Hollywood actress Gal Gadot facilitated a Los Angeles screening of a film showing the October 7 surprise attack on Southern Israel by the Hamas group. However, the screening was marred as multiple fights broke out in conjunction.  

The 43-minute film “Bearing Witness” featured “extremely graphic and violent” footage documenting the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, ABC News reported. The media outlet said that some of it included footage shot by members of Hamas. 

Videos going viral on the internet shows two groups clashing outside the city’s Museum of Tolerance on Pico Boulevard.

Gal Gadot is said to be involved in organising the screening. However, the actress did not attend the screening in person, the media outlet reported.

The ‘Wonder Woman’ actress, who is an Israeli faced backlash on social media for supporting genocide. 

Anti-Israel protesters are physically attacking Jews attending a screening of the Oct. 7th Hamas Massacre organized by actress Gal Gadot at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/SIZbTyiKL9

— Catherine Da Costa (@catmag18) November 9, 2023

According to The Hollywood Reporter, some 200 people were in attendance at the screening, where there was a heavy security presence. An official with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Hollywood executives were among those reported to have attended the event.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said we must stand together. “We cannot allow current worldwide tension to devolve into this unacceptable violence in our city,” she wrote on X. “This is a time of immense pain and distress for thousands of Angelenos. We must stand together.”

Although Ms Gadot, who served in the Israeli Defence Forces before pursuing acting, has not issued a statement about the same, several people have slammed her for not talking about the Palestinian death toll and the atrocities faced by the people living in Gaza. 

As per Israeli authorities, more than 1,400 people have been killed and 240 have been held hostage in Gaza since the war began a month ago. The Gaza death number has soared above 10,000, mostly civilians, said the Hamas-run health ministry, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the war-torn coastal strip was becoming a “graveyard for children”. Israel has vowed to destroy the Islamist operatives over their unprecedented attack which witnessed entire families killed inside their homes and young people killed at a music festival, according to Israeli officials. 

A banner asking residents to clean up after a large amount of rubbish left behind following Diwali celebrations in Singapore will be taken down to avoid further misunderstanding, according to a parliamentarian for the area. Singapore-based Indians will be celebrating Diwali on Sunday in the multi-racial prosperous city-state.

Feedback over the years prompted the Mountbatten Residents’ Network (RN) to put up a banner asking residents to clean up after the Diwali celebrations.

Littering is an offence in Singapore, globally known for maintaining a clean environment.

Mountbatten Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan said the anti-littering banner – put up by the RN and supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA) – will be taken down to “avoid further misunderstanding”.

“That banner was a ground-up initiative by the RN because they had received feedback over the years about the large amount of litter left behind after Diwali celebrations,” The Straits Times newspaper quoted Lim as saying.

A second banner – with an image of Lim and a message wishing Mountbatten residents a happy Diwali – was put up by the People’s Association above the RN banner. This will not be removed.

Lim said the same banner can be spotted in many locations in his constituency.

“It so happens that at this one location, they were placed one on top of the other, and this has then been misconstrued to be targeted against a particular race – which was never the intent.” Parliamentarians across Singapore have put up banners in their constituencies with best wishes to constituents celebrating Diwali.

Lim said he raised the issue of the banner on Wednesday with the RN chairman, who told him that the RN had received feedback from residents over the years about the litter left behind after Deepavali celebrations.

“The RN members discussed the issue and felt that it would be appropriate to send reminder messages not to litter,” he added.

Lim said RN members had previously seen messages about responsible joss paper burning and felt that a reminder not to litter was reasonable.

On Wednesday, Facebook user Susiilaa Shanmugam put up a post on the social media platform in which she questioned the two banners put up in Mountbatten, with a photo attached. In particular, she took issue with the banner asking residents to clean up after celebrations.

She wrote: “Though the message appears to have a positive intent, it is being used at a very wrong time, given festivals are a time when those who have endured a tumultuous time come together as one to unite with their family and friends.

“I hope to see the same message for the coming Chinese New Year,” The Straits Times quoted Susiilaa as saying.

She also asked in her post if such a message was issued during Chinese New Year or the Hungry Ghost (Chinese) Festival.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, she said she had been informed that the authorities were looking into the issue and that she is “heartened that action has been taken, and the banner will be removed”.

She added that she was hopeful that more thought would be put into the phrasing of messages that could potentially be deemed insensitive. 

India on Thursday strongly rejected an Australian court’s ruling ordering former Indian high commissioner to Canberra Navdeep Singh Suri to pay a former domestic employee thousands of dollars in compensation after she accused him of unfair working conditions and exploitation.

Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said the Australian authorities do not have any locus standi to adjudicate on matters concerning India-based service staff of its high commission and called on Canberra to uphold its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Justice Elizabeth Raper of the federal court had ordered Mr Suri to pay Seema Sherghill more than 136,000 dollars plus interest, within 60 days after she alleged that she was forced to work in unfair conditions, Australian media reported on Sunday.

In his weekly media briefing, Mr Bagchi said the service staff “wilfully deserted” her post in May 2016, a day before her scheduled return to India and that she was holding an official passport and Australian diplomatic visa.

He said New Delhi has repeatedly requested Australian authorities to locate and repatriate the staff member to India. Ms Sherghill took Australian citizenship in 2021.

“Her conduct and false representations give rise to suspicions that all this has been motivated by her desire to permanently stay in Australia, and in which she seems to have succeeded,” Mr Bagchi said, replying to a question on the case.

The MEA spokesperson said India is also concerned by the ex-parte court judgement.

“Let me reiterate that we reject any locus standi of Australian authorities to adjudicate on matters concerning such India-based service staff of the High Commission. Any grievance that she may have has to be suitably redressed only in India,” he said.

“We are also concerned by the ex-parte court judgement. We are taking up the matter with Australian authorities. We would urge Australia to uphold its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, particularly in relation to diplomatic immunities and privileges,” he said.

The Australian media reported that Sherghill told the Federal Court that she had to work 17 and half hours daily for seven days a week.

Mr Bagchi said the service staff “willfully deserted her post in May 2016, a day before her scheduled return to India.

“Since then, we have repeatedly requested Australian authorities to locate and repatriate her to India,” he said.