Happy New Year 2025

Category: World News

Israeli military experts weigh in on Trump’s ‘all hell’ threat to Hamas and what it could look like

TEL AVIV, Israel — As the first phase of the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears completion, Israel is mulling its next steps against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to unleash “hell” unless all the hostages are released.

Fox News Digital spoke to Israeli military experts to see how they viewed what would be in store for Hamas if the ceasefire deal collapses.

“The only alternative is the resumption of the war in Gaza with all the forces that can be allocated,” Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror (res.), a former Israeli National Security Council chief and currently a fellow at the Washington-based JINSA think tank, told Fox News Digital.

“Because we have a ceasefire in Lebanon, we can use huge forces inside Gaza to end Hamas. This is one of the reasons why Hamas didn’t break the truce until now, they understand the alternative is a full-blown war for which they are not ready,” he added.

RUBIO, NETANYAHU AFFIRM ‘COMMON STRATEGY’ FOR GAZA, SET SIGHTS ON IRAN IN JOINT STATEMENT

IDF forces are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Office)

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem and insisted that the two countries were working in lockstep.

“We have a shared strategy, which cannot always be detailed to the public, including when the gates of hell will open. And they will open if all our hostages are not returned, every last one of them,” Netanyahu said.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus (ret.), a former IDF international spokesperson and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says Hamas’s refusal to return all the hostages, coupled with the prevailing political realities in the Middle East and Trump’s willingness to reshuffle the deck, will necessitate the IDF’s resumption of fighting in Gaza “at a higher intensity and with less restrictions and limitations.”

“The aim will be to defeat Hamas and to take control over the Gaza Strip. I believe that Hamas’s center of gravity is the distribution of humanitarian aid and in the next round of fighting Israel will seek to take ownership of that,” he added.

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 4, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

Former IDF military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin similarly told Fox News Digital that “never in history have two entities been at war and one is helping the other survive with food, fuel and everything else.”

He also noted that the Biden administration had “basically embargoed heavy bombs, [but] Trump has already lifted this and will not limit Israel in using them.”

Israel received a U.S. shipment of 2,000-pound MK-84 munitions overnight Saturday, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the development “serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.”

ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR SLAMS PALESTINIAN PLAN FOR GAZA, DEMANDS PA FIRST ‘CONDEMN HAMAS’

Hamas terrorists take up positions ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Feb. 8, 2025. (AP)

Trump’s words and deeds have given the impression that he will fully back Israel’s goal to defeat the Palestinian terror group militarily, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Giora Eiland, a former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told Fox News Digital.

“But this misses the point, as we have already been fighting there for 16 months. The only significant leverage left, which was prevented by the Biden administration, is to interrupt all flow of equipment, fuel, food, water and other essential matters into the enclave,” Eiland said.

“This is the only thing that can cause real concern in Gaza and which might persuade the leadership to agree to release the hostages.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces has increased troop reinforcements and mobilized reservists in the Southern Command to prepare for “any scenario.” When asked to share with Fox News Digital information regarding Hamas’s remaining weapons stockpile, the IDF declined to comment.

Hamas initially possessed an estimated 17,000 mid- and long-range missiles, with the former able to hit targets between seven and 14 kilometers away and the latter beyond 15 kilometers, according to Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman (res.), executive director of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies and another former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

TRUMP’S GAZA RELOCATION PROPOSAL SPARKS HEATED DEBATE AMONG PALESTINIANS: ‘NO LIFE LEFT HERE’

Israeli combat engineers have worked to destroy terrorist targets and locate terrorist tunnels in the “Philadelphia Corridor” along a small strip of land at the border between Egypt and Gaza. (TPS-IL/File)

“In terms of Hamas’s long-range missiles, the current capabilities are minor, if at all. Mid-range was probably reduced to approximately less than 100 total, and for short-range capabilities such as mortars and drones, it’s hard to estimate,” he told Fox News Digital.

Hayman agrees that “all hell” might entail President Donald Trump giving carte blanche to Israel to use 2,000-pound bombs or greater leeway to demolish swaths of territory using bulldozers and other heavy machinery to prevent Hamas from regenerating.

