Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch had little to say when asked about President Biden’s proposals to overhaul the Supreme Court, but he did deliver a brief message.
When asked by ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Shannon Bream about Biden’s suggestions for changes to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch said he did not want to get into ‘what is now a political issue during a presidential election year.’ He then continued, however, stressing the importance of an ‘independent judiciary,’ particularly for those who are unpopular.
‘It’s there for the moments when the spotlight’s on you, when the government’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American?’ Gorsuch said. ‘And so I just say, be careful.’
Biden and Vice President Harris are calling on Congress to impose term limits and a code of conduct on the Supreme Court while also drafting limits on presidential immunity, a White House official said in late July.
During the interview, Gorsuch also discussed how he believes there are too many laws in the U.S., to the point where it can be difficult for people – and the government – to keep track of them all.
The justice, who co-authored a book titled ‘Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law,’ said that while ‘we need laws to keep us free and safe,’ having too many has resulted in people committing violations without even meaning to do something wrong.
‘As a judge now for 18 years, I just came to see case after case in which ordinary Americans just trying to live their lives, not hurt anybody, raise their families, were just getting whacked by laws unexpectedly,’ Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch further illustrated his point by citing problems Americans have had when seeking information from the IRS hotline.
‘It turns out for a period of time they were giving wrong answers about a third of the time,’ Gorsuch told host Shannon Bream. He said when asked how this happened, they said the tax code had gotten so complex.
Gorsuch also addressed how he approached conflicts with other branches of government.
‘The answer, is the Constitution,’ he said.
The Trump appointee also noted the need for Americans to be able to trust each other, and that not everything needs to be solved by a distant government.
‘My good friend [retired Justice] Stephen Breyer says, ‘If I listen to almost anyone talk for long enough, I’m gonna find something they say that we can agree on,” Gorsuch said. ‘Maybe we should start there.’
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM – As Iran ramps up its threats to launch a massive attack against U.S. ally Israel and possibly American assets in the region, the rogue regime in Tehran is on the cusp of producing a nuclear bomb.
Late last month, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after having reviewed a Director of National Intelligence report on Iran’s atomic program, ‘I believe it is a certainty that if we do not change course, Iran will in the coming weeks or months possess a nuclear weapon.’ He added, ‘Iran will keep going until someone tells them to stop. It is time to put red lines on their nuclear program. The idea of ambiguity is not working.’
Graham termed the findings in the DNI report ‘unnerving’ and said Iran’s ‘ability to weaponize material has advanced’ with respect to a nuclear weapons device.
Just weeks before Graham’s dramatic announcement about Iran being on the brink of nuclear-armed weapons status, he sent a strongly worded letter to DNI head Avril Haines, stating,’You are in violation of the law’ over her vehement opposition to disclosing sensitive information to Congress on Iran’s nuclear progress. In 2022, Congress passed a law requiring the government to provide updates on Iran’s atomic program. Haines eventually complied after Graham went public in the media.
Graham told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on July 31 that there is no Hamas or Hezbollah without Iran’s regime. He urged Israel to launch attacks against Iran’s oil refineries, with the view toward stopping Iranian jingoism. In April, Iran launched over 300 missiles, drones and rockets into Israel.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Fox News Digital, ‘As the President and the Secretary have made clear, the United States will ensure one way or another that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
‘We will continue working with Congress to use a variety of tools in pursuit of that goal and all options remain on the table.’
The spokesperson added, ‘The intelligence community continues to assess that the Supreme Leader has not made any decision to restart the nuclear weapons program that Iran halted in 2003. That said, we remain deeply concerned with Iran’s continued expansion of nuclear activities in ways that have no credible civilian purpose and continue to vigilantly monitor them.’
However, Fox News Digital reported in July 2023 that intelligence reports from European states contradict the Biden administration’s assertion that Iran’s regime has not restarted its atomic weapons program. Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AIVD) assessed Tehran’s development of weapons-grade uranium ‘brings the option of a possible [Iranian] first nuclear test closer.’
