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Judge blocks Trump's shutdown layoffs, calling them illegal

admin - Latest News - October 15, 2025
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A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from laying off federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown.



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Oct. 15, 2025, 2:00 PM EDTBy Matt BradleyCAESAREA, Israel — Ten years ago this week, two Palestinian attackers boarded a bus in Jerusalem and shot, beat and stabbed Israeli American educator Richard Lakin to death along with two others before police killed one of the militants and injured and arrested the other.The surviving assailant, Bilal Abu Ghanem, was freed in February from his three consecutive life sentences for murder as part of the last Israeli ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.That’s when his son, Micah Avni, had to watch his father’s murderer go free.“It feels like I’ve been betrayed by my country,” Avni, 56, said the day before Hamas exchanged 24 Israeli hostages for about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences for serious crimes including terrorism. Bilal Abu Ghanem, in 2016.Ahman Gharabli / AFP via Getty Images fileAvni’s anguish and anger have now merged with a larger collective, shared by many Israelis whose loved ones were killed or maimed in terror attacks and who must now watch the perpetrators walk free as part of the latest ceasefire negotiated by the Trump administration.Their torment hasn’t just punctured the euphoria surrounding last week’s agreement — it very nearly halted the deal and could still frustrate its full implementation.Two far-right political parties in Israel’s government cited the release of 250 convicts as their reason for voting against President Donald Trump’s ceasefire and hostage release plan.“Alongside this joy, it is absolutely forbidden to ignore the question of the price: the release of thousands of terrorists,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, in a statement explaining his party’s opposition. “These are terrorists whose past experience proves that they will return to terrorism and their art of working to murder Jews.”While Ben-Gvir and others refer to thousands of “terrorists” released, 250 of those released were convicted of serious crimes.Most of the rest of the more than 1,700 people let go, among them doctors, nurses and journalists, had been held without charge. These detainees were not involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and were held under a controversial practice called administrative detention, which allows Israel to detain people for an indefinite period of time without ever charging them. More than 20 minors were on the list.For Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the releases were cause for celebrations. Prisoners and detainees who returned to Gaza rode on the tops of buses through crowds of well-wishers.Families wait outside the Ramallah Cultural Palace for the Palestinian prisoners to be released on Monday.Daniele Hamamdjian / NBC NewsIn the West Bank, families waited for the released prisoners outside the Ramallah Cultural Palace in the Palestinians’ provisional capital. Some women and young girls arrived in traditional Palestinian dresses. Many refused to speak to the gathered press: Israel’s military, they said, had called them and warned them not speak to the media.The prisoners’ families said they had seen others being re-arrested in the past and didn’t want to gamble on the convicts’ hard-won freedom.“For Israel, any Palestinian is a terrorist,” said the uncle of one of the released Palestinians, who refused to give his name, “even if they didn’t do anything.”Palestinian relatives mourn at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.Khames Alrefi / Anadolu via Getty ImagesIn addition, there is the collective pain of nearly 2 million in Gaza who have endured Israel’s two-year war against Hamas. There is little hope among Palestinians that anybody will be held responsible for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed by Israeli fire, along with those maimed in attacks.Israel has accused Hamas of operating in civilian areas, thus necessitating attacks that endanger noncombatants. In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, whom Israel said it had killed, over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.Israel has forcefully rejected the allegations, and Netanyahu’s office branded the decision “antisemitic,” rejecting them as “absurd and false” and condemning the ICC as a “biased and discriminatory political body.”Tinged with sadnessPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged many Israelis’ public pain in comments on Sunday night.“Tomorrow, our sons will return to their borders,” he said. “This is a historic event that is tinged with sadness over the release of murderers — and joy over the return of kidnapped people.”Under President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the fighting, Hamas fighters who lay down their weapons would be spared any punishment — a condition that has also raised grave reservations among many Israelis, including Netanyahu, who had hoped to see Hamas destroyed.Rachel Goldberg-Polin, an American Israeli whose son, Hersh, was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and then killed by Hamas last year, said she’s rejected the feelings of anger that come with grief.Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of Hersh, in Jerusalem in October 2024.Dmitry Solovyov / NBC News“Nothing can bring Hersh back,” she said in an interview last week. “I tend to look at this in a very zoomed-out way. I don’t have this fiery venomous anger that I think wouldn’t serve me in any purpose.”Avni, who opposed this week’s deal, said he worries that the released convicts will simply return to the battlefield or engage in terrorism against Israelis.“Obviously, every single Jewish person wants to get the hostages back,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that strategically trading thousands of terrorists for 20 lives makes sense.”Avni has advocated executing terrorists as a way to remove prisoner exchanges from the negotiating table. Israeli law allows for capital punishment, but only for treason and “crimes against humanity.” The death sentence has been used only twice in Israeli history.In the hours after his father’s murder, Avni admits that he considered taking matters into his own hands. Both Lakin and Abu Ghanem were taken to the same ward in the same Jerusalem hospital after the attack.The scene of the Jerusalem bus attack on Oct. 13, 2015, that resulted in Richard Lakin’s death.Kobi Gideon / Getty Images fileZaka volunteers and security forces inspect the scene after the bus attack that left Lakin and two other civilians dead.Gali Tibbon / AFP via Getty Images fileThe two men were treated only yards apart. Lakin died, but his killer survived.“I think I would have jumped on him and done something but he had police standing there,” Avni said. “I remember thinking to myself, you know, you’ll go to jail for life, and you’ve got responsibilities.”Recounting the cruel irony of his father’s killing still brings tears to Avni’s eyes. His father had been a peace-loving school principal who advocated for racially integrated education, had marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and participated in the anti-segregation “Freedom Riders” movement during the 1960s.The family moved to Israel when Avni was 15 years old.“He was a big believer in coexistence. I wish everybody could be like that, but they’re not,” Avni said of his father. “It was an innocent world view.”Richard Lakin, his grandchild, and his son, Micah Avni.Family handoutMatt Bradley reported from Caesarea, and Daniele Hamamdjian from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Matt BradleyMatt Bradley is an international correspondent for NBC News based in Israel.Daniele Hamamdjian contributed.
