Day 1218: "An act of madness."

WTF Just Happened Today

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

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1/ Israel’s Communications Ministry confiscated camera and broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press, claiming the news agency had violated a new broadcasting law for providing a live feed of Gaza to Al Jazeera. The Associated Press said the seizure was “not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law.” Following swift condemnation from the Biden administration and journalism organizations, Israeli officials said the equipment would be returned. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the decision to seize press equipment, calling it “an act of madness.” Lapid added: “This government acts as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be shunned all over the world. They went crazy.” Earlier this month, Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country, accusing the Qatari-based news network of harming Israel’s security and inciting violence against its soldiers. (Associated Press / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times)

2/ Trump’s campaign adopted Nazi rhetoric in a social media post that referred to “the creation of a unified Reich” if he becomes president again. In a 30-second video posted to Trump’s personal social media platform, a narrator discusses “what’s next for America” if Trump wins again while a series of hypothetical headlines flash across the screen, including “BORDER IS CLOSED — 15 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS DEPORTED,” “ECONOMY BOOMS,” and “INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH.” The term “reich” is associated with Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, who designated his Nazi regime as the “Third Reich.” The White House denounced the post, calling it “dangerous and offensive” and that it’s “abhorrent, sickening, and disgraceful for anyone to promote content associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler.” Trump’s campaign responded, calling Biden “the real extremist” and that “this was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court” facing 34 felony counts of election interference. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / NPR / ABC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.