When asked about critics who claim Biden has not enforced oil and gas sanctions against Iran’s regime, the State Department spokesman said, ‘The Biden Administration has not lifted a single sanction on Iran. Rather, we continue to increase pressure. Our extensive sanctions on Iran remain in place, and we continue to enforce them. Over the last three years, the United States has sanctioned over 700 individuals and entities connected to the full range of Iran’s reckless and destabilizing behaviors.’
Republican lawmakers and Iran experts have slammed the Biden administration for alleged appeasement toward the mullah regime with respect to unfreezing tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
The State Department spokesperson said, ‘Since 2021, we have sanctioned dozens of individuals and entities across multiple jurisdictions, including the PRC, UAE, and Southeast Asia for roles in the production, sale, and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products. And we have identified as blocked property numerous vessels involved in this trade. ‘
David Albright, physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, ‘Sen. Graham’s statement of being unnerved is good to hear. The IC assessment has been flawed ever since its 2007 National Intelligence Estimate.’
Albright is widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on Iran’s nuclear program. He said, ‘Sen. Graham mentioned that some advances had occurred in Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons, i.e. weaponize the weapon-grade uranium into a nuclear weapon, but his comment was sparse and devoid of substance. It is in this area, however, where new intelligence community assessments may or may not lurk. But I cannot weigh in on this based on what the senator said.’
Albright worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team from 1992 until 1997, focusing on Iraqi documents and past procurement activities. In 1996, he served as the first non-governmental inspector of the Iraqi nuclear program.
Albright said, ‘It is clear that the DNI report included a short timeframe for Iran to produce a significant quantity of weapon-grade uranium, but this is old news and well-established by the IAEA in its quarterly reports and some standard calculations. The new twist is Iran’s recent expansion at the deeply buried Fordow site, which gives Iran a new ability to produce significant quantities of weapon-grade uranium in days at this site. But again, we have reported on this.’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July about Iran’s quest to obtain a nuclear weapon, ‘Instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, (Iran) is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that.’
When asked about the breakout concept, Albright said, ‘Breakout is usually defined as the time for Iran to produce enough weapon-grade for a single nuclear weapon. It has been measured in days rather than months for many months, based on IAEA reporting in its quarterly reports and standard calculational methods, which we have regularly published and the studies are on our website.’
He continued, ‘A common assessment, which we share, is that Iran has not made a formal decision to build nuclear weapons, so it has also not made a decision to breakout and produce weapon-grade uranium.’
‘Breakout is not typically used to discuss the entire time Iran would need to produce its first nuclear weapon,’ Albright noted. ‘This timeframe depends on the breakout above but also on what type of weapon would Iran build. Our assessment is that Iran could build a crude nuclear explosive, deliverable by truck, or able to be exploded underground in six months. It would need longer, perhaps six more months in a crash program to be able to mount a reliable nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile.’
Gabriel Noronha, a former U.S. Department State adviser on Iran, told Fox News Digital, ‘Iran has been decreasing its nuclear enrichment breakout time over the past five years, but that’s different than them actually making the decision to go and rush toward a bomb. However, they love the flexibility and leverage that being this close brings them – especially now that they are under two weeks away from having enough enriched uranium, and haven’t suffered any significant consequences as a result.’
He added, ‘However, it is much less clear how close Iran’s weaponization program has come to both building a weapon and being able to pair it on a missile that could reach Israel or other American allies. What’s clear from Sen. Graham’s press conference is that Iran keeps on getting closer and closer on this part of its nuclear program.’
Noronha, who is also a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), urged ‘Biden to have a clear and credible red line that further progress toward a nuclear weapon would be met with a military response. But he should only make a threat like that if he is willing to back it up with action. If President Biden really wants to avoid military action, then he needs to roll out every possible diplomatic and economic consequence in the interim to punish and deter Iran from proceeding any further.’
