The report states that Chinese nationals illegally crossing into the U.S. has increased 220 percent since last year
Migrants who cross illegally pay an average of $8,600 in fees to the cartels to be smuggled into the U.S.
Some migrants interviewed by Border Patrol officials admit to paying up to $60,000 to get into the U.S.
'Our Sector Intelligence Unit estimates that the weekly revenue for the illicit human smuggling in our sector alone, the Del Rio Sector alone, is in excess of $30 million a week,' U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, told members of the House Oversight Committee.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Anti-Israel babus government employees planning a "walkout" to protest the Biden administration's military support for Israel had their plans foiled after a snow day shut down all federal offices in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
Anonymous protest organizers claimed that "hundreds" of employees from the White House and other agencies, including the State Department, the Defense Department, and the National Security Agency, were set to skip work to participate in a "Day of Mourning" for Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , al-Monitor reported last week.
But their protest was thwarted when D.C. was hit with over three inches of snow late Monday, leading the Office of Personnel Management to announce an all-office closure for the following day.
The snow day came after Republican politicians vowed to punish any Biden administration employees who joined the anti-Israel walkout and as legal experts warned that staffers should expect to lose their jobs if they participated in it.
#1
^Public employees exist to implement elected government's policies. That's what's known as "government of the people, by the people, for the people".
#9
Shut down by three inches? Sounds like shrinkage.
The snow day came after Republican politicians vowed to punish any Biden administration employees who joined the anti-Israel walkout and as legal experts warned that staffers should expect to lose their jobs if they participated in it.
Wish they would have just been quiet, see who did, then drop the hammer.
#11
Not sure about that; Hollywood is geared towards middle age white women, especially those with a Che-Shirt bought at that Rage Against the Machine concert. I bet there are very specific instructions about not advertising said beliefs or else to Zegler their films and career.
They know their products are bombing because general audience rejection, not their gremlin 'toxic bros doing review bombs'.
#12
Dance hall music used to be a very big entertainment at one time. Then it went away. The movie and teevee crowd should not imagine it couldn't happen to them, too.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/18/2024 16:25 Comments ||
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[SUDANTRIBUNE] In a strongly worded statement, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has condemned those who hinder Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... ’s grinding of the peace processor, labelling them as traitors to the nation.
Dagalo’s remarks came in response to the Sudanese government’s decision to suspend cooperation with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), citing IGAD’s unilateral decision to include Sudan’s situation on the agenda of its upcoming extraordinary summit and to invite Dagalo to participate without prior consultation with Sudan.
In his statement, the RSF leader reaffirmed his commitment to participating in the upcoming IGAD meeting, driven by his unwavering desire to resolve Sudan’s ongoing conflict.
Dagalo outlined several key principles that should govern Sudan’s grinding of the peace processor. He stressed the importance of inclusive negotiations that represent the interests of all Sudanese stakeholders, including civil society groups, religious organizations, youth groups, professional associations, and the broader Sudanese citizenry. He also emphasized the need for a unified, professional military and a swift transition to a democratic government through free and fair elections.
He reiterated his unwavering commitment to establishing a stable, democratic, and peaceful Sudan. He declared his readiness to make any necessary sacrifices to achieve this goal.
The RSF leader strongly condemned those who seek to undermine the grinding of the peace processor, stating that "Anyone who obstructs negotiations, prevents meetings from taking place, or abandons the negotiating table without justifiable cause is betraying the Sudanese people."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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[SUDANTRIBUNE] The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Commission (AUC) has appointed three eminent African personalities to a High-Level Panel on Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... , tasked with facilitating an inclusive process towards the swift restoration of peace, constitutional order, and stability in the country.
The Panel, which will be chaired by Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the AU High Representative for Silencing the Guns, comprises Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, former Vice President of Uganda, and Ambassador Francisco Madeira, former Special Representative of the Chairperson of the Commission (SRCC) to Somalia and Head of AMISOM/ATMIS.
The appointment of the High-Level Panel follows a decision by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) in October 2023, which urged the AUC to take steps to support the Sudanese people in their efforts to achieve peace and stability.
