Media Report 2025.06.03

FPM Media Report Tuesday June 3 2025

Hamas accused of brutal crackdown on protesters in Gaza
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-02/hamas-accused-of-brutal-crackdown-on-protesters-in-gaza/105348408

By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran and ABC staff in Gaza
Palestinians have taken to the streets to protest against Hamas. (ABC News)
Hanging from the tarpaulin walls of Amal Ashraf Al Shafa’a’s tent are three posters showing the faces of three young men.
She does not need those photos to remind her of the immense loss her family has experienced during the war in Gaza.
But in the midst of the chaos and destruction they take pride of place in her makeshift home in the territory’s north.
“I lost three of my sons and now they have left behind orphans,” she told 7.30.
“When I look at my grandchildren I am heartbroken — my children are gone.”
With her grief looming over her Amal took to the streets alongside hundreds of other Palestinians to rail against Hamas in the days after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza.
A woman touches a photo of her son which is hanging on a wall. There are also photos of two of her other sons on the wall.
Amal Ashraf Al Shafa’a has photos of her three dead sons on the wall of her home. (ABC News)
The March demonstrations have been described as the largest anti-Hamas rallies since the war in Gaza began, following Hamas’ deadly attacks on October 7, 2023.
Palestinians expressed their anguish over the immeasurable devastation wrought by Israeli forces during the war, but laid blame at the feet of Hamas for allowing it to continue.
“Out Hamas, out!” the protesters chanted.
“The people want the fall of Hamas!”
One man, Rafed Rafed Mohammed Atta Al-Radi, was in the crowd as the demonstration erupted.
“We are asking Hamas to leave Gaza today, we won’t wait any longer,” he told the ABC.
“We want Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to rule Gaza.
“We want him to govern Gaza because Hamas is destroying the people.”
Despite battling cancer and needing urgent surgery, Amal said she felt she had to join the protest.
“I lost my children, so of course I want to demonstrate,” she said.
“I want to shout, ‘no to war, no to war’. Many are talking against the war and nothing happens.
“I support peaceful demonstrations asking for the end of the war, it is not wrong.
“We ask from the government that will rule to bring safety, security. Our children are hungry — we are very tired.”
Executions and reprisals
Dozens of people can be seen at a protest on the streets of Gaza.
Protests broke out in the days after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza. (ABC News)
Since the protests broke out there have been reports of deadly reprisals against those who took to the streets.
Amnesty International said it had documented “a disturbing pattern of threats, intimidation and harassment, including interrogations and beatings by Hamas-run security forces against individuals exercising their right to peaceful protest”.
“It is abhorrent and shameful that while Palestinians in Gaza are enduring atrocities at the hands of Israel, Hamas authorities are further exacerbating their suffering by ramping up threats and intimidation against people simply for saying ‘we want to live’,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said.
The family of one man, 22-year-old Odai Al-Rubai, said he was abducted and tortured for hours by Hamas before his body was dumped outside the family home.
“We are not opposed to resistance, we are opposed to the war itself,” Amal said.
“We stand against the politics of Hamas and the ongoing killings, we cannot remain silent or passive.”
Hamas has a reputation for ruling Gaza with an iron fist. In early May it announced it had executed six people and shot another 13 in the legs for alleged looting, and last week killed another four.
“A warning has been issued — those who ignore it bear full responsibility,” the group said.
A protester carries a sign that reads “Hamas does not represent us” in Gaza.
A protester carries a sign that reads “Hamas does not represent us”. (ABC News)
“Let’s not forget that Hamas as a movement, as a religious movement — and it’s a political religious movement actually — has its own ideology, its own world view and its own way to do things in terms of culture, in terms of social life, and sometimes in terms of political dissent,” Dr Hasan Ayoub, assistant professor of politics at An-Najah University in the West Bank, told 7.30.
“Yes, Hamas at some points in Gaza, they practiced their own, let me call it, non-democratic, coercive tactics against political dissent.”
In recent weeks the Committee to Protect Journalists has published testimony of journalists in Gaza being threatened and assaulted by Hamas for covering protests against the militant group.
Despite that reputation and the reported reprisals, Dr Ayoub is not convinced the recent protests would have angered Hamas.
“If you can find people in Gaza taking to the streets to protest a year-and-a-half of genocide, of being starved on such a systematic way, that’s not a bad thing,” he said.
Dr Hasan Ayoub is not convinced the protests would have angered Hamas.
“I think for Hamas, they don’t mind and they don’t see it as protests against them if people took to the streets, because it’s against the silence of the entire world on what is happening in Gaza.”
Dr Ayoub suggested the protests were misdirected fury at Israel for its ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
“Let’s assume that nothing of this, what I said, is true — that people really are spontaneously [protesting] because they are fed up to the back of their teeth of the situation. No one can blame them, it’s very much understood,” he said.
“But I have never heard of a people when, being exposed to genocide and to this terrifying amount of killing, will come out and protest against a liberation movement that is fighting in their favour.
“It never happened, not in the Palestinian history, not in any history in the world — so there is something that is not adding up here.”
‘We want life, we don’t want death’
Israel has repeatedly said its war in Gaza is against Hamas, and not the Palestinian people.
Although the devastating death toll, with more than 54,000 Palestinians now dead, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, showed the heavy civilian cost of the conflict and has led to serious accusations against the Israeli military of indiscriminate bombing and shelling of the strip.
Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza to, in its words, pressure Hamas to release the remaining 58 hostages still held captive — only 21 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Negotiations on another ceasefire and hostage deal have repeatedly stalled, with Hamas accusing Israel of refusing to commit to steps to formally declare an end to the war and withdraw its military from large swathes of Gaza it now controls.
A red line in negotiations for Hamas has been demands for the militant group to lay down its weapons — something it insisted would allow Israel to renege on any commitment to end the conflict.
Hamada Alza’anoun says Hamas “serves only the interests of their loyalists”. (ABC News)
For Hamada Alza’anoun, the desperate situation facing his family and his people prompted him to join the protests.
Picking through the rubble of his former home, destroyed by Israeli bombs, he said Hamas’ elite benefited from the war.
“We oppose their rule because it serves only the interests of their loyalists,”he said.
“Even before the war, their actions were driven solely by the needs of their own supporters, while the rest of us were left without benefit — the only ones who gained were those aligned with them.
“As Palestinians, especially in Gaza, we are not against the resistance and we will never be against the resistance. However, during this war we stood against Hamas’ policies.”
Hamada said his house was not the only thing he had lost in the war.
A man among the rubble of a destroyed home in Gaza.
Hamada Alza’anoun picks through the rubble of his destroyed home. (ABC News)
Like so many other Palestinians, numerous members of his family have been killed.
He feared Hamas’ approach to the war, and negotiations to bring about a ceasefire, meant the risk of losing his own life was growing by the hour.
“We are asking for the end of the war that has reached all the people in Gaza,” he said.
“Regardless of conditions, we want the war to end. Gaza people love life.
“We want life, we don’t want death — as children, young men, we want to stay alive, we don’t want to die.”
Hamas ‘will grow back’
two men in suits shaking hands, antony blinken on the left, abbas on the right
Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters: Jonathan Erst/Pool)
In January, days before leaving office, then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed an interesting aspect about the impact of the war on the Gazan population.
“We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost,” Mr Blinken said.
“That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.
“We’ve long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as abhorrent and dangerous, will grow back.”
The future governance of Gaza remains a contentious issue.
Hamas has said it is prepared to hand power to others, while refusing to lay down its arms.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank wants to unify the two occupied territories under its leadership — something Israel has said should never happen.
One of the leading Palestinian opposition politicians said the PA would need significant reform if it was to ever take control of Gaza, and the leading Fatah party would need to allow change.
Last year the various Palestinian factions all signed a declaration in Beijing about the future governance of Gaza once the war ended.
“Theytold us that they are ready to accept a national consensus government, which would mainly consist of independents, but a government that would be respected and accepted by all Palestinian parties,” Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti told 7.30.
“We concluded that agreement, we signed it — Hamas signed it, Fatah signed it, everybody signed it.”
Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has been president of the Palestinian Authority since 2005, and elections have not been held since.
An older man wearing glasses with grey hair delivering a speech at a conference table, looking stern.
Mahmoud Abbas has been president of the Palestinian Authority for 20 years. (Reuters: Mohammed Torokman)
He recently named a new vice-president, Hussein al-Sheikh — a move seen as appointing a successor.
Rival Mr Barghouti insisted that was not good enough to ensure the PA is seen as a legitimate government.
“I’m surprised sometimes when people think that appointing somebody in a certain position is reform,” he said.
“This is not reform, the reform is really when we have the right to have free democratic elections.”
Mr Barghouti argued the reason Fatah was reluctant to hold elections is because its power would be diluted, but said it must happen for the party to uphold its commitment to the Beijing declaration.
“I know the results, how will the results be — it will not be that Hamas will win majority, as some claim, but Fatah also will not get absolute majority,” he said.
“It will be a pluralistic system.
“I think a pluralistic democratic system is the healthiest thing for Palestine. That’s what you do in Australia, that’s what people do in other countries. You rarely get a party that gets more than 50 per cent but you have coalitions.
“And I think that’s also what we need in Palestine.”