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Aid trucks arrive in southern Gaza
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October 2, 2025
Oct. 1, 2025, 10:41 PM EDT / Updated Oct. 1, 2025, 10:54 PM EDTBy Babak DehghanpishehThe Israeli navy on Wednesday intercepted an aid flotilla bound for Gaza that was being closely watched around the world through its social media posts, according to activists within the flotilla. The Global Sumud Flotilla is made up of about 50 boats and 500 activists, including the prominent environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg. The press officer for the flotilla, Hasina Kathrada, said nine ships had been intercepted by early Thursday local time. “Prior to illegally boarding the ships, it appears as though the Israeli naval vessels intentionally damaged ship communications, in an attempt to block distress signals and stop the live-stream of their illegal boat boarding,” the press office for the flotilla said in a statement. “In addition to the boats confirmed to be intercepted, live-stream coverage and communication has been lost with multiple other boats.”The fleet has been beset by a number of incidents, including explosions, harassment by drones and jamming of communications, which activists say appeared to have been attempts to hinder the ships’ movements.The goal of the activists has been to deliver a symbolic aid package and send a message by breaking through the Israeli naval blockade and getting to the Gaza Strip. Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached them while they were about 70 or 80 nautical miles from the Gaza coast. “They are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions, or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences,” Stoker, wearing a red life jacket, said in a shaky video posted on Instagram.A video posted on a Telegram media account associated with the flotilla appears to show one of its ships being sprayed with water with an on-screen caption saying the vessel is being “water canoned.” Another post on the Telegram channel said one of the ships had “been deliberately rammed at sea.”The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry posted on X that the only purpose of the flotilla was “provocation.” “Israel has informed the flotilla that it is approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful naval blockade. Israel reiterated the offer to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza,” the post said. A ship, from right, known as the “Family” and is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, is anchored off the coast of the village of Sidi Bou Said, on Sept. 9, 2025.Fethi Belaid / AFP via Getty ImagesA separate X post by the foreign ministry shows a video of Thunberg pulling a white shirt over a black T-shirt and keffiyeh while she is seated next to a kneeling person in military garb. The flotilla was intercepted as Israeli forces continue their devastating assault on Gaza City, where scores of people have been killed in recent days and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Deaths from starvation have also continued to rise, according to Palestinian health officials.Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.In the nearly two years since, Palestinian health officials say, more than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, while much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble.The boats in the flotilla were sailing in international waters north of Egypt on Wednesday and had entered what activists and others called a “danger zone” or “high risk zone.” While it is still in international waters, it is an area where the Israeli navy has stopped other boats trying to break its blockade in the past and which the flotilla has been warned not to cross.The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a state has jurisdiction only up to 12 nautical miles from its shores. In general, states don’t have the right to seize ships in international waters, though armed conflict is an exception.People whom the IDF detained from Gaza-bound flotillas this summer were detained only a few days, but this time could be different, said Miriam Azem, the international advocacy coordinator for Adalah, a human rights organization and legal center. “We’ve seen a few threats by officials that this time around we might be looking at more prolonged detention. All of these threats are completely unsubstantiated, but we wouldn’t put anything past Israeli authorities in this regard,” Azem said in a phone interview. Her group will most likely provide legal representation for many of the activists in the Sumud flotilla who could be detained.“The scale of this, of this flotilla, which really challenges the blockade in a way that hasn’t challenged the blockade before, it makes it really hard to predict how authorities will respond, and we’re not even past the point of all interceptions are over,” Azem said. “It’s still very much unfolding as we speak.”Babak DehghanpishehBabak Dehghanpisheh is an NBC News Digital international editor based in New York.The Associated Press contributed.
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