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Young girls in Iraq who are years away from becoming teenagers could be forced to become wives if a new Shia-backed law passes. The new law would lower a girl’s consent from 18 to age 9.

This includes allowing parents to have arranged marriages for their young daughters.

Iraq doesn’t have a male guardianship system that requires a female to have the permission of a husband, father or other male guardian to make crucial life decisions — like marriage. The law would also allow religious authorities to carry out marriages.

The proposed law that’s on its second way through the parliamentary government has been opposed by women in the members of parliament (MP) and activist groups, according to the Guardian.

PENTAGON PLANS TO SHRINK US 'FOOTPRINT' IN IRAQ, BUT DECLINES TO SAY BY HOW MUCH

"This is a catastrophe for women," said Raya Faiq, the coordinator for a coalition of groups opposing the law change, which also includes some Iraqi MPs.

"My husband and my family oppose child marriage. But imagine if my daughter gets married and my daughter’s husband wants to marry off my granddaughter as a child. The new law would allow him to do so. I would not be allowed to object. This law legalizes child rape."

The new law would bring back a Taliban-style of slashing women’s rights. 

Iraqi citizens have protested on the streets of the country’s capital, Baghdad, and other cities around the country. The protests have been met with clashes against local law enforcement.

Although marriage under the age of 18 has been a national law since the 1950s, a survey by Unicef found that 28% of girls in Iraq got married before they turned 18.

SENATE PASSES BILL TO PROTECT KIDS ONLINE AND MAKE TECH COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE FOR HARMFUL CONTENT

Nadia Mahmood, co-founder of the Iraq-based Aman Women’s Alliance, said the male-dominated MP in Iraq feels threatened by a movement of youth organizations and women.

"Following the mass youth protests which took place in Iraq in 2019, these political players saw that the role of women had begun to strengthen in society," said, according to a report by the Guardian. "They felt that feminist, gender and women’s organizations, plus civil society and activist movements, posed a threat to their power and status … [and] began to restrict and suppress them."

There have been 25 female members of Iraq’s government who tried stopping the proposed law from going to a second vote, but they say the strong opposition by their male MP colleagues has made it nearly impossible.

"Unfortunately, male MPs who support this law speak in a masculine way, asking what’s wrong with marrying a minor? Their thinking is narrow-minded. They don’t take into consideration that they are the legislators that determine people’s fate … but rather follow their masculine thinking to authorize all this," said Alia Nassif, an Iraqi MP.

Protesters fear that their children could face an even harsher future than their own if the law changes are adopted. 

"I have one daughter, I don’t want her to be forced like me to marry as a child," said Azhar Jassim, who had to leave school to be married at 16.

Israel’s newly appointed minister of defense said Sunday his country has defeated Hezbollah, noting that the elimination of the Lebanese terrorist organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was the crowning achievement.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27 when the Israel Defense Forces attacked the Iran-backed group’s headquarters in southern Beirut.

Late last month, the Israeli military also said it eliminated Hashem Safieddine, who was widely expected to take control of Hezbollah after Nasrallah was killed.

"Now it is our job to continue to put pressure in order to bring about the fruits of that victory," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday during a ceremony at Israel's foreign ministry.

HEZBOLLAH CONFIRMS DEATH OF SENIOR COMMANDER IN LINE TO REPLACE HASSAN NASRALLAH

Katz added that Israel is not interested in meddling in internal Lebanese politics as Israel has "learned our lessons." He also said he hoped an international coalition would capitalize on this opportunity, politically, and that Lebanon would join other countries in normalizing relations with Israel.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, before later in the day announcing that Katz would be Gallant’s replacement.

The move came as Israel is engaged in multiple conflicts, fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as exchanging long-range blows with Iran.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU FIRES DEFENSE MINISTER YOAV GALLANT

In later remarks to the media, Gallant said he and Netanyahu disagreed on three issues: the drafting of Haredi men into the army; getting the hostages home; a state commission of inquiry into the intelligence failures prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday, again striking the neighborhood where Safieddine was killed last month.

Hezbollah also launched multiple rockets into northern Israel and claimed credit for a drone attack that damaged Netanyahu's home.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Reuters contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM - On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the worst antisemitic pogrom against Jews of this century in Europe.

Netanyahu directed his blistering remarks at the violent antisemitic mob attack against Israelis that unfolded in the Dutch city of Amsterdam on Thursday. "We will never allow the atrocities of history to recur. We will never capitulate to antisemitism or terrorism," he said. 

He added, "A clear line connects the two antisemitic attacks against Israel that we have seen recently on Dutch soil: The reprehensible legal assault against the State of Israel at the International Court in The Hague, and the violent assault against Israeli citizens on the streets of Amsterdam. In both cases, there was dangerous antisemitism, the goal of which was to render helpless the Jews and their state, to deny our state the right of self-defense and to deny our citizens their very right to life.

"Yesterday we marked Kristallnacht … It was a brutal and violent assault against Jews just because they were Jews. Unfortunately, in recent days we saw pictures that recalled that night. On the streets of Amsterdam, antisemitic rioters attacked Jews, Israeli citizens, just because they were Jews." 

ISRAELI SOCCER FANS TARGETED IN WAVE OF VIOLENCE IN AMSTERDAM

Netanyahu warned that, "Attacks of this kind threaten not only Israel but endanger the entire world. We have learned something from history: Wild attacks that start against Jews, never end with the Jews. In the end, they spread to all of society, and pass from country to country until they burn all of humanity. Therefore, I expect and demand that every responsible government take strong, vigorous, clear and urgent action."

Adding to the anger against Dutch authorities, the leader of the Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, blasted leaders in Amsterdam for failing to arrest the perpetrators.

Writing on X yesterday he said, "I am speechless. Amsterdam Police just confirmed that NO ONE has been arrested during the Islamic Jewhunt in Amsterdam on Thursday night. All arrests have been made before and during the soccer match and NOT during the pogrom."

The Dutch politician urged that Amsterdam’s left-wing mayor Femke Halsema resign straight away.

CHICAGO JEWISH MOTHER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RESPONSE TO ALLEGED HATE CRIME: 'TERRORISM ON MY PROPERTY'

Halsema, who comes from the Dutch Green party, called the violence "an eruption of antisemitism that we had hoped never again to see in Amsterdam," according to The Associated Press. 

Meanwhile new information has emerged about the highly organized antisemitic attacks on Jews in a city where Nazi collaborators infamously abandoned the German Jewish adolescent Anne Frank, who was in hiding, to the Nazis during World War Two. 

The Holland Casino in Amsterdam reported that after Israelis fled into the casino for refuge, a security guard who worked for the casino "had indeed sent messages in the app group" that was looking to harm the Israelis. 

