Angham, Bassem Samra Receive Israeli ‘Threats’

Actor Bassem Samra
Actor Bassem Samra
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Angham, Bassem Samra Receive Israeli ‘Threats’

Actor Bassem Samra
Actor Bassem Samra

Egyptian singer Angham said she received Israeli threats because of her pro-Palestine stance and rejection of “the Israeli unprecedented violence against the people of Gaza.”

The singer said such messages do not intimidate her. “These threats made me laugh, they indicate weakness and helplessness,” she wrote on her Instagram page on Sunday.

Angham described Israelis as “occupiers and thugs,” and reminded them of the October 6th war in 1973, saying: “I am not defending Egypt because these threats prove that you are still aching from this battle, and it will always be the nightmare you’ll never wake up from. Egypt will forever remain free and independent, and always reminding you of the hardest moments your people lived.”

Before Angham, Actor Bassem Samra revealed that “he was threatened via a text message he received from an unknown number after his calls to open the borders to respond to the Israeli massacres appropriately,” during a pro-Palestine protest organized by the actors syndicate a few days ago.

Ashraf Zaky, the head of the Actors' Syndicate, who recently visited the Rafah border crossing to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and call for the delivery of humanitarian aid, said “these threats are a reaction to the impact of the Egyptian artists’ statements rejecting the Israeli aggression.”

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the syndicate will always support its members and will remain a source of soft power bothering the enemy because it chooses justice and rejects genocide and bloody aggressions.”

Egyptian artists have volunteered with the Egyptian Red Crescent to help provide relief to the residents of Gaza who are besieged by Israel.



World War II Sergeant Whose Plane Was Shot Down over Germany Honored with Reburial in California

This 1944 photo provided by Honoring Our Fallen shows WWII veteran US Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta from Los Angeles. Banta, 21, was killed in action in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany. On Thursday, July 25, 2024 community members lined the roads to honor Banta as he was brought from Ontario International Airport in southern California to a burial home. (Honoring Our Fallen via AP)
This 1944 photo provided by Honoring Our Fallen shows WWII veteran US Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta from Los Angeles. Banta, 21, was killed in action in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany. On Thursday, July 25, 2024 community members lined the roads to honor Banta as he was brought from Ontario International Airport in southern California to a burial home. (Honoring Our Fallen via AP)
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World War II Sergeant Whose Plane Was Shot Down over Germany Honored with Reburial in California

This 1944 photo provided by Honoring Our Fallen shows WWII veteran US Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta from Los Angeles. Banta, 21, was killed in action in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany. On Thursday, July 25, 2024 community members lined the roads to honor Banta as he was brought from Ontario International Airport in southern California to a burial home. (Honoring Our Fallen via AP)
This 1944 photo provided by Honoring Our Fallen shows WWII veteran US Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta from Los Angeles. Banta, 21, was killed in action in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany. On Thursday, July 25, 2024 community members lined the roads to honor Banta as he was brought from Ontario International Airport in southern California to a burial home. (Honoring Our Fallen via AP)

After 80 years, a World War II sergeant killed in Germany has returned home to California.

On Thursday, community members lined the roads to honor US Army Air Force Tech. Sgt. Donald V. Banta as he was brought from Ontario International Airport to a burial home in Riverside, California, The AP reported.

Banta, 21, was killed in action in early 1944 when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Gotha, Germany, according to Honoring Our Fallen, an organization that provides support to families of fallen military and first responders.

One of the surviving crewmembers saw the plane was on fire, then fell in a steep dive before exploding on the ground. After the crash, German troops buried the remains of one soldier at a local cemetery, while the other six crewmembers, including Banta, were unaccounted for.

Banta was married and had four sisters and a brother. He joined the military because of his older brother Floyd Jack Banta, who searched for Donald Banta his whole life but passed away before he was found.

Donald Banta's niece was present at the planeside honors ceremony at the Ontario airport coordinated by Honoring Our Fallen.

The remains from the plane crash were initially recovered in 1952, but they could not be identified at the time and were buried in Belgium. Banta was accounted for Sept. 26, 2023, following efforts by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency within the US Department of Defense and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.