Tuesday 20 Shevat – UK is becoming a ‘global powerbase’ for radical Islam – Emergency teams responding after plane crash in Toronto – Israel says it is preparing for Hamas to return bodies of four hostages on Thursday

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A counter-extremism analyst has warned that Britain risks becoming a ‘global powerbase’ for radical Islam unless Sir Keir Starmer’s government takes action.

Middle East commentator Amjad Taha says the UK finds itself in ‘the extraordinary position’ of militant Islam spreading on home soil while declining in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

And he warned that there were ‘more extremists in the UK than the Middle East’ with radical Islamists hiding behind freedom of speech.

At least 18 people have been injured in a plane crash that’s left an aircraft upside down at a Canadian airport, Delta Airlines has said.

Images from Toronto Pearson International Airport show the snow-covered plane belly up on the tarmac.

The flight, operated by Delta subsidiary Endeavor Air, crashed while landing at around 2.45pm local time (7.45pm UK time).

All 80 people on board – 76 passengers and four crew – were evacuated, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

Two people in a critical condition have been airlifted to a nearby trauma centre and one child has been taken by ambulance to a hospital in downtown Toronto, Peel regional paramedic services supervisor Lawrence Saindon said.

Twelve others have sustained minor injuries, he added.

Canada Police has said it does not know the circumstances surrounding the crash.

The airport posted on X that the incident involved a plane arriving from Minneapolis.

“Emergency teams are responding. All passengers and crew are accounted for,” the statement added.

Ontario’s premier Doug Ford said he is “relieved there are no casualties after the incident”.

“Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any help that’s needed,” he added in a post on X.

Delta has said it is aware of reports of an incident involving an Endeavor Air flight, and Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has said it is “deploying a team to investigate” the accident.

All departures and arrivals at the airport were paused minutes after the crash. They resumed at 5pm local time (10pm UK time) but Delta flights will remain suspended until the end of the day, the airline said.

Toronto has been blighted by bad weather in recent days and this afternoon, the airport was experiencing blowing snow and winds of up to 65mph, according to the Meteorological Service of Canada. The temperature was around -8.6C.

Prior to the crash, dozens of departures and arrivals at the airport had been delayed due to the weather.

The airport had posted images on X after 53cm of snow fell over the past week.

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OPENING A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES IN ISRAEL

Israel is expecting to receive the bodies of four hostages from Hamas on Thursday, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday, under the provisions of the first stage of an ongoing ceasefire deal with the Palestinian terror group.

The agreement with Hamas, the official said, stipulates that the bodies of a number of hostages will be returned to Israel on the 33rd day of the ceasefire, which is Thursday.

The IDF has already begun preparations for their return, though the Prime Minister’s Office has yet to publicly confirm the details.

The names of the hostages will be given to Israel on Thursday morning and the bodies will be transported to the Abu Kabir forensic institute by IDF ambulances. Families will only be updated after the bodies are properly identified, according to Hebrew media reports on Monday night.

Texts of the hostage-ceasefire deal that have been published to date indicated that human remains would only be returned after living hostages in phase one, suggesting that the arrangement is part of hitherto unpublished elements of the deal.

The full terms of the dead have never been officially released.

Updated schedule
The following is the schedule for the release of hostages during the remainder of the ongoing first phase of the deal, as set out in an annex whose content was revealed on Monday evening but has not been officially published.

On Thursday, February 20, Israel is slated to receive the bodies of four hostages, as stipulated in the yet-to-be-published annex. Israel expects to receive the names of those four hostages Thursday morning.

On Saturday, February 22, Hamas will release three living hostages.

On Thursday, February 27, Hamas will release four more bodies of hostages.

Between February 22 and March 2, Hamas is slated to release phase one’s final three living hostages, including Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who have been held in Gaza for over a decade.

In exchange for the eight bodies, Israel will release all women and children who were arrested in Gaza since October 7. Hebrew media reported that these detainees were not involved in Hamas’s onslaught or in fighting against Israel since, so it was not immediately clear why they were arrested.

The Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem was working on getting the six remaining living hostages who are to be freed in the ongoing first stage released as soon as possible, either in the course of this week or on Saturday.

MK Ze’ev Elkin, who sits on the security cabinet, said on Monday that Israel would use “any leverage” it had over Hamas to ensure the return of the remaining hostages due to come out in the first phase of the deal, and would try to expedite the process.

The spiritual gevurah of released IDF soldier Agam Berger and her family is now well-known, especially after Agam was released on Thursday instead of Shabbos following her mother’s call for Shemiras Shabbos.

On Monday, Agam released a message to the public for the first time.

In a video recorded by “רגע של חכמה,” she thanked Hashem, IDF soldiers and security forces, and all of Am Yisrael who did whatever they could “to bring us home.”

“When we were there and they [the terrorists] saw the division among us, they rejoiced,” Agam continued. “They said that when we’re together, we have koach. So I request from you – despite all the differences – let’s maintain unity and preserve our koach as Am Yisrael.”

“I truly believe that each one of us has the koach to do something to help bring the hostages home.”

“I request from you that you take on one good deed, whether it’s doing something good for those around you or a small mitzvah. This will truly bring us closer to the return of all the hostages as it did until now. Every one of your good deeds brought us closer to our return home and here we are. I want all the hostages here soon.”

“I request that you truly take something upon yourselves and B’ezrat Hashem soon, all the hostages will return.”

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For the UK Jewish Orthodox Community
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