According to Holland Casino’s statement, "Measures were promptly taken, and the employer was informed that this person is no longer welcome at Holland Casino. Employees of Holland Casino or those of companies hired by Holland Casino must prioritize the interests of Holland Casino, our guests and our staff. This did not happen in this case. Moreover, there is no place within Holland Casino for any form of violence, discrimination or antisemitism."

The Israeli news agency TPS-IL reported that the Rabbi and volunteers from the Chabad House in Amsterdam and an Israeli Druze man had played a role in aiding the victims.

"The night before the game, there were skirmishes between Israeli fans and local Arabs. So when we started to hear news about the confrontation after the game, we first did not realize the scope of what was happening," Rabbi Dovi Pinkovitch, head of the Chabad House in the center of Amsterdam, told TPS-IL.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS HANDED LEGAL SETBACK IN EFFORT TO EXPAND DNC RALLY

The rabbi mobilized local Jews and Israelis living in Amsterdam to assist Israelis trapped in the streets, getting them safely to hotels. "There were cases when local taxis took the Israelis towards the center of the clashes instead of bringing them to safety, so we understood we need to help. The volunteers, in their private cars, worked all night long to get hundreds of Israelis to the hotels," 

An Israeli Druze named Melchem Assad gave vital early warnings to Israelis about the violent assaults taking place. As he was exiting the train on his way from the game to the hotel, he noticed a group of men speaking Arabic about beating those wearing a blue scarf and speaking Hebrew. So he returned to the train station and ordered the arriving groups of Israelis to take off the Maccabi Tel Aviv symbols, disperse and not speak Hebrew.

Assad told TPS-IL that by his estimation, he managed to help at least a hundred and fifty Israelis. "I have a baby boy at home and my heart was beating hard as I was approaching that group. But I am an Israeli, and I knew I had nothing to do but to help if I could."

UN REMOVES QUILT PANEL ARTWORK CALLING FOR ISRAEL’S EXTERMINATION AFTER FACING BACKLASH

According to the Times of Israel, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands told the Israeli president in a readout that "We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again."

Amsterdam’s population is roughly 920,000 people, with about 20,000 Jews. Prior to the Holocaust, 80,000 Jews lived in Amsterdam. A total of 40,000 Jews live in the Netherlands. There are roughly one million Muslims in the northern European country, and 90,000 Muslims reside in Amsterdam.

Wim Kortenoeven, a former Dutch MP in Wilders’ party and a Middle East expert told Fox News Digital that "The Dutch police forces have been Islamized to the extent that the Muslims cops now feel confident to refuse protecting Jewish institutions for reasons of ‘conscience," he claimed.

Echoing a report in the Jerusalem Post in October quoting two Jewish police officers, Kortenoeven noted, "Only last month this came into the open with Jewish cops in Amsterdam blowing the whistle about that, warning in the media that Jewish targets under threat of terrorist attack may therefore not be protected. They were proven right this weekend when over a thousand extra police were not willing to effectively protect Jewish Israeli football under attack from Muslim mobs."

Kortenoeven, who now lives in Israel, added that "Such a  massive force can only deliberately be so ineffective. Witnesses and victims also testified that the police remained passive in the face of the Muslim aggressors. There were no arrests either. The arrest that were made this weekend did not involve the Arabs attacking the Jews. Meanwhile, the authorities refused to properly identify the Muslim mobs and hit teams, calling them 'guys on scooters.’"

Halsema declined to note at Friday's news conference that the alleged perpetrators were Muslim and of Moroccan origin, noted Dutch critics of Islamism. The mayor’s office said in a press release that the suspects were merely "scooter youths," in a reference to the popular mode of city transportation used by young Dutch Arabs.

On Sunday, Fox News Digital approached the Amsterdam police department for a comment.

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air Saturday, days after a huge eruption killed nine people and injured dozens of others.

Activity at the volcano on the remote island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, has increased since Monday’s initial eruption. On Thursday, authorities expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again.

INDONESIA’S NEW CAPITAL ISN’T READY YET. THE PRESIDENT IS CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY THERE ANYWAY

Friday's activity saw the largest column of ash so far recorded at 6.2 miles high, Hadi Wijaya, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, told a news conference.

Wijaya said volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 5 miles from the crater on Friday.

There were no casualties reported from the latest eruption as the 5,197-foot volcano shot billowing columns of ash at least three times Saturday, rising up to 5.6 miles, the volcano monitoring agency said.

Authorities increased Lewotobi Laki Laki’s alert status to the highest level since Monday, and expanded the danger zone on Thursday to a radius of 5 miles on the northwest and southwest sides of the mountain slope.

"We are still evaluating how far the (danger zone) radius should be expanded," Wijaya said. Hot clouds of ash "are currently spreading in all directions."

The volcanic activity has damaged schools and thousands of houses and buildings, including convents, churches and a seminary on the majority-Catholic island.

Craters left by rocks falling from the eruptions measured up to 43 feet wide and 16 feet deep, experts found.

Authorities have warned the thousands of people who fled the area not to return home, as the government planned to evacuate about 16,000 residents out of the danger zone. The series of eruptions throughout the week have already affected more than 10,000 people in 14 villages, with more than half moving into makeshift emergency shelters.

A total of 2,384 houses and public facilities were damaged or had collapsed after tons of volcanic material hit the buildings, said Kanesius Didimus, head of a local disaster management agency. It also destroyed a main road connecting East Flores district where the mountain is located to neighboring Larantuka district.

Rescue workers, police and soldiers searched devastated areas to ensure all residents had been moved out from the danger zone. Logistic and relief supplies were provided to about 10,700 displaced people in eight evacuation sites as of Saturday.

The National Disaster Management Agency said residents of the hardest-hit villages would be relocated within six months, and each family waiting to be rehoused would be compensated 500,000 rupiah ($32) per month.

About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed due to seismic activity.

Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning due to volcanic ash.

Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. "Laki laki" means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It's one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people. The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

LONDON—The Merseyside police department in England was forced to admit last month that the force is "restricted" from sharing key information about the July Southport attack that killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, as the alleged attacker now faces terror-related charges.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 18, is facing the new charges under the country’s Terrorism Act in addition to the existing three murder charges, ten counts of attempted murder and one count of knife possession, authorities said last week. Rudakubana allegedly committed the July 29 stabbing spree that killed three girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6 – and injured several others.

The police said that the suspect produced the deadly poison ricin and had al Qaeda training materials titled "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The al Qaeda Training Manual" during a search of the suspect’s property. The police have not declared the events a terror incident as no motive has been determined, authorities added.

