Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday after five Western governments imposed sanctions on them for “extremist rhetoric.”
The countries sanctioning the two Israeli cabinet members include Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia. They released <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-ministers-joint-statement-on-measures-targeting-itamar-ben-gvir-and-bezalel-smotrich">a joint statement</a> claiming the officials had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights” in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
“These sanctions do not advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war,” Rubio <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1932536569107525916">said in a statement</a>. “We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organization that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace.”
Rubio added that the United States “urges the reversal of the sanctions” and “stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/donald-trump-has-a-recommendation-for-greta-thunberg-after-her-selfie-flotilla?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Donald+Trump+Has+A+Recommendation+For+Greta+Thunberg+After+Her+%E2%80%98Selfie+Flotilla%E2%80%99">DONALD TRUMP HAS A RECOMMENDATION FOR GRETA THUNBERG AFTER HER ‘SELFIE FLOTILLA’</a>
The sanctions reportedly include travel bans and asset freezes, though the ministers are not known to have any assets in those countries.
In the five countries’ statement, they claim that the situation in Judea and Samaria cannot be viewed separately from “the catastrophe” in Gaza. They added that they are &#8220;appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid” and that they oppose “unlawful transfer of Palestinians from Gaza or within the West Bank” or any reduction of the territory of the Gaza Strip.
The countries accuse Ben-Gvir and Smotrich of “extremist rhetoric” including allegedly advocating for the “forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements.”
Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are the Israeli boogeymen to the Israeli Left and Western media due to their extremely nationalistic and hawkish right-wing views, including for the expansion of settlements in Judea and Samaria and support for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-announces-plans-to-create-an-emigration-administration-to-relocate-gazans">relocating Gazans</a> from the Gaza Strip.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christian-pro-israel-conference-cancels-after-overwhelming-number-of-credible-terror-threats?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Christian+Pro-Israel+Conference+Cancels+After+%E2%80%98Overwhelming%E2%80%99+Number+Of+Credible+Terror+Threats">CHRISTIAN PRO-ISRAEL CONFERENCE CANCELS AFTER ‘OVERWHELMING’ NUMBER OF CREDIBLE TERROR THREATS</a>
Smotrich responded <a href="https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/1932419325865889825">in a speech</a> on Tuesday while he was inaugurating the new Israeli settlement “Mitzpe Ziv” in the Hebron Hills.
“I heard that Britain had decided to impose sanctions on me for obstructing the establishment of the Palestinian state,” he said. “The timing couldn&#8217;t be better.”
He added that Britain has already once attempted to prevent Jews from “settling in the cradle of our homeland” and that “we are determined to continue building.”
In the five countries’ statement, they repeatedly mention the two-state solution, a plan for both an Israeli and Palestinian state, claiming that it is “extremist rhetoric” to reject such a plan.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Huckabee said that the United States no longer backs the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, in an interview with Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-10/us-holds-deep-doubts-about-palestinian-state-ambassador-says">published Tuesday</a>.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-and-rubio-put-america-first-in-100-days?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=How+Trump+And+Rubio+Put+America+First+In+100+Days">HOW TRUMP AND RUBIO PUT AMERICA FIRST IN 100 DAYS</a>
Ben-Gvir also responded to the sanctions on Tuesday, claiming that these countries are attacking Israel while they have their own internal issues to worry about.
“While the European colonial countries fantasize that we Jews are still their subjects, the streets of their famous cities are being taken over by radical Islam,” <a href="https://x.com/itamarbengvir/status/1932455261756653815">he wrote</a>. “But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Moments after being protested by a bottle-throwing crowd near Yale University, Itamar Ben-Gvir sat down with me to discuss the stark contrast between his VIP treatment at Mar-a-Lago and the hostile reception from anti-Israel students.
Here’s what he said: <a href="https://t.co/KoNVqyP66W">pic.twitter.com/KoNVqyP66W</a>
&mdash; Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1915885745954558377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In April, protesters near Yale University <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-israels-national-security-minister-responds-to-bottle-throwing-yale-crowd">hurled bottles</a> at Ben-Gvir during his trip to the United States, just a day after he was welcomed by applause from a crowd filled with Trump allies and members of Congress at Mar-a-Lago. He told The Daily Wire that the reception likely wouldn’t have happened if President Donald Trump had lost because he was detested by the Biden administration.
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“It would have been likely that they would not admit me and here I am today, from a situation where I was a persona-non-grata, to a situation where I am being loved,” he said. “I enter their room and there is an applause for what I say, on our ideas, on our world view, on the fact that I want a big and strong state of Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that the government will call a special meeting next week to determine how to respond to the “outrageous, unacceptable decision” by the five Western governments, <a href="https://www.jns.org/london-to-sanction-ben-gvir-smotrich-over-anti-hamas-comments/">Jewish News Syndicate reported</a>.
“It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures,” Sa’ar stated.

