Israel-Palestine

8:57 AM PT -- Amar'e Stoudemire is clearing up comments he made over the weekend where he passionately lashed out at anyone who hasn't publicly condemned the Hamas terror attack in Israel.

"I recognize that in a moment of passion that there is a better way that I can communicate my emotions about the conflict. I pray that the parties involved are able to find a resolution."

Stoudemire continued ... "I pray for the people of Israel. I pray for the people of Palestine. I stand with humanity."

Amar'e also addressed his comments about BLM.

"To Black Lives Matter and the Politicians. I recognize that it is everyone’s choice if they want to speak about the conflict and that while I may want people to say more, that there is a better way that I can communicate that," Amar'e wrote.

"I want to make sure to mention that I am thankful for all of the work that people as a whole have done so far for their communities and I hope that we all strive to do more. 🏁"

Despite clarifying his comments, AS made it clear ... "This is not a apology"

Former NBA star Amar'e Stoudemire -- who converted to Judaism and spent several years playing basketball in Israel -- sounded off on Hamas in an emotional video ... saying point blank, "If y'all support it, f*** you!"

The 40-year-old posted the clip to his social media page over the weekend ... blasting the militant terrorist group as "cowards" -- while strongly urging people to condemn the org.'s actions.

"I woke up this morning with some disturbing news out of Israel that Hamas are kidnapping children, putting them in cages, killing women, killing the elderly. That’s some coward s***," he said.

"That's cowardly," he added. "And for all y'all Black Lives Matter who ain’t saying nothing, 'Well, let me figure out exactly what happened before I say anything,' f*** you."

Stoudemire, who converted in 2018, then continued his impassioned rant for several more seconds ... repeatedly calling Hamas' actions "coward s***."

"All you politicians who always have something to say on the contrary, I see you. F*** you," he said. "All you Black Lives Matter people who always have something to say and always support everything else, and you quiet now, f*** you too."

Stoudemire first joined the Israeli Basketball Premier League in 2016 ... and went on to play a couple seasons for two teams in the organization. In his video over the weekend, he praised Israel as the "only place in the world where I can go and study Torah and eat kosher food."

"Only place in the world!" he said. "Some coward s***, dog."

El ex futbolista profesional israelí Lior Asulin murió durante el brutal ataque de Hamás del fin de semana mientras celebraba su 43 cumpleaños.

Asulin estaba de fiesta en el festival de música "fiesta de la naturaleza" en un complejo turístico cerca del kibutz Re'im cuando hombres armados abrieron fuego, matando al futbolista y a muchas otras personas, según los informes.

Una superviviente le dijo al Canal 12 de Israel que vio a unos 50 terroristas vestidos con ropa militar llegar en furgonetas y comenzaron a dispararle a todo el que estaba a la vista.

"Dispararon ráfagas y llegamos a un punto en el que todos detuvieron sus vehículos y empezaron a correr", dijo la superviviente.

"Me metí en un árbol, un arbusto como este, y empezaron a dispararle a la gente. Vi masas de heridos tirados por ahí y yo en un árbol e intentando entender qué estaba pasando".

El equipo de fútbol Hapoel Tel Aviv —que firmó con Auslin un contrato de cuatro años en 2007— emitió un comunicado en X en el que afirmaba estar profundamente entristecido por su muerte.

Su antiguo entrenador en el Bnei Sakhnin, Eyal Lachman, también emitió un comunicado en el que afirmaba que Asulin era "un tipo con un corazón de oro, y esa era su característica más destacada".

"Siempre decían que su característica más destacada era devolver. Según mi experiencia, su característica más destacada era darle a sus amigos su alma".

Asulin jugó en varios equipos durante su carrera como futbolista profesional e incluso fue uno de los mejores delanteros de la liga nacional israelí en 2004.

Marcó 88 goles y ganó la Copa de Israel 2004 con el Bnei Sakhnin.

Asulin cumplió 43 años el sábado.