Colorado terror suspect told police he ‘planned attack on Zionists’
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-03/colorado-terror-attack-suspect-charged-with-us-hate-crime/105369384

Colorado fire attack suspect overstayed his visa: US authorities
In short:
The man US authorities have accused of committing a terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents.
The FBI alleges Mohamed Sabry Soliman used a makeshift flamethrower and threw Molotov cocktails at a pro-Israel group in an attack he says he planned for more than a year.
What’s next?
Mr Soliman — who was living in the US illegally — is due to proceed through federal US courts, and President Donald Trump has suggested he could be deported.
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A man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a pro-Israel group in Colorado had planned the alleged terror attack for more than a year and has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, targeted what he described as a “Zionist group” gathering in a popular pedestrian mall in the city of Boulder on Sunday local time, the court papers say.
Witnesses and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Mr Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” and used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices during the attack, injuring at least eight people.
Mr Soliman is also facing an array of state charges over the incident, including attempted murder.
An FBI affidavit shows that police found at least 14 more unlit Molotov cocktails and a weed sprayer filled with gasoline at the scene, as well as another gasoline canister in his car parked nearby.
The alleged terror attack has since drawn the condemnation of US President Donald Trump, who described the incident as “horrific”.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” the president said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy.
“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.”
The FBI affidavit says Mr Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody, said that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”, and told the police he would do it again.
A US police officer in dark clothing walking alongside a white robotic bomb disposal arm and a black armoured vehicle
A robotic arm was brought to the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack. (AP: David Zalubowski)
The Molotov cocktails were made up of glass wine carafe bottles or jars with clear liquid and red rags hanging out of them, the FBI said.
Inside Mr Soliman’s car, law enforcement found papers with the words “Israel”, “Palestine” and “USAID”, according to the FBI affidavit.
Mr Soliman told investigators he constructed homemade Molotov cocktails after doing research on YouTube and buying the ingredients.
He is being held in lieu of a $US10 million ($15.3 million) bail limit.
‘Makeshift flamethrower’ used in Colorado terror attack
Eight people were injured in an attack in Boulder, Colorado by a man with a “makeshift flamethrower” and “Molotov cocktails”.
“This act of terror is being investigated as an act of ideologically motivated violence based on the early information, the evidence, and witness accounts,” FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said in a post on X.
The FBI said it believed Mr Soliman acted alone, and was also injured in the attack before he was taken to hospital.
Authorities did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries, but an image taken of him while in custody showed him with a large bandage over one ear.
The burst of violence at the popular Pearl Street mall unfolded against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Hamas that continues to inflame global tensions and has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States.
The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which is marked with the reading of the Torah and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Mr Soliman will be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law”.
“We will never tolerate this kind of hatred,” she said.
What is known about the alleged Colorado attacker?
Mr Soliman was living in the US illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X.
What we know about the Boulder mall attack
Eight people are injured after an attack on a group of people raising awareness about Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The FBI is treating the incident in Boulder, Colorado, as an act of terrorism but local police are refusing to speculate on the motive.
Ms McLaughlin said Mr Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorisation in March 2023 that had expired.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Mr Soliman had overstayed a tourist visa and had an expired work permit.
Federal documents make no reference to his nationality but the New York Times said he was Egyptian, citing the Department of Homeland Security.
Public records listed Mr Soliman as living in a rented townhouse in Colorado Springs, where local media outlets reported federal law enforcement agents were on the scene on Sunday.
Shameka Pruiett knew Mr Soliman and his family as kind neighbours with five children — three young kids and two teenagers — who would play with her children in front of their building, share food and offer hellos.
Ms Pruiett said when she saw Mr Soliman on video in Boulder, shirtless and holding bottles with flames licking up the grass in front of him, it was hard to recognise him.
“There had to be something deeply disturbing him, ’cause that is not the guy we see in the neighbourhood,” she said.
Another neighbour, Kierra Johnson, who lives in the apartment next to Mr Soliman’s, said she could often hear shouting at night from his apartment and once called police because of the screaming and yelling.
On Sunday, Ms Pruiett saw law enforcement vehicles waiting on the street throughout the day until the evening, when they spoke through a megaphone telling anyone in Mr Soliman’s home to come out.
Nobody came out and it did not appear anyone was inside during the hours-long raid, Ms Pruiett said.
An online resume under Mr Soliman’s name said he was employed by a Denver-area healthcare company working in accounting and inventory control, with prior employers listed as companies in Egypt.
Under education, the resume listed Al-Azhar University, a historic centre for Islamic and Arabic learning located in Cairo.
Mr Soliman also worked as an Uber driver and had passed the company’s eligibility requirements, which include a criminal background check, according to a spokesperson for Uber.
The company has since banned Mr Soliman’s account and has been in touch with law enforcement.
What is known about the victims of the Colorado attack?
The eight victims who were injured in the attack range in age from 52 to 88 and their injuries spanned from serious to minor, according to officials.
Six of the injured were taken to hospitals, and four have since been released, said Miri Kornfeld, a Denver-based organiser connected to the group.
Ms Kornfield said the clothing of one of those who remains hospitalised caught on fire during the incident.
“The status of that victim is improving, but still not out of the woods,” she said.
The attack occurred as people with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives was concluding their weekly demonstration to raise visibility for the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Video from the scene shows a witness shouting: “He’s right there. He’s throwing Molotov cocktails,” as a police officer with his gun drawn advanced on a bare-chested suspect who is holding containers in each hand.
Alex Osante from San Diego, California said he was having lunch on a restaurant patio across the pedestrian mall when he heard the crash of a bottle breaking on the ground and a “boom” followed by people yelling and screaming.
In video of the scene captured by Mr Osante, people could be seen pouring water on a woman lying on the ground who Mr Osante said had caught on fire during the attack.
After the initial attack, Mr Osante said the suspect went behind some bushes and then reemerged and threw a Molotov cocktail but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it.
Mr Soliman then took off his shirt and what appeared to be a bulletproof vest before the police arrived, he dropped to the ground and was arrested without any apparent resistance in the video filmed by Mr Osante.
Photos from the scene also showed a burning woman lying on the ground in a fetal position and a man helping to put out the flames using a jug of water.