Israel might also change its fighting strategy to ensure Hamas is no longer able to regroup by retaking territory evacuated by troops in Gaza, according to Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser (res.), a former head of research in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.

“Israel could mount an attack in a different way than we saw till now. Instead of taking control of areas and then leaving them, we would keep control, minimizing Hamas’s ability to rule over the population in Gaza and thus its ability to survive,” he told Fox News Digital.

Palestinians return to their homes in Gaza City, Feb. 2, 2025, after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The long-term presence of Israeli boots on the ground would likely be a precondition for actualizing Trump’s vow to “take over” and transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” an assertion Trump made alongside Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 4.

Meir Ben Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy and former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told Fox News Digital that Israel must push for “the collapse of Hamas rule, the demilitarization of Gaza and the creation of conditions to prevent this area from posing a threat to the security of Israeli citizens.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He said these conditions are “essential to ensure that this round of fighting will be the last,” he added. “To achieve this, Israel will have to resume fighting at a time that suits it.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu informed special envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting that he would convene the Security Cabinet on Monday to discuss phase 2 of the agreement.

Amelie Botbol is a freelance journalist based in Tel Aviv. Her articles have appeared in the New York Post, Canada’s National Post, and the Washington Times. Amelie can be followed on X @DatReporter

February 17, 2025
Muhsin Hendricks, world’s first openly gay imam, killed in shooting in South Africa

Muhsin Hendricks, known as the world’s first openly gay imam, was shot and killed in South Africa over the weekend, as authorities investigate whether the murder was a hate crime.

In a statement obtained by the BBC, police said that Hendricks was killed Saturday morning while traveling near the city of Gqeberha in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. His car was reportedly ambushed.

“Two unknown suspects with covered faces got out of the vehicle and started firing multiple shots at the vehicle,” authorities said.

Hendricks founded the Inner Circle, a safe haven for gay Muslims, shortly after coming out as an openly gay imam in 1996. He was previously married to a woman before divorcing her the same year that he came out.

TRUMP FREEZES AID TO SOUTH AFRICA, PROMOTES RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES FACING RACE DISCRIMINATION

Imam Muhsin Hendricks gets ready for the start of the Jumu’ah prayer at the Inner Circle Mosque, in Wynberg, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016. (Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)

“The Inner Circle is the longest standing, largest and most influential human rights organization in the world that deals with Islam, gender and sexual diversity from an Islamic theological perspective,” the organization’s website reads. “The Inner Circle works internationally and supports international affiliate organizations to do similar work, within an Islamic framework.”

In a statement, the Cape Town Ulama Board – an organization of Sunni leaders – condemned the murder but said its views do “not align with the views of the deceased.”

“We maintain that Islamic teachings firmly condemn violence, murder or such actions that undermine the rule of law and destabilize society,” the statement read. “Thus, the Cape Town Ulama Board urges our communities to allow the law to investigate the incident, and by following due process, we hope to maintain peace and order.”

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) said in a statement that they believe the killing “may be a hate crime.”

SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

Imam Muhsin Hendricks leads the start of the Jumu’ah prayer at the Inner Circle Mosque, in Wynberg, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016. (Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)

“He supported and mentored so many people in South Africa and around the world in their journey to reconcile with their faith, and his life has been a testament to the healing that solidarity across communities can bring in everyone’s lives,” ILGA Executive Director Julia Ehrt said. “Our condolences go out to all who have been touched by his presence in all these years.”

In 2022, Hendricks raised concerns about a fatwa condemning homosexuality issued by the Muslim Judicial Council. The ruling found that homosexuality is incompatible with Islam, and said that gay Muslims “have taken themselves out of the fold of Islam.”

An aerial shot of Pollok Beach in Port Elizabeth, a city on Algoa Bay in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. (iStock)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“While it did not come as a complete shock, it has left me sore considering that it was released when we just had Pride Month,” Hendricks said at the time. “The phrase homosexual was only coined in the 18th century and the Qu’ran has been around way longer before that, so how can there be scriptures condemning same-sex relationships?”

