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Father of Israeli-American hostage says negotiating with Hamas is “dealing with Satan” but Netanyahu’s idea of total victory is “not realistic”

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After the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages who had been held for almost a year by Hamas in Gaza, the father of an Israeli-American still in captivity reiterated calls for a conclusion to cease-fire negotiations that have stalled.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that he believes Israel’s government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is navigating the ongoing war and the cease-fire talks with personal political interests in mind, rather than in pursuit of the remaining hostages’ freedom. His comments echoed the views of many Israelis who have criticized Netanyahu and his cabinet as the fighting has drawn on, although Dekel-Chen acknowledged the challenges embedded in negotiations and likened the task of settling terms with Hamas to “dealing with Satan.” 

“Given that we’re dealing with Satan, I mean, that’s sort of the launching point for any discussion, Israelis at large, and myself included, have been extremely critical of the Israeli government for not negotiating in good faith now, for many, many months,” he said. “There is no explanation, a reasonable explanation why our government is refusing to deeply engage in these negotiations and complete them, when our entire senior military establishment and intelligence community has been saying publicly and openly for weeks and months that the time has come to end the fighting in Gaza, get our hostages home, as many alive as possible.”

The Israel Defense Forces said Early Sunday that the bodies of six being held hostage, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were found in Gaza. There are still eight American citizens believed to be hostages, including Dekel-Chen’s son, Sagui. Sagui is the father of three daughters, including one born while he has been in captivity.

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Jonathan Dekel-Chen on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 1, 2024.

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“The only thing that we know for sure about Sagui is that, as of late November, early December, we know that he was alive, wounded, but alive,” Dekel-Chen said Sunday.

When Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing over 1,000, they also kidnapped 250 hostages and took them into the Gaza Strip, where many have been held for the duration of the Israeli military siege that ensued. Around 100 of the hostages, mainly women and children, were returned as part of a weeklong cease-fire deal in November that also saw a pause in the bombardment and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Few hostages have been freed since then. Before the military announced the latest discovery of bodies, Israel said it believed 101 hostages remained in Gaza and about one-third were dead. The bodies of six other hostages were recovered by Israeli troops last month in southern Gaza. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces, with the most recent found on Tuesday.

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Jonathan Dekel-Chen on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 1, 2024.

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Previous operations by the Israeli military to free hostages being held there have left scores of Palestinians dead. Hamas has said some hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes and in failed rescue attempts, while the IDF said that their troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who had escaped captivity several months into the war. In the wake of the discovery of six bodies of those being held hostage by Hamas, a forum of hostage families called for a mass protest on Sunday — a “complete halt of the country” — to demand a cease-fire and the hostages’ release.

Despite their calls, Netanyahu has continued to forge ahead with the war effort, which he says aims to eliminate Hamas entirely.

“I think the vast majority of Israelis now have come to believe, by his actions, not his words, but by his actions, that he’s been driven primarily by a desire to retain power with a narrow, very radical messianic coalition in the Israeli government,” Dekel-Chen said Sunday about Netanyahu. “And he has made choices to pursue this fantasy of total victory over Hamas, a terrorist organization, and no doubt, but this idea of total victory is a messianic one from his coalition partners, and not realistic. And he’s preferred that, at least to date, over the well being of all the hostages.”

Hamas has offered to release the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, in which the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry has said more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of more Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are known militants.

Netanyahu on Saturday repeated claims that Hamas has stalled the cease-fire negotiations, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal” and vowing to hold Hamas accountable for killing the prisoners in “cold blood.” 



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Suspect detained in killing of Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s biological, chemical forces in Moscow blast

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Moscow — Russia’s security service said Wednesday that it has detained a suspect in the killing of a senior general in Moscow.

The suspect was described as an Uzbek citizen recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, didn’t name the suspect, but said he was born in 1995. According to an FSB statement, the suspect said he was recruited by Ukrainian special services.

Ukrainian security sources had told CBS News Monday that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) killed Kirillov in a special operation. The claim couldn’t be independently verified, but Russian officials quickly vowed to take revenge against Ukraine’s leaders.  