Former President Donald Trump has been blocked from five of the top social media platforms over the years, and all except one have returned his accounts as he runs for re-election in 2024.
During his presidency, Trump saw his Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts all suspended in 2021 following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
‘Since President Trump first ran for office, liberals in big tech have allowed terrorists and dictators to spout hate speech on their platforms while banning President Trump in a shameless attempt to help Democrats win elections,’ RNC Spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘It won’t work – President Trump’s message is resonating with voters across the country, which is why he had the most successful TikTok launch in history, and he will continue to speak directly to the American people about his agenda to Make America Great Again.’
Trump’s Snapchat account was suspended in 2021 after the outlet claimed he was responsible for ‘multiple policy violations.’ It has not been restored since.
Asked why the profile could not be restored several years later, a spokesperson for Snapchat told Trump’s team their terms of service prevented them from reinstating his account.
Trump War Room, an account working on behalf of the former president’s 2024 re-election campaign, blasted Snapchat in a post on X.
‘Snapchat REFUSES to reinstate President Trump’s account — but then shamelessly asks the Trump campaign to advertise with Snapchat Big Tech is all in for Kamala!’ Trump War Room wrote, alongside a screenshot of their communication with Snapchat.
Snapchat’s terms of service reportedly don’t allow for a terminated user to create a new account or be reinstated to their old one.
In the same message, the spokesperson for Snapchat encouraged the Trump campaign to buy advertisements on the platform to reach a ‘key audience that can be persuaded to turn out for Trump.’
Meta suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in 2021, but it reinstated them two years later.
‘Two years ago, we took action in what were extreme and highly unusual circumstances. We indefinitely suspended then-US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts following his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021,’ Meta said in a statement.
‘We then referred that decision to the Oversight Board — an expert body established to be an independent check and balance on our decision-making. The Board upheld the decision but criticized the open-ended nature of the suspension and the lack of clear criteria for when and whether suspended accounts will be restored, directing us to review the matter to determine a more proportionate response.’
Trump was also suspended from Twitter in 2021, but was given his account back after Elon Musk bought the company.
Youtube said its decision to reinstate Trump to the platform ‘carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election.’
Musk recently suggested that Google’s autocomplete search feature was omitting results for the assassination attempt against Trump.
‘Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump,’ Musk wrote. ‘Election interference?’ A Google spokesperson told FOX Business that there was no ‘manual action taken on these predictions.’
After being blocked from several of the top social media companies in the U.S., Trump launched his own platform, Truth Social, which he frequently uses to make public statements regarding his 2024 presidential campaign.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
President Biden will meet with his national security team in the Situation Room Monday ahead of an anticipated Iranian attack against Israel.
The meeting came a day after Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with his counterpart in Israel Sunday to reiterate U.S. support for the Jewish state as tensions escalate with Iran and its proxies, threatening a wider regional war after 10 months of fighting Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant discussed U.S. force posture moves that the Defense Department is taking to bolster protection for U.S. forces in the region, support the defense of Israel, and deter and de-escalate broader tensions in the region, according to readout from the Pentagon.
That meeting came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel is already in a ‘multi-front war’ with Iran and its proxies.
Tensions in the region are already at all-time highs after last week’s killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Hamas said it has begun discussions on choosing a new leader.
Netanyahu said Israel was ready for any scenario. Jordan’s foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts — ‘We want the escalation to end,’ Ayman Safadi said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told his counterparts on Sunday that Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel as early as Monday, per Axios.
Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is expected to arrive in Israel Monday to coordinate preparations for the anticipated attack, according to the Times of Israel.
In Israel, some prepared bomb shelters and recalled Iran’s unprecedented direct military assault in April following a suspected Israeli strike that killed two Iranian generals. Israel said almost all the drones and ballistic and cruise missiles were intercepted.