UK STABBING SUSPECT IN DEATHS OF 3 GIRLS FOUND WITH RICIN, AL QAEDA MATERIAL AND CHARGED UNDER TERRORISM ACT

"We have been given extensive guidance by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] in relation to what we can say publicly to ensure the integrity of the court proceedings are protected, and therefore we are restricted in what we can share with you now, whilst the proceedings are live," Merseyside Police said in a statement to dispel the criticism that the force is "deciding to keep things from the public."

These revelations of the terror-related charges ignited a firestorm over the police and government’s secretive and double-standard approach in the aftermath of the deadly attack in Southport, a town north of Liverpool, back in July.

"I think the rationale was that they didn‘t want to prejudice the trial. And I think motive will be an important issue in the trial, and they didn’t want to release information about the suspect that spoke to his motive," said Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union in the U.K. told Fox News Digital.

But Young added that there was a "kind of double standard when it comes to the information that’s released about attackers in these circumstances," as the government and authorities would likely have been more forthcoming if the attacker had been "a far-right white supremacist."

The killing spree led to widespread rioting across England amid speculation about the attacker’s background and the nature of the attack. In response, multiple individuals have been charged and jailed over comments made online that the court perceived as inciting the riots. 

Last month, Lucy Connolly, the wife of a local Conservative Party politician, was jailed for over 31 months after making what the authorities claimed were inflammatory posts on social media directed against asylum seekers. 

Wayne O’Rourke, who had an X account with over 90,000 followers, was jailed for three years for fueling the arrest after he alleged that a Muslim had carried out the Southport attack. "You were not caught up in what others were doing, you were instigating it," the judge said during the sentencing. "The flames fanned by keyboard warriors like you."

UK GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF CRACKING DOWN ON FREE SPEECH: 'THINK BEFORE YOU POST'

But while the police remained tight-lipped on the grounds of not prejudicing the trial, issuing only a few details about the incident, British left-wing Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quick to slam the people participating in the unrest as "far right."

Winston Marshall, Host of The Winston Marshall Show, told Fox News Digital, "Prime minister Starmer has been painstakingly careful not to prejudice the court proceedings of Axel Rudakubana after the new charges of possession of Islamist literature and Ricin were made." 

The British podcaster host noted, "But we the British public remember clearly how Starmer branded the August rioters as "far-right thugs" almost immediately and before any of them were convicted. It is precisely this behavior for which he is rightly and bitterly mocked as "Two-Tier Keir."

"Keir Starmer unhesitatingly referred to the rioters, some of whom had been arrested and were in custody, as far-right, so he had no hesitation in speculating about the motives of people who’d been arrested for rioting, even though that could easily prejudice their trials, too, and not all of them had pleaded guilty," Young said.

"To describe someone who’s been arrested and charged, but pleaded not guilty, as a criminal is to potentially prejudice the outcome of their trial, too. It’s to not extend the presumption of innocence to them . . . signaling to potential jurors that the Home Office and, by implication, the Home Secretary believe them to be guilty," he added.

Right-wing Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage was subject to a barrage of condemnation from a bipartisan group of senior Conservative and left-wing figures and accusations of inciting riots after questioning the lack of information being released to the public.

"I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer to that, but I think it is a fair and legitimate question," Farage said following the attack, asking further whether the suspect had been known and monitored by the country’s security services. Farage also questioned why the incident had not been treated as terror-related. 

UK RIOTS PLUNGE COUNTRY INTO WORST UNREST IN YEARS, PRIME MINISTER VOWS TO APPLY 'FULL FORCE OF LAW'

Neil Basu, a former counter-terrorism police chief between 2018 and 2021, suggested that Farage could be subject to an investigation over these comments and accused the politician of "undermining the police, creating conspiracy theories, and giving a false basis for the attacks on the police."

Conservative party peer Lord Barwell, a former MP who serves as former Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief of staff, called Farage "utterly shameful" for spreading "misinformation" on social media after the attack.

"He is an MP. If he has questions, he could have asked them in the House of Commons yesterday – but he wasn’t there. Instead, he prefers to encourage those spreading misinformation on here [social media]. Utterly shameful."

But the latest police statement and the new terror-related charges somewhat exonerated the critics. "Perhaps I was right all along," Farage said last week in a video posted on X.

Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph that he and his party colleagues were barred from raising questions about the Southport attack in Parliament because of fears that it may prejudice the public amid the suspect's trial.

Farage said the authorities had told him he was not allowed to raise the matter in Parliament after he had submitted a written question to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking whether the accused attacker had ever been referred to the country’s counter-terrorism initiative.

"It is impossible to infer anything other than that the apparatus of state are being used to manage this situation," Farage said. "For now, therefore, it seems that nobody is allowed to ask in the proper forum when the government first knew that the accused was to face the ricin and terror material charges.

He added: "Likewise, nobody can know whether this man was known to the authorities in any way. Do we really want to live in a society where such crucial information is kept from the public? Who decided these details should remain secret?

Police and prosecutors still have not issued information to the public about whether the accused attacker was ever known to the country’s security and counter-terrorism authorities.

The alleged attacker was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, police said later. British media reported that he was raised Christian. The trial for murder charges is provisionally scheduled for January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran's Foreign Ministry dismissed a report released by the Department of Justice on Friday stating that it thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.

A criminal complaint filed in a New York City federal court stated that an unnamed official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to "focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."

"Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump," it added.

On Saturday, spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei "categorically dismissed allegations that Iran was involved in attempts to assassinate former and current US officials," according to the foreign ministry. 

IRANIAN ASSET CHARGED IN PLOT TO ASSASSINATE TRUMP, DOJ SAYS

Baghaei, who described the report as "completely baseless and rejected," said Iran has been accused of similar scenarios in the past that have been "firmly denied and proven false."

He said that repeating these types of claims "is a malicious conspiracy orchestrated by Zionist and anti-Iranian circles, aimed at further complicating the issues between the US and Iran."

Baghaei concluded by saying Iran "remains committed" to using "all legitimate and legal means" at domestic and international levels to "restore the rights of the Iranian nation."

INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS IRAN WILL KEEP TRYING TO KILL TRUMP REGARDLESS OF ELECTION OUTCOME

Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, "immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction," according to the DOJ.

Shakeri is also accused of tasking two New York men, 49-year-old Carlisle Rivera and 36-year-old Jonathon Loadholt, with surveilling and killing an American of Iranian origin — who "is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime" — for $100,000. 

The person, who identified herself as journalist Masih Alinejad, lives in America and has also been targeted by the Iranian government, the DOJ report said.