Hollywood's biggest stars have come out in support of Israel amid their ongoing conflict in the Middle East -- but there are hardly any backing Palestine ... at least not publicly.

The A-list crowd has been pouring out with social media tributes all weekend -- speaking on the violent clash ... and denouncing the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. Some of those celebs who've voiced their solidarity with Israel include Gal Gadot, Madonna, Ashley Tisdale, Scooter Braun, Mark Hamill, Amy Schumer, Natalie Portman, Kris Jenner, Jamie Lee Curtis and more.

While a lot of these famous folks are posting simple "We Stand With Israel" messages -- others are offering a bit more of a nuanced take ... saying it's reasonable to both disagree with Israel's treatment of Palestinians AND disavow the unhinged violence on Israeli citizens.

That's a sentiment that's been widely embraced by people of late ... and we've been seeing that reflected in streets all over the U.S. -- with many Americans waving Palestinian flags and screaming "Free Palestine." As far as Hollywood's concerned though ... not very many are taking that firm of a stance on the issue -- save for a select few like Mia Khalifa, etc.

There's 2 people, specifically, a lot of celebs are waiting to hear from ... and that would be Gigi and Bella Hadid, both of whom have remained silent -- this despite the fact they've been very vocal supporters of Palestine over the years, and sympathetic to their cause.

It's interesting ... the fact they haven't spoken up seems to have ruffled feathers in H'wood, with actress Sara Foster apparently calling them out -- but without naming names.

She writes, "Watching Palestinian influencers on here refuse to denounce hamas, refuse to speak out against the barbaric treatment of children, refuse to hope for peace, all while living in the comfort of the US with zero intention of ever being in Palestine because they could never be openly gay or openly post their bikini pics is sadly not shocking. It's easy to be outspoken from the comfort of your warm democratic bed." Sure sounds Hadid-related.

Interestingly enough, some have speculated the Hadid connection may be why Kylie Jenner posted but then deleted her "Support Israel" Instagram this weekend. She's pals with them.

In any case, it's clearly a divisive issue ... but just about every public figure is sending their thoughts and prayers to the innocent people being thrust into the middle of this nightmare.

The life-and-death nature of reporting from the frontlines in Israel is playing out on TV ... as CNN's Clarissa Ward narrowly avoids Hamas rockets flying overhead.

Clarissa and her crew are right near a border crossing between Israel and Gaza, and as they were reporting Monday on a recent Hamas attack, they had to dive into a ditch to avoid the incoming artillery.

You can see and hear the shells whistle overhead and explode dangerously close to them.

They kept recording right through the strike, and eventually ended up live on CNN, describing the "massive barrage of rockets" aimed at their position.

Once the shelling stopped, she got out of the ditch and showed the roadway where Hamas had recently driven through ... firing on civilians, and then taking hostages and driving them back across the border into Gaza.

Former porn star-turned-influencer Mia Khalifa is catching heat online after voicing support for the people of Palestine on the heels of the deadly Hamas attacks that sparked the intensifying war with Israel.

Mia shared her controversial thoughts online over the weekend, as Israel declared a state of war after the Hamas attack ... saying a slew of things not in favor of the people of Israel.

She tweeted, "Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal," and, "I just wanna make sure there’s 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they’ve been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books."

Mia, who is Lebanese, faced backlash for her comments against Israel, but she doubled down ... writing, "I’d say supporting Palestine has lost me business opportunities, but I’m more angry at myself for not checking whether or not I was entering into business with Zionists."

She also claimed those who look at the incident and aren't siding with Palestinians are "on the wrong side of apartheid and history will show that in time." Still, folks online are ripping into her stance.

As you know, the Hamas attack on Israel went down Saturday, with the death toll reportedly reaching 700 victims as of Monday amid the massive destruction.

Drake has a huge sales week on the horizon, but isn't ready to let bygones be bygones over Joe Budden's scathing critique of his new album, "For All the Dogs," and his boyish lifestyle!!!