Authorities are actively investigating the incident. No additional details are known at this time.

Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].

February 17, 2025
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels breach second major city in Congo’s mineral-rich east

Rwanda-backed rebels have “occupied” a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, Congo’s government said Sunday, as M23 rebels positioned themselves at the governor’s office in Bukavu and pledged to clean up after the “old regime.”

Associated Press journalists witnessed scores of residents cheering on the rebels after they entered Bukavu following a dayslong march from Goma, a city of 2 million people they seized last month.

The rebels saw little resistance from government forces against the unprecedented expansion of their reach after their years of fighting. Congo’s government vowed to restore order in Bukavu, a city of 1.3 million people, but there was no sign of soldiers. Many were seen fleeing on Saturday alongside thousands of civilians.

The M23 are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to the United Nations experts.

TRUMP FACING 1ST TEST IN AFRICA AMID BLOODY BATTLES ‘OVER ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY MINERALS’

The fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Rebels vow to ‘clean up’ disorder

Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, one of the M23 leaders who has been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council for rights abuses, stood in front of the South Kivu governor’s office in Bukavu and told residents they have been living in a “jungle.”

“We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime,” Byamungu said, as some in the small crowd of young men cheered the rebels on to “go all the way to Kinshasa,” Congo’s capital, nearly 1,000 miles away.

The M23 did not announce any seizure of Bukavu, unlike its announcement when taking Goma, which had brought swift international condemnation. Spokesmen for the M23 didn’t respond to questions Sunday.

Congo’s communications ministry in a statement on social media acknowledged for the first time that Bukavu had been “occupied” and said the national government was “doing everything possible to restore order and territorial integrity” in the region.

One Bukavu resident, Blaise Byamungu, said the rebels marched into the city that had been “abandoned by all the authorities and without any loyalist force.”

“Is the government waiting for them to take over other towns to take action? It’s cowardice,” Byamungu added.

M23 rebels enter east Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, and take control of the South Kivu province administrative office, Sunday. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga)

Fears of regional escalation

Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.

The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict. The M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group.

Rwanda says the militia group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies it.

But the new face of the M23 in the region — Corneille Nangaa — is not Tutsi, giving the group “a new, more diverse, Congolese face, as M23 has always been seen as a Rwanda-backed armed group defending Tutsi minorities,” according to Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol.

13 UN PEACEKEEPERS, ALLIED SOLDIERS DEAD IN CONGO AS M23 REBELS MAKE GAINS IN KEY CITY

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, whose government on Saturday asserted that Bukavu remained under its control, has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict.

Congo’s forces were being supported in Goma by troops from South Africa and in Bukavu by troops from Burundi. But Burundi’s president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest on social media his country would not retaliate in the fighting.

The conflict was high on the African Union summit’s agenda in Ethiopia over the weekend, with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warning it risked spiraling into a regional conflagration.

Still, African leaders and the international community have been reluctant to take decisive action against M23 or Rwanda, which has one of Africa’s most powerful militaries. Most continue to call for a ceasefire and a dialogue between Congo and the rebels.

The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes the M23, has said it was committed to “defending” the people of Bukavu.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic,” alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement Saturday.

February 16, 2025
Austria suffers another IS-motivated attack day after Vance’s Munich speech

Austrian authorities said Sunday that the suspect who they believe fatally stabbed a 14-year-old boy and wounded five others in the village of Villach is a Syrian refugee who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

At a press conference, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the 23-year-old Syrian national was arrested seven minutes after Saturday’s attack unfolded in the village of just about 60,000 people bordering Italy and Slovenia.

“This is an Islamist attack with an IS connection by an attacker who radicalized himself within a very short time via the internet online,” Karner told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

Regarding mass migration and asylum-seekers, Karner, a conservative, said it will ultimately be necessary to “carry out a mass screening without cause because this assassin was not conspicuous.”