WATCH: MASIH ALINEJAD: I DON'T DESERVE TO BE FOLLOWED BY KILLERS

"We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Shakeri, Rivera and Loadholt face charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy, which carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison. 

Prosecutors said Shakeri has also been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran, which each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Fox News' Greg Norman and David Spunt contributed to this report.

Qatar has agreed to kick Hamas out of the country after a request from the Biden administration and failed repeated attempts to get the terror group to release the remaining hostages its militants kidnapped from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023

The move came after Hamas repeatedly rejected hostage release proposals. 

A U.S. official told Fox News Qatar has been "invaluable" in negotiating the release of nearly 200 hostages but that Hamas’ presence in Doha is no longer viable or acceptable.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU FIRES DEFENSE MINISTER YOAV GALLANT

Hamas refused proposals to release even "a small number of hostages" during recent meetings in Cairo after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. 

Sinwar was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces in October.  

In August, Hamas terrorists killed six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, as Israel Defense Forces closed in for a rescue attempt in the tunnels deep below Gaza's Rafah.

Negotiations to pause the war between Israel and Hamas have stalled, with Israeli officials saying the release of the hostages was a top priority.

The Justice Department has charged several top Hamas leaders in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Fox News Digital has reached out to Qatar's embassy in Washington, D.C.

 In addition to its presence in Turkey, Arab media reported in June that Hamas was considering moving its headquarters to Iraq. The group already has a political office in Baghdad. 

A senior Ukrainian official confirmed to Fox News that Elon Musk joined a Trump-Zelenskyy call on Wednesday in which President Zelenskyy congratulated the president-elect on his win.

"It was a very good call. Our work continues," said the Ukrainian official to Fox News.

ELON MUSK REVEALS HIS POLITICAL PAC'S FUTURE AMID TIGHT PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Musk's unexpected appearance during the first official conversation between President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may point to his influence in the upcoming Trump administration.

"I had an excellent call with President Trump and congratulated him on his historic landslide victory — his tremendous campaign made this result possible," Zelenskyy posted on X.

Details of Musk's exact role were not disclosed according to reporting from Axios, though sources reported Musk expressed his intent to continue supporting Ukraine through his Starlink satellite network—a service critical to Ukraine's wartime communications.

Throughout his campaign, Trump voiced skepticism about continued U.S. aid to Ukraine and emphasized a fast resolution to its conflict with Russia, which raised concerns across Europe. 

UKRAINE, NORTH KOREAN TROOPS CLASH FOR FIRST TIME; ZELENSKYY WARNS OF ESCALATION

Trump assured Zelenskyy of support on the 25-minute call, but did not provide specifics on either policies or military aid. Axios first reported Musk's presence on the call, and Musk has not yet given comment.

According to sources, Zelenskyy interpreted both the call's timing and Trump’s reassurances as a good sign. Trump and his advisers have privately conveyed more supportive messages about Ukraine than the campaign suggested.

The phone call is expected to be the first of many between Trump’s team and Zelenskyy’s advisors as both sides navigate America's involvement in the ongoing conflict.

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Musk reportedly also joined a recent call between Trump and Turkish President Erdoğan, per reporting from Axios.

A meeting among Turkish officials erupted into a brawl as tensions flared amid disagreements over the cost of celebrations to honor the creation of the country, during a period of economic hardship. 

The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Council allocated 69 million Turkish lira, the equivalent of $2 million, for a concert featuring singer Ebru Gündeş during the October 29 Republic Day celebration, according to media reports.

EXPLOSION AT TURKISH AEROSPACE FACILITY RULED A TERROR ATTACK

Another 71 million lira were set aside for a performance by the rock band Mor ve Ötesi, which fueled questions by critics.

Lawmakers exchanged heated words, with some arguing that others were out of touch with ordinary citizens, Newsweek reported. 

Video footage of the meeting shows lawmakers grabbing and shoving each other after the meeting had been adjourned. 

There were no reports of injuries or arrests. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday asked his counterpart in the Netherlands to provide more security for Israelis after fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC  soccer team were attacked on Thursday by anti-Israel protesters.

Israeli air carrier El Al is sending planes to Amsterdam on Shabbat to evacuate Israelis, after the Israeli Defense Forces said it was standing down on a plan to "immediately deploy a rescue mission" to the city.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that up to 20 of its nationals were injured while seven others remain unreachable since the attacks.

ISRAELI SOCCER FANS TARGETED IN WAVE OF VIOLENCE IN AMSTERDAM

Speaking with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof after the attacks, Netanyahu said he takes the "premeditated attacks" seriously. He urged Schoof to bolster security for Israelis in the country. 

Israel has also added more phone lines at the embassy and in the Foreign Ministry’s situation room.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Thursday’s attacks the most alarming thing to happen to Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.

"We woke up this morning to shocking images and videos that since October 7th, we had hoped never to see again: an antisemitic pogrom currently taking place against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and Israeli citizens in the heart of Amsterdam, Netherlands," Herzog wrote on X.

"This is a serious incident, a warning sign for any country that wishes to uphold the values of freedom." 

TWO JEWISH STUDENTS AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY TARGETED ON CAMPUS BY MASKED ATTACKERS

The Dutch prime minister on Friday called the "antisemitic" attacks on Israeli soccer fans "unacceptable" and said the "perpetrators will be tracked down and prosecuted."

Videos on social media showed multiple fights happening in the streets outside the stadium where Maccabi Tel Aviv FC was playing Ajax. Days earlier, Spanish media reported that anti-Israel agitators would protest outside the stadium to target Israel’s soccer club and its fans.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS HANDED LEGAL SETBACK IN EFFORT TO EXPAND DNC RALLY

The IDF has barred soldiers from flying to Amsterdam, but "exceptional requests will be examined individually," the military stated.

JERUSALEM — President-elect Donald Trump’s victory Wednesday morning will likely lead to a new U.S. Middle East policy that will have a dramatic effect on Israel’s war against Iran-backed terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, according to experts.

Fox News Digital reached out to leading U.S. and Israeli experts on the Middle East for their insights on the meaning of a second Trump term on the unfolding instability and wars in the region. The Iranian regime has aggressively backed Hamas and Hezbollah in their wars against the Jewish state for more than a year. Tehran has also launched two aerial drone and missile attacks on the Jewish state in 2024.

U.S.-Israel Mideast expert Caroline Glick, who served as an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News Digital, "Trump's policy of respecting the prerogatives of Israel's democratically elected government will enable Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers to pursue their strategy of victory over Iran and its proxies to its successful conclusion. Israel does not seek direct U.S. involvement in the war. Rather, it hopes that the U.S. will provide it with diplomatic and other support to enable it to achieve victory against foes common to the U.S. and Israel."