Drake threw another shot Monday at JB, clowning him for having a bulletproof fedora case and his podcast career ... "I thank god for this life and not having to come to rushed conclusions on Best Buy podcast mics."

HitsDD is projecting Drake to have his biggest opening week since 2021 -- evidence fans weren't digging that dance album that much -- yet, he's still distracted by Budden enough to spend the weekend duking it out with him.

The Canadian rapper went out of his way to discredit Budden's podcast cohost/engineer Parks Vallely, essentially labeling him "cool as Mark Zuckerberg," to which Parks might have trumped Drake with his response -- revealing he actually worked on Drake's 2016 "Scorpion" album.

JB was basking in yet another level-up for his podcast in the wake of his Drake beef ... posting how his anti-"Dogs" episode was competing in the global news market against Israel vs. Hamas and Donald Trump. Hyperbole's also good ratings.

Whether fans hated it or loved it, the new album could be Drake's last offering for a while ... he says stomach issues have been holding him back for some time now.

Former Israeli pro soccer player Lior Asulin was killed during the brutal Hamas attack over the weekend while celebrating his 43rd birthday.

Auslin, a striker, was partying at a "nature party" music festival at a resort near Kibbutz Re’im when gunmen opened fire, killing the footballer and many others, according to reports.

One survivor told Israel's Channel 12 she saw about 50 terrorists in military gear arrive in vans and started shooting at anyone in sight.

"They fired bursts, and we reached a point where everyone stopped their vehicles and started running," the survivor said.

"I went into a tree, a bush like this, and they just started spraying people. I saw masses of wounded people thrown around and I'm in a tree and trying to understand what's going on."

The Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team -- who signed Auslin to a four-year contract in 2007 -- released a statement on X that they're deeply saddened by his death.

His former Bnei Sakhnin coach Eyal Lachman also released a statement, saying Asulin was "a guy with a heart of gold, that was his most outstanding characteristic."

"They always said that his most outstanding characteristic was to give back, I saw that the most outstanding characteristic was to give his friends his soul."

Auslin played for several teams during his pro soccer career ... and was even one of the top strikers in the Israeli domestic league in 2004.

He scored 88 goals and won the 2004 Israeli Cup with Bnei Sakhnin.

Asulin's 43rd birthday was Saturday.

Horrified concertgoers dove into an underbrush to try and save their lives at the Israeli festival where Hamas terrorists slaughtered 260 innocent people.

Two attendees -- a man and a woman -- recorded the harrowing images with their cell phones and posted the footage on social media.

The clips show the two hiding in bushes and whispering messages to family and friends in case they don't make it out alive.

In the background, you hear artillery fire and bombs exploding during Saturday's bloodbath at the Supernova Festival.

Survivors stayed hunkered down for up to 5 hours until Israeli soldiers came in to bring them to safety.

The Palestinian militant group crashed through barriers separating Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to carry out the sneak attack around dawn.

Gunmen rolled up in trucks to the venue where fans were listening to music all night and opened fire into the crowd, killing hundreds of people.

At the same time, Hamas launched surprise assaults in other parts of Israel, leaving more than 700 dead. Videos posted online show kidnappings and rockets blowing up buildings.

President Biden's administration may or may not be shocked to hear Iran was supposedly instrumental in the lead-up to the attack on Israel ... the implications of which are dire.

The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report Sunday, citing multiple sources from within Hamas, Hezbollah and even a European official with knowledge ... all of whom say Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas in planning the ambush.

This alleged coordination dates back several weeks, apparently ... with talks going as far back as August and several reported meetings taking place in Beirut between all the parties. In addition to Iran being involved, WSJ reports that Lebanon's Hezbollah was in the mix.

The intention in all this, per WSJ, was two-pronged ... Iran apparently wanted to manufacture a "multi-front threat" against Israel -- this as the country grappled with its own internal politics, while disrupting U.S.-brokered peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

When asked directly about whether the U.S. had any knowledge of Iran's alleged involvement in directing the Hamas-led attack ... Sec. of State Anthony Blinken denied knowing anything about it, saying there was no evidence on their end that was, in fact, the case.