Freedom Flotilla aid mission bound for Gaza Strip sets sail with Greta Thunberg on board
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-02/freedom-flotilla-explainer-greta-thunberg-aid-gaza/105366684

Georgie Hewson and wires
14 hours ago
Madleen sets sail
Activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, board the Madleen boat, ahead of setting sail for Gaza. (AP: Salvatore Cavalli)
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A Freedom Flotilla Coalition boat has set sail in another attempt to “break Israel’s siege” of Gaza and deliver aid to the territory despite numerous unsuccessful missions.
On board the boat Madleen is climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who says the movement “has to keep trying” despite the risk of violence and interception.
Freedom Flotilla has tried repeatedly over the past 15 years to sail boats laden with aid and medical supplies into Gaza, which Israel has blockaded by sea since 2007.
Former crew member Michael Coleman, who was part of a previous mission in 2011, says those on board would be well-aware of the risks and low likelihood of reaching Gaza’s shores.
Past attempts have been intercepted by Israeli forces, failed to leave port or, in the most recent instance, been subject to alleged drone attacks.

Mr Coleman was on board one of two boats carrying medical supplies and activists trying to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011.
The Israeli navy said it advised the vessels to turn back or sail to Ashdod Port in Israel or to Egypt, but the activists refused to cooperate.
The navy boarded the two boats and detained the protesters.
“Comms were jammed and we were surrounded by a myriad of Israeli naval vessels, and they boarded using a water cannon and tasers, and used a fair bit of physical force,” Mr Coleman said.
“We were strip searched, put on a bus and taken to an immigration facility, and then arrived at a prison really early the morning after.”
Mr Coleman was held for a week in an Israeli prison before being deported back to Melbourne.
Numerous attempts
The most recent attempt was earlier this month when the ship Conscience was 13 nautical miles east of Malta when those on board said it was struck twice by a drone.
The ship sustained damage and lost power.
The coalition said Israel was to blame, though Israel has not commented.
“We don’t have proof of if the drones are from Israel … [but], again, why would someone attack a humanitarian vessel carrying aid to Gaza?” a group spokesperson said at the time.
A blockade on Gaza has been in place since Hamas took power in 2007, with Israel controlling the entry of goods and aid into the strip.
At the time, Israel said the restrictions were due to Hamas’s hostility and that the restrictions were part of counter-terror measures. Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, entry of aid and goods into Gaza has become more tightly controlled.
There have been several previous attempts by the Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza, and it made international headlines in 2010 when nine pro-Palestinian volunteers from Türkiye died en route.
In this instance, a convoy of ships led by a Turkish vessel set sail from Istanbul, carrying 600 people and 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid
During a night-time raid, Israeli commandos, backed by warships and helicopters, boarded the ships in international waters.
Israel put the blame for the deaths on the organisers of the aid flotilla, saying the entire voyage was a provocation by a group with links to terrorist organisations.
A second attempt was planned for 2011, but the ship was prevented from leaving a Greek port after being tied up by bureaucratic red tape, according to Mr Coleman who had intended to sail with the crew.
Later that year, he was on board the Canadian vessel Tahrir when the ship was intercepted and forced to travel instead towards the southern city of Ashdod.
“We got about 80 nautical miles off the coast [of Gaza] before the welcoming committee arrived,” he said.
“I joke that I am a salesman for the world’s worst Mediterranean cruise.”
In 2015, Freedom Flotilla III, made up of four boats, set sail with 48 human rights activists, journalists, artists, and political figures representing 17 countries.
The Swedish ship Marianne was intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters about 100 nautical miles from Gaza.
It was taken to the port of Ashdod and the rest of the ships were turned back.
Other ships have been blocked from making the journey over the years due to administrative and diplomatic setbacks.
In 2024, A humanitarian aid flotilla destined for Gaza was halted after Guinea Bissau decided to remove its flag from two vessels.
FFC ship seeks repairs in Malta
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says its ship was attacked by Israeli drones in the early hours of Friday morning, and needs urgent repairs so it can continue on its journey to break the Gaza aid blockade.
Australian Surya McEwen participated in this mission, as well as the mission from Malta earlier this year where a ship was allegedly attacked by drones.
He said 18 humanitarian workers were onboard at the time of the attack.
“The other 40-plus of us were preparing to meet the ship at sea a few short hours later,” he said.
“It was a scary morning, we were very frightened for their safety and worried there would be follow-up attacks.”
Mr McEwan acknowledged flotillas faced many “different challenges” in attempting to make it all the way to Gaza, and were often undermined or attacked “bureaucratically and militarily”.
Despite this, he said these missions were crucial in not just delivering aid to those in need, but also providing “symbolic” support.
“There is a duty for people to act in whatever way possible to bring solidarity, to bring medicine and food, but also to bring hope to the people of Gaza,” he said.
Surya McEwen joined two humanitarian flotillas sailing to Gaza. (Supplied: Jess Mamone)
The situation in Gaza is the worst it has been since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began 19 months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.
Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN-led operations to resume.
On Monday, a new avenue for aid distribution was also launched — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — backed by the United States and Israel, but with which the UN and international aid groups have refused to work, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.
Ahead of the vessel’s departure, Ms Thunberg, known initially for her climate activism said the ship will try to reach the shores of the Gaza Strip in an effort to bring in some aid and raise “international awareness” over the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Gaza aid system labelled a ‘death trap’
Photo shows A Palestinian woman in a headscarf holding a baby standing outside an apartment.A Palestinian woman in a headscarf holding a baby standing outside an apartment.
At least 30 Palestinians are killed during gunfire at a southern Gaza aid distribution site, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for the chaos.

“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” Thunberg said, bursting into tears during her speech.

“Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide,” she added.

Israel disputes suggestions its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, instead saying its actions are necessary to destroy Hamas. An International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa alleging genocide is yet to be resolved.

Among those joining the crew of the Madleen are Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent. She has been barred from entering Israel due to her active opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza.
The activists expect to take seven days to get to their destination, if they are not stopped.
Mr Coleman says if the flotilla is not successful, it will at least raise awareness of the issue.
“It’s been 80 days now that there’s been any aid to the strip and the stories out of it are truly heartbreaking,” he says.
“We’ll sail until Palestine is free.”