CAR DRIVER IN MUNICH PLOWS INTO CROWD 1 DAY BEFORE VANCE AND WORLD LEADERS GATHER FOR SECURITY CONFERENCE

Carinthia’s police chief, Michaela Kohlweiss, Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, Carinthia’s Gov. Peter Kaiser and the mayor of Villach, Guenther Albel, address a press conference on Feb. 16, 2025, at the knife attack site. (Gerd Eggenberger/APA/AFP via Getty Images)

“There’s compassion, there’s sadness, but in these moments there’s also understandably often anger and rage,” Karner added, according to Reuters. “Anger at an Islamist attacker who randomly stabbed innocent people here in this town.”

The attack came a day after Vice President JD Vance rebuked European leaders at the Munich Security Conference over mass migration, as well as crackdowns on free speech.

As authorities revealed the alleged “Islamic terror motive,” Austria’s far-right leader Herbert Kickl, whose party won a national election four months ago, called for “a rigorous crackdown on asylum” in the wake of the attack.

Kickl wrote on X Saturday that he is “appalled by the horrific act in Villach.”

“At the same time, I am angry – angry at those politicians who have allowed stabbings, rapes, gang wars and other capital crimes to become the order of the day in Austria. This is a first-class failure of the system, for which a young man in Villach has now had to pay with his life,” Kickl said.

“From Austria to the EU – the wrong rules are in force everywhere. Nobody is allowed to challenge them, everything is declared sacrosanct,” he said, adding that his party had outlined what he viewed as necessary changes to immigration laws in its election platform.

The suspect is charged with murder and attempted murder. Austrian police said the suspect recorded himself pledging allegiance to IS, according to Reuters.

State police director Michaela Kohlweiß said authorities searched the suspect’s apartment with sniffer dogs and found IS flags on the walls.

No weapons or dangerous objects were found, she added, but police seized mobile telephones. Police were investigating whether the suspect had any accomplices.

“The current picture is that of a lone perpetrator,” Kohlweiß said, according to the AP.

Carinthia State Gov. Peter Kaiser thanked another Syrian national, a 42-year-old man working for a food delivery company, who drove toward the suspect and helped prevent the situation from getting worse.

SUSPECT IN MUNICH CAR ATTACK HAD ‘ISLAMIST MOTIVATION,’ PROSECUTOR SAYS

“This shows how closely terrorist evil but also human good can be united in one and the same nationality,” Kaiser said.

The mayor of Villach, Guenther Albel, said the attack was a “stab in the heart of the city.”

Austrian conservative party leader Christian Stocker said on X that the attacker “must be brought to justice and be punished with the full force of the law.”

“We all want to live in a safe Austria, adding that this means political measures need to be taken to avoid such acts of horror in the future,” he said.

The day before Vance visited the Munich Security Conference, an Afghan refugee on Thursday plowed a car into a crowd in the German city, injuring dozens of people, including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter, who later died.

Vice President JD Vance addresses the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

“The number of immigrants who entered the EU from non-EU countries doubled between 2021 and 2022 alone, and of course, it’s gotten much higher since,” Vance said Friday. “It’s the result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the continent. Others across the world over the span of a decade. We saw the horrors wrought by these decisions yesterday in this very city. And of course, I can’t bring it up again without thinking about the terrible victims who had a beautiful winter day in Munich ruined. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and will remain with them. But why did this happen in the first place?”

“It’s a terrible story, but it’s one we’ve heard way too many times in Europe, and unfortunately too many times in the United States as well,” Vance said. “An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s, already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community. How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The stabbing in Villach on Saturday marked what is believed to be the second deadly Islamic terror attack in Austria in recent years. In November 2020, a man who had previously attempted to join the Islamic State carried out a rampage in Vienna, armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, killing four people before being fatally shot by police. Last August, Austrian authorities said they thwarted a planned attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna by a teenager who had also allegedly pledged allegiance to IS.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.

February 16, 2025
President Trump urged to confront Iranian regime over repression of Christians

Iran is reported to have launched a new crackdown against Iranian Christians this month following the re-arrest of two men.

According to a Feb. 10 report on the website of the U.K.-based NGO Article18, which seeks to protect religious freedom in Iran, “Two Christians in their 60s who were released after a combined six years in prison on charges related to their leadership of house-churches have been re-arrested.”