A separate U.S. official said the same thing to the WSJ ... but the outlet is insisting people overseas are saying differently. If what they're saying is true -- it's troubling on many fronts.

For one, it would be an indictment on U.S intelligence ... but it would also indicate that a broader conflict in the Middle East is looming -- with Israel having already gone on the record to say they would retaliate if it was found that Tehran sanctioned this Hamas move.

Kylie Jenner apparently can't take the heat for supporting Israel, because she posted her support for the country that just endured a 9/11-type terrorist attack, but after some people criticized her she 86'd the post.

Jenner shared a post, "Now and always we stand with the people of Israel SHARE if you stand with the people of Israel as they face one of the most frightening situations in many years. Thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israelis, hundreds of civilians have been injured and more than 300 murdered, terrorists have infiltrated Israel from Gaza, and there are unconfirmed reports that IDF soldiers have been kidnapped and taken into Gaza."

Some of Jenner's followers started populating her Instagram with photos of Palestinian flags and urged others to unfollow her. Apparently, that was enough for Kylie, because the post was nowhere to be seen on her account an hour later.

Other celebs are standing strong in their support for Israel, including Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Amy Schumer and Jamie Lee Curtis.

There is a full-blown war now, with Hezbollah firing missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

Israel has reacted swiftly to the biggest attack on the country in 50 years, bombing areas of Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack that now reportedly killed more than 500 Israelis.

You see people running for cover as buildings collapse after the bombings.

Israel has declared a state of war and is swiftly retaliating for the attack that completely escaped military intel -- both in Israel and the U.S.

This dramatic video shows a reporter doing a live shot in Gaza when a bomb hit ... the sounds from the explosion unnerve her but she toughs it out and continues her reporting.

At the time of the attack, there was a crowded music festival near the Gaza Strip and you see the terror and panic as terrorists launched rockets and opened fire into the crowd

Some of the people at the festival were taken hostage by gunmen. One woman is taken away on a motorcycle as she screams, "Don't kill me! No, no no!"

Dozens, and many more, have reportedly been taken hostage and are now somewhere in the Gaza Strip, making retaliation by the Israeli military problematic. It's likely some of the hostages are in tunnels which house some of the terrorists as well as military and other artillery.

At least 1,500 people were injured in Saturday's attack and both the death toll and toll of those injured is expected to climb.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said, "We are at war," vowed that Hamas "would pay a price it has never known."

The Middle East is a powder keg of violence ... it's unknown if other countries surrounding Israel will join the conflict.

Terrorists unleashed a surprise attack in Israel this weekend that has left scores of people dead -- marking what's sure to be the start of a prolonged bloodbath in the Middle East.

The radical group known as Hamas swarmed Israeli territory along the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas early Saturday morning -- this after launching countless rockets at civilian buildings and going around to wreak havoc on the streets thereafter in armed convoys.

There are several videos surfacing from Israel that capture the sheer brutality and horror of what's happening on the ground ... and most of them are far too graphic for publication.

What we can show, however, are key clips of Israelis being taken hostage in this hellish ordeal -- including lots of women and children who are being wrangled by Hamas members and thrown into the backs of their trucks ... getting tossed and thrashed and mistreated.

As of this writing, the official body count on Israel's side is upwards of 150 ... and it continues to soar as the government scours through the wreckage and aftermath. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is "at war" following the Hamas incursion -- and promised to retaliate with everything in his power to send a message of deterrence.

Israel has already begun to do that ... firing its own rockets and destroying buildings that are believed to be affiliated with Hamas militants -- and there are aerial strikes happening as well.

The fighting has only escalated since the initial onslaught ... the latest reports say a new wave of rockets have been fired from the Gaza region and are headed toward central Israel, including Tel Aviv. The U.S. is already on its toes in the wake of all this ugly news.