Melbourne University students face expulsion over Gaza protest
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-university-students-face-expulsion-over-gaza-protest-20250602-p5m455.html

Noel Towell
Two University of Melbourne students face expulsion and another two could be suspended after they helped take over and occupy the office of a prominent Jewish academic last year.
Student groups have reacted with anger after a committee recommended the disciplinary action last week over a sit-in at an academic’s office on the university’s main campus in Parkville in October.
A protest inside the University of Melbourne arts building in May 2024.
A protest inside the University of Melbourne arts building in May 2024.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Vice chancellor Emma Johnston, who is expected to sign off on the expulsions this week, said the university was committed to using disciplinary processes to “respond to any actions that may intimidate or threaten the safety of students and staff on our campuses”.
The four students are accused of – and deny – harassing and intimidating university workers during the occupation by about 20 protesters, some of them masked, of the office of Jewish professor Steven Prawer, who had been outspoken in the previous months about antisemitism on campus.
The protest groups said Prawer had been targeted as a key figure in the institution’s official relationship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with which Prewar works on research on bird behaviour and new drugs.
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After the group was asked to leave by Prawer and refused, they spent about 90 minutes in and around the office, chanting slogans and putting up stickers and posters before police arrived at the campus to evict the protesters.
In the wake of the incident, Prewar and then-vice chancellor Duncan Maskell called for serious disciplinary action against the protesters.
Students for Palestine co-convenor Bella Beiraghi said the subsequent disciplinary process had been opaque and the committee was a “kangaroo court”.
The Australian National University’s expulsion of student Beatrice Tucker last year – after she expressed support for Hamas on ABC radio – was overturned on appeal.
The University of Melbourne did not follow through on its threats to expel or suspend up to 20 students who helped occupy a campus building in May last year.
If Johnston – in her first year in the position – proceeds with the expulsions, the student activists will have 30 days to appeal.
Beiraghi said expelling the pair would set a precedent as the first students kicked out of an Australian tertiary institution for protesting against the war. The decision would also have serious implications for free speech across the nation’s campuses.
“It does set a precedent, for them to expel and suspend pro-Palestine activists on campus, and one that I think other university administrations would emboldened by,” Beiraghi said. “That’s something that, as pro-Palestine activists, we really want to push back on.”
Johnston told The Age on Monday that the university respected the right to protest, but that the safety of staff and students had to be protected.
“It’s our responsibility to respond to any actions that may intimidate or threaten the safety of students and staff on our campuses,” Johnston said. “These matters are taken seriously and addressed under the appropriate policy, which may include disciplinary procedures.”
Activist group Unimelb for Palestine launched a campaign on Monday aimed at pressuring Johnston, herself a former student activist who led her university’s student union in the 1990s, to not expel or suspend the students.
“We are calling on all groups and individuals to URGENTLY contact the VC … to demand that the student misconduct be repealed, and echo our call for Unimelb to cut ties with universities in Israel,” the group told its social media followers.

Colorado flamethrower suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman charged with federal hate crime
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/colorado-flamethrower-suspect-mohamed-sabry-soliman-charged-with-federal-hate-crime/news-story/b39271b29f7d2515beaa89cbaf08878d

Sadie Gurman and Jack Morphet
Video has captured the moment a man in the US state of Colorado attacked a pro-Israel rally with a makeshift flamethrower.
The man accused of using a flamethrower in an attack on a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado told investigators he had been planning it for a year because he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” according to new court documents.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was charged with federal hate crimes in the Sunday afternoon ambush that left eight people injured, some with burns, which took place as the group was holding a weekly gathering to bring attention to the hostages taken from Israel by Hamas.
Witnesses said they heard Soliman yell “Free Palestine” before throwing Molotov cocktails into the crowd demonstrating on the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall. The attack sent shock waves through the college town known as a welcome and tolerant community home to the state’s flagship university.
Soliman was in the US on an expired visa, the Department of Homeland Security said, having entered the US in August 2022 on a B2 visa. That visa, typically used for tourism, expired in February 2023, a department spokeswoman said on X, adding that he had filed for asylum in September 2022.
Soliman had been living with his wife and five children about 160km south of Boulder in Colorado Springs.
The court documents say he was waiting for his daughter to graduate before executing the attack, telling investigators he researched how to make Molotov cocktails on YouTube and targeted the group Run for Their Lives, which advocates for hostages being held in Gaza, after learning about the event online. He arrived about five minutes early and waited for them.
Soliman said he “did this because he hated this group and needed to stop them from taking over ‘our land,’ which he explained to be Palestine,” an FBI agent wrote in the documents.
He can be seen in a video shirtless and backing back and forth while holding the glass bottles, saying “how many children killed” and “end Zionist.”
The federal hate crimes charges come in addition to state-level charges. Authorities were studying a journal as well as an iPhone Soliman told them he left at the house, hidden in a desk drawer, with messages to his family.
Anxiety about violence in the US stemming from the Hamas-Israeli conflict has been high as the war between Israel and Hamas stokes global tensions and has contributed to a jump in antisemitic attacks. Sunday’s episode comes just 10 days after another man also shouted “Free Palestine” before he fatally shot two Israeli Embassy staffers near a Jewish museum in Washington. It also took place at the start of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
“We will never tolerate this kind of hatred,” U.S. Attorney-General Pam Bondi said. “We refuse to accept a world in which Jewish Americans are targeted for who they are and what they believe.” The eight victims of the attack, four women and four men, range in age 52 to 88, police said, and all have survived.
Run for Their Lives group member Jean Unger said that the Boulder chapter of the organisation follows the same route for what it calls “peace walks.” Unger said it isn’t unusual for the group of 25 to 30 participants to cross paths with protesters, but the walkers don’t engage with them, Unger said. When she heard shouting of “Free Palestine, ” she didn’t pay immediate attention.
“Next thing I saw was big flames, from behind me. There was a woman on fire, and people rushing to try and help her, and other people had flames on their legs,” Unger said.
At least three victims remained in hospital on Monday afternoon, including an 88-year-old woman who was completely engulfed by flames and her badly burned husband, according to Run for Their Lives Denver co-leader Omer Shachar, who was also at the Boulder walk.
“Four have been discharged. They are doing well enough to continue their treatment at home,” Shachar said.
President Trump expressed condolences for the victims on Truth Social. “This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland,” he said in a post.
Dow Jones

IDF publishes drone video of gunmen shooting at Gazans
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/idf-publishes-drone-video-of-gunmen-shooting-at-gazans/news-story/cfd732caf09eaa6523ec6a0a417598f2