Iranian regime intelligence agents re-arrested the two Christians, Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh and Joseph Shahbazian, and incarcerated both men in Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison. Gol-Tapeh is reportedly on a hunger strike over “unlawful re-arrest,” noted Article 18, which advocates on behalf of persecuted Iranian Christians.

IRAN HAS WORLD’S ‘FASTEST-GROWING CHURCH,’ DESPITE NO BUILDINGS – AND IT’S MOSTLY LED BY WOMEN: DOCUMENTARY

A huge mural of Iran’s supreme leader on Motahari Street on March 8, 2020, in Tehran. (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)

Article18 said a “number of other Tehran Christians were also arrested at the same time and remain in custody.”

Iranian-Americans and Iranian dissidents are urging the Trump administration to shine a spotlight on the ubiquitous Iranian regime human rights violations while imposing punitive measures on the clerical state in Tehran.

Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, “Christians in Iran are relentlessly persecuted by the Islamist regime. The Trump administration should highlight their plight publicly while putting maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime.”

Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a German-Iranian political scientist, who is a leading expert on religious minorities in Iran, told Fox News Digital, according to the Christian advocacy organization OpenDoors 2025 annual report, “Christian discrimination in Iran remains extremely severe, scoring 86 out of 100 points and ranking 9th among the worst countries for Christian persecution.”

He added, “The government views Christian converts as a threat to national security, believing they are influenced by Western nations to undermine Islam and the regime. As a result, Christian converts face severe religious freedom violations, including arrests [and] long prison sentences.”

STUDENTS IN IRAN CONTINUE PROTESTS OVER 19-YEAR-OLD’S MURDER ON CAMPUS FOR SECOND DAY

A girl lights a candle in St. Thaddeus Monastery in Chaldoran, Iran. (Adis Easaghlian/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Wahdat-Hagh continued, “Those who leave Islam to follow Christianity are the most vulnerable. They are denied legal recognition and are frequently targeted by security forces.”

One Iranian Christian who fled Iran to Germany to practice her faith free from persecution is Sheina Vojoudi.

She told Fox News Digital, “As the belief in Islam keeps going down in Iran, the important growth of Christianity has deeply alarmed the Islamic Republic, a theocratic dictatorship. Iran has seen an outstanding rise in the number of Christian converts, despite the decidedly oppressive environment. International human rights groups often consider Christian converts to be political prisoners of conscience, meaning that even after arrest and release, they remain in constant danger of re-arrest and severe punishment.”

The dire situation of Iranian Christians prompted the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, to sound the alarm bells in a video presentation organized by Article 18. “The situation of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a matter of serious concern that demands our continued attention,” she said.

IRAN PROXIES ENGAGED IN ‘INVISIBLE JIHAD’ AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN MIDDLE EAST, REPORT WARNS

The most recent U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Iran (2023) states, “The government continued to regulate Christian religious practices. Christian worship in Farsi was forbidden and official reports and state-run media continued to characterize private Christian churches in homes as ‘illegal networks’ and ‘Zionist propaganda institutions.”’

The number of Christians in Iran is difficult to pinpoint because of the widespread repression of the faith. According to the State Department report, the Iranian regime’s Statistical Center claims there are 117,700 Christians of recognized denominations as of the 2016 census.

Iranian women prisoners sit inside their cell in Tehran’s Evin prison, June 13, 2006. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl )

Boston University’s 2020 World Religion Database notes there are roughly 579,000 Christians in Iran, while Article 18 estimates there are 500,000 to 800,000. Open Doors reports the number at 1.24 million.

The Trump administration re-imposed, in early February, its maximum economic pressure campaign on Iran’s regime to reverse Tehran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon and stop its spread of Islamist terrorism.

Vojoudi, an associate fellow at the U.S.-based Gold Institute for International Strategy, told Fox News Digital, “Now is the time for European nations and the United States to take meaningful action, not only by holding the Islamic Republic accountable for its support of terrorism and extremist groups, but also by prosecuting it on the international stage for violating one of the most fundamental human rights: the freedom of religion.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is critical not only for the safety of Christian converts but also to reaffirm the values of freedom and human dignity that these nations claim to uphold.”