Ben-Gvir Smotrich and Rubio

Rubio Defends Israeli Officials After 5 Western Governments Sanction Them For ‘Extremist Rhetoric’

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“Avatar” director James Cameron said he’s so unhappy with the Trump administration that he’s leaving the United States and becoming a citizen of New Zealand.
The 70-year-old Oscar winner made the remarks during an appearance on “The F#$%ing News” podcast that aired this week. While responding to a question about Trump retaking office, Cameron replied, “I think it’s horrific, I think it’s horrifying.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Film legend James Cameron talks NZ, Trump and new Avatar film in exclusive interview | Stuff.co.nz" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fvzgl_W9No0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cameron, who is Canadian, said he would not return to the United States and that his citizenship there is “imminent.” 
Cameron applied for American citizenship in 2004 but <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190913233059/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/26/man-of-extremes">withdrew his application</a> after George W. Bush won the presidential election. The director lived in the United States for some time and later purchased a farm in New Zealand after filming “Avatar” there.  
During the most recent interview, the director said, “I see a turn away from everything decent. America doesn’t stand for anything if it doesn’t stand for what it has historically stood for. It becomes a hollow idea, and I think they’re hollowing it out as fast as they can for their own benefit.”
Cameron said he doesn’t feel “safer” from news about the American president there because &#8220;we&#8217;re all in this together globally.&#8221;
“I certainly feel like I don’t have to read it on the front page every single day. And it’s just sickening,” Cameron said. “There’s something nice about the New Zealand outlets &#8212; at least they’ll put it on page three &#8230; I just don’t want to see that guy’s face anymore on the front page of the paper. It’s inescapable there, it’s like watching a car crash over and over and over.”
The “Titanic” director said becoming a New Zealand citizen “means a lot” and is “something I’ve worked toward, something I’ve had to sacrifice for.”
“If you’re going to uproot your family and you&#8217;re move somewhere, you have to invest, you have to be part of it, you have to earn standing,” the director said. “I just think you’ve got to earn your right to be in a place. &#8230; There’s kind of an innate respect and a demand for respect [here]. &#8230; Everybody has this kind of equal status in terms of personhood. And I love that – that’s what I wanted my kids to experience.”
Cameron was mocked on social media for his statements, with many pointing out that he wasn’t American anyway and mentioning how the director was happy to make a fortune at the United States box office and then trash the winner of a free and fair election.
“Don’t worry, though, he’ll still release his movies in America, because that’s where the brunt of his revenue for them comes from. Amazing filmmaker/blathering hypocrite,” one person <a href="https://x.com/arcticninjapaul/status/1895289483651883107">said</a>.

James Cameron

Canadian James Cameron Whines About Trump Being President, Says He’s Staying In New Zealand

Canadian James Cameron Whines About Trump Being President, Says He's Staying In New Zealand