NETANYAHU’S DEFIANCE OF BIDEN-HARRIS RAFAH INVASION THREATS LED TO ELIMINATION OF SINWAR, EXPERTS SAY

Glick added, "The Trump doctrine of minimizing U.S. involvement in the Middle East is predicated on supporting America's allies, first and foremost Israel, in their bid to defeat their enemies, who are also America's enemies. Trump support for an Israeli victory will enable the president to preside over a post-war period of calm and unprecedented peace, which is only possible after an Israeli victory."

The Biden administration has faced criticism for its crackdown on Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas after the jihadi movement slaughtered nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, including more than 40 Americans. Biden reportedly withheld vital armaments at one point while Israel engaged in its existential war.

Glick has been a sharp critic of the Biden-Harris administration and said that "Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons and to wage a seven-front war against Israel. The U.S. has protected Hamas's regime in Gaza and Hezbollah's control over Lebanon."

Retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, told Fox News Digital that "President Trump’s win presents a huge opportunity for the Middle East to dismantle the Shiite axis [the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon] and restore security to the Middle East by signing peace agreements and creating a Western-Israel-Sunni alliance that will extend all the way to Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Oman."

He added that peace and prosperity in the Middle East "requires dealing with the dangers of a nuclear Iran. Israel’s expectation is to see the U.S. leading a coalition that will deal militarily with the nuclear sites of Iran and possibly even bring down the regime and dismantle the Shiite axis that is endangering all the moderate states in the Middle East."

HOW US-BACKED UN RESOLUTION FAILED TO STOP HEZBOLLAH TERROR TAKEOVER: 'BIPARTISAN FAILURE'

Avivi said Israel has set the stage by destroying Hamas and is on the verge of destroying Hezbollah. 

David Wurmser, a former senior adviser for nonproliferation and Middle East strategy for former Vice President Dick Cheney, told Fox News Digital, "The election of Trump will have a significant impact on Middle East policy. Iran and its proxies will feel profoundly threatened, but they will not give up. They cannot; it is a matter of regime survival for Iran."

"Any Israeli hope harbored by some in Israel that now the United States will pick up the ball and join Israel in fighting this war, especially Iran itself, is a false hope," Wurmser said. "Trump will let Israel do what it needs to do and protect it without reservation or restraint to do that, but it will not do it for Israel."

"Another area in which there will be considerable American input will be the formation of the Middle East peace structure that expands the Abraham Accords without pressing the Saudi or others to deal with the Palestinian issue," he said.

Trump’s signature first-term Middle East accomplishment was the Abraham Accords that established diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Mideast experts said that had Trump not lost to Biden in the 2020 election, he could have secured a grand diplomatic recognition agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Jewish state.

BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN TREATMENT OF UKRAINE, ISRAEL WARS 'DIFFERS SUBSTANTIALLY,' EXPERTS SAY

According to Wurmser, "The incoming administration will represent a paradigm shift where a strong Israel and a weak, besieged and retreating Iran will advance a regional alliance that challenges Iran and China and abandons the two-state Palestinian obsession of the Washington establishment as the guiding principle of policy."

The Islamist government of Turkey’s strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will also likely meet resistance from Trump. Erdoğan, who supports the U.S.-designated terrorist entity Hamas, in July threatened to invade Israel to protect Palestinians. Erdoğan also provides material support for Hamas terrorists who live in Turkey.

Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, told Fox News Digital that "Trump’s pro-Israel stance clashes with Erdoğan's support for Hamas, which Turkey sees as freedom fighters. Turkey's alleged involvement in facilitating Hamas’s activities, including granting them passports and aiding money laundering, complicates relations further."

"Turkey found relief in Trump’s presidency, in contrast to Biden, who had criticized Erdoğan's democratic backslide, notably excluding Turkey from the 2021 Summit for Democracy," Aviv added. "Under Trump, American pastor Andrew Brunson was released from Turkish custody. However, despite Trump’s generally favorable stance, tensions persist. Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey five times during his tenure, and key issues, such as U.S. support for Kurdish groups and Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, remain divisive."

"Whether this marks the beginning of a new chapter or if tensions continue to overshadow their personal friendship remains to be seen," noted Aviv.

There are skeptics who view Trump as shifting to a policy that will strong-arm Israel into a possible premature end to the war to root out Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip and eradicate Hezbollah terrorists and facilities on its northern border.

Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state who served in the Obama administration, told Fox News Digital, "It’s an open question as to how a Trump 2.0 will operate in the Middle East. Unlike Trump 1.0, he has a much more isolationist VP in JD Vance, and he also at the same time told Netanyahu to finish up the war in Gaza. And while he has expressed an interest in a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, he has a history of taking aggressive actions against it, and his communications were targeted by the regime during his campaign, which may fuel distrust and suspicion."

"But the fundamentals of his wanting to focus on domestic issues are what will likely drive his policy in the early days, while he works to avoid international entanglements," Rubin added. "My bet is that if the Middle East flares into creating headaches for him, particularly through increasing wars, he will work to stamp them out while not having a very ambitious agenda towards resolving longstanding challenges between Israel and the Palestinians."

French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a strong message to the European Union in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's decisive victory.

In a translated video shared to social media site X, Macron addressed the European Union saying, "Donald Trump was elected by Americans to defend the interests of Americans. The question we, as Europeans, must ask ourselves is, are we ready to defend the interests of Europeans?"

WORLD LEADERS REACT TO TRUMP VICTORY 'ON HISTORY'S GREATEST COMEBACK'

In his continued address, Macron called Europe the world's "herbivore" and called for his fellow European nations to become an "omnivore." 

"For me, it’s simple," said Macron. "The world is made up of herbivores and carnivores. If we decide to remain herbivores, then the carnivores will win and we will be a market for them."

Macron has sought independence from the interests of trading rivals like the United States and China during his tenure as president.

The EU took Thursday's meeting in Budapest as an opportunity to outline its ambitions for the near future, including supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia.

NETANYAHU TELLS MACRON THAT ISRAEL WAS NOT CREATED BY THE UN, BUT BY 'BLOOD OF OUR HEROIC FIGHTERS'

The French president was one of the first world leaders to congratulate President-elect Trump on Wednesday, writing on X "Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity."

Macron has been under fire within his own country this year after he called for snap elections in June, narrowly beating Marine Le Pen's conservative party.

Immigration continues to be a sore spot politically for Macron, with 8.7 million foreign-born residents in France per 2022 numbers shared by Statista.

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Emmanuel Macron must step down in 2027 and cannot run again for president, per French law.