Multiple Fox News Digital press queries to Iran’s foreign ministry and its U.N. mission in New York were not returned. Fox News Digital asked if the government would release Iranians imprisoned for merely practicing their Christian faith.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at [email protected]

February 16, 2025
Reporter’s Notebook: Ukrainian spiritual leader says Russian Orthodox Church extension of Kremlin

As President Donald Trump’s administration works toward a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine, the leaders of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are warning that Vladimir Putin’s Russia believes it’s actually fighting a “holy war” against the West.

A delegation from the OCU was in the United States recently for the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. The group was led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphany, leader of Kyiv and all of Ukraine.

His translator spoke to Fox News about the spiritual war raging between Russia and Ukraine, which has played a big role in why the battle began and continues to escalate.

HEAD OF EASTERN ORTHODOXY CONDEMNS PUTIN, RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends Easter Orthodox service at the Christ the Savior Cathedral, April 16, 2023 in Moscow. (Contributor/Getty Images)

His eminence Metropolitan Yevstratiy, the deputy head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s external church relations, says of Russia, “From the point of religious view, this is a liberation of Ukrainians from [the] Godless West, from the evil. And Russia brings to Ukraine the light and truth.”

Yevstratiy, and other church watchers like Catholic intellectual George Weigel, have accused the Russian Orthodox Church of being nothing more than an arm of the Kremlin, dressed in religious vestments but doing Putin’s bidding.

Writing in the magazine First Things, Weigel noted “… Ukraine mounted and sustained a fierce resistance that denied Russia the quick victory Putin anticipated in February 2022, Russian justifications for the war began to take on a new coloration: The war was now a crusade in defense of Christian civilization.”

On Lighthouse Faith podcast, Yevstratiy recalled how at the start of the war, Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill sermonized to Russian soldiers fighting against Ukraine that if they die in battle they would immediately go to paradise… all sins forgiven. Even to an outsider looking at the complexity of Orthodox Christianity, that sounds more like ‘Political Jihad’ than the Gospel.

In 2019, Ukraine’s Orthodox Church was granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by the ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). It caused an uproar in Moscow. Kirill and Putin refused to recognize the authority of Patriarch Bartholomew.

‘PUTIN’S CONFESSOR’ NAMED BISHOP OF ANNEXED UKRAINIAN TERRITORY

Metropolitan Epiphanius conducts the liturgical service and the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called consecration on Aug. 25, 2024, in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Andrii Nesterenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Yevstratiy also revealed a scarier version of the war in Ukraine. He says Putin’s ultimate goal is more than the reunification of the Soviet Union, or the defense of Christian civilization. It’s actually more apocalyptic. He’s focused on ushering in the third and final Rome…. in Moscow, which means, labeling the rest of Christianity, Catholics and Protestants alike… as heretics and pagans.

Describing the inner workings of the Orthodox churches may seem a little like ‘inside baseball’. But these are the oldest churches of Christianity. They emerged from the five ancient churches led by the apostles who knew Jesus personally.

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill conducts the Easter service at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow on Saturday, April 23. (Sergei Vlasov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP)

The apostle Andrew went to the east in Constantinople; Mark to Alexandria (Egypt); Peter to Antioch (Rome); James to Jerusalem, and Barnabas to Cyprus. From these men, along with the itinerant Apostle Paul, Christianity spread throughout the globe. So, this conflict between Russia and Ukraine has deep spiritual roots. And Putin knows it.

Yestratiy and Epiphany were present at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. and heard President Trump declare his desire to be a peacemaker.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Vestratiy said, “We pray and we ask God Almighty to bless this very good and Christian desire.”

Adding, “May God bless Ukraine. May God bless America.”

The full interview is on Lauren Green’s Lighthouse Faith podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and here.

February 16, 2025
Sicilian mafia bosses complain on wiretaps about lack of quality recruits, reminisce about ‘The Godfather’

What happened to never going against the family?

Leaders within the Cosa Nostra, Sicily’s mafia, have reportedly complained that mob recruits aren’t what they used to be, as nearly 150 people associated with the group were arrested this week.

