Up First: News from a year after Israel launched its first ambush on Israel (New York Daily Press, 21 March 2015) and an Update on the Gaza Operation
Around 1,200 people were killed when Hamas launched an ambush attack on Israel a year ago. The war was the worst in Palestinian history. Over 41,000 people have been killed in the Gaza region by Israeli strikes, according to the health ministry. Hezbollah is being bombed in Lebanon.
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Anas Baba in Gaza, or How Israeli Battle Disrupted Lives. A Year of Israel-Hamas War and Key Factors for Michigan Voters
He often meets a young girl named Habiba at the hospital in central Gaza. She’s been colorblind since birth. The woman told Anas that she saw a man drown with water coming out of his nose. It wasn’t water; it was blood.
NPR has been reporting on Anas Baba in Gaza all year. He has filmed the bodies that are brought into the mortuary after Israeli airstrikes. He protects his camera from the elements by shelter near the morgue, standing alone and watching as bodies are laid out.
“I really thought about it. And then I decided that I wanted to continue to live,” she said. Today, she is learning how to kayak in the sea to help her face her fears. “I do everything to give some meaning to life now that they’re gone.”
I think about Batya Ofir, a woman my colleague Itay Stern and I met the other day at Kibbutz Be’eri, the Israeli village that suffered the greatest loss — 102 people there were killed. Her brother was killed along with his family. She felt survivor’s guilt, and she told us she asked herself whether she wanted to keep on living.
Source: How a year of Israel-Hamas war disrupted lives. And, key factors for Michigan voters
State of the State: Israel-Hamas War and the Implications for the American Economy and Michigan’s Voter’s Choice
Vice President Harris is certain to become the next president, due to being in Michigan. The victory will not be easy. Harris and former President Donald Trump remain in a close battle. Here are key factors that could decide which way Michigan swings:
Hearing directly from the people in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank is how the war has changed their lives. NPR has a page where you can find more coverage of this anniversary.
It’s personal in Michigan where the war in the Middle East is concerned. The GOP and Democrats are focused on the voting blocs that are most associated with Arab and Muslim Americans, including the state’s large Lebanese American population. Many in the state have families living in the areas of Lebanon that are being bombed right now.
Both Harris and Trump’s plans increase the national debt according to a new report. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, Trump’s plan would add an estimated $7.5 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade, while Harris’ proposals would cost the government an estimated $3.5 trillion. If politicians do not take action on the national debt, there could be a future fiscal crisis, according to the committee. Let’s take a closer look at the details of both economic plans.
Source: How a year of Israel-Hamas war disrupted lives. And, key factors for Michigan voters
What Does a Jewish Voter Really Want to Know About Israel? The Case of the Oct. 7 Attack at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., and the United States
The swing states NPR is visiting will likely decide this year’s election. This week, Morning Edition is in Michigan to listen to voters about what matters to them and how that will affect their vote.
One year after Hamas attacked Israel, both major-party presidential candidates marked the date on Monday with promises of continued support for the Jewish state.
Vice President Harris remembered the victims of the Oct. 7 attack by planting a memorial tree at her residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., while former President Trump visited a sacred site for Hasidic Jews in Queens, N.Y.
“I will never forget October 7, and the world must never forget,” Harris said during a tree-planting ceremony on the grounds of the vice president’s residence. “We must work to ensure nothing like the horrors of October 7 can ever happen again.”
Harris called for an effort to help the innocent people of Gaza, who have experienced so much pain and loss over the year.
Trump visited the grave of an influential orthodox rabbi on Monday after meeting with members of an Orthodox Jewish community in New York. According to Trump campaign officials, Trump was scheduled to attend the Jewish leaders remembrance event on Monday.
The goal of Hamas is to eliminate Israel and establish a Palestinian state. Israel claims to be trying to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The war exposed disagreements within the Democratic Party about the administration of Biden-Harris supporting Israel. Those divides are particularly pronounced among younger voters — a key voting bloc for Democrats and a group more likely than older voters to express sympathy for the Palestinian people. According to the Pew Research Center, voters ages 18-29 also are less supportive of U.S. military aid to Israel.
Donald Trump made a remark recently that any Jewish voter who supports a democrat is a fool. The Jewish people across the ideological spectrum criticized those remarks.
He continued emphasizing the message in an interview Monday with radio host Hugh Hewitt. It’s not a “reciption” that Trump did more for the Jewish people than any other person.