‘For years, Iran has been arming and financing terrorist organizations across the Middle East, including smuggling explosives into Israeli territory for terror attacks against civilians,’ IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement. ‘The IDF and ISA have already thwarted numerous attacks in which Claymore type explosives were smuggled into the country’s territory. We are determined to continue acting against Iranian terrorism wherever it may be.’
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage. Israel’s brutal retaliation has led to the deaths of nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Heavy airstrikes and ground operations have caused widespread destruction and displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
The militant group Hezbollah and Israel have continued to trade fire along the Lebanon border since the war began, with the severity growing in recent months. Hezbollah said it’s aimed at relieving pressure on fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas.
Trump Media said Friday it has started rolling out a TV streaming service that aims to air “neglected” content on its social media platform Truth Social.
The company’s stock price, which trades under the ticker DJT on the Nasdaq, jumped more than 6% Friday morning on the heels of the news.
DJT shares had been in a slump since the share price briefly surged after former President Donald Trump, who is the company’s majority shareholder, survived an assassination attempt on July 13. Before Friday, the share price had fallen more than 33% after that bump.
Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee, owns nearly 59% of the company’s stock.
In a press release Friday, Trump Media said it is now stress testing the TV streaming service, dubbed Truth+, on its “new content delivery network.”
Once deployed, the company said, Truth Social users will be able to use the service simultaneously while they browse the platform’s existing microblogging content.
“We’re establishing a reliable home for great TV content that is neglected by the big corporations or is at risk of cancellation,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the release.
That content will initially include news, commentary, weather and lifestyle and entertainment channels, with plans to expand with Christian- and family-focused programming, the company said.
The company, which has billed itself as a conservative alternative to social media giants such as Facebook and X, claimed in the release that its streaming service will be “uncancellable by Big Tech.”
Trump Media last month as part of the rollout of its content network announced an asset acquisition agreement with the LLCs WorldConnect IPTV Solutions and JedTec.
ProPublica on Tuesday reported that JedTec is an obscure entity led by James Davison, a major Republican donor and energy magnate whose business interests could be affected if Trump wins a second term as president.
Anti-government rallies erupted in several cities across Israel this weekend, as tens of thousands of Israelis demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strike a deal with terror group Hamas to free more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza.
The demonstrations – a regular occurrence – were notable for taking place despite urgent security warnings as Israel braces for a possible strike from Iran. Some form of military retaliation has been widely expected in the region following the unclaimed assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
Despite the tense security situation, large crowds gathered to Begin Gate in Tel Aviv on Saturday to support the families of the hostages and to call for their release from captivity, according to protest organizers. Videos showed protestors waving Israeli flags and holding up signs with images of the Israeli hostages.
At the Begin gate of the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, people were heard chanting, “We’re not letting up; release the hostages.” Others shouted, “Stop the death, stop the bereavement, human lives above all!” Some protestors stood surrounded by barricades, symbolizing hostages who are reported to have been kept in cages.
There are currently 115 total hostages, living and dead, being held in Gaza, according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Of that number, 111 hostages were taken during the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed over 1,200 people.
Israeli’s ensuing military offensive in the isolated Palestinian enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the United Nations.
Family members of captives held in Gaza have harshly criticized the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict. In a statement released Saturday, an association representing the families accused the Israeli leader of choosing “to escalate the situation instead of securing a deal that would save lives.”
Anger and impatience over the slow pace of hostage releases from Gaza flared this week following a new report that Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu clashed with top advisors on whether to accept a new hostage and ceasefire deal, which the Israeli Prime Minister Office has rejected as “incorrect.”
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that, at a tense meeting of Israel’s security council on Wednesday night, senior officials had urged Netanyahu to take a hostage and ceasefire deal with Gaza militant group Hamas.
The report claimed that Mossad director David Barnea had said “there is a deal ready and that Israel must take it,” while Ronen Bar, the head of Israeli security agency Shin Bet, said it appeared to him the prime minister did not want the outline of the deal on the table.