“The level is low, today they arrest someone and if he becomes a turncoat they arrest another… wretched low-level,” former Cosa Nostra boss Giancarlo Romano said in a wiretapped conversation last year before he was killed in a shootout, according to BBC News.

Romano also revealed that he was nostalgic for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic “The Godfather,” about a fictional mob family in New York.

JAPANESE MOB BOSS PLEADS GUILTY IN NEW YORK TO CONSPIRING TO TRAFFIC NUCLEAR MATERIALS TO IRAN

Carabinieri officers in Sicily. (Valeria Ferraro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“If you watch ‘The Godfather,’ the connections he had… he was very influential because of the power that he built at a political level,” Romano told his associate.

He continued, “But us – what can we do? We’re on our knees, guys. We think we do business, but these days it’s others who do it. We used to be number one, now it’s others… we’re just gypsies.”

The mobsters also seem to like actor Robert De Niro, who played Vito Corleone in “The Godfather Part II,” and Spider-Man as other wiretaps revealed them as nicknames for each other, according to The Guardian.

This week Sicilian officers conducted early morning raids, serving 183 arrest warrants on those believed to be associated with the Cosa Nostra for crimes ranging from mafia association to extortion and attempted murder. Of those, 36 were already in custody.

While raids like this week’s have weakened the Cosa Nostra, Italian officials warn they are still a threat.

FORMER MAFIA HITMAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR KILLING OF BOSTON CRIME BOSS JAMES ‘WHITEY’ BULGER

“The investigations that led to Tuesday’s arrests demonstrate that Cosa Nostra is alive and present and communicates with completely new communication channels,” Maurizio de Lucia, chief prosecutor of Sicily’s capital of Palermo, said at a press conference, referencing the mafia’s use of encrypted apps to communicate with each other. “It is doing business and trying to rebuild its army.”

Domenico La Padula, with the Italian Carabinieri police, told The New York Times this week that the Cosa Nostra “is far from dead.”

He said they have been able to survive by finding “new energy and new strength,” with new recruits and 21st-century criminal ventures like online gambling.

Palermo, Sicily’s capital. (Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Cosa Nostra has remained “strongly tied to the rules of its founding fathers and its ancient rituals,” the Carabinieri told The Times, adding that their use of encrypted devices has “limited the need for traditional meetings and gatherings to the bare minimum.”

John Dickie, who wrote “Mafia Republic: Italy’s Criminal Curse and Cosa Nostra, A History of the Sicilian Mafia,” told The Telegraph that Italian authorities have become “fantastic” at surveilling the mafia.

“Mafia dons have been caught boasting how good their anti-bugging devices were, at the same time that they were being bugged,” he revealed.

Dickie also agreed that the Cosa Nostra appears to be “in decline.”

“You only have to read the phone taps where the bosses are saying ‘it’s not like it used to be,’” he said. “This is about the fifth time that the bosses have tried to reorganise the cupola since the early 1990s. Every time they have been thwarted. The authorities were on to them.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He continued, “These arrests mean that Cosa Nostra has another big task to rebuild, and they show that the state is still stronger than the mafia.”

February 16, 2025
France’s Emmanuel Macron reportedly planned emergency meeting about Trump

French President Emmanuel Macron has scheduled an “emergency meeting” for European leaders to discuss President Donald Trump, according to another European official.

According to Politico, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski alluded to the meeting at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Two EU officials told the outlet that the meeting would take place on Monday.

“I’m very glad that President Macron has called our leaders to Paris,” Sikorski was quoted as saying, noting that the event would involve talking about the implications of Trump’s actions “in a very serious fashion.”

“President Trump has a method of operating which the Russians call razvedka boyem – reconnaissance through battle. You push and you see what happens, and then you change your position…And we need to respond,” the Polish official added.