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It&#8217;s no secret that, as Americans, we mostly focus on domestic politics in our own country. Unlike, say, Canadians, we don&#8217;t obsess over the daily comings-and-goings of other nations. It&#8217;s virtually impossible to find a single American who can name a Canadian Supreme Court justice or member of parliament, for example. I know I certainly can’t. By contrast, Canadians can tell you all about Clarence Thomas and Matt Gaetz and so on. This is a well-established phenomenon and it makes sense, because the United States is a lot more important than any other country.
But even with that in mind, every once in a while, something happens in the parliament of a foreign country that&#8217;s hard for us to ignore here in America. Maybe a lawmaker in Taiwan steals a bill and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1cugp94/a_member_of_taiwans_parliament_stole_a_bill_and/">runs</a> away with it, in order to prevent it from being passed into law. That&#8217;s something that happened, and was hilarious. Or maybe a member of parliament in India <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-26167129">pepper-sprays</a> his colleagues when they don&#8217;t vote the right way. Or maybe Italy&#8217;s parliament descends into a bench-clearing brawl, which requires one politician to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hpf9HnxIAo">leave</a> the chamber in a wheelchair. These are all well-documented incidents that may not always have a lot of direct relevance to us, but more often than not, at the very least, they&#8217;re entertaining to watch. It&#8217;s a whole genre on YouTube, actually.
The viral moment that just took place in the parliament of New Zealand, on the other hand, does have relevance for Americans. It&#8217;s one of the more important political stories of the year, even though it&#8217;s taking place thousands of miles from our borders. In case you missed it, several politicians in New Zealand just broke out in a primal, stone-age war dance called the &#8220;Haka,&#8221; to protest a piece of legislation that&#8217;s working its way through parliament. They won&#8217;t stop doing the chant, and eventually parliament has to be shut down. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 New Zealand Parliament" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qmUIOIlU-yQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This dance is very dangerous because it may cause everyone in the vicinity to die of secondhand embarrassment. It’s hard to watch this video and not have the same reaction that the speaker of parliament has. It&#8217;s painful to sit through. Thankfully a few people have dubbed the audio in various ways. There&#8217;s one remix that turns it into a jazzy little piano number from 1925. It actually works surprisingly well. 
Because it&#8217;s a Friday we might as well play it. Plus, it shows you another angle, so we can justify it that way. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="009 Hello my baby" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5-68PVfotiM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s a lot less cringe when you dub in some real music, instead of the prehistoric grunting. Now, it&#8217;s a little hard to see in all the pandemonium, but they&#8217;re getting in the face of a politician named David Seymour, who introduced a bill they don&#8217;t like. The people doing the screeching identify as &#8220;Maori,&#8221; meaning they see themselves as the allegedly indigenous people of New Zealand. They&#8217;re chanting like barbarians and making gun gestures at David Seymour while saying something that apparently translates to &#8220;evil.&#8221; 
Before I get into the specifics about this vote and what it&#8217;s about, it needs to be reiterated that this whole &#8220;Haka&#8221; thing is silly and embarrassing. Maybe you&#8217;re not supposed to say that, but it&#8217;s obviously true. Everyone who sees it knows that and feels the same way. Yes, we&#8217;re supposed to pretend we find it somehow powerful and cool because it&#8217;s part of a non-white culture. We&#8217;re not allowed to have any negative opinions about anything that a non-white culture does. Even if it’s lame and stupid as hell, and we all know it.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1487-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
But the truth is, these people are embarrassing themselves. Always and everywhere, in every context, the &#8220;Haka&#8221; is cringeworthy to an immeasurable, painful degree. Here for example was the &#8220;Haka&#8221; that New Zealand&#8217;s basketball team performed at a tournament in 2014, just before getting blown out by double-digits by Team USA. Just look at the reactions during this:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Basketball Haka" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4omwD_5sXb8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There&#8217;s nothing like a fearsome war chant before a basketball game where everyone looks at you like you&#8217;re crazy. And then you get completely destroyed. Honestly, it just doesn&#8217;t work. You can&#8217;t do a fearsome war dance on behalf of a conquered people, and then get conquered some more. It&#8217;s just sad at this point. The Maori have been doing this dance for centuries and just getting beaten every time, in every context, in every type of battle they’ve ever been in. I think it might be time to hang it up and call it a day. 
In any event, back to the viral clip everyone&#8217;s talking about. The so-called &#8220;indigenous&#8221; people had a meltdown in parliament over a bill. What you may not have seen is what preceded that moment. David Seymour laid out some rational and calm arguments in favor of his legislation. And then the so-called &#8220;Maori&#8221; politicians launched into a volley of personal attacks. Watch:
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Already, this is how you know these people have no argument. They&#8217;re only capable of shouting &#8220;shame&#8221; and resorting to personal attacks, to the point that they repeatedly get thrown out of parliament. Meanwhile David Seymour is sitting there calmly, saying he wants equality.
Admittedly, I&#8217;m not an expert on the finer details of New Zealand politics. So I went looking through some New Zealand outlets to try to get as complete a picture as I could.
It turns out that the concept of &#8220;equal protection under the law&#8221; is actually extremely controversial in New Zealand.
Here&#8217;s the background. Hundreds of years ago, around the late 13th century, Polynesian settlers arrived by canoe in New Zealand. They became the &#8220;Maori&#8221; people. Depending on who you ask, they were either the first to arrive, or they massacred everyone else who was there. In any event, before long, the Maori wiped out a different tribe called the Moriori, who were pacifists living in the Chatham Islands in the east. They got enslaved and beheaded and cannibalized by the Maori, because apparently that&#8217;s what civilized cultures do.
