It’s Wednesday, September 10. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The tragedy of Britney Spears; the canonization of “God’s influencer”; the anatomy of a viral lie about Gaza. And more.
But first: Israel’s strike on Hamas.
Around lunchtime on Tuesday, Israeli jets struck the offices of Hamas’s leadership in Qatar. According to the Israel Defense Forces, senior Hamas leaders—responsible for October 7 and other terror attacks on the Jewish state—were the targets. Hamas says five of its members were killed in the strike.
As smoke billowed across the Doha skyline, yet another set of assumptions about the Middle East had been shattered. One U.S. ally had attacked another. Qatar’s audacious attempt to have it both ways, hosting both a major U.S. military base and Hamas’s political leadership, had come unstuck.
So where does the strike leave the chances for an end to the Israel-Hamas war that will enter its third year next month? How does it affect Qatar’s regional status? Will Doha be forced to take a side in a divided region? And what might happen next? Jay Solomon, Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, and Haviv Rettig Gur provide answers to these questions and more in a trio of offerings on today’s most important story.
Jay goes behind the scenes of the strike to shed light on the consequences of the strike. Click here for his report. Then read Hussein Aboubakr Mansour explain how yesterday’s attack is a watershed moment for the Middle East. And watch Haviv talk to The Free Press’s Rafaela Siewert just hours after the strike.
—The Editors
New York Power Brokers Try to Claw Back Clout Before It’s Too Late |
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In New York City’s mayor’s race, the socialist movement kicked off by Bernie Sanders nearly a decade ago is coming to fruition. Olivia Reingold reports that with Zohran Mamdani leagues ahead in the polls, the establishment who once opposed him is starting to ask a once-unthinkable question: Is it time to join? | | |
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WATCH: A Viral Whistleblower Told a Story About Gaza. It Fell Apart. |
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Earlier this summer, a former aid contractor shared a shocking tale about a boy gunned down in Gaza. It leaped from a small livestream to MSNBC, Tucker Carlson, and Capitol Hill. Then, it turned out to be false. In her latest video report, Tanya Lukyanova looks at how a lie spread around the world—and how it slowly unraveled. | | |
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Suzy Weiss: Britney Spears Will Never Be Free |
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Almost four years after millions of fans demanded to #FreeBritney, Spears’ liberation from a strict conservatorship has come at a cost to her own mental stability. While Spears is now a free woman in the eyes of the law, does that mean she is truly free, despite a debilitating mental instability? No, argues Suzy Weiss. | | |
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The Ancient Roots of the First Millennial Saint |
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On Sunday, the Catholic Church officially canonized Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who died in 2006, making him the first recognized millennial saint. The move was criticized by secular observers as well as some Catholics who believed the process had been too hasty, or that St. Carlo Acutis had not yet met the requirements necessary for sainthood. Matthew Walther discusses the tradition of child saints, starting with St. Rumwold, who is said to have died as a newborn in the seventh century. | | |
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