TV News LIES

Athens is upset by the seizure of properties of the Greek Orthodox Church in the West Bank by illegal Israeli settlers, local media reported on Thursday.

According to Kathimerini daily, Greek authorities expressed serious concern over reports of expanded land intrusions by settlers on property belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church in the West Bank, particularly around the historic Monastery of Saint Gerasimos of the Jordan near the city of Jericho.

According to the daily, tension in the Jericho region has risen over the past two years, particularly following October 2023, when Israel began its devastating war on Gaza, with at least five new settler outposts reportedly established in the region, often preceding further land seizures.

It added that a high-level meeting was held in Athens to assess the situation, including the expansion of illegal settlement activity on land under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

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Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.

Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations

Asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza”, Netanyahu replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” The security cabinet would need to approve such a decision.

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” Netanyahu said. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit.

Trump’s comments followed a statement from Putin earlier in the day that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. But the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

When asked by a reporter if Putin would need to meet with Zelenskyy in order to secure a meeting with the U.S., Trump said: “No, he doesn’t. No.”

A White House official told The Associated Press earlier Thursday that a U.S.-Russian summit would not happen if Putin did not agree to meet with Zelenskyy, but the official later said it only made the summit less likely. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and had spoken on condition of anonymity.

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The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.

Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the US offered a $15m reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25m – the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden in 2001, after the September 11attacks.

Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the US, the European Union and several Latin American governments who condemned his 2024 reelection as a sham and recognized his opponent as Venezuela’s duly elected president.

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Israeli authorities are moving forward with plans to dramatically expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite growing international condemnation and warnings that the move would destroy already moribund prospects for a two-state solution.

The Israeli government has set Wednesday as the date to discuss building thousands of new housing units in the E1 area, east of occupied East Jerusalem. The proposed expansion would link the large and illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement with Jerusalem, effectively bisecting the West Bank and isolating Palestinian communities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government also appears on the cusp of announcing its intention to occupy all of Gaza as its genocidal war on the besieged enclave rages on.

The E1 plan in the West Bank has long been criticised by the international community, including the European Union and successive United States administrations. In 2022, Israel postponed the plan following US pressure, but in recent months, the government approved road-widening projects in the area and began restricting Palestinian access – a move rights groups say indicates a renewed push to entrench control.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will return from Moscow with a framework for peace between Russia and Ukraine. 

“The specific timing of it is not discussed,” Rubio told Larry Kudlow during an appearance on Fox Business Channel.

“I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war. We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept,” he added.

Witkoff has been gleaning information from talks in Russia as the Kremlin advances strikes on Kyiv and surrounding cities in its war with Ukraine.

In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed to obtain Crimea and additional land before removing soldiers from the frontlines.

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