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The mother of two British-Israeli sisters killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank has died of her wounds.

Israel’s Hadassah hospital announced the death of Lucy Dee, 45, on Monday.

She had been in a coma after the family’s car was attacked by suspected Palestinian militants on Friday.

The scene of the attack in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank
Image:
The scene of the attack in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank

Her daughters, Maia and Rina Dee, aged 20 and 15, died at the scene when their car was shot at and forced off the road.

The husband and father of the victims – who witnessed the attack from another car – was unharmed, but Mrs Dee was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

Rabbi Leo Dee broke down at his daughters’ funeral on Sunday as he paid tribute to his “beautiful angels”.

He also spoke of his hopes that his wife would recover.

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“How will I explain to Lucy what has happened to our two precious gifts?” he asked.

The attack happened near Hamra, about 30 miles north of Jerusalem, but the family are believed to have lived in a settlement near Bethlehem.

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Rabbi’s tribute after daughters killed

Maia and Rina Dee's siblings clutched their bodies at the funeral
Image:
Maia and Rina Dee’s siblings clutched their bodies at the funeral

Sky’s Middle East correspondent said the targeting of cars with Israeli number plates in the West Bank had become “far more commonplace in the last few weeks”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene and has vowed to catch the killers.

He said extra border police and IDF (Israel Defence Forces) had been called up “to confront the terror attacks”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews tweeted that “our hearts go out to the Dee family”.

“Our community, alongside Jewish communities around the world, mourns their loss. May their memories be for eternal blessing,” it added.

Map of West Bank

Rabbi Dee was senior rabbi at Radlett United Synagogue in Hertfordshire from 2011-2014 and assistant rabbi in Hendon, north London, from 2008-2011.

The family moved back to Israel in 2014, said Mordechai Ginsbury, a rabbi at the Hendon synagogue.

He said the Dees were the “nicest, loveliest people” and he was “so, so sorry”.

“To think that in a few moments, so senselessly and painfully, this has happened, such a tragic loss of life, of goodness, is just devastating,” added Mr Ginsbury.

One person died in the Tel Aviv attack.Pic: AP
Image:
A car drove at people in Tel Aviv on Friday. Pic: AP
Alessandro Parini,30, was killed in Tel Aviv. Pic: Facebook
Image:
Alessandro Parini, 30, was killed in the attack. Pic: Facebook

Italian tourist Alessandro Parini was also killed on the same day as the attack on the Dee family when a car drove at people in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Police shot the attacker dead as he reached for his weapon but five other tourists, including Britons, were hurt in the incident near the Charles Claure Promenade.

An Israeli security source identified the assailant as an Israeli Arab from the town of Kafr Qassem.

Friday’s attacks came after Israel launched early morning strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in response to rocket attacks on Thursday that it blamed on militant group Hamas.

Tensions are also high in the region following police raids on Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem as the Muslim and Jewish festivals of Ramadan and Passover coincide.

Read more:
Why is there tension over Jerusalem holy site?

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Why did police raid Al Aqsa Mosque?

Stun grenades and tear gas were fired in the early hours of Wednesday after several hundred Palestinians remained after prayers.

Israeli police said they tried to clear them peacefully but that a small group – some of whom had fireworks, sticks and stones – barricaded themselves in.

Locals blamed Israeli authorities for the violence while Jordan and Egypt, who have been involved in peace talks, condemned the police’s actions.

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World

A conversation with historian Sir Niall Ferguson on Trump, tariffs and China

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A conversation with historian Sir Niall Ferguson on Trump, tariffs and China

👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈

Richard and Yalda are joined by one of the world’s most eminent historians and political commentators to discuss culture wars, trade wars, and the possibility of World War Three over Taiwan.

Sir Niall says the US may be in the stage of “buyer’s remorse” with the Trump presidency, and predicts that by this time next year, he could be “deeply underwater” in the polls.

To get in touch or to share questions for Richard and Yalda, email theworld@sky.uk

Click here to visit their YouTube channel where you can watch all the episodes.

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Episodes of The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim will be available every Wednesday on all podcast platforms.

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World

In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life

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In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump's tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life

The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.

We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.

It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.

The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.

An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.

She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.

Tariffs latest: Follow live updates

More from World

Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”

The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.

However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”

Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
Image:
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband

JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.

They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.

It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.

Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.

She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”

aaa

A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition

Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.

In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.

The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.

They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.

Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money

Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?

Pierre Louis Giboin's family has been making cognac for centuries
Image:
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution

Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.

“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”

Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.

Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.

Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.

Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.

Confusion away from the chaos

Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.

In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.

“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.

It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned

France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.

In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.

It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.

Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.

Later she was meeting with her American distributors.

Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.

He says the entire industry is reeling

Sylvie Courselle with distributers
Image:
Sylvie Courselle with distributers

The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
Image:
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region

“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.

“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”

They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.

“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.

It is, she says, very stressful.

Jerry Keogh
Image:
Gerry Keogh

aaaaa

The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.

America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Donald Trump its now seen here as turning on France and the rest of Europe in a reckless and unjustified trade war.