And to be clear, this kind of thing wasn&#8217;t out of character for the Maori. The Maori routinely enslaved and brutalized their enemies. The moment they acquired muskets from European traders, they fought a series of battles among themselves called &#8220;the Musket Wars,&#8221; which led to tens of thousands of deaths and even more slavery. These are wars that, of course, the Maori now blame the British for. They also bartered with severed heads, which they called &#8220;Toi moko.&#8221; They would cut people&#8217;s heads off, tattoo them, and then use them for trading. This is what Maori culture was all about. Cutting heads off and cannibalizing each other. 
Eventually the British came in and provided some stability with something called the Treaty of Waitangi. The idea was that New Zealand would become a British colony, but that the Maori would have their rights protected. They could keep their land and so on, to the extent that was possible. Then in 1975, New Zealand recognized this treaty in law for the first time. But there was still a big gray area as to what exactly this treaty required. It established tribunals and led to a lot of &#8220;rulemaking&#8221; by judges, but parliament mostly stayed out of it.
With this new bill, David Seymour is trying to change that. He&#8217;s proposing concrete legislation that will clarify that everyone in New Zealand — whether they&#8217;re &#8220;Maori&#8221; or not — is entitled to the full protection of the law. He also wants to make it clear that New Zealand is self-governing. The Maori are not a nation within a nation. Here&#8217;s how one New Zealand station describes the proposed clarifications:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Specific Principles" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iw2sYrbrma4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
These are clarifications that, if you want to live in a modern civilization — instead of a backwards, third-world tribal hellhole — seem pretty reasonable. But it does mark a change from what&#8217;s happening at the moment.
Right now, New Zealand explicitly <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23518642/new-zealand-reparations-maori-settlements">provides</a> reparations to people who identify as Maori. In addition to affirmative action, they just announced a quote &#8220;financial redress of $30 million plus interest&#8221; to Maori tribes, along with a fund of more than a million dollars to assist with &#8220;cultural revitalization.&#8221; New Zealand politicians also regularly give lengthy apologies to the tribes, like this one. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Crown Apologized" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pWxGRVv508I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This kind of thing has been going on for decades in New Zealand. They fly the Maori flag, they apologize to them, they pay them millions of dollars. And in the end it&#8217;s not enough. The demands keep coming. As a result, now their news reports are barely comprehensible, because they&#8217;re all speaking a foreign language. 
Here for example is how that New Zealand television station explains what the Maori are so upset about:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 Autonomy" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nCqr4BSF2uM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yes, one of the main criticisms of the bill is — whatever that is. They have to translate it so that people in New Zealand can understand what&#8217;s even going on. So it turns out that the Maori want the ability to remain autonomous from New Zealand, which in a democracy seems pretty questionable. The opposition wants to put that up for a democratic vote, and of course the Maori are refusing. They don&#8217;t care what the people of New Zealand think about what should happen in New Zealand.
But the people of New Zealand should care. And we should care as well. What&#8217;s happening over there is a case study that we should pay attention to. New Zealand has bent over backwards apologizing for the alleged evils of &#8220;colonization.&#8221; They&#8217;ve paid out reparations and flown the Maori flag and everything. They&#8217;ve centered their whole society around &#8220;land acknowledgments&#8221; and so on. And now there are pagan chants breaking out in the middle of parliament. The Maori are explicitly campaigning against autonomy and equal rights. They&#8217;re threatening politicians who don&#8217;t agree with them. This is the sort of &#8220;enrichment&#8221; that western societies can expect when they start apologizing for their own existence.
And as Douglas Murray has pointed out, none of this makes any sense given the Maori&#8217;s history. If we&#8217;re going to play the game of generational guilt, they should be apologizing to all the people their ancestors have enslaved. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 Douglas Murray" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SlSZnYtrb9E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So the Maoris were a violent, brutal people. They practiced cannibalism and many other forms of horrific brutality. But just because they made it to New Zealand a few hundred years before Europeans, we are supposed to see it as some great tragedy that the Europeans took over. In fact we&#8217;re supposed to blame Europeans for engaging in violent conquest over people who themselves engaged in even more violent conquest.
Keep this absurd, debasing spectacle in mind whenever you hear about &#8220;reparations&#8221; in this country, or about how oppressed some &#8220;indigenous&#8221; group allegedly is. Even if you give these people what they want, for decades, they will always want more. No matter how much you apologize to them and pay them millions of dollars, it doesn&#8217;t matter. The moment you suggest withdrawing some of their privileges, they will revolt. They will descend into primal chants on the floor of parliament. They will turn your entire government into an international laughing stock.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
That is why the only approach to dealing with people like this — the one that New Zealand should have adopted a long time ago — is to deny them any special privileges in the first place. As the saying goes, &#8220;When you&#8217;re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.&#8221; At this point, now that stone-age war chants have broken out in parliament, it&#8217;s probably too late for New Zealand to correct their mistake. And that should be a pretty big clue to everyone in this country that — unless we also want to return to the stone age — we should take a very different approach.
We should affirm the greatness of western civilization. We should take pride in our heritage and our culture. We should reject false narratives about our history. That&#8217;s how you neutralize the grievance mongers and the guilt-merchants so that they have no power. They can do their stone-age chants in the shower. The rest of us will be doing what New Zealand is apparently now incapable of: We&#8217;ll be living in a functioning, self-governing democracy. 
And if there&#8217;s one lesson from these bizarre and embarrassing clips out of New Zealand, it&#8217;s that no one should ever take that for granted.

