were killed and more than 130 wounded in the Israeli strikes.Palestinian militant group Hamas said six people were killed in Tuesday’s strikes on Qatar, but its senior leaders had survived, affirming “the enemy’s failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation”.The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action and had warned Qatar in advance of the incoming strikes.But Doha said it had not received the warning from Washington until the attack was already under way.Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sought to justify the decision, telling an Israeli radio station: “We don’t always act in the interests of the United States.”It was not an attack on Qatar; it was an attack on Hamas,” Danon told 103FM, adding: “It is too early to comment on the outcome, but the decision is the right one.”- ‘Shaken conscience of world’ -Hamas political bureau member Hossam Badran said Israel “represents a real danger to the security and stability of the region”.”It is in an open war with everyone, not just with the Palestinian people,” he said.Alongside Egypt and the United States, Qatar has led multiple attempts to end the Israel-Hamas war and secure the release of the remaining hostages.In Gaza City on Wednesday, the Israeli military destroyed another high-rise building as it intensifies its assault on the territory’s largest urban centre despite mounting calls to end its campaign.The military issued an evacuation warning to those living in and around the Tiba 2 tower, before later saying it had “struck a high-rise building that was usarmyed by the Hamas terrorist organisation”.AFP images showed huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky as the residential tower in western Gaza City crashed to the ground.In the aftermath, young girls rushed to pick dust-covered dough out of the rubble.Siham Abu Al-Foul told AFP she couldn’t take anything with her when the army issued the evacuation orders.”They brought down the tower and we came running and there was nothing left… Everything we fixed in two years was gone in a minute.”The Israeli military said it had struck 360 targets since Friday and vowed that it would “increase the pace of targeted strikes” in the Gaza City area in the coming days.The Gaza war has created catastrophic humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million, with the United Nations last month declaring a famine in Gaza City and its surroundings.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she would push to sanction “extremist” Israeli ministers and curb trade ties over the dire situation.”What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” she said.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hit back, writing on X that Europe was sending “the wrong message that strengthens Hamas and the radical axis in the Middle East”.- ‘Not thrilled’ -Israel’s targeting of Hamas leaders in Qatar sparked international condemnation.Trump said he was not notified in advance of the Israeli strikes and was “not thrilled about the whole situation”.”I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” he said in a social media post, adding Hamas’s elimination was still a “worthy goal”.Canada said it was reassessing its relationship with Israel following the Doha strikes.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,656 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.