The Panel will work closely with all Sudanese stakeholders, including civilian forces, military belligerents, and regional and global actors, to facilitate an inclusive dialogue and negotiations leading to a comprehensive peace agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Italia-based sportwear maker mum on local director’s pledge to sponsor no games featuring David Teeger over his pro-Israel stance
An executive at the South Africa office of the sportswear maker Diadora said that the company would not sponsor events featuring David Teeger, a Jewish cricket player who was demoted after praising Israeli troops fighting Hamas ...a regional Iranian catspaw,... in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... The report of a boycott action by Diadora South Africa against Teeger appeared in a document published last month by Wim Trengove, a jurist who is heading an independent inquiry into the conduct of Teeger, who was stripped of the captainship of South Africa’s under-19 team for the 2024 Cricket World Cup.
Many Jews and others see Teeger’s demotion as a form of political persecution with a chilling effect on the freedom of expression of South African Jewry, one of the world’s most outspokenly Zionist Jewish communities.
Cricket South Africa, the national association for the sport, demoted Teeger, 19, for saying in a speech on October 22 that he is dedicating an award he’d received "to the State of Israel and to every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the Diaspora." The Association said the demotion was designed to protect the team from hostile action by pro-Paleostinian activists, but many believe it is merely punishing Teeger as it investigated complaints alleging his remarks violated ethical rules.
South Africa last week dragged Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing it of perpetrating genocide in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip — an allegation Israel has rejected as a baseless libel.
Trengove, the lawyer that Cricket South Africa appointed to head the inquiry into the Teeger affair, ruled that Teeger’s comments violated neither his country’s constitution nor the ethics code of his team, the Central Gauteng Lions. Yet he was not reinstated as captain.
In his ruling, Trengove noted that a director of Diadora South Africa, whom Trengove identified as Azhar Saloojee, had said that the firm "will not tolerate Mr. Teeger playing in any competition sponsored by Diadora." Diadora is a sponsor of the Jozi Cup, a community-based winter cricket club in South Africa.
Neither Diadora, an Italia-based company that in 2019 had a turnover of about $170 million, nor its South Africa branch replied to requests for comment by The Times of Israel.
The South Africa Israel Chamber of Commerce last month wrote to Diadora to complain about Saloojee’s remarks asking the company to clarify whether he spoke for Diadora. They have received no response.
"Diadora’s execrable threat of withdrawing sponsorship of any competition in which Mr. Teeger participates, is tantamount to blackmail and the destruction of a brilliant young cricketer’s career," the chamber wrote in its letter.
Separately, the South African Board of Deputies, the main representative body of the country’s organized Jewish community, met on Tuesday with Cricket South Africa officials to protest Teeger’s removal as captain, which Teeger told the board that he opposed.
"CSA’s vacillating and contradictory responses to the questions put to them reinforces our understanding that the excuse provided for Teeger’s removal as captain, namely ’security concerns,’ is trumped up and bogus," the board wrote in a statement.
Zev Krengel, vice-president of the board, told journalists at an online presser that his organization intends to complain to the International Cricket Council, the world governing body of the sport, against the South African assosiation.
"We really felt we had to give Cricket SA a chance first," Krengel said. "We were really hoping that they’d come to their senses and realize what they’d done was antisemitic and discriminatory and racist, and that they would reinstate David." But the South African association "has no intention" of doing this, he added.
Cricket is widely considered one of the three most popular sports in South Africa, a nation of about 60 million people. According to recent estimates, South Africa’s Jewish population has decreased from 75,000 in 2001 to about 50,000 in 2019.
[Jpost] The Houthis may be repositioning some of their missiles and drones after US and UK airstrikes and also to present more challenges to shipping, a new report says.
Al-Ain media in the United Arab Emirates said it has learned from “Yemen military sources” about how the Houthis are moving their drones and other munitions to carry out attacks.
NEW PLAN TO ATTACK INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
The report says that the sources revealed these details over the weekend.