AP
The Israeli military has published drone video it says shows Palestinian gunmen and other masked Palestinians opening fire and throwing stones at Gazans heading to collect humanitarian aid in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The IDF does not explicitly say that the armed men are members of Hamas says in a post on X: “Hamas does everything it can to prevent the success of the food distribution in Gaza.”
“Hamas is a murderous and brutal terror organisation that starves the residents of Gaza,” the post adds.
The video is unrelated to the deadly incident near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Sunday, in which 31 Palestinians were killed according to Hamas authorities.
Witnesses said Israeli forces fired toward the crowds just before dawn around a kilometre from an aid site run by an Israeli-backed foundation.
The Israeli Defence Forces denied its troops fired at civilians near or within the site. An Israeli military official said troops fired warning shots at several suspects advancing toward them overnight.
“IDF troops worked to prevent a number of suspects from approaching the forces,” the official told The Times of Israel. “During the activity, warning shots were fired at a number of suspects who approached the forces.”
“There is no connection between the incident in question and the false allegations against the IDF,” added the official.
In a statement, the IDF said: “at this time, we are unaware of injuries caused by IDF troops’ fire within the [humanitarian aid] distribution site” in Rafah. It added that the matter was under review.
Last week Israel blamed Hamas for orchestrating pandemonium at two food distribution sites in Gaza and accused the United Nations of using “intimidation” to stop NGOs from working with a new US-backed foundation.
Israel’s United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon told the UN Security Council Hamas had set up roadblocks and checkpoints to block access to the distribution centre
Israeli media also reported the militant group had threatened Palestinians they would “pay the price” if they co-operated with the Gaza Humanitrian Foundation, and told Palestinians to stay home, claiming Israel was using the company to collect intelligence information.
“Do not go to Rafah. Do not fall into the trap. Do not risk your lives. Your homes are your fortress. Staying in your neighbourhoods is survival, and awareness is your protection,” a statement published by the Hamas-linked Home Front said.
Mr Danon also accused the UN of “spreading panic,” saying the organisation was “using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism.”
After the Rafah incident on Sunday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement it delivered aid “without incident,” and released a separate video it said was shot Sunday at the site that appeared to show people collecting aid. The foundation has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent media has no access.
It was the deadliest incident yet around the new aid distribution system, which has operated for less than a week.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement its field hospital in Rafah received 179 casualties including women and children, 21 of them declared dead upon arrival, the majority with gunshot or shrapnel wounds. It was unclear if any of the dead were militants.

“All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” the ICRC said, calling it the highest number of “weapon-wounded” people in a single incident since the hospital was set up over a year ago.
“Aid distribution has become a death trap,” the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered that more aid sites be established — and that troops’ ground operation be expanded in unspecified parts of northern and southern Gaza.
Multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s sites. Before Sunday, 17 people were killed while trying to reach them, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.
The foundation says private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on crowds. Israel’s military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
The foundation said in a statement it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday “without incident,” and dismissed what it described as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.” UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles.
Thousands of people headed toward the distribution site hours before dawn. As they approached, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1 kilometre away, at around 3am, Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said.
“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd.
He said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded. “The scene was horrible,” he said.
Most people were shot “in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest,” said Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a Health Ministry official at Nasser Hospital, where many were transferred from the Red Cross field hospital. A colleague, surgeon Khaled al-Ser, said 150 wounded people had arrived, along with 28 bodies.
The hospital corridors were filled with patients, “but unlike what I have witnessed before, where most of the patients were women and children, today it was mainly men,” a spokesperson with medical charity MSF, Nour Alsaqa, said in a statement.
The Israeli military has confirmed it has killed the new leader of Hamas.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said least 31 people were killed and over 170 were wounded.
Later Sunday, Israeli artillery shells struck tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, killing three and wounding at least 30, according to Nasser Hospital.
The UN says new aid system violates humanitarian principles Israel and the U.S. say the new system is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided evidence of systematic diversion, and the U.N. denies it has occurred.
U.N. agencies and major aid groups say the new system allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the coastal territory.
“It’s essentially engineered scarcity,” Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the U.N. humanitarian office, said last week.

New Hamas leader Izz al-Din al-Haddad is standing in the way of a ceasefire deal
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/new-hamas-leader-izz-aldin-alhaddad-is-standing-in-the-way-of-a-ceasefire-deal/news-story/a6d3dd02c1cd61af429ed97aade9210e
Gabrielle Weiniger
Among all the masked militants who were watching as three Israeli hostages, including the joint British national, Emily Damari, were released from Gaza was one man who had a vested interest in the transfer going off without a hitch.
By the time the hostages were released in January, Izz al-Din al-Haddad had already risen up the ranks of Hamas after surviving six assassination attempts. He was said to have been charged with rebuilding its civilian and military infrastructure during a brief lull in the war with Israel. Among his other duties was ensuring the hostage handover went smoothly, according to reports at the time.
The ascent of al-Haddad, however, did not stop there. The Times has learnt that the 55-year-old has taken over the military wing of Hamas from Muhammad Sinwar, whose death has been confirmed by the Israeli military. Al-Haddad controls the group in Gaza and intelligence sources said the man, known locally as Abu Suhaib, is holding Israeli hostages and has veto power on the proposal for a ceasefire deal put forward by President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. Hamas has said it accepts the deal in principle, but proposed a new timeline for the release of hostages over the weekend. This was decried by Witkoff as “unacceptable” and lamented as a move which “only takes us backward”. International mediators negotiating a ceasefire say al-Haddad is now the last obstacle to a truce.
He is also Israel’s most wanted operative, evading half a dozen assassination attempts beginning in 2008. Since the start of the war, Israel has attempted to kill him three times, including sending troops to a house where he was supposed to be hiding – but he was nowhere to be found.
On October 7, al-Haddad was tasked with co-ordinating the initial penetration into Israeli territory, rallying commanders the night before with a written document of instructions to carry out the attack. It outlined three main goals: mass kidnapping, live broadcasting and the take-down of Israeli communities. In particular, al-Haddad managed the takeover of Nahal Oz military base, where more than 60 Israeli soldiers and 15 civilians were killed and many others spirited into Gaza.
With a previous bounty of dollars 750,000 for any information on his whereabouts, al-Haddad is
His oldest son, Suhaib, and his grandson were killed in an Israeli strike last year and his second son this April. He initially worked alongside Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the October attacks, hunting down Palestinians who collaborated with Israel.
A regional security source said: “He’s one of the last and only leaders left standing in the field in Gaza, meaning the pressure he’s under is immense. If there’s no deal, he doesn’t want to go down in history as the last leader to run Gaza as it gets dismantled under Israeli control. On the other hand, he has to show he’s a leader.”
Israel has been intensifying its operations inside Gaza since the breakdown of the last ceasefire in March, refusing to enter into discussions to end the war until Hamas has been crushed. Netanyahu has since called for the group’s leaders to disarm and go into exile.
The Witkoff proposal offers a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living and 18 dead Israeli hostages from the total of 58 being held by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners including 125 serving life sentences and more than 1,000 Gazans detained since the start of the war.
Hardline members of Israel’s government are pushing to advance the operation and pursue plans to occupy Gaza in its entirety, cordoning off small parts of it for sterile, civilian-only zones. Diplomats estimate that should a deal fail, Trump will allow Israel to “go all in”, having agreed to its solution for an aid mechanism to feed Gaza’s population.