New Zealand’s Parliament Sits

This Is What Happens When Identity Politics Takes Control

Identity Politics

Dozens of people were injured on Monday when a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787 suddenly plunged mid-flight.
The flight from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, experienced &#8220;a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement,&#8221; the airline said in a statement.
Approximately 50 people were injured in the incident, with ten passengers and three cabin crew members needing to be taken to the hospital. One patient was listed in &#8220;serious condition,&#8221; while the rest had mild to moderate injuries, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2024/03/11/latam-airlines-flight-boeing-australia-new-zealand/">reported</a>.
&#8220;The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority,&#8221; the airline added. &#8220;LATAM is providing affected passengers with food and accommodation services due to the flight cancellation. LATAM deeply regrets any inconvenience and discomfort this situation may have caused its passengers, and reiterates its commitment to safety as a top priority.&#8221;
Multiple ambulances were on scene when the plane landed at Auckland International Airport at its originally scheduled time.
Passenger Brian Jokat said that some passengers were thrown into the ceiling of the plane with such force that it broke parts of the cabin upon impact. The entire ordeal only lasted a few seconds, he said.
&#8220;The plane, unannounced, just dropped. I mean it dropped unlike anything I&#8217;ve ever experienced on any kind of minor turbulence, and people were thrown out of their seats, hit the top of the roof of the plane, throwing down the aisles,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Some of the roof panels were broken from people being thrown up and knocking through the plastic roof panels in the aisle ways. And there was blood coming from several people&#8217;s heads.&#8221;
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Another passenger said the crew was so severely injured that they were unable to help any injured passengers.
Boeing, which has seen its brand significantly damaged in recent years due to two plane crashes and several planes that had manufacturing issues, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/dozens-injured-on-latam-airlines-flight-after-technical-event-with-boeing-787-dreamliner-b656b58c">said</a> it was &#8220;working to gather more information about the flight and will provide any support needed by our customers.&#8221;
The news comes as United Airlines experienced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-airlines-experiences-another-flight-emergency">multiple</a> flight emergencies last week, ranging from a tire falling off a plane to flames shooting out from an engine during flight.

Boeing 737-300 Aircraft Parked in College

Dozens Injured After Boeing 787 Plunges During Flight

Air &amp; Space

Airplane

A mom who had recently moved to New Zealand was found guilty this week of murdering her three young children, 2-year-old twins and their 6-year-old sister.
The 42-year-old mother previously had admitted to killing the young twins, Maya and Karla, and their older sister Lianè, but pleaded not guilty to the murders, claiming she was mentally disturbed at the time. Prosecutors disputed those claims by pointing to her phone messages and online searches in the weeks before the killings, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-zealand-mother-murder-children-south-africa-44e08c447f0d4ce6bfccc6fb614c6cd9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
As prosecutors pointed out during a four-week trial, the woman made comments about wanting to kill her children. She also searched Google for “most effective overdose in kids.”
The mother, along with her husband Graham and three children, had recently moved to New Zealand from South Africa to escape the troubles in their home country.
Within days of the move, she tried to use zip ties to kill her children, but then suffocated them using pillows and placed them in their beds, under the covers. She then attempted to kill herself.
Both the woman and her husband were medical professionals. The convicted murderer was a doctor, while Graham was an orthopedic surgeon, the New Zealand Herald <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lauren-dickason-trial-crown-psych-expert-comfortable-and-confident-no-insanity-or-infanticide-despite-grilling-from-defence-on-assessment/7X62WVBTNNGO3CJK2BHQTYMMTQ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. When Graham came home from work on September 16, 2021, he found his children dead. He told police that his wife was struggling with mental health and motherhood, but insisted he had no idea she could commit the murders.
After a four-week trial, jurors took three days to return a guilty verdict on three counts of murder. One juror voted not guilty, but the 11-1 split is allowed under New Zealand laws, the AP reported.
The woman reportedly cried softly as she left the courtroom, with jurors seen crying as well.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1692367770357000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PjvCHmf-6JEmNrv3nGxwO">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The woman&#8217;s parents released a statement following the verdict about the deaths of their grandchildren and their daughter’s mental health.
“We would like to encourage families and individuals around the world to be aware of the symptoms of post-partum depression as early as possible, both for yourselves as well as close family and friends around you,” said her parents, Malcolm and Wendy Fawkes.
Detective Inspector Scott Anderson also released a statement expressing sympathies from law enforcement to the convicted murderer&#8217;s family members.
“Words cannot begin to express the tragic circumstances of this investigation,” Anderson said in the statement.
The mother faces life in prison for the murders.

Woman in Jail

New Zealand Mom Convicted Of Killing Three Young Daughters, Faces Life In Prison

Children

Murder

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds News Briefing At White House

Here Are The COVID Authoritarians Who Will Soon Walk The Halls Of America’s Elite Universities

Here Are The COVID Authoritarians Who Will Soon Walk The Halls Of America's Elite Universities