“The Houthis arsenal is moving under cover of darkness.” This represents a “new plan” by the Houthis to carry out attacks against international shipping routes. These types of reports are worth examining because even if the claims are not verified, the report itself illustrates growing concerns in the region about Iranian-backed Houthi escalation.
REPOSITIONING OF WEAPONS IN WAKE OF US, UK STRIKES
The Al-Ain report says that the Houthis moved medium-range ballistic missiles and drones to the eastern highlands of Taiz governorate and areas in southern Yemen.
“The sources added that the militias transported drones to the Al-Ahkoum Mountains and the highlands overlooking the ‘Taiz - Lahj – Aden’ line and set up their platforms, in preparation for their use against cargo ships in the Arab and Red Bahrain, the Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandab.”
This represents a repositioning of drones and missiles “in the wake of the American and British strikes that targeted dozens of militia targets.”
Now the Houthis have moved weapons toward the coast to expand their area of operations and target Western navies operating in the area.
It comes “as part of a plan aimed at expanding the theater of operations from the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to observers.” One area is 130 km. from the Arabian Sea while the distance to the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab is 160 km.
The Al-Ain report meanwhile appeared to indicate that the Houthis may be considering launching missiles at ships that are not in the Red Sea, firing them over Aden.
The report claimed that this trajectory was reflected in the January 15 attack by the Houthis on the bulk carrier Gibraltar Eagle.
The report said that several missiles actually landed in Yemen, apparently due to malfunctions. They struck areas in Lahij near Aden, the Al-Ain report claimed.
The report indicates that the Houthis will seek to escalate attacks in new areas, rather than directly confront the Americans.
HOUTHIS COULD SEEK TO EXPAND ATTACKS BEYOND THE RED SEA
The assumption then is that the Houthis could begin attacking ships beyond the Red Sea. This would expand the threat to a huge swath of international waters off Yemen.
With some ships already diverting around Africa, this could present a new challenge to the US and other countries that have signed on to try to stop further Houthi attacks. The report also discusses how the Houthis have acquired weapons via smuggling.
Meanwhile, the attacks continue in the Red Sea. A Greek-owned bulk carrier was struck on Tuesday, the BBC noted.
In another incident, the US sought to search a small boat near Somalia that was allegedly carrying Iranian parts for missions for the Houthis. Two US Navy SEALs also went missing during the interdiction of the vessel. Iranian warheads were found on the vessel.
The Al-Ain report could reflect new serious information about the Houthis and their positioning of missiles and drones.
It could also reflect the wider regional concerns in the Gulf about the Houthis choosing to escalate. Either way, the report is important because it illustrates that the region is wondering what the Iran-backed Houthis will do next.
Iran’s attacks on Iraq and Pakistan this week show that Iran is more willing to throw its weight around. The Houthis attacks have continued and companies are wary to ship via the Red Sea or they are trying to distance themselves from any connection to the US, the UK, or Israel. This is a serious challenge for the West and the freedom of the seas.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] As Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary, Vladimir Putin looks to be sitting pretty.
His forces have thwarted Ukraine's counter-offensive and are hunkered down in the country's east ahead of an expected springtime push to consolidate territory.
At home, the Kremlin's propaganda machine has successfully spun the brutal invasion of its neighbour into a tale of survival and resistance against the domineering, imperial West.
And the independent Levada Centre polls show his approval rating sky-high at 83 per cent, with his march to yet another term in office following the upcoming presidential elections in March practically guaranteed.
But in the face of severe economic sanctions and with his country diplomatically and technologically isolated from the Western world, Putin must continue to forge key partnerships elsewhere if he wants to keep the circus in motion.
And this has led him to the doorstep of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran represents a grave threat to the West, sitting behind a host of burgeoning militias that threaten to destabilise the security of the whole region.
But Tehran's disdain for the US and its allies, military might, and status as a highly influential force in the Middle East make it a perfect match for Moscow.