Netanyahu reportedly banged on the table and said the team “don’t know how to conduct negotiations.”
The Prime Minister’s office refuted the characterization of the alleged exchange in a statement, and said that Netanyahu is committed to the hostages’ release. “The head of the Mossad did not say that there was a deal ready and that it should be accepted. The description that Hamas supposedly agreed to the terms of the deal is false…” it said.
Netanyahu’s office on Saturday released another statement accusing “leaks and false briefings in the media” of misleading the public, and blaming Hamas for hindering negotiations. “While Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to the deal outline, Hamas has been trying to introduce dozens of changes that, de facto, nullify the outline,” the statement said.
After the report was broadcast, families of hostages demanded to know “who is obstructing the negotiations,” in a statement, and called for a public report on efforts to secure a hostage release deal.
Iran has claimed that the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this week was carried out by a “short-range projectile” and a “severe explosion” outside a guest house where he was staying.
The death of the Hamas leader further heightened tensions at an already volatile time, raising fears that Israel’s conflict with Hamas and its allies could develop into a multi-front, fully-fledged war in the Middle East.
The Iranian government and Hamas say that Israel carried out the assassination. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
On Saturday, Iran warned that “blood vengeance” for the killing was “certain.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed in a statement that the short-range projectile that reportedly killed Haniyeh had a warhead of about seven kilograms, based on “investigations and research conducted.”
US officials were briefed on the operation by Israeli officials only after the assassination, the source said.
“This action was planned and executed by the Zionist regime with the support of the criminal American government,” the IRGC alleged. Iran calls Israel the Zionist regime.
Israel “will decisively receive the response to this crime,” which is a “severe punishment” that will come at “an appropriate time, place, and manner,” the IRGC said.
The chief spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Thursday that Israel is on “high alert” for both defensive and offensive military action.
“IDF forces are deployed in the air, at sea and on the ground, and are prepared for all scenarios, especially for offensive plans within the immediate timeframe,” Hagari said.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrates what he sees as major victories against Hamas and Hezbollah this week, the mood in Tel Aviv is far from celebratory.
Often bustling with crowds on a weekend, the coastal city of more than 400,000 residents was quieter than usual, with some attributing the subdued mood to fears of an Iranian attack in retaliation to the assassinations carried out against Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in recent days.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was on “high alert,” and Israeli supermarkets are reporting a spike in shopping for basic goods as citizens stock up.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said that his country “struck crushing blows” to the “the three H’s” – Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah, all Iranian-backed, all fierce Israeli foes. The prime minister was celebrating the assassination of Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, Hezbollah military commander Fu’ad Shukr and retaliatory strikes on the Houthis in Yemen last month.
Hamas also blamed Israel for the assassination of their political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed on Wednesday in Tehran. Israel has not commented on the killing.
Netanyahu’s tone stands at odds with the mood on the ground in Tel Aviv, including among families of the hostages still in Gaza.
Four of Yifat Zailer’s relatives are still held in Gaza by Hamas – Zailer’s cousin Shiri and her husband Yarden, along with their two sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, who spent his first birthday in captivity in January.
The Bibas boys remain the youngest of 111 hostages still held in Gaza since October 7, according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“I feel they (the government) don’t hear it’s enough; I feel they don’t hear the people on the streets shouting, that our priority is getting the hostages back,” Zailer said.
Polls have repeatedly shown that most Israelis prioritize the release of hostages over continued war.
A recent survey conducted by independent research center the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) showed that 56% of Israelis support a deal to release all the hostages and end the war in Gaza. It also showed that most right-wing Israelis have a greater appetite for the war.
“A large majority of those on the left and in the center consider a deal for the release of hostages to be the highest priority,” the survey said, “while the majority on the right prioritize a military operation in Rafah.”