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In this screengrab from an AFPTV footage, Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s radiological, biological and chemical protection unit, speaks at a press briefing in June 2018.

AFPTV / AFP via Getty Images


Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him. His assistant also died in the attack. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack.

The FSB said the suspect had been promised a reward of $100,000 and permission to move to a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov.

The agency stated that, acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect traveled to Moscow, where he picked up a homemade explosive device. He then placed the device on an electric scooter and parked it at the entrance to the residential building where Kirillov lived.

The suspect then rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that livestreamed footage from the scene to his handlers in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Once Kirillov was seen leaving the building, the suspect detonated the bomb.

According to the FSB’s statement, the suspect faces “a sentence of up to life imprisonment.”

Kirillov, 54, was the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces and was under sanctions from several countries, including the U.K. and Canada, for his actions in Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.

Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and, in turn, has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.

Kirillov, who took his current job in 2017, was one of the most high-profile figures to level those accusations. He held numerous briefings to accuse the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning to launch attacks with radioactive substances – claims that Ukraine and its Western allies rejected as propaganda.

The bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was triggered remotely, according to Russian news reports. Images from the scene showed shattered windows and scorched brickwork.

Head of Russian nuclear protection forces killed in Moscow explosion
A view of the scene after Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Defense Troops, and his assistant were killed in an explosion in Moscow on December 17, 2024. 

Sefa Karacan / Anadolu via Getty Images


Russia’s top state investigative agency said it’s looking into Kirillov’s death as a case of terrorism, and officials in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.



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Indiana conducts first execution in 15 years, puts quadruple killer to death

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Michigan City, Indiana — An Indiana man convicted of killing four people including his brother and his sister’s fiancé decades ago was put to death Wednesday, without any independent witness, marking the state’s first execution in 15 years.

Joseph Corcoran, 49, was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. CST at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana, the Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement. CBS Indianapolis affiliate WTTV reports that officials said the execution process started just after midnight.

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Undated photo provided by the Indiana Department of Corrections shows Joseph Corcoran.

Indiana Department of Corrections via AP


Corcoran was scheduled to be executed with the powerful sedative pentobarbital, but the state agency’s statement did not mention that drug. Corcoran’s execution was the 24th in the U.S. this year.

According to WTTV,  the statement said Corcoran told officials his last words were, “Not really. Let’s get this over with.”  

He was convicted in the July 1997 shootings of his brother, 30-year-old James Corcoran, his sister’s fiancé, 32-year-old Robert Scott Turner, and two other men, Timothy G. Bricker, 30, and Douglas A. Stillwell, 30.

According to court records, before Corcoran fatally shot the four victims he was under stress because the forthcoming marriage of his sister to Turner would necessitate moving out of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, home he shared with his brother and sister.

While jailed for those killings, Corcoran reportedly bragged about fatally shooting his parents in 1992 in northern Indiana’s Steuben County. He was charged in their killings but acquitted.

Last summer, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced plans to resume state executions following a yearslong hiatus marked by a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide.

The state provided limited details about the execution process, and no media witnesses were permitted under state law.

Indiana and Wyoming are the only two states that do not allow members of the media to witness state executions, according to a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Corcoran’s attorneys had fought his death penalty sentence for years, arguing he was severely mentally ill, which affected his ability to understand and make decisions. This month, his attorneys asked the Indiana Supreme Court to stop his execution but the request was denied.

Corcoran exhausted his federal appeals in 2016. But his attorneys asked the U.S. District Court of Northern Indiana last week to stop his execution and hold a hearing to decide if it would be unconstitutional because Corcoran has a serious mental illness. The court declined to intervene Friday, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit did the same Tuesday.

Corcoran’s attorneys then asked the U.S. Supreme Court issue an emergency order halting his execution, but the high court denied their request for a stay late Tuesday, ending Corcoran’s options with the courts.

His sole remaining hope then became Holcomb, who could have commuted Corcoran’s death sentence. But that commutation never came and the execution proceeded as scheduled.