PRO-PALESTINE STAFF CHALLENGE DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM
https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=bfd66914-63e6-498b-b003-f87351886c51

A coalition of Sydney University staff has followed in the footsteps of the Students’ Representative Council by rejecting a definition of anti-Semitism adopted by Australian tertiary institutions at a meeting last week.
The meeting held by the University of Sydney Staff for Palestine group – titled “Why anti-racists should reject anti-Semitism definitions” – called on the university to rescind the definition “because it constitutes a serious obstacle of staff and students’ intellectual freedom and aims to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel”.
Dismissing the calls from a small minority of staff and students to ditch the definition, the university announced the implementation of a series of policies recommended in the Hodgkinson Report, commissioned in the wake of the pro-Palestine university encampment last year. This included a ban on non-course-related announcements before or during class, mandating that “other announcements may only be made at the end, and attendance must be voluntary”.
“There is no provision for staff to grant exceptions,” read the policy released on Monday.
Sydney University vice-chancellor Mark Scott’s message to students flagged further implementation of the Hodgkinson recommendations.
A university spokesman said it “categorically did not endorse or condone the views expressed during last week’s open meeting”. “The meeting had around 85 participants, comprised of both staff and students – or less than 0.25 per cent of our combined population,” he said. “We’ve made it clear to our staff and students that we will undertake disciplinary action … when breaches of our policies or codes of conduct – such as anti-Semitism or other forms of discrimination – occur.”
Material distributed by the anti-Israel staff group on Thursday flies in the face of these new policies, giving advice to faculty members for when “a student seeks to silence anti-genocide speech”.
The pro-Palestine staff group said it had “been inspired by our students and the student movement” and had been “moved to act as a result of the Israeli government’s relentless genocide in Palestine”.
“One of the problems of having such an exceptional definition is that it implicitly encodes a hierarchy of humanity,” one organiser said.
“We simply do not think exceptionalising one definition helps anyone, least of all our Jewish brothers and sisters, and in fact has a censorial function.”
A speaker for the motion stated it was not anti-Semitic to “reimagine the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River as a place of equality for all who live there”.
“This might entail calling for the elimination of the state of Israel in its current form, as a state that systematically privileges the rights and freedoms and aspirations of one group of people, Jews, over others,” he said.
Jewish members of faculty rebuffed claims the definition stifled criticism of Israel, suggesting “criticism of the Israeli government and its actions in Gaza (was) entirely legitimate”.
THOMAS HENRY

GRETA ON ACTIVIST AID SHIP TO GAZA
https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=bfd66914-63e6-498b-b003-f87351886c51

GIADA ZAMPANO – SALVATORE CAVALLI
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists set sail on Sunday afternoon for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organisers said.
The sailing boat Madleen – operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition activist group – departed from the Sicilian port of Catania, in southern Italy.
It will try to reach the shores of the Gaza Strip in an effort to bring in some aid and raise “international awareness” of the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the activists said at a press conference on Sunday.
“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” Ms Thunberg said, bursting into tears during her speech. “Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.”
Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations as an anti-Semitic “blood libel”. In mid-May, Israel slightly eased its blockade of Gaza after nearly three months, allowing a limited amount of humanitarian aid into the territory.
Experts have warned that Gaza is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in.
UN agencies and major aid groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians.
Among those joining the crew of the Madleen are Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament who is of Palestinian descent. She has been barred from entering Israel due to her active opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza.

The activists expect to take seven days to get to their destination, if they are not stopped.
Ms Thunberg, who became an internationally famous climate activist after organising massive teen protests in her native Sweden, had been due to board another Freedom Flotilla ship last month. That attempt to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels, the Conscience, was attacked by two alleged drones in international waters off the coast of Malta.
The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship, in the latest confrontation over efforts to send assistance to the Palestinian territory devastated by nearly 19 months of war.
The Israeli government says the blockade is an attempt to pressure Hamas to release hostages it took during the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the conflict.
The Freedom Flotilla group was only the latest among a growing number of critics to accuse Israel of genocidal acts in its war in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies the allegations, saying the war is directed at Hamas militants, not Gaza’s civilians.
“We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that’s part of a broader strategy of mobilisations that will also attempt to break the siege by land,” activist Thiago Avila said. He cited the upcoming Global March to Gaza, an international initiative also open to doctors, lawyers and media, set to leave Egypt and reach the Rafah crossing in mid-June to stage a protest there, and ask Israel to stop the Gaza offensive and reopen the border.
AP

FRANCE CAN ‘CARVE’ PALESTINIAN STATE FROM ITS RIVIERA: US ENVOY
https://todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=bfd66914-63e6-498b-b003-f87351886c51

Mariette le Roux
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has lashed out at France’s advocacy for recognition of a Palestinian state, saying that if it supported such an outcome it could “carve out a piece of the French Riviera” and create one.
France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing an international conference at the United Nations aimed at resurrecting the idea of a two-state solution, which the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
Paris had also said it could recognise a Palestinian state itself this year.
In an interview with Fox News published on Saturday, Mr Huckabee called the initiative at the UN “incredibly inappropriate when Israel is in the midst of a war”.
“October 7 changed a lot of things,” he said, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
“If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I’ve got a suggestion for them – carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state. They are welcome to do that, but they are not welcome to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation.”
Israel on Friday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve. The day before, Israel announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank, while its Defence Minister Israel Katz later vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the occupied territory. The settlements are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as an obstacle to the two-state solution.
But Huckabee, a staunch advocate for Israel, said there was “no such thing as an occupation” when it came to the Palestinian territories.
AFP

Pearl St Mall: Suspect in Colorado’s ‘targeted terror attack’ charged with hate crimes
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/north-america/fbi-investigating-targeted-terror-attack-in-boulder-colorado-several-injured/news-story/293a4e8703a0495282cc7fbdc7ffd3f2

