... Similar instances of firings, finger-pointing and feelings of betrayal are playing out across Hollywood as the industry wrestles with the raw emotions aroused by the eruption of violence in the Middle East.

From power brokers to the rank and file, a growing number are incensed by the hostile rhetoric surrounding Israel and the lack of solidarity, even as some 240 hostages continue to be held by Hamas. Others feel a kinship with the Palestinian cause and believe Israel is the aggressor. The polarization is notable because the industry has largely presented a united front when it comes to politics, from its blanket opposition to former President Trump to its uniform support of reproductive rights. But when it comes to Israel, the cracks are showing.

In a video recorded just weeks before he ascended to his role as the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Johnson filmed a video for the World Prayer Network with rabidly homophobic pastor Jim Garlow. As Frederick Clarkson has chronicled for Salon, Garlow is part of an apocalyptic Christian movement that wishes to end secular democracy and replace it with "a utopian biblical kingdom where only God's laws are enforced." (Which, of course, sounds much like bin Laden's hope for an Islamic caliphate.) Garlow asked Johnson if he felt that it was finally "a time of judgment for our collective sins."

To this, Johnson replied, "The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable." As evidence, he noted how many young people identify as something other than straight.

Johnson's words echo those of bin Laden's "Letter to America: "We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest."

Actress Susan Sarandon is facing criticism for saying at a recent pro-Palestinian rally that US Jews fearing for their safety amid a spike in antisemitism “are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”

Sarandon has been intensely critical of Israel throughout the war, repeatedly posting accusations of genocide, atrocities and war crimes by Israel; sharing misinformation denying elements of Hamas’s massacres in Israeli communities; and characterizing Hamas as a “resistance organization” and not a terror group.

JERUSALEM (TND) — A journalist who was arrested by Israeli police for Facebook posts about Hamas terrorists' Oct. 7 invasion of Israel is no longer doing work for NBC News, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Mirvat al-Azzeh was booked on suspicion of inciting terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization last week, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The U.S. government has studied UFOs on and off now for 80 years, dating back to the dawn of the “flying saucer” age in 1947, when an Idaho businessman flying near Mount Rainer reported seeing bright saucer-like objects moving through the skies at tremendous speeds. It was hardly the first time humans spotted strange things in the sky — just a few years earlier, World War II pilots over Europe reported being chased by glowing green balls that came to be known as “foo fighters” — but the “flying saucers” caught the public’s imagination and launched a fascination that continues to this day.

Back then, at the dawn of the Cold War, the Pentagon launched three successive secret programs — known as PROJECT SIGN, GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK — that ran for decades without ever solving the mystery of what UFOs actually are. Neither did a secret CIA study panel in the 1950s, congressional hearings in the ’60s, and other assorted efforts over the years. Nor, most recently, did a series of classified Pentagon projects in the 2000s and 2010s, sponsored by Harry Reid and run by Las Vegas business titan Robert Bigelow, known as the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program that was first reported by POLITICO and The New York Times in 2017.

Now, amid renewed public fascination and lawmaker interest in the years since AAWSAP was publicized, the Pentagon, the intelligence community and NASA have recommitted — albeit somewhat half-heartedly — to studying what the government now calls UAPs, unidentified anomalous phenomena, a term it introduced both to decrease the giggle factor of UFOs as well to acknowledge the possibility that not every UFO is actually either flying or a physical object. Ironically, it’s the second such rebranding: It was actually the early Air Force efforts of GRUDGE and BLUE BOOK, in part, that helped to popularize the very term “UFO,” which was intended to reduce the giggle factor of “flying saucers” and make witnesses feel more comfortable coming forward to talk.

The truth across all those decades, military projects, commissions, reports and hearings is that the vast majority of UFO sightings are easily identified and dismissed. They’re a mix of confusion about ordinary astronomical events (the planet Venus represents a huge chunk of UFO sightings), normal aviation events (planes flying in formation at night that look to an observer like a giant triangular craft), or what the intelligence community in a recent report called “clutter,” e.g., sky trash.

Hamas has agreed in principle and Israel is now considering a proposal for the release of at least 50 women and children among about 240 foreign and Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations.

In exchange for the hostages, Israel would agree to a three-to-five-day pause “in place” in the fighting, increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of an unspecified number of women and children held in Israeli prisons.

Amid reports that agreement on at least some components of a deal may be near, U.S. officials and other interested parties spent much of Wednesday awaiting word from Israel, where internal discussions were said to be underway. Senior Biden administration officials have said this week that the United States is engaged in “hour by hour” negotiations over a hostage release with Israel and the government of Qatar, which is serving as a go-between for Hamas.

GAZA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Israeli troops found a command centre and weapons and combat gear belonging to Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza's biggest hospital on Wednesday, Israel's military said, in a campaign that stoked global alarm over the fate of civilians inside.

Al Shifa hospital had become the chief target of a Gaza City incursion by Israeli forces, who said the "beating heart" of the Hamas fighters' operations was headquartered in tunnels beneath it. Hamas denied the accusation and on Wednesday dismissed the Israeli statements as "lies and cheap propaganda".

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the troops were still searching, having entered the hospital early on Wednesday after days of clashes around it.

The BBC has apologized for reporting that Israeli troops targeted medics and Arab speakers during a raid on Gaza’s main hospital, Al-Shifa.

A BBC newsreader misquoted a Reuters report on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation, telling viewers that soldiers were “targeting people, including medical teams as well as Arab speakers.”