‘BREATHTAKING SPEED’: TRUMP’S PARIS TRIP MARKS RETURN TO GLOBAL STAGE AS LEADERS TURN ‘THE PAGE’ ON BIDEN

Macron has reportedly called a special meeting about Trump. (Getty Images/ AP Images)

Sikorski has not shied away from discussing American politics in the past. He previously compared President Biden’s poor debate performance to the decline of ancient Rome, and once told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell that Trump was “right” to say that NATO countries need to spend more on their own defense.

Macron has been cordial to Trump since the Republican was elected in November. In an X post, the French leader expressed a willingness to work with the president-elect.

“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron’s post read. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”

DAVID MARCUS: TRIUMPHANT TRUMP AT NOTRE DAME SIGNALS AMERICA AND THE WEST ARE BACK

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) shakes hands as he welcomes US President-elect Donald Trump (L) before a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, France on December 7, 2024. (Mustafa Yalcin)

In December, when Trump visited Paris to witness the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, Macron said it was “an honor” to host him.

“It’s a great honor for French people to welcome you five years later,” Macron said of Trump. “And you were, at that time, president for the first time. And I remember the solidarity and your immediate action. So, welcome back again. We are very happy to have you here.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters after signing an executive order, “Unleashing prosperity through deregulation,” in the Oval Office on January 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Macron for more information.

Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].

February 16, 2025
Students in Iran continue protests over 19-year-old’s murder on campus for second day

Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday.

Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday.

The protesters are accusing school officials of failing to keep students safe on campus, according to local media.

The demonstrators clashed with police on Friday near where Khaleghi was killed outside a university dormitory by two unknown robbers.

IRAN’S CAMPAIGN TRAIL THREATS AGAINST TRUMP MORE SERIOUS THAN PUBLICLY REPORTED, BOOK CLAIMS

Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)

He later died in a hospital.

The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”

Amid the outcry, Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, ordered an “immediate” investigation into Khaleghi’s death.

Hossein Sarraf, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology also warned protesters that “university issues must not extend beyond campus. Those who enter unlawfully will face severe consequences, and there will be no leniency in this matter,” according to the state-run ISNA news agency.

The protest was not politically motivated, but demonstrations in the country can sometimes lead to political unrest under the harsh regime.

Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)

SERBIA ROCKED BY ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS AFTER CONSTRUCTION TRAGEDY

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote on X on Friday: “Salutes to the students of the University of Tehran who, in protest against the brutal murder of one of their peers, raised their voices with the powerful chant, ‘A student dies, but does not accept humiliation.’”

She added, “The perpetrators of this insecurity are either the Revolutionary Guards and suppressive forces themselves, or the result of the regime’s anti-people policies, which prioritize maintaining its power through the harshest oppression, with no regard for the safety or welfare of the people. I call on my fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with the students who today have declared that silence is no longer an option. Indeed, the university is the fortress of freedom and must fulfill its historic role.”

The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!” (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)

Protests ignited three years ago at universities across the country after a 22-year-old woman died in custody after she was detained for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The protests lasted for months, ending only after a security crackdown in which 500 people died and more than 22,000 were detained.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

February 16, 2025
Marco Rubio arrives in Israel on first trip to Middle East as U.S. secretary of state

Join Fox News for access to this content

You have reached your maximum number of articles. Log in or create an account FREE of charge to continue reading.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Having trouble? Click here.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late on Saturday on his first trip to the Middle East, after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump first floated the suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza on January 25, a proposal they strongly opposed.

TRUMP’S GAZA RELOCATION PROPOSAL SPARKS HEATED DEBATE AMONG PALESTINIANS: ‘NO LIFE LEFT HERE’

In a shock announcement on February 4, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, Trump proposed resettling Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians and the U.S. taking control and ownership of the demolished seaside enclave, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

On February 10, he said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his plan, contradicting his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he arrives in Israel, on the first leg of his Middle East trip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)

The U.S. president’s comments echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes and were labeled as a proposal of ethnic cleansing by some critics.

U.S. ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza, now paused by a fragile ceasefire, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and provoked accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

The assault internally displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population and caused a hunger crisis.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show.

Rubio will discuss Gaza and the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel during the trip, and will pursue Trump’s approach of trying to disrupt the status quo in the region, a State Department official said last week.

February 15, 2025