New horrific details have emerged about how the Colorado terror suspect allegedly planned and carried out his assault on peaceful marchers at a pro-Israel gathering.
Vanessa Marsh, Zoe Smith and AFP
US President Donald Trump has broken his silence on the Boulder, Colorado terror attack, blaming what he called “Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy” for the horrific incident.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
“He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy. Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!”
The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Michalek said.
Federal prosecutors have charged Soliman with hate crime offences and set his bail at US$10 million.
Soliman allegedly told investigators he had been planning the horror attack for a year but waited until after his daughter had graduated to carry out the crime.
He allegedly disguised himself as a landscaper and used a garden hose filled with petrol to spray flames at his victims, sources told The New York Post.
He allegedly said he intended to “kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead”.
Police found a further 14 unused Molotov cocktails at the scene.
It comes as an 88-year-old Holocaust refugee was among those wounded when a shirtless man threw what appeared to be homemade molotov cocktails at people who were taking part in a walk to raise awareness for Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Boulder police chief Steve Redfearn said eight people were injured in the attack, including four women and four men, ages 52 to 88.
An Israeli flag stands in a bed of flowers as caution tape blocks off a deserted Pearl Street on the scene of an attack on protesters for Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in Boulder, Colorado. Picture: AFP
An Israeli flag stands in a bed of flowers as caution tape blocks off a deserted Pearl Street on the scene of an attack on protesters for Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in Boulder, Colorado. Picture: AFP
Friends of the injured woman told local news outlets she was an “amazing person” who regularly spoke at synagogues and schools about fleeing Europe as the Nazi regime rose to power.
“She is passionate about standing up for good things and she is an extremely exceptional person, always a smile on her face,” a friend told CBS in Colorado.
“Her life wasn’t easy, but she is just a bright light. And anybody who is her friend is a friend for life.”
Elsewhere in the US, police presence has been increased at religious sites.
The New York City Police Department announced it had deployed extra patrols and heavy weapons teams for the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
Several people were injured in what the FBI is calling a “targeted terror attack”.
Witnesses have described a shirtless man throwing something resembling homemade molotov cocktails at people who were taking part in a walk to raise awareness for Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Fox News reported Soliman had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally and after filing a claim, he was cleared for work authorisation by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which expired this March.
“The Biden Admin granted the alien a visa and then, when he illegally overstayed, they gave him a work permit,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. “Immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back.”
FBI agents have been combing through the attacker’s home in nearby El Paso County, Colorado.
Asked if it was a terror attack against the protesters, Redfearn insisted it was “way too early to speculate motive” behind the incident, which took place near Pearl Street mall.
“The initial callers indicated that there was a man with a weapon and people were being set on fire,” Redfearn said.
Video footage captured the alleged attacker holding two bottles of clear liquid and calling for death to “Zionists”.
“They are killers! How many children you killed?” he shouted.
He also shouted “End Zionists” and “Palestine is free”.
Police on the scene “immediately encountered that suspect, who was taken into custody without incident,” Redfearn said.
FBI Director Kash Patel took to X to declare the agency was “aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado”.
“Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available,” he added.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said on X that it was “aware of reports of an attack at today’s Boulder Run for Their Lives event.”
That event, it said, was a “weekly meeting of Jewish community members to run/walk in support of the hostages” who were seized during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York voiced outrage at the attack.
“Terrorism against Jews does not stop at the Gaza border – it is already burning the streets of America,” he said in a statement.
“Today, in Boulder, Colorado, Jewish people marched with a moral and humane demand: to return the hostages. In response, the Jewish protesters were brutally attacked, with an attacker throwing a Molotov cocktails at them,” he said.
“Make no mistake – this is not a political protest, this is terrorism.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in the US expressed revulsion at the tragedy and said they were praying for the victims’ recovery.
“Tonight, a peaceful demonstration was targeted in a vile, antisemitic act of terror,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Once again, Jews are left reeling from repeated acts of violence and terror.”
Several organisations also decried the apparent hate-fuelled violence. “Our community was targeted in a violent, antisemitic attack,” the Israeli-American Council said in a statement.
“This is an attack on all of us – and we will not stay silent.”

UN slams ‘unacceptable’ Gaza aid centre tragedy
https://www.themercury.com.au/news/world/middle-east/totally-unacceptable-hamas-demands-7year-ceasefire/news-story/e92b0cf2629976399fff4f634b65dbc8

The UN is calling for the “perpetrators to be held accountable” after 31 starving Palestinians were killed as they tried to scrounge food for their families from a US-backed aid centre in Gaza.
Merryn Johnsand Zoe Smith
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into the deaths of at least 31 Palestinians near a US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, after rescuers blamed the deaths on Israeli gunfire.
“I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday,” Mr Guterres said.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”

SIX KIDS AMONG 14 KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKE ON GAZA HOME
Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a home in the northern town of Jabalia killed 14 people.
“The number of martyrs from the targeting of the Al-Bursh family home has risen to 14, including six children and three women, in addition to more than 20 missing individuals still under the rubble,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

‘SHOT FROM ALL SIDES’: MSF SHOCKED BY AID CENTRE ATTACK
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organisation reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.
The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site.
The GHF and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis.
“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF emergency co-ordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective”.
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.”
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs”.
MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid.
“They told us to take food – then they fired from every direction,” he said.
“This isn’t aid. It’s a lie.”
The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site”.
A GHF spokesperson said: “These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas,” the Islamic militant group that Israel has vowed to destroy in Gaza.

ISRAEL ARMY PUSHES AHEAD IN GAZA
Israel’s defence minister said that he had ordered the army to push ahead with its fight against Hamas “regardless of any negotiations”, after a US envoy called the group’s latest response to a Gaza truce proposal unacceptable.
“I have instructed the IDF (military) to continue forward in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations”, Israel Katz said in a statement on Sunday.
“Either Hamas releases the hostages, or it will be destroyed.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Sunday after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and other cities.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the army said in a statement.

GRETA THUNBERG SETS SAIL TO GAZA
A boat organised by an international activist coalition opposed to Israel’s blockade of Gaza departed from Sicily on Sunday to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The boat from Freedom Flotilla Coalition left from the port of Catania, carrying around a dozen people, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, according to Marco Grimaldi, the deputy head of the Greens and Left Alliance, which has supported the mission.
“The ship carries the flag of public opinion, we are trying to make even more noise” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” Grimaldi said.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a nonviolent international movement supporting Palestinians, combining humanitarian aid with political protest against the blockade on Gaza.
The “Madleen” is a small sailboat carrying “fruit juices, milk, rice, tinned food and protein bars donated by hundreds of Catania residents”, journalist Andrea Legni reported from aboard.
Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan said Thursday she would also join the voyage.

HAMAS DELIVERS SHOCK CEASEFIRE DEMANDS
Hamas has responded to the US ceasefire proposal with a string of new conditions — which have been slammed by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff as “totally unacceptable”.
The terror group requested a ceasefire lasting up to seven years, a full IDF withdrawal from all territory captured since March, the cancellation of the new aid distribution model in Gaza, and a return to the previous aid mechanism, The Times of Israel reported.
Hamas’ demands effectively stalled negotiations toward a 60-day truce by demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consider a permanent ceasefire after an initial release of hostages.
Mr Netanyahu echoed Mr Witkoff’s assessment that the response was “unacceptable”, accusing Hamas of clinging “to its rejectionism”.
If a permanent ceasefire is not reached within 60 days, Hamas also want the US-backed proposal to halt the Jewish State from resuming fighting, according to the outlet.
Israel earlier warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages held in Gaza “or be annihilated”.
In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said it had “submitted its response … to the mediating parties”.
“As part of this agreement, 10 living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,” it added.
A source within the group’s political bureau said it had offered “a positive response to Witkoff, but with emphasis on guaranteeing a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip.
Mr Witkoff said Hamas’s response was “only takes us backward”, urging the group to “accept the framework proposal we put forward”.
“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have … substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,” he added in a post on X.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS IRAN HAS NUKE DEAL PROPOSAL
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Steve Witkoff has sent the Iranian regime a “detailed and acceptable proposal” for a nuclear deal.
In a statement, Ms Leavitt said it was in Iran’s best interests to accept the deal.
“President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,” Ms Leavitt said, confirming that the US proposal has been communicated to Iran. She declined to provide further details.
Mr Trump earlier said that an Iran deal was possible in the “not-too-distant future.”

ISRAEL CONFIRMS DEATH OF HAMAS LEADER
The Israeli military confirmed that it had killed Muhammad Sinwar, one of Hamas’s top military commanders in Gaza, during air strikes earlier this month that targeted the vicinity of a hospital in southern Gaza.
The strike also killed Muhammad Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.
“The terrorists were eliminated while operating in an underground command and control centre, under the European Hospital in Khan Younis, deliberately endangering the civilian population in and around the hospital,” the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement.
– with AFP

NGO blames aid group for Gaza deaths
https://todayspaper.themercury.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=2c2c50fe-a0a8-4532-8515-85967f6523e9&share=true

RAFAH: Medical charity Doctors Without Borders says people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new USbacked organisation reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.
The non-governmental organisation, known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah over the weekend.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site. Witnesses told AFP the Israeli military had opened fire.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis. “Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers,”
MSF said in a statement.
MSF emergency co-ordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective”.
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented,” Ms Manera said. “Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely.”
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds”.
A GHF spokesperson said: “These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas.”