Former Australian prime minister and current ambassador to the United States in Washington Kevin Rudd has deleted tweets critical of President-elect Donald Trump after he won the presidential election.

Rudd had described Trump in a 2020 post as "the most destructive president in history," according to reporting from NDTV. 

He served as Australia's 26th prime minister from 2007 to 2010 as head of their Labor Party, and was re-elected in 2013 after a brief stint as Australia's foreign minister.

AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BAN SOCIAL MEDIA FOR KIDS UNDER 16

The comments were made when Rudd had served as Chair of the Asia Society Policy Institute, which was described by Columbia University World Leaders Forum as "dedicated to using second track diplomacy to assist governments and businesses in resolving policy challenges within Asia, and between Asia and the West."

According to a statement shared with Fox News Digital from Ambassador Rudd's office, "In his previous role as the head of an independent US-based think tank, Mr. Rudd was a regular commentator on American politics. Out of respect for the office of President of the United States, and following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has now removed these past commentaries from his personal website and social media channels."

MURDOCH CHILDREN’S RESEARCH INSTITUTE UNVEILS NEW INITIATIVE AT AMERICAN AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION BENEFIT DINNER

"This has been done to eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued as reflecting his positions as Ambassador and, by extension, the views of the Australian Government. Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance," the statement concluded.

Ambassador Rudd has since shared several posts congratulating President-elect Trump on social media site X, including one where he claimed he called him personally. 

In his post from November 6, Rudd wrote "Good to speak this morning with President Trump to personally congratulate him on his election victory. We talked about the importance of the Alliance, and the strength of the Australia-US relationship in security, AUKUS, trade and investment. I look forward to working together in the interests of both our countries."

The AUKUS agreement is a trilateral union between the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom established in 2021 to promote security in the Indo-Pacific region.

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The office of Ambassador Kevin Rudd provided no further comment to Fox News Digital's inquiry.

A robot that has spent months inside the ruins of a nuclear reactor at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant delivered a tiny sample of melted nuclear fuel on Thursday, in what plant officials said was a step toward beginning the cleanup of hundreds of tons of melted fuel debris.

The sample, the size of a grain of rice, was placed into a secure container, marking the end of the mission, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which manages the plant. It is being transported to a glove box for size and weight measurements before being sent to outside laboratories for detailed analyses over the coming months.

DRONE AIMS TO EXAMINE JAPAN'S DAMAGED FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR THE FIRST TIME

Plant chief Akira Ono has said it will provide key data to plan a decommissioning strategy, develop necessary technology and robots and learn how the accident had developed.

The first sample alone is not enough and additional small-scale sampling missions will be necessary in order to obtain more data, TEPCO spokesperson Kenichi Takahara told reporters Thursday. "It may take time, but we will steadily tackle decommissioning," Takahara said.

Despite multiple probes in the years since the 2011 disaster that wrecked the. plant and forced thousands of nearby residents to leave their homes, much about the site's highly radioactive interior remains a mystery.

The sample, the first to be retrieved from inside a reactor, was significantly less radioactive than expected. Officials had been concerned that it might be too radioactive to be safely tested even with heavy protective gear, and set an upper limit for removal out of the reactor. The sample came in well under the limit.

That's led some to question whether the robot extracted the nuclear fuel it was looking for from an area in which previous probes have detected much higher levels of radioactive contamination, but TEPCO officials insist they believe the sample is melted fuel.

The extendable robot, nicknamed Telesco, first began its mission August with a plan for a two-week round trip, after previous missions had been delayed since 2021. But progress was suspended twice due to mishaps — the first involving an assembly error that took nearly three weeks to fix, and the second a camera failure.

On Oct. 30, it clipped a sample weighting less than 3 grams (.01 ounces) from the surface of a mound of melted fuel debris sitting on the bottom of the primary containment vessel of the Unit 2 reactor, TEPCO said.

Three days later, the robot returned to an enclosed container, as workers in full hazmat gear slowly pulled it out.

On Thursday, the gravel, whose radioactivity earlier this week recorded far below the upper limit set for its environmental and health safety, was placed into a safe container for removal out of the compartment.

The sample return marks the first time the melted fuel is retrieved out of the containment vessel.

Fukushima Daiichi lost its key cooling systems during a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in its three reactors. An estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive melted fuel remains in them.

The government and TEPCO have set a 30-to-40-year target to finish the cleanup by 2051, which experts say is overly optimistic and should be updated. Some say it would take for a century or longer.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there have been some delays but "there will be no impact on the entire decommissioning process."

No specific plans for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal have been decided.

The Australian government announced on Thursday what it described as world-leading legislation that would institute an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media, and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.

"Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

The legislation will be introduced in Parliament during its final two weeks in session this year, which begin on Nov. 18. The age limit would take effect 12 months after the law is passed, Albanese told reporters.

The platforms including X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook would need to use that year to work out how to exclude Australian children younger than 16.

KING CHARLES HECKLED BY AUSTRALIAN LAWMAKER: 'YOU ARE NOT MY KING'

"I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online," Albanese said.

The proposal comes as governments around the world are wrestling with how to supervise young people's use of technologies like smartphones and social media.

Social media platforms would be penalized for breaching the age limit, but under-age children and their parents would not.

"The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people," Albanese said.

Antigone Davis, head of safety at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the company would respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce.

"However, what’s missing is a deeper discussion on how we implement protections, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place," Davis said in a statement.

She added that stronger tools in app stores and operating systems for parents to control what apps their children can use would be a "simple and effective solution."

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. TikTok declined to comment.

The Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia, described the age limit as a "20th Century response to 21st Century challenges."

"Rather than blocking access through bans, we need to take a balanced approach to create age-appropriate spaces, build digital literacy and protect young people from online harm," DIGI managing director Sunita Bose said in a statement.

More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as "too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively."

Jackie Hallan, a director at the youth mental health service ReachOut, opposed the ban. She said 73% of young people across Australia accessing mental health support did so through social media.

"We’re uncomfortable with the ban. We think young people are likely to circumvent a ban and our concern is that it really drives the behavior underground and then if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they’re worried about getting in trouble," Hallan said.

Child psychologist Philip Tam said a minimum age of 12 or 13 would have been more enforceable.

"My real fear honestly is that the problem of social media will simply be driven underground," Tam said.

Australian National University lawyer Associate Prof. Faith Gordon feared separating children from there platforms could create pressures within families.

Albanese said there would be exclusions and exemptions in circumstances such as a need to continue access to educational services.

But parental consent would not entitle a child under 16 to access social media.

Earlier this year, the government began a trial of age-restriciton technologies. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, the online watchdog that will police compliance, will use the results of that trial to provide platforms with guidance on what reasonable steps they can take.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the year-long lead-in would ensure the age limit could be implemented in a "very practical way."