Now, with the two powers seemingly on the cusp of agreeing a formal strategic partnership, MailOnline breaks down how this diabolical pairing could plunge the world further into chaos.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
01/18/2024 01:30 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A classmate of Nikita Zhuravel stated in testimony to the court that he did not ask[KavkazUzel] the defendant about his attitude to Islam and does not know on whose instructions Zhuravel burned the Koran. The saleswoman of the store where this book was purchased could not identify Zhuravel.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, hearings in the case of Nikita Zhuravel were repeatedly postponed for various reasons, including due to the failure of the victims to appear. Imams from Chechnya, who are victims in the case of Nikita Zhuravel, stated at meetings on December 12 and 20, 2023 that the burning of the Koran insulted them and all Muslims.
On November 2, 2023, the court in Grozny began to consider the case of Volgograd resident Nikita Zhuravel, accused in the case of burning the Koran. He is accused of violating the right to freedom of conscience and religion and hooliganism. On October 13, 2023, in court, Zhuravel apologized to Muslims for his action, but admitted guilt only in the very fact of burning the Koran, saying that he had no motive for gross violation of public order. You can read more about the Zhuravel case in the Caucasian Knot information “ The beating of Nikita Zhuravel: why did Kadyrov’s men need to publish the video.”
At today's hearing in the Visaitovsky Court of Grozny in the case of Nikita Zhuravel, the testimony of two prosecution witnesses was read out, the Chechnya Today agency reported.
Zhuravel’s classmate Nikita Kuznetsov said in his testimony that he “did not ask” the defendant about his attitude towards Islam. “He worked as a courier. He said that he did not support the special military operation (SVO) due to the fact that he was a native of Crimea, which was previously part of Ukraine. From Nikita’s words, I knew that his parents live in Crimea. That he plans to burn the Koran along with the video and distribute it on the Internet, he never told me,” Kuznetsov’s testimony states.
He also noted that he was “shocked” by what he saw in the video recording of the burning of the Koran. “I don’t know who ordered him to burn the Koran. Who paid for his action […] I don’t know,” the agency quoted Kuznetsov as saying.
An employee of the Read the City store, Irina Sivalapova, said that she would not be able to identify Zhuravel, since the store was always crowded with people. “On April 23, 2023, I sold the book Koran worth 775 rubles, as it later turned out from law enforcement officers, the buyer of the book was a resident of the city of Volgograd, Nikita Sergeevich Zhuravel,” her words are quoted in the publication.
The court adjourned the hearing to January 29. It is expected that Zhuravel will testify at this meeting, TASS reported today.
Let us remind you that 19-year-old Nikita Zhuravel was detained in Volgograd on May 20, 2023. According to investigators, he “on instructions from the SBU” set fire to the Koran and filmed it for a promised reward of 10 thousand rubles. The Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, transferred the Zhuravel case to Chechnya, responding to the demands of the residents of the republic, who considered themselves the injured party. On May 27, 2023, Zhuravel was taken to the Grozny pre-trial detention center. Vladimir Putin announced on June 13, 2023 that Zhuravel would serve his sentence in one of the Muslim regions.
[Jpost] North Korea operates an illegal arms smuggling network used to finance its nuclear weapons program, across the world, according to US and UN investigators.
During the war in Gaza, the IDF recovered large quantities of weapons from the Gaza Strip that apparently were produced in North Korea, as reported by the South Korean National Intelligence Service.
Since these weapons were seized, new information has been published revealing the current and historical relationship between North Korea and Hamas, as well as other terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Syria, and the Houthis, according to a study by the Stimson Research Institute.
On October 16, Israeli Ambassador to South Korea Akiva Tor expressed concern that Hamas had used North Korean weapons against Israel and vowed to destroy North Korean weapons stocks in the Gaza Strip.
On October 17, a senior official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed that “Hamas is believed to be directly or indirectly linked to North Korea militarily in various areas, such as the weapons trade, tactical guidance, and training.”
North Korea’s state Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) called the allegations that it arms Hamas “a groundless and false rumor.” It accused the US of creating the conspiracy to deflect from its own complicity in the Gaza war.
This statement was undermined by the North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenades from Hamas’s arsenal that were captured by Israeli forces. In addition, Israeli