Israeli strikes on Gaza schools used as civilian shelters are part of deliberate strategy, say sources
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/02/israel-strikes-gaza-schools-strategy

Exclusive: More schools identified as targets after controls on IDF action against Hamas operatives at civilian sites loosened
Harry Davies Investigations correspondent
Tue 3 Jun 2025 03.58 AEST
A series of recent deadly airstrikes on school buildings sheltering displaced people in Gaza were part of a deliberate Israeli military bombing strategy, with further schools identified as targets, the Guardian has learned.
At least six school buildings have been struck, reportedly killing more than 120 people, in recent months as part of a targeting effort by the Israeli military.
This followed a loosening of controls on actions targeting Hamas operatives at sites with large numbers of civilians present, according to sources familiar with the strategy.
On Monday, four people were reportedly killed in the latest Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter, in Deir al-Balah in the centre of Gaza. Videos on social media appeared to show the aftermath of what was said to be the location of al-Aishiya school.
Announcing the strike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, without providing evidence or naming the school, it had bombed a site “used by terrorists” in the area, claiming it had taken steps to reduce civilian harm.

Al-Aishiya school was among a series of school buildings used as shelters identified by the IDF as targets in recent weeks, according to military sources
Four further school buildings have been marked as potential targets to be bombed, according to the sources.
The locations identified as potential targets include four schools: Halawa, al-Rafaa’i, Nusiba and Halima Sa’dia. All four are in or near Jabaliya in the north of Gaza.
It was not immediately clear whether these buildings were also being used as shelters. Two of the schools appear to have been damaged by airstrikes at earlier stages in the offensive.
According to latest UN assessments, 95% of Gaza’s schools have sustained some level of damage to their buildings. Approximately 400 schools were classified as having suffered a “direct hit”.
Dozens killed after Israeli attack on school used as shelter in Gaza – video report
On 25 May, an Israeli strike killed at least 54 people sleeping at the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school, according to local officials, who told the BBC that severely burnt bodies, including those of children, were recovered from classrooms that had been set ablaze.
The IDF claimed it had “struck key terrorists who were operating within a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre embedded in an area that previously served” as the school.
Over the past two months, school buildings, hospitals and municipal buildings have been categorised by the IDF as “heavy centres”, which it believes are being used by Hamas militants alongside civilians, according to three military sources.
The sources said airstrikes had been authorised against such sites in circumstances in which only low-ranking militants were present despite knowing that civilians could be killed.
Juliette Touma, the director of communications at Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said schools “must always be protected and must never be hit or used for military or fighting purposes”.
“Very sadly, schools have been struck over and over for the past 20 months. It’s a grave violation of international law and of children’s rights,” she said.
Asked about its planned operations against school buildings, a spokesperson said the IDF “operates exclusively on the grounds of military necessity and in strict accordance with international law”.
The spokesperson claimed that Hamas unlawfully “exploits schools” for military activities by “building military networks beneath and within schools … launching attacks towards IDF forces from them, and imprisoning hostages in them”.

How ‘a man with a blow torch’ turned a rally in Colorado into a scene of horror

The attack by a man hurling molotov cocktails struck at the heart of one of Colorado’s largest Jewish communities
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/02/boulder-colorado-attack-rally

Richard Luscombe
Tue 3 Jun 2025 04.09 AEST
The first 911 calls reporting the Colorado flamethrower attack were as horrific as they were unbelievable.
“There is a male with a blow torch setting people on fire,” a dispatcher advised the city’s police department, passing on the account of an eyewitness. Another official reported: “Multiple burns, potential terror attack.”
What had been a peaceful rally at the Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall on Sunday in solidarity with hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza quickly turned into a scene of horror, with medical crews arriving to find victims lying or sitting on the ground with their legs and bodies burned – and police holding a suspect face down with a gun at his back.
Members of the public raced from local restaurants with buckets and jugs of water to pour over those who were injured.

Suspect charged with federal hate crime in attack on Colorado rally for Israeli hostages
The attack by a man hurling molotov cocktails and shouting “Free Palestine” struck at the heart of one of Colorado’s largest Jewish communities, just 10 days after two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead in Washington DC by a man yelling the same statement. It also came weeks after an arson attack on the home of Josh Shapiro, the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, by a pro-Palestinian activist.
“Make no mistake: if and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel’s actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as antisemitism,” Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement
“These attacks come alongside a broader rise in antisemitism, from hate crimes targeting Jews walking down the street, to efforts to marginalize, isolate, and discriminate against Jews, to antisemitic and white supremacist mass violence targeting synagogues and other spaces.”
Boulder county, where Sunday’s attack took place, had long been considered a safe, “dream community” for Jewish families drawn there over the last decade. Numbers have doubled to represent more than 10% of the county’s 330,000 population.
The eight victims – four men and four women, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, and a mother and daughter – represented a cross-section of a vibrant diaspora in a city with numerous Jewish community centers, schools and businesses.
“What happened here in our local community in Boulder is shameful, and I think people really need to have a sense of accountability,” Fred Greene, rabbi of Boulder’s Har HaShem congregation, told CNN on Monday.
“If we want peace, if we want dignity for people, there have to be other ways than this kind of violence.”
Another expert, University of Boulder Hillel executive director Elyana Funk, told the network that the assault was especially shocking because it targeted a “quiet and respectful” assembly of residents who were taking part in a solidarity walk, which has become popular in numerous Jewish communities around the world since the Hamas terror attack on Israel and taking of hostages on 7 October 2023.
“This wasn’t a pro-Israel rally or some sort of political statement on the war,” she said. “These are peaceful people who’ve been walking for nearly 20 months weekly to bring awareness for the hostages.”
The attack came on the same day as the start of Shavuot, a two-day Jewish festival to celebrate the 50th day after the Passover holiday. Several events were postponed or canceled after the attack, but Funk said resilience would shine through.
“The antidote for antisemitism can be Jewish joy, and Jewish community and Jewish connection,” she said
Meanwhile, the Boulder police chief, Stephen Redfearn, recalled the community reaction to the 2021 mass shooting at a supermarket in the city that left 10 people dead.
“Boulder is not immune to tragedy sadly and I know a lot of people are scared right now and questioning how this happened and why,” he said at a press conference on Sunday night.
“Boulder has recovered from acts of violence before and we will again recover. I urge this community to come together. Now is not the time to be divisive.
The attack took place on Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian area of downtown Boulder laced with stores and restaurants, overlooked by the University of Colorado, and a regular venue for the event supporting Run for Their Lives, an organization calling for the immediate release of the Gaza hostages.
Eyewitnesses said the suspect, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, appeared out of nowhere and seemingly singled out individuals taking part in the rally.
“It was easily the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Brian Horowitz, 37, told CNN.
The Denver resident said he was in a cafe with his family when he heard screams and raced to confront the suspect, who was shouting profanities at his victims.
“‘Fuck you Zionists,” Horowitz said the man yelled. “‘You’re killing my people so I kill you.’”
Horowitz added: “There’s someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It’s unbelievable.”