Zailer’s family was taken from Kibbutz Nir Or on October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Israel retaliated by waging a war in Gaza, which Palestinian authorities say killed more than 39,000 people in the enclave, most of whom are women and children.
The war has also displaced almost all of Gaza’s population, flattened much of the strip and triggered a humanitarian crisis. But Netanyahu has said that the war will continue until Hamas is eliminated, a goal deemed unrealistic by his critics.
Hopes that a deal that would release Zailer’s family, along with the more than 100 other hostages, have ebbed and flowed throughout the past ten months of war. The spike in tensions last week only raised the worst of fears.
Zailer worries she will wake up one day to find that all the hostages had been killed, she said, “because they (Hamas) decided they have nothing to gain out of them.”
‘We’re waiting for an attack’
As families worry for their loved ones in Gaza, those in Israel are bracing for a possible Iranian retaliation, a move that could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war that drags in other regional players and potentially the United States.
On Tel Aviv’s main beach promenade, some Israelis are spending their Saturday swimming and surfing, knowing an Iranian attack could hit their city at any moment.
“The achievements (assassinations) are good, but let’s get this thing over with. Let’s get out. Let’s finish this thing. We’re tired, everyone is tired,” Oved said.
Alona Lelchuk, 31, said this war feels different, however, mainly because there are hostages still in captivity.
Netanyahu has been accused of losing focus of one of the main purposes of the war, which was to bring back those kidnapped. Without a ceasefire deal, they are unlikely to come home. But the Israeli leader has been under pressure from far-right ministers of his coalition to delay a ceasefire deal and press on with the war in Gaza, which today shows few signs of ending.
Even before the last escalation, the prime minister has been accused by critics of obstructing negotiations leading to a deal, and instead clinging to an extended war in efforts to ensure his political survival and that of his coalition.
Zailer is worried that as the war drags on and the death tolls rise in Gaza, her concerns for the hostages become less and less “legitimate” in the eyes of the world, especially as Israel increasingly loses international support for its military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
She also worries for the children, Israeli and Palestinian, who will be forced to grow up with the wounds of this drawn-out war.
The youngest of five children, she was born in Afghanistan in 1999, just a month before her father, a fruit and vegetable seller, was killed by the Taliban.
So desperate was her mother to protect her children that she fled with the four youngest – all aged under five – first to Pakistan then to Australia, where they settled in Shepparton, a regional town in northern Victoria in 2013.
Australia offered the children opportunities their mother, Sakina Muhammad Jan, never had. They went to school, learned English, and made friends outside their Hazara community, an ethno-religious minority with a long history of persecution in Afghanistan.
But a decade on, Haidari is dead, and her mother has served the first week of a three-year sentence for forcing her to marry a man against her wishes to study and get a job.
Jan is the first person in Australia to be convicted of forced marriage since it was criminalized in 2013. The court heard there was no suggestion she knew her daughter’s husband would kill her just weeks after she moved in with him.
“You were the trusted and only living parent of the victim. It was your acts of coercion that caused her to enter the marriage,” Judge Fran Dalziel told Jan from the bench at Victoria County Court, in comments that had to be translated into Jan’s native language, Dari.
The crime carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison for victims over 18, but Jan was sentenced to three, to be released with restrictions after 12 months.
Since then, word has spread about what the sentence means, particularly for parents who feel compelled to push their children to marry due to their own beliefs or community pressure.
“It has caused a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety in our community,” said Helena Hassani, an expert on forced marriage in Australia with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and founder of Boland Parwaz, an organization that seeks to end child and forced marriage.
“That day when she was sentenced, we had a family gathering. A lot of middle-aged women who never talk about these things were asking me, what’s going to happen? Is she going to go to jail?”
“I was like, yes, she’s sentenced, and you’re going to have to be really careful, because forced marriage is illegal in Australia,” said Hassani. “And they’re really looking pale, because I know at least one of their daughters are being forced to get married in Australia.”
