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President Donald Trump’s pick for the United States ambassador to the United Nations has become the latest administration nominee to voice the belief that Israel has “biblical” dominion over the occupied West Bank.

Elise Stefanik’s comment came during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. 

At the hearing, Elise Stefanik pledged to continue the US’s defense of Israel and advance Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, further said that she supports the claims made by the far right in Israel that Jews have the “biblical right” to take land from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Stefanik was definitive when asked if she shared the view of far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and former hawkish minister Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a “biblical right to the entire West Bank”.

She responded with one word, “Yes.”

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen further asked Stefanik whether she supported Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Stefanik refused to answer the question directly, saying, “I think they deserve more than the failures that they have suffered under the leadership of terrorists.”

Representative Stefanik was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2014, the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time, at just 30 years old, and represented New York's 21st Congressional District.

She is known to be a staunch advocate of Israel supports its decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), 

Stefanik is an advocate of claims by Zionists that that Israeli regime is justified in killing and ethnically cleansing Palestinian Christians and Muslims from their lands and homes.

She made headlines in 2024 by questioning the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about what she claimed was antisemitism on college campuses.

At the time, US students at university campuses all across the country were protesting Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

After positioning herself as a champion in the fight against the alleged rise in antisemitism, Rep. Stefanik began receiving large donations from Republican Jewish donors.

Stefanik has long been one of most ardent defenders Israeli occupation and annexation policy. 

In June 2024, US-Israeli billionaire Miriam Adelson reportedly donated $100 million to Trump for his presidential campaign in exchange for a promise to allow Israel to annex the West Bank. 

Israel's occupation and Jewish settlement of the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 have brought the Palestinian Christian community to the brink of extinction.

Israeli forces have killed at least eight Palestinians and injured 35 others in an attack on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, prompting Hamas to call for full mobilization of Palestinian youths against the occupation forces.

Palestinian media reported that the regime’s forces, backed by helicopters, raided Jenin and its refugee camp on Tuesday morning following several drone strikes.

The spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, Anwar Rajab, said in a statement that Israeli forces had "opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in injuries to several civilians and a number of security personnel, one of whom is in critical condition".

Israel’s military also confirmed that its soldiers, police and intelligence services had begun an operation, which Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, described as a "large and significant" operation to "eradicate terrorism.”

The attack on Jenin, where the regime’s forces have carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over the past year, comes only two days after the start of a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Hamas said in a statement that people in Gaza “mourn the martyrs of Jenin who fell to the fire and bombardment of the occupation.”

The resistance group also urged Jenin’s “rebellious youth to mobilize and escalate confrontations with the Israeli army.”

Hamas said that the offensive “launched by the occupation in Jenin will fail, just like all its previous military operations against our people,” in Gaza.

The resistance group, which fought Israeli forces for 741 days in the besieged Gaza Strip, said its unprecedented operation against the occupied territories in October 2023, was “the final nail in the coffin of the collapsing Israeli regime.”

Udupi, Jan 27: A bomb threat sent shockwaves through a private school in Udupi, prompting immediate action from the authorities. Students, staff, and parents were thrown into a state of alarm after receiving an alarming email that triggered safety protocols.

The threat was quickly reported to the police, who deployed teams to investigate. Security checks and thorough inspections were carried out to ensure the safety of everyone on the premises.

According to Vincent D’Costa, Principal of Sharada Residential School, the email warned of a potential attack with a bomb targeting the school. It read: “Evacuate the minority students immediately. On this holy day, your school will be victims of the twin pipe IED blast. This is to commemorate the unfair hanging of Afzal Guru and the incident involving Anna University Professor Chithrakala Gopalan. We aim to reach heaven through this tragic event. We will be the ones activating the devices today.”

In response, Principal D’Costa reassured the media, saying, “Upon receiving the email, we immediately notified the relevant authorities, and security measures have been strengthened. Our students come from various parts of the country, so we are always vigilant. There is no cause for fear, and we stand united with the police in ensuring the safety of everyone.”

The incident led to a gathering of worried parents and guardians at the school, anxiously awaiting updates and reassurance regarding the situation.