One of the seven aid workers killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza was 33-year-old Jacob Flickinger, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who grew up in Quebec’s Beauce region and was the father of an 18-month-old boy.
Flickinger, a dual Canadian and United States citizen, had been in Gaza volunteering for World Central Kitchen since early March, his family said in an interview Wednesday.
Aid workers have been racing to distribute food as famine looms in Gaza, six months after Israel’s invasion.
But delivering aid has proven deadly. More than 196 humanitarian workers, many of them Palestinians working for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), have been killed since the invasion’s start in October, according to Aid Worker Security Database, a U.S.-funded group recording major incidents of violence against aid personnel.
Flickinger’s parents, Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger, say the attack on Flickinger and six of his colleagues was a clear targeted attack by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) because of how obviously marked the World Central Kitchen convoy was. It was also travelling on a well-used humanitarian route and the group had co-ordinated its movements in advance with the IDF, they said.
“In my mind, this was a targeted killing of aid workers who happened to be foreign,” Flickinger’s father said in an interview with CBC News Wednesday afternoon.
“Most of the aid workers killed to date have been from Gaza. And it’s part of an attempt to — I don’t know whether what they’re thinking of starving the population in Palestine, I don’t know. Punishment, revenge and war. This war is senseless. All wars are senseless,” Flickinger said, sitting alongside his ex-wife, Labrecque, in her home in Saint-Georges, about 200 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
WATCH | Jacob Flickinger’s parents believe the attack on aid workers was deliberate:
Father of Canadian aid worker killed in Gaza says IDF strike was ‘deliberate’
3 hours ago
Duration 1:42
Jacob Flickinger, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who grew up in Quebec, was one of seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in a strike Israel has called unintentional. ‘Their convoy was marked, clearly marked, and they are on a well-used humanitarian route. So in my opinion, it was a targeted kill,’ his father, John Flickinger, told CBC News.
Flickinger and six other World Central Kitchen workers had been travelling back to their base Monday after unloading 90 tonnes of food aid at the Deir al-Balah warehouse, the group said in a statement.
The workers were travelling in a deconflicted zone in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a “soft skin vehicle.” They were struck despite having co-ordinated their movements with the IDF, the group said.
The six other workers were British, Polish, Australian and Palestinian, according to WCK, which released their names, photos and ages on Tuesday.
Israel’s military chief, Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Wednesday that a preliminary investigation following the attack revealed it was “a mistake that followed a misidentification.”
“At night, during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” he said. Halevi gave no further details.
He said an independent body would conduct a “thorough investigation” that would be completed in the coming days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier acknowledged the “unintended strike … on innocent people” and said officials would work to ensure it did not happen again.
Flickinger’s parents called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages to Israel.
“It’s not only our son who’s gone. All these families are affected, so I’m just hoping that they’re not gone for nothing,” Labrecque said. “This hatred just seems to have no end,” Flickinger said.
World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organization delivering food in Gaza, identified seven aid workers who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on April 1, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Damian Soból, Jacob Flickinger, Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, James Kirby, James (Jim) Henderson, John Chapman and Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha. (Instagram/World Central Kitchen, Facebook/Free Place Foundation)
11 years of military service
Jacob Flickinger, who spent 11 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and had spent eight months in Afghanistan, had recently settled with his wife, Sandy Leclerc, and their 18-month-old son in Costa Rica, his parents said.
“They were a happy little family. Together, they were extremely happy and they loved each other desperately. And they had great projects for the future, for themselves and the child,” said Labrecque. The baby was Jacob’s “greatest joy,” his father said, tearing up. Flickinger’s family has preferred not to share his young son’s identity.
“Now, things have changed drastically.”
Leclerc, who is from the Quebec City area, has remained in Costa Rica to grieve, where her father flew from Quebec to join her, Labrecque said.
In the months before travelling to Gaza for World Central Kitchen, Flickinger had completed a contract for the charity in Acapulco, Mexico, following a hurricane there. As he did in Gaza, Flickinger helped with security and logistics in delivering food aid.
Jacob Flickinger’s father, John Flickinger, said his son’s baby had been his ‘greatest joy.’ (Submitted by Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger)
Labrecque said the work was ideal for Flickinger, putting his military training and skills to good use. “He was doing what he loved, which was helping people,” she said.
She and John Flickinger said they have been flooded with messages from people around the world who knew their son, either from his work with the military or for various organizations.
“He was the best, most loyal friend you could ask for,” his father said. “He touched many people.”
Cendrine White, who met Flickinger at a conference in 2019 where he had been holding a workshop on outdoor survival, was one of those people. She recalled how Flickinger could command the attention in a room, saying “all stares would all just like go right at him.” She said her friend “was invincible” in her mind.
Quebecer killed in Israeli strike while delivering aid in Gaza ‘was really inspiring,’ friend says
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Duration 0:42
Cendrine White says she was shocked when she learned her friend, Jacob Flickinger, was one of seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in a strike that Israel has called unintentional. ‘I just could not believe it because he was invincible in my mind,’ she told CBC News.
“He was a man that did not compromise. He was being the best version of himself and he didn’t only say it, he acted on it. He was just trying to become the inspiration for people around him,” White said.
Flickinger was born in Saint-Georges, where his mother still lives, but the family soon moved to Miami, where his father is from and currently lives. Labrecque and John Flickinger separated when Jacob was five and he and his mother moved back to the Beauce region, where he grew up after that, Labrecque explained.
John Flickinger received the call from World Central Kitchen Monday evening explaining that his son had been killed. He flew to Quebec to deliver the news to his ex-wife in person.
World leaders have condemned the attack on the aid convoy. U.S. President Joe Biden issued an unusually blunt criticism of his country’s close ally, suggesting that the deaths demonstrated Israel was not doing enough to protect civilians.
“Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” he said, adding he was “outraged and heartbroken” by their killings. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen.”
Jacob Flickinger, left, was the Canadian-United States citizen killed in a strike on aid workers in Gaza Monday. Flickinger grew up in Quebec and had recently settled in Costa Rica with his wife, Sandy Leclerc, and their 18-month-old. (Submitted by Sylvie Labrecque and John Flickinger)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the attack on aid workers was “absolutely unacceptable.”
“The world needs clear answers as to how this happened,” Trudeau said. “We need to again continue to push for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire that will bring that kind of support to the people throughout Gaza.”
Israel’s invasion of Gaza follow an unprecedented attack by Hamas that killed 1,139 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Fighters took 253 hostages, 130 of whom remain in captivity and at least 34 are presumed dead.
Since then, 32,975 people have been killed in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry there said this week.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