A life sentence
Forced marriage is considered a form of gender-based violence that predominantly affects young women, whose control over their lives is passed without consent from their parents to their partners. It can lead to decades of physical and psychological abuse, and in some cases suicide or murder.
In the past six years, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has received 531 reports of forced marriages in Australia, most involving children under the age of 18.
Haidari’s was one of them.
She was introduced to her future husband, Mohammad Ali Halimi, on June 1, 2019, and the very next day began confiding her objections to her friends, her driving instructor, her teachers, then ultimately the police.
Officers spoke to her on August 19, but the next day a mullah was called to officiate a permanent Nikah ceremony, confirming the couple’s earlier engagement.
He paid her family a dowry of 15,000 Australian dollars ($9,700).
Halimi returned to his home in Perth in Western Australia, under the agreement that his wife would join him when she finished high school.
“In our community, in our culture, we have got this saying, which is girls should leave their parents’ home with a white dress, which is your wedding dress, and they should leave their husband’s home again with a white dress, which is your coffin,” said Hassani.
And that is exactly what happened to Haidari.
In January 2020, within weeks of a party to celebrate their marriage at a sports center in Shepparton attended by 500 guests, Halimi killed his young wife.
At home in Perth, he had been arguing with Haidari’s brother on the phone, and when the call ended, the unhappy newlyweds continued to fight.
According to court documents, Haidari told him to “f*** off,” and he grabbed a large kitchen knife and lunged at her with such force that he severed two of her arteries.
Halimi pleaded guilty, telling police he’d become increasingly frustrated after she repeatedly rebuffed his attempts at sexual intimacy. He also complained that she had failed to cook or keep the house clean, and often slept while he worked seven days a week to support them.
Halimi was sentenced to life in prison.
“She really did not want to get married,” Hassani, of UTS, said of Haidari.
“She came back from Perth, asking the family, please don’t let me go, please get my divorce, and mom was like, ‘No, go back.’”
“You’re supposed to leave your husband’s home with white coffin, which she did, poor lady.”
A civil response
Jennifer Burn, the founding director of Anti-Slavery Australia, says that women inside and outside the country seek help every day via My Blue Sky, a website that offers free and confidential advice to women stuck in or trying to avoid forced marriages.
“Australia is so multicultural, and we have reports across the board, all religions, all ethnicities,” said Burn, who has campaigned against modern slavery for more than two decades. Forced marriages have been reported within communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India, among others.
Often, those at risk are young girls from socially conservative families, who are living at home and are reluctant to go to the police because they don’t want their parents to get into trouble.
The practice has been going on for decades, but in recent years the Australian government has made a point of targeting offenders, and on the day of Jan’s sentencing, the attorney general announced the start of consultations about what a stronger civil response could look like.
Changes could include allowing victims to apply for a court protection order against potential offenders or relaxing the rules so that adults can be added to airport watch lists, if there’s a fear they could be taken abroad to be married.
“This idea of building greater civil protection for people who are facing forced marriages is really, really important, and that can go hand in hand with the criminal response,” said Burn.
Some of the measures borrow from forced-marriage laws in Britain, where hundreds of people take out protection orders each year to thwart an impending forced marriage.
The United Kingdom also has the interagency Forced Marriage Unit, which works with the foreign and interior ministries as well as charities to try and stop British victims being compelled to marry both at home and abroad. The unit’s latest statistics show 69% of cases referred to them involve female victims, while 31% are male.
Other countries such as France, Canada and Germany also have specific laws against forced marriage.
Support is already given to women within Australia, but in late July rules were relaxed so that social welfare groups can also refer victims for crisis support and accommodation, alongside the AFP.
“You don’t need to talk to the police. You can be supported for up to 200 days, and potentially more,” said Burn. “You’d be provided with comprehensive 24/7 casework support, including accommodation. That is something that can be incredibly important in a crisis situation.”