WTTV says Holcomb issued a statement saying Corcoran’s case “has been reviewed repeatedly over the last 25 years – including 7 times by the Indiana Supreme Court and 3 times by the U.S. Supreme Court, the most recent of which was tonight. His sentence has never been overturned and was carried out as ordered by the court.”

Indiana’s last state execution was in 2009 when Matthew Wrinkles was put to death for killing his wife, her brother and sister-in-law in 1994.

Since then, 13 executions were carried out in Indiana, but those were initiated and performed by federal officials in 2020 and 2021 at a federal prison in Terre Haute.

State officials have said they couldn’t continue executions because a combination of drugs used in lethal injections had become unavailable.

For years, there has been a shortage across the country because pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell their products for that purpose. That’s pushed states, including Indiana, to turn to compounding pharmacies, which manufacture drugs specifically for a client. Some use more accessible drugs such as the sedatives pentobarbital or midazolam, both of which, critics say, can cause intense pain.

Religious groups, disability rights advocates and others have opposed his execution. About a dozen people, some holding candles, held a vigil late Tuesday to pray outside the prison, which is surrounded by barbed wire fences in a residential area about 60 miles east of Chicago.

“We can build a society without giving governmental authorities the right to execute their own citizens,” said Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary, who led the prayers.

Other death penalty opponents also demonstrated outside the prison Tuesday night, some holding signs that read “Execution Is Not The Solution” and “Remember The Victims But Not With More Killing.”

“There is no need and no benefit from this execution. It’s all show,” said Abraham Borowitz, director of Death Penalty Action, his organization that protests every execution in the U.S.

Prison officials said in a brief statement Tuesday evening that Corcoran “requested Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for his last meal.”

Corcoran said farewell late Tuesday to relatives, including his wife, Tahina Corcoran, who told reporters outside the prison that they discussed their faith and their memories, including attending high school together. She reiterated her request for Indiana’s governor to commute her husband’s death sentence.

Tahina Corcoran said her husband is “very mentally ill” and she didn’t think he fully grasped what was happening to him.

“He is in shock. He doesn’t understand,” she said.



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1 killed, 9 injured in shooting, fiery crash in Baltimore suburb of Towson, police say

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1 dead, 9 injured in mass shooting, fiery crash in Towson, police say


1 dead, 9 injured in mass shooting, fiery crash in Towson, police say

06:24

BALTIMORE — One person was killed and nine others injured in a shooting and fiery crash in the Baltimore suburb of Towson Tuesday night, authorities said.

Law enforcement responded at around 7:15 p.m. in the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said in a news briefing. 

“It appears to be a mass shooting incident,” McCullough told reporters. “We have multiple persons who were shot. Right now, we are determining the circumstances and the conditions in this case.”


Baltimore County Police provide update to mass shooting in Towson

10:11

The first arriving officer found a vehicle on its side in flames near a funeral home, McCullough said, and then several gunshot victims were found in the area. 

“There appears to be some type of incident that led to the vehicle crashing and catching on fire,” McCollough said. “Investigators are looking into the circumstances leading up to that.”   

The name of the person killed and the manner of death was not released, nor were the conditions of the nine people injured. McCollough did not specify how many of the nine people injured were gunshot victims. 

At this time, investigators believe this was an isolated and targeted incident, with no further threat to the community, he added. It’s unclear if any suspects have been arrested. There was no word on a possible motive. 

“We will leave no stone unturned and we will dedicate every resource to this,” McCullough said. “We don’t generally see incidents like this in our community in Baltimore County. I assure you as your police chief that we will put all resources toward trying to clear this case.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was at the scene assisting police, as was the Baltimore County Fire Department.

“This is an incident that is shocking, particularly for those of us in Baltimore County,” said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski. “These types of incidents are unheard of here, so it really shocks the conscience. However, we want our residents to know that we are, as always, fully committed to ensuring that both our fire and police departments have the full support and all the resources they need from the Baltimore County government to ensure that they bring this investigation to a conclusion.” 

Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-887-4636.



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