It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.

How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.

Continue Reading

World

In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump’s tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life

Published

on

By

In the idyllic Cognac region of southern France, Trump's tariffs threaten a centuries-old way of life

The impact of Trump’s tariffs is reaching deep into every economy.

We travelled into the French rural heartland, heading for Cognac – the home of French brandy.

It is only half the size of Surrey but its exports to America are worth €1bn a year and that trade is now severely threatened.

The first buds are out on the vines of Amy Pasquet’s vineyard.

An American, she has married into the industry and with her French husband owns JLP Cognac.

She knows more than most the bond brandy has formed between their two countries that goes back to the war.

Tariffs latest: Follow live updates

More from World

Ms Pasquet said: “A lot of the African-American soldiers had really loved their experience here and had brought back the cognac. And I think that stayed because this African-American community truly is a community. and they want to drink like their grandfather did.”

The ties remain with rappers like Jay Z’s love for cognac.

However, Ms Pasquet adds: “There’s also this other community of people who have been drinking bourbon for a long time, love bourbon, but find the prices just outrageous today. So they want to try something different.”

Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband
Image:
Amy Pasquet owns JLP Cognac with her husband

JLP’s products were served at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.

They were preparing to launch new product lines in the US. But now that’s in doubt.

It is hard being an American in France now, Ms Pasquet says.

Her French neighbours are appalled by what US President Donald Trump is doing.

She continues: “They’re like, okay, America’s forgotten how close France and America are as far as (their) relationship is concerned. And I think that’s hurtful on both sides. I think it’s important to remember that the US is many things, and not just this one person, and there are millions of inhabitants that didn’t vote for him.”

aaa

A fresh challenge for a centuries-old tradition

Making cognac takes years, using techniques that go back centuries. In another vineyard we met Pierre Louis Giboin whose family have been doing it for more than 200 years.

In a cellar dating back to the French Revolution, barrels of oak sit under thick cobwebs, ageing the brandy.

The walls are lined with a unique black mould that thrives off the vapours of cognac.

They have seen threats come and go over those centuries, wars, weather, pestilence. But never from a country they regard as one of their oldest allies and best of customers.

Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war
How tariffs will affect your money

Could Trump’s tariffs tip the world into recession?

Pierre Louis Giboin's family has been making cognac for centuries
Image:
Pierre Louis Giboin’s cellar dates back to the French revolution

Mr Trump’s tariffs, says Mr Giboin, now threaten a way of life.

“It’s at the end of like very good times in the Cognac region. It’s been like 10 years when everything’s been perfect, we have good harvest, we sell really easily all the stock, but now I mean it’s the end.”

Ms Pasquet and Mr Giboin are unusual.

Most cognac makers sell their produce through the drink’s four big houses, Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.

Some have been told the amounts they can sell have been drastically reduced.

Independents though like them must find new markets if the tariff threat persists.

Confusion away from the chaos

Outside in the dappled light of a Cognac evening Mr Giboin and I toast glasses of pineau – the diluted form of cognac drunk as an aperitif.

In this idyllic corner of France, a world away from Washington, Mr Trump’s trade war on Europe simply makes no sense.

“He’s like angry against the whole world and the way he talks like that Europe the EU was made against the US to cheat on the US. It’s just crazy to think like this,” Mr Giboin says.

It’s not just what Mr Trump’s done. It’s how Europe now strikes back that concerns the French. And it’s not just in Cognac where they’re concerned

France exports more than €2bn worth of wine to America.

In the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, Sylvie Courselle’s family have been making wine since the 1940s at their Chateau Thieuley vineyard.

It’s bottling season but they can’t prepare the wine headed for America while everything is up in the air.

Showing me the unused reels of US labels for her wine she told me she was losing sleep over the uncertainty.

Later she was meeting with her American distributors.

Gerry Keogh sells Ms Courselle’s wine across the US.

He says the entire industry is reeling

Sylvie Courselle with distributers
Image:
Sylvie Courselle with distributers

The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region
Image:
The Chateau Thieuley vineyard in the Bordeaux wine region

“I think it’s like anything. You don’t really believe it’s happening. And even when you’re in the midst of it, it was kind of like 9/11.

“You’re like… This is actually happening. It’s unbelievable. And when you start seeing the repercussions from the stock market, et cetera, and how it’s impacting every level, it’s quite shocking.”

They know the crisis is far from over and could now escalate.

“We feel stuck in the middle of this commercial war and we don’t have the weapons to fight, I think,” Ms Courselle said.

It is, she says, very stressful.

Jerry Keogh
Image:
Gerry Keogh

aaaaa

The histories of America and France have been intertwined for centuries through revolutions against tyranny and two wars fighting for liberty.

America used to call France its oldest ally, but under Mr Trump it is now being as turned on, as France, along with the rest of Europe, finds itself in what many would argue is a reckless and unjustified trade war.

It is all doing enormous harm to relations between the US and its European allies.

How Europe now decides to retaliate will help determine the extent of that damage.

Continue Reading

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