A mother behind bars
Straight after Monday’s sentencing hearing, Jan was taken away to spend her first days inside a women’s prison on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Her barrister Andrew Buckland said that, as an illiterate, non-English speaker, it’s likely she doesn’t have a good understanding of what’s going on, though she has indicated she wants to appeal the sentence.
As a permanent resident and not an Australian citizen, Jan’s sentence will cost her far more than 12 months in prison. Under Australia’s Migration Act, her visa could be cancelled under rules that seek to remove non-citizens who commit serious crimes.
A month before Jan’s sentencing, the immigration minister circulated a directive specifically naming the crime of forced marriage as serious enough to warrant the removal of a visa. Without a visa, Jan would be subject to deportation to her home country of Afghanistan, although as signatory to the Refugee Convention, Australia is obligated to not send refugees back to potential harm.
Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August 2021, the persecution of Hazaras has escalated alongside increasing deprivations for women who are now living under a system of “gender apartheid,” according to the United Nations.
Without a visa, after serving her sentence, Jan could be forced into immigration detention, or potentially released under a bridging visa with strict monitoring conditions including the use of an ankle bracelet.
During Jan’s sentencing hearing, Judge Dalziel cited a letter of support from the Goulburn Valley Afghanistan Association that described her as “a quiet, kind and helpful woman.”
However, Hassani says Jan has lost the respect of the community she tried so hard to please.
“It has really damaged her reputation, her respect, and she has literally no place in the community,” she said.
Like many perpetrators, Jan was also a victim of forced marriage, compelled to marry a man she didn’t know at age 12. Her first baby followed soon after.
Her parents would likely have believed they were acting in her best interests.
“The whole community believes that if you have got a husband, then you’re respected, you’re valued, the whole world is yours,” said Hassani. “To be a good woman, you have to be married, and you have to be a nice, obedient wife.”
To be divorced is to bring shame on the family. It can also be financially debilitating for whichever party has to pay back the dowry and cost of wedding celebrations.
“A lot of girls would rather suicide, than live with that shame and stigma,” she said.
Divorcees are labeled as “bewa,” which was the label attached to Haidari years earlier when her mother arranged for her to marry another man at age 15. That union ended in divorce.
The court heard that Jan thought that marrying off Ruqia would be in her best interests.
“Whilst you believed you were acting in her best interests, you were not in fact doing so,” said Judge Dalziel.
It’s not acceptable within the Hazara community to force a child to marry. But it does happen, and the value the community places on marriage makes it hard to break the cycle.
But Hassani believes change can happen – she’s already seeing younger generations pushing back against the pressure placed on them to marry.
“I’m really happy that a lot of children who have grown up here are standing up for themselves,” she said. “But it still needs a lot of time to resolve this clash between parents and the community’s expectations.”
Israeli airstrikes on two school buildings in the north of Gaza City killed 17 Palestinians, most of them children, and left at least 63 injured according to Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal on Saturday.
“The schools were targeted a second time with three missiles, resulting in 17 martyrs and dozens of injured individuals who were transported to the Baptist Hospital in the city,” Basal said.
According to Gaza Civil Defense, the schools were being used as shelters for people displaced by violence. Both Al-Huda School and Al-Hamama School, which are adjacent to each other and share the same playground, were targeted, Basal said.
After the initial strike, more than three missiles struck the area in a “double tap” attack, according to Basal.
“The first bombing was unexpected and resulted in a large number of martyrs and injured individuals. While the martyrs and injured were being retrieved, the occupation forces issued a warning that another strike was imminent,” Basal said.
The Civil Defense in Gaza published a list of the names of the killed individuals, showing that at least three of the dead were female.
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7, after terror group Hamas attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed, and more than 250 others abducted in the Hamas-led assault, according to Israeli authorities.
Israeli military action in the strip has since killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and injured over 90,000, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. As of early July, nearly 2 million people had been displaced in Gaza – almost the entire population, according to figures from the United Nations.