"There does need to be enhanced penalties to ensure compliance," Rowland said.

"Every company that operates in Australia, whether domiciled here or otherwise, is expected and must comply with Australian law or face the consequences," she added.

The main opposition party has given in-principle support for an age limit at 16.

Opposition lawmaker Paul Fletcher said the platforms already had the technology to enforce such an age ban.

"It’s not really a technical viability question, it’s a question of their readiness to do it and will they incur the cost to do it," Fletcher told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"The platforms say: ’It's all too hard, we can’t do it, Australia will become a backwater, it won’t possibly work.' But if you have well-drafted legislation and you stick to your guns, you can get the outcomes," Fletcher added.

A British doctor was on Wednesday jailed for more than 31 years for an audacious but unsuccessful plot to kill his mother's partner with a fake COVID-19 vaccine, which involved him forging medical documents and dressing in disguise to poison his victim.

Thomas Kwan, 53, passed himself off as a nurse and even took his own mother's blood pressure before administering poison to her then partner Patrick O'Hara in Newcastle, northern England.

BRITISH DOCTOR ADMITS TO ATTEMPTED MURDER AFTER INJECTING MOTHER’S PARTNER WITH POISON DISGUISED AS VACCINE

O'Hara survived but suffered from necrotising faciitis, a potentially fatal flesh-eating bacterial infection, after receiving the jab. He also underwent multiple operations.

Kwan, a family doctor in Sunderland, pleaded guilty to attempted murder last month shortly after his trial began at Newcastle Crown Court. He had previously admitted a charge of administering a noxious substance.

Judge Christina Lambert sentenced Kwan to 31 years and five months in prison for what she described as "an audacious plan to murder a man in plain sight".

She told Kwan that his plan involved him "abusing your knowledge of the healthcare system", adding that his actions damaged public confidence in the healthcare profession.

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement after the sentencing that O'Hara was injected with "an as-yet unconfirmed toxin".

'STRANGER THAN FICTION'

Prosecutor Peter Makepeace told jurors on the first day of Kwan's trial: "Sometimes, occasionally perhaps, the truth really is stranger than fiction."

He said Kwan was concerned about his mother's will, which provided that her house would be inherited by O'Hara if he was still alive when his mother died.

"Mr Kwan used his encyclopaedic knowledge of, and research into, poisons to carry out his plan," Makepeace said.

"That plan was to disguise himself as a community nurse, attend Mr O'Hara's address, the home he shared with the defendant's mother, and inject him with a dangerous poison under the pretext of administering a COVID booster injection."

Kwan checked into a hotel under a false name, used false number plates on his car and disguised himself with a wig to carry out the plan, Makepeace added.

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After Kwan was arrested, police found in his home a large number of castor beans and a recipe for manufacturing ricin, a biological toxin made from the beans. Exposure to as little as a pinhead amount of ricin can cause death.

A chemical expert concluded O'Hara was not injected with ricin, however.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday rejected calls for a no-confidence vote after he fired his finance minister in a signal that his coalition government was collapsing, saying he will lead the country with a minority government until early next year. 

Demands for immediate elections were issued by the leader of the largest opposition bloc in parliament, Friedrich Merz of the center-right Christian Democrats, after Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Wednesday for proving uncooperative in his attempts to repair the economy. 

"The finance minister shows no willingness to implement the offer for the good of our country. I do not want to subject our country to such behavior anymore," Scholz said according to an NPR report.

 GERMAN CHANCELLOR SCHOLZ WARNS NEXT EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT AGAINST COURTING FAR-RIGHT SUPPORT

The move paved the way for Germany’s parliament to issue a confidence vote on Jan. 15, which is expected to lead to elections by March rather than the September timeline elections were previously set to be held . But some are calling for the proceedings to take place in 2024.

"The coalition no longer has a majority in the German Bundestag, and we therefore call on the chancellor . . . to call a vote of confidence immediately, or at the latest by the beginning of next week," Merz said.

Scholz on Thursday stressed that he will not take steps to push the vote of confidence up any sooner than January. 

"The citizens will soon have the opportunity to decide anew how to proceed," the chancellor said according to a report by AP that cited the German Press Agency (DPA). "That is their right. I will therefore put the vote of confidence to the Bundestag at the beginning of next year."

The finance minister was accused by Scholz of breaching his trust after Lindner publicly called for a plan that would create tax cuts worth billions for a few top earners while at the same time cutting pensions for all retirees.

"That is not decent," Scholz said.

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The economic policy disagreements reportedly arose as the coalition government – which has been in power since 2021, when Angela Markel left office – looks to plug a billion-euro hole in Germany’s 2025 budget.

Scholz is reportedly hoping that he will be able to work with his coalition government – encompassing his left-leaning Social Democrats party as well as the environmentalist Greens party – in conjunction with members of Merz’s center-right party to pass legislation in the coming weeks to address their 2025 budget gaps.

"We simply cannot afford to have a government without a majority in Germany for several months now, and then campaign for several more months, and then possibly conduct coalition negotiations for several weeks," Merz said in objection to Scholz’s plan.

Given that Scholz’s party no longer holds the majority, he is expected to lose in the upcoming confidence vote, at which point Germany’s president could dissolve parliament within 21 days and force an early election as soon as January.

"During these 21 days, we will have enough time to find out whether there are any issues that we may have to decide on together," Merz said before pledging to work cooperatively with the minority government. "We are, of course, prepared to hold talks . . . we are also prepared to take responsibility for our country."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A new law in Israel allows for the deportation of family members of Palestinian attackers, including Israelis, to the Gaza Strip or another location.

Passed by Israel's parliament, known officially as Knesset, early on Thursday with a 61-41 vote, the law was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and his far-right allies. Deportation of a terrorist's immediate family member could be ordered by the interior minister authority following a hearing, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Family members who had advance knowledge of an attack and failed to report it to police or "expressed support or identification with an act of terrorism or published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism or a terrorist organization" would be subject to the law, The Times of Israel reports. 

IRAN 'TERRIFIED' OF TRUMP PRESIDENCY AS IRANIAN CURRENCY FALLS TO AN ALL-TIME LOW

They would be deported for a period of seven to 20 years. The Israel-Hamas war is still raging in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and most of the population has been internally displaced, often multiple times. 

Legal experts believe that any attempt to implement the law would likely lead to it being struck down by Israeli courts.

"The bottom line is this is completely nonconstitutional and a clear conflict to Israel’s core values," Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former international law expert for the Israeli military, told the Associated Press. 

