Headlines in This News Package:

• Nicolás Maduro Wins the Presidential Elections in Venezuela
• Latin American Right Unites Against the Bolivarian Revolution
• Israel Threatens to Escalate Attacks on Lebanon Following Rocket Attack in Occupied Golan Heights
• Palestinian Grassroots Foil Attempted Arrest of Tulkarem Brigade’s Commander Abu Shujaa

[NEWS ITEM TEXT]

Nicolás Maduro Wins the Presidential Elections in Venezuela

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Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third term in Venezuela’s presidential elections, winning 51.2 percent of the vote. In a July 29 press conference, the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, announced that with 80 percent of ballots counted, there was an irreversible trend pointing towards a Maduro victory, and that 59 percent of the electorate had participated in the elections. Right-wing candidate Edmundo González came in second with 44 percent of the vote.

After the results were announced, Maduro, accompanied by other leaders of Chavismo, addressed supporters at Miraflores Palace.

“There will be peace, stability, and justice. Peace and respect for the law,” he declared.

Maduro stated that his priorities are to advance the economic recovery of the country, to strengthen social projects, and to build spaces of national dialogue and unity among the diverse political and social forces in the country. Another two key priorities are to continue fighting for an end to the blockade and sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and the European Union and to pass the Anti-Blockade Law.

The far-right opposition led by the former presidential candidate Edmundo González and political leader María Corina Machado has refused to recognize the results. Machado claimed in a press conference that González had won 70 percent of the votes, and Maduro had 30 percent. She called on supporters to “continue affirming the victory of Edmundo in all of Venezuela… In the next few days we will continue announcing actions to defend the truth.”

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Latin American Right Unites Against the Bolivarian Revolution

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Ahead of the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela, political figures, former elected officials, and sitting authorities from conservative sectors of Latin American politics united to condemn the ongoing electoral process underway in Venezuela. They supported the far-right in the country represented on the ballot by Edmundo González and politically by the figure of Maria Corina Machado, who is not eligible to run.

The first wave of attacks were in response to alleged political deportations of several political figures such as ex-vice president of Colombia Marta Lucía Ramírez, ex-president of Mexico Vicente Fox, and ex-president of Bolivia Jorge Tuto Ramírez. They are part of the Miami-based right-wing think tank IDEA Group and had attempted to travel to Venezuela to act as electoral observers. After they were denied entry to the country for not having proper accreditation from the country’s electoral authorities, they launched a campaign on social media alleging that they were arbitrarily detained and deported by the “Maduro regime.”

In a statement released by IDEA Group, the political intentions of this trip are made clear, stating its intention to “sustain the struggle for the return of democracy in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia; this, to prevent other countries in the region from knowing the risk of suffering that long night that for 24 years has darkened the illusions and hopes of millions of Venezuelans.”

María Corina Machado and González have also been drumming up support from other right-wing leaders. Machado wrote about a call she had with Argentine President Javier Milei, stating, “I thanked [Milei] for the support and commitment of his government and the political team of the Foreign Ministry during these difficult months for Venezuelans and for our people in the campaign.”

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Israel Threatens to Escalate Attacks on Lebanon Following Rocket Attack in Occupied Golan Heights

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At least 12 people, including nine children and one teenager, were killed and several others injured after a rocket hit a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on July 27.

The Israeli Occupation Forces accused Hezbollah of being responsible for the attack. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari threatened to respond in retaliation saying: “We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah, we will act.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also promised that Israel will “not let this pass in silence.”

In response to the Israeli allegations, Hezbollah issued a statement: “The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon categorically denies the allegations reported by some Israeli media outlets and various other media platforms about targeting the Majdal Shams area. Hezbollah affirms that it has no connection to the incident whatsoever and emphatically denies all false claims in this regard.”

The head of the Druze Initiative Ghaleb Saif commented on the attack saying that the missiles which fell on the Syrian Golan Heights and Galilee were Israeli interceptor missiles. “Every day, we see how Iron Dome missiles miss their targets and end up falling on us,” he said.

Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani described the attack as a “staged play orchestrated by the occupation regime.”

Lebanese politician and leader of the Druze community in Lebanon Walid Jumblatt urged all people in Lebanon and the occupied Golan Heights to be cautious of “any provocation or incitement within the enemy’s destructive agenda,” referring to Israel.

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Palestinian Grassroots Foil Attempted Arrest of Tulkarem Brigade’s Commander Abu Shujaa

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Crowds of Palestinians rushed towards Thabet Thabet hospital in Tulkarem city, in the West Bank on July 26, after a call by Tulkarem Brigade to mobilize and free its commander Abu Shujaa. Shujaa was besieged by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces there.

The crowds succeed in breaking the siege and freeing Abu Shujaa, the commander of Tulkarem Brigade, affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Saraya al-Quds Brigades, who was receiving medical treatment when the PA security forces surrounded the hospital. Clashes between the PA security forces and Tulkarem Brigade fighters were reported in the vicinity of the hospital before the crowds arrived.

In a televised interview with Al Jazeera, Member of the Islamic Jihad political bureau, Ali Abu Shaheen, stated that the arrest attempt “serves the agenda of the Zionist enemy.”

According to Hamas, “the behavior of the Palestinian Authority’s security services in pursuing and arresting resistance fighters, and their sources of weapons has reached its most dangerous stage.”

After being freed from the hospital, Abu Shujaa, who is considered one of the most wanted resistance fighters by Israel in the West Bank, arrived in Tulkarem’s Nur Shams refugee camp amid celebrations by the camp’s residents.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have reportedly failed several times to assassinate Abu Shujaa. In April 2024, Israeli media outlets falsely claimed that the IOF had managed to kill Abu Shujaa in a military operation carried out in Nur Shams refugee camp. The operation resulted in the deaths of 14 Palestinians, including one child.