Anthony Fauci

COVID

Georgetown University

Harvard

Jacinda Ardern

Lockdowns

Lori Lightfoot

Readers Pass

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who just took office in New Zealand earlier this year, appeared to struggle mightily before utterly failing to define the word &#8220;woman&#8221; during a recent press appearance.
British television host <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/nikki-fried-takes-aim-at-ron-desantis-piers-morgan-levels-her/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Piers Morgan</a> mocked Hipkins, noting that he had failed to define the term despite the fact that he had only just replaced a woman — Jacinda Ardern — when he took on the role of prime minister.
&#8220;BREAKING: New Zealand’s new Prime Minister doesn’t know what a woman is, despite replacing one as Prime Minister,&#8221; Morgan tweeted.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: New Zealand’s new Prime Minister doesn’t know what a woman is, despite replacing one as Prime Minister. <a href="https://t.co/3Gj39RhXDX">pic.twitter.com/3Gj39RhXDX</a>
&mdash; Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1642843170940788737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
One reporter apparently took Hipkins off guard at the Sunday press conference, asking directly, &#8220;How do you and how does this government define a woman?&#8221;
&#8220;To be honest, Sean that question has come slightly out of left field for me. The biology, sex, gender &#8230;&#8221; Hipkins began, and then he trailed off, appearing to search his brain for the right answer. &#8220;People define themselves, people define their own genders.&#8221;
The reporter pressed again, saying that he only wanted to know how Hipkins would define what a woman is.
Hipkins dug in and essentially repeated his non-answer, saying first that he had not really expected that question and had therefore not taken the time to &#8220;pre-formulate&#8221; an answer. &#8220;In terms of gender identity, I think people define their gender identity for themselves.&#8221;
Hipkins is certainly not the first to struggle with that particular question — when confronted by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson famously claimed, &#8220;<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/im-not-a-biologist-supreme-court-nominee-says-she-cant-define-the-word-woman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I am not a biologist</a>.&#8221;
The question at the center of the trans movement has become so pervasive that The Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh created a successful documentary based solely on how people around the world respond to it — and people like author <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/thats-all-there-is-to-it-famed-biologist-confirms-there-are-two-sexes-defends-j-k-rowling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J.K. Rowling</a> have been attacked and labeled &#8220;TERF&#8221; (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) for suggesting that the question does, in fact, have a definitive answer.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins Visits Hastings

New Zealand Prime Minister Fumbles, Then Fails Altogether When Asked To Define ‘Woman’

New Zealand Prime Minister Fumbles, Then Fails Altogether When Asked To Define 'Woman'

Social Issues

Transgender

What Is A Woman

A New Zealand pilot was abducted last week by rebels in the West Papua province of Indonesia after he landed his aircraft in the remote region of Nduga.
Philip Mehrtens, 37, was a pilot for Indonesian airline company Susi when he was captured on February 7 by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), an armed branch of the Free Papua Movement, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/kidnapped-new-zealand-pilot-phillip-mehrtens-is-safe-papua-separatist-rebels/">reported</a>. The separatist group released photos and videos of Mehrtens on Tuesday, held at gunpoint, with a warning that he would only stay “safe” if Indonesian authorities refrain from retaliating.
The separatists set fire to the small plane flown by Mehrtens, which contained six people when it was captured, before taking him hostage. Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the rebels, sent <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rebellions-and-uprisings-indonesia-fires-6e77f64bfdc7bfb47bd27b7ddf2e1f9d">a statement</a> to the Associated Press saying Mehrtens had been taken hostage as part of their liberation movement, but that the other five people on board the plane had been released since they were indigenous Papuans.
“We have taken the pilot hostage and we are bringing him out,” Sambom said in the statement. “We will never release the pilot we are holding hostage unless Indonesia recognizes and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism.”
On Thursday, The Jakarta Post <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2023/02/17/tni-ready-for-operation-to-free-new-zealand-pilot-if-talks-fail.html">reported</a> that Papua police announced a “law enforcement operation” was in the works to free Mehrtens if negotiations for his safe release fell through.
Cendrawasih Military Command Maj. Gen. Muhammad Saleh Mustafa reportedly said that a team of local politicians is expected to make contact with the TPNPB to negotiate for Mehrtens’ release, after figuring out where he was being kept based on photos from the separatist group.
“We want everyone to pray that we can finish the job without causing another incident, [that] we can get the pilot released and everything goes back to normal,” Papua Police Chief Inspector Matthius Fakhiri said, according to the outlet.
In a video <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-locate-where-kiwi-pilot-is-being-held-in-papua-and-are-sending-team/HRQ5CQVBOJGEBMT4VSZ3PKGJXQ/">sent to Radio New Zealand</a>, Mehrtens is seen wearing a denim jacket and a Free Papua T-shirt, surrounded by men holding guns. The video also shows some men holding bows and arrows.
“The Papuan military that has taken me captive to fight for Papuan independence, they ask for the Indonesian military to go home to Indonesia and if not, I will remain captive for my life,” Mehrtens says in the video.
“Indonesia needs to recognize Papuan independence,” he added.
The New Zealand Herald <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-locate-where-kiwi-pilot-is-being-held-in-papua-and-are-sending-team/HRQ5CQVBOJGEBMT4VSZ3PKGJXQ/">reported</a> that three New Zealand diplomats and two staff members from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrived in the capital of Mimika Regency, Central Papua Province to monitor the situation with Mehrtens.

Midsection Of Woman Tied Up With Rope On Chair In Room

A New Zealand Pilot Is Being Held Captive By A Papua Separatist Group

Indonesia

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — noted authoritarian and overall <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wont-somebody-tell-the-busybodies-at-the-world-economic-forum-to-kick-rocks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">busybody</a> — announced her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-leftist-new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-unexpectedly-resigns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pending resignation</a> Thursday, and it seems that those who will miss her most are &#8220;reporters&#8221; from legacy media.
Ardern, known for telling her constituents that they should consider the New Zealand government their &#8220;<a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jacinda-ardern-truth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">single source of truth</a>&#8221; promptly before locking down the country, will officially step down in February because she is simply exhausted from the job. In turn, lapdog media outlets such as The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and CNN rushed out to mourn the loss of the Kiwi girl boss.
In Bloomberg, Andreea Papuc <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/jacinda-ardern-gives-the-world-a-lesson-in-humility/2023/01/19/55ebf00c-97b8-11ed-a173-61e055ec24ef_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;Ardern achieved rock-star status after she became the world’s youngest female leader at 37.&#8221; Papuc also praised Ardern for gun-control efforts while opining, &#8220;The pandemic tested her mettle, but she was credited with keeping the virus at bay with one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.&#8221;
Of course, Ardern also advised <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dont-talk-to-your-neighbors-new-zealand-enters-nationwide-lockdown-over-single-covid-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aucklanders</a> to avoid talking to their neighbors altogether and implemented a nationwide lockdown in August 2021 over a single man being diagnosed with the virus.
Per The Washington Post, however, Ardern should be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/19/jacinda-ardern-highlights-new-zealand-prime-minister/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remembered</a> for her &#8220;empathetic leadership style&#8221; and for being  &#8220;seen by many liberals as a young, center-left antidote to populist politics elsewhere.&#8221;
Amongst her accomplishments listed by the Post was the fact that she joined forces with globalists around the world for an international initiative urging &#8220;tech giants and other governments to commit to combating the spread of extremism on social media.&#8221; In other words, Ardern should be credited with kickstarting an elite effort toward fascism.
Over at The New York Times, one writer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/world/asia/jacinda-ardern-resigns-covid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">named</a> Damien Cave lamented, &#8220;In a part of the world where coronavirus restrictions lingered, Jacinda Ardern struggled to get beyond her association with pandemic policy.&#8221;
Cave also remarked that Ardern had reached &#8220;celebrity status with the speed of a pop star.&#8221;
After a COVID vaccine became available, New Zealanders weren&#8217;t allowed to get haircuts or work for a living without the jab, Cave noted. Throughout it all, the country experienced on-and-off lockdowns &#8220;so severe that even retrieving a lost cricket ball from a neighbor’s yard was banned.”
Then Ardern infamously <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-coronavirus-vaccines-ve5572e26" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirmed</a> that she wanted to create two classes of citizens — vaccinated and unvaccinated.
The vaccine didn&#8217;t quite work out as intended and Ardern&#8217;s demand that every citizen receive it seems to be what really sullied her shot at any political future — on top of everything else she implemented while in office.
It turns out that pitting your citizens against one another isn&#8217;t such a wise move as a leader.
“The disillusionment around the vaccine mandates was important,” Dr. Simon Thornley, an epidemiologist at the University of Auckland, told The Times. “The creation of a two-class society and that predictions didn’t come out as they were meant to be, or as they were forecast to be in terms of elimination — that was a turning point.”
The writing is on the wall, and it seems Ardern would get smoked in her next election.
According to CNN though, the real lesson here isn&#8217;t that world leaders should avoid becoming despots under the guise of emergencies. The main takeaway is that it&#8217;s okay to quit a job if you&#8217;re tired.
&#8220;Burnout is real – and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,&#8221; CNN&#8217;s Hilary Whiteman <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/world/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-leadership-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a>. &#8220;That’s the conclusion trailblazing New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern seems to have reached after almost six brutal years in office.&#8221;
Buried in her analysis is this revealing tidbit:
<blockquote>Ardern may have been feted on the world stage for bringing humanity and empathy to the role, but at home the rising cost of living, housing shortages, and economic anxiety had some wondering if her government could do more to ease their pain.</blockquote>
In other words, Ardern was a total failure in her job. But, she deserves heaps of praise because she was a young woman who advanced the Left&#8217;s agenda. Legacy Media will miss her, but assuredly another totalitarian leader will rise up to reclaim the mantle of the most beloved leader by the free press.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Legacy Media Weeps Over Authoritarian Jacinda Ardern’s Departure

Legacy Media Weeps Over Authoritarian Jacinda Ardern's Departure

Legacy Media

Media

Leftist New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Wednesday that she is resigning from her position because she does not have the stamina to seek re-election.
“I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”
Her term will end on February 7 and an election will be held on October 14.
Ardern was known for clamping down on the freedoms of people in her country while in office, including draconian pandemic lockdowns, gun bans, and advocating for regulating speech online.
Ardern held such fringe positions on the pandemic that she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dont-talk-to-your-neighbors-new-zealand-enters-nationwide-lockdown-over-single-covid-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">authorized</a> a nationwide lockdown because one case had been reported in the country. “Don’t talk to your neighbors,&#8221; she said at the time. &#8220;Please keep to your bubble.”
The 42-year-old also rushed to seize a moment of political opportunity following a shooting several years ago when she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-shootout-ardern-guncontrol/new-zealand-bans-military-type-semi-automatic-weapons-used-in-mosque-massacre-idUSKCN1R205Z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that the country would ban semi-automatic long guns and would force people to turn them in. New Zealand&#8217;s buyback program was a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-zealands-gun-buyback-was-a-total-flop-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failure</a>.
Ardern faced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-zealand-prime-minister-slammed-for-comparing-free-speech-to-weapons-of-war-in-fact-evil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemnation</a> after she compared online speech to a weapon of war during a speech at the United Nations back in September.
“As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even those most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as being hostile to the values of free speech we value so highly,” she claimed. “But while I cannot tell you today what the answer is to this challenge, I can say with complete certainty that we cannot ignore it. To do so poses an equal threat to the norms we all value.”
“After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble?” she continued. “How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists?”
“The weapons may be different but the goals of those who perpetuate them is often the same: To cause chaos and reduce the ability of others to defend themselves, to disband communities, to collapse the collective strength of countries who work together,” she added. “But we have an opportunity here to ensure that these particular weapons of war do not become an established part of warfare.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that New Zealand&#8217;s gun ban followed a shooting in Australia. It was a shooting in New Zealand.

Leftist New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Unexpectedly Resigns

General

Air New Zealand decked Great Britain’s Prince Harry after seeing a claim he made about them in his book “Spare” that they said was demonstrably false.
In the book, Harry claims that his wife, Meghan Markle, bought a first-class ticket on the airline from Mexico to Great Britain for her father Thomas because she was concerned about media harassment.
“We told him, leave Mexico right now: A whole new level of harassment is about to rain down on you, so come to Britain,” Harry, the Duke of Sussex, wrote in the book <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/air-new-zealand-takes-sussexclass-dig-at-prince-harry-meghan-3688205" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to NDTV. “Air New Zealand, first class, booked and paid for by Meg.&#8221;
But Air New Zealand said that it had never operated a flight between Mexico and Great Britain and offers Business Premier service rather than first class. &#8220;We&#8217;ve never had flights between Mexico and the UK. And we only have Business Premier,&#8221; a spokesman told the New Zealand Herald.
The airline then tweaked Harry and his wife, tweeting, “Introducing #SussexClass. Apparently coming soon.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Introducing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SussexClass?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SussexClass</a> 👑 Apparently coming soon 👀
&mdash; Air New Zealand (@FlyAirNZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlyAirNZ/status/1613640629975912448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
British commentator Piers Morgan has <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/what-disingenuous-tripe-piers-morgan-unloads-on-prince-harry-in-scathing-book-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ripped Harry</a> for the alleged lies he has promoted in the controversial memoir.
“As I have said many times, and reiterate now, Harry and Meghan must be stripped of all their remaining titles immediately. And they shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the coronation in May,&#8221; Morgan said. &#8220;They’ve made their treacherous bed, and they can lie in it, just as they lie about everything else.”
Whoever serves as the head of the British monarchy also serves as the sovereign and head of state in New Zealand, which is part of the Commonwealth of Nations, now headed by Great Britain’s King Charles. New Zealand’s status as part of the British Empire was established in 1840 in the Treaty of Waitangi between Queen Victoria and the native Maori chiefs.
The Commonwealth of Nations, formerly the British Commonwealth of Nations, includes 56 independent and equal countries. There are no mutual legal obligations; they are connected through their use of the English language and historical ties. Gabon and Togo are the most recent countries to join the group, in 2022.
Much of how the Commonwealth works was established during a conference in the early 20th century. &#8220;At the 1926 conference, Britain and the Dominions agreed that they were all equal members of a community within the British Empire. They all owed allegiance to the British king or queen, but the United Kingdom did not rule over them. This community was called the British Commonwealth of Nations or just the Commonwealth,&#8221; the Commonwealth of Nations website <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explains</a>.

Collage Maker-13-Jan-2023-07.52-AM

Air New Zealand Mocks Prince Harry’s Claim In ‘Spare’

Great Britain

Meghan Markle

Prince Harry

Spare

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