UN REMOVES QUILT PANEL ARTWORK CALLING FOR ISRAEL’S EXTERMINATION AFTER FACING BACKLASH

It is unclear if the law will apply in the occupied West Bank, where Israel already has a long-standing policy of demolishing the family homes of attackers. Palestinians have carried out scores of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years.

Palestinians living in Israel make up around 20% of the country's population. They have citizenship and the right to vote but face widespread discrimination. Many also have close family ties to those in the territories and most sympathize with the Palestinian cause.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities arrested five officials, including four from a military intelligence unit, late last week for reportedly disclosing state secrets to the foreign media.

An Israeli military officer working in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of five people arrested during an investigation into leaked classified documents. The officer, identified as 32-year-old Eli Feldstein, worked in the prime minister’s office as a military spokesperson and was among five suspects arrested late last week. The names of the other suspects remain under a gag order, according to Israeli news agency TPS.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that four suspects are from a military unit tasked with preventing leaks of state secrets.

The leaked documents in question were reportedly written by Hamas. They apparently were the basis for a report in the London-based Jewish Chronicle, which reported in September of a Hamas plan to smuggle Israeli hostages out of Gaza to the Sinai and to transfer them to Iran. The Chronicle later retracted the report and fired the journalist, saying the story had been fabricated.

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU FIRES DEFENSE MINISTER YOAV GALLANT

The documents also apparently served as the basis for a report in Germany’s popular Bild daily, which suggested Hamas was deliberately drawing out hostage negotiations to create psychological pressure on the Israeli government.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that unnamed sources said the Bild’s September report is "an ongoing danger" to the lives of Israeli soldiers and hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, the documents were not uncovered by Israeli forces in Gaza, but rather by "another type of intelligence." The case risks exposing Israel’s intelligence-gathering methods.

HOW A US-BACKED UN RESOLUTION FAILED TO STOP HEZBOLLAH TERROR TAKEOVER: 'BIPARTISAN FAILURE'

Feldstein is suspected of receiving the classified documents before they were reported in the Chronicle and Bild along with an interpretation that favored Netanyahu, who was under public pressure at the time to reach an agreement for a cease-fire and hostage release.

Authorities are also investigating why Feldstein, who did not have appropriate security clearance, had access not only to the documents, but to classified meetings as well.

Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israel's Channel 12, told Fox News Digital, "For a year, there has been an ongoing debate, both openly and behind the scenes, between Netanyahu and the top security establishment regarding the price to be paid for the hostages. This struggle has been accompanied by leaks, some legal and some not. The Shin Bet is currently investigating whether, as part of this conflict, Netanyahu’s people crossed the line and used classified information."

He added, "In my opinion, it will not change anything dramatic in Israel’s political arena. Netanyahu will probably not be found involved in the case. It just demonstrates again the mistrust between the PM and the security establishment."

ISRAEL DEGRADES IRAN-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS IN SPECTACULAR PAGER EXPLOSION OPERATION: EXPERTS

At a joint press conference in Tel Aviv, opposition party leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz questioned whether the leak happened on Netanyahu’s orders. "Netanyahu’s defense is that he has no influence or control over the system he heads. If that’s true, he’s ineligible. He is not qualified to lead the State of Israel in the most difficult war in its history," Lapid said. "This case came out of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the investigation should check if it was not on the prime minister’s orders."

Gideon Rahat, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, echoed Segal’s analysis that the leaks will not damage Netanyahu. He told Fox News Digital that "Netanyahu is a type of populist leader and nothing will happen from his hardcore followers. He will use it for his own gain and then say the deep state is after him." 

The deep state for Netanyahu, according to Rahat, is Israel’s court system, which Netanyahu views as liberal, and the security service and military.

Rahat said populism encompasses the view that "Everything dealing with investigations and trials is against populist leaders." Rahat cited an example to show differences between the administrations of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a non-populist leader, and Netanyahu. 

Olmert did not have "much success in the running of the second Lebanon war" against Hezbollah in 2006. His support at the time was only 3%, he noted, adding "When you look at his failure it is nothing when compared to October 7."

The second Lebanon war started with Hezbollah’s kidnapping of several Israel Defense Forces soldiers and not with the massacre of nearly 1,200 people, Rahat said. Hamas also kidnapped over 250 people.

Rahat noted that Netanyahu has 30% plus support and his electoral base is "still keeping him in the game."

Within the context of populism, "Politics are seen as different today. Politicians are not seen as responsible for what happens under their rule,"Rahat said.

The United Nations says it has removed a controversial quilt panel artwork that called for the extermination of Israel. 

The incendiary painting on the panel featured a map of Israel, resembling a watermelon, without the West Bank or Gaza partition. In the top right-hand corner was the Palestinian flag. 

The left side of the map contained the phrase "From the River to the Sea" and the right side contained the phrase, "Will be Free" in an obvious nod to the phrase, "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free."

The phrase has become a rallying cry for Palestinians around the world protesting Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Israelis regard the phrase as a call to genocide, and for Israel to be wiped off the map entirely. 

ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU CALLS PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP – HERE'S WHAT THEY SPOKE ABOUT

Fox News Digital was the first to report on the U.N. painting on Monday. It also drew the attention of Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the U.N., who called the display a "disgrace" and demanded the U.N. remove it. 

The U.N. told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the "Peace Flags" exhibit was a way to "re-purpose fashion waste for positive impact." 

The U.N. said a staffer informed the organizer upon installation that several panels — including the one with the phrase "From the River to the Sea" — could not be displayed.

HAMAS REACTS TO TRUMP VICTORY, SAYS HE MUST ‘WORK SERIOUSLY TO STOP THE WAR’ IN GAZA

The U.N. said the controversial panels were covered in the second week of October, but someone "removed those covers" earlier last week.

"Our colleagues covered it twice last week and were planning to do the same today upon learning that it was uncovered again," a U.N. spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "We have alerted UN Security to the continued unauthorized interference in the exhibit and to review security footage to find out who is responsible." 

Danon took to X on Tuesday, criticizing the U.N. for what he deemed to be its lack of leadership.

"Yesterday, I exposed the hypocrisy of the U.N. through an exhibition featuring children’s drawings where the State of Israel was erased and filled with hateful imagery," Danon said. "After firmly addressing the U.N. leadership this exhibition was fixed, and these antisemitic drawings were removed from the walls. We will stand up for truth and each time we witness acts of antisemitism and hypocrisy, we will confront them head-on." 

Fox News Digital confirmed Wednesday that after initially covering the panel with the "From the River to the Sea" drawing, the panel has now been removed entirely. 

A spokesperson for the Secretary General told reporters Wednesday: "It is being dealt with, and we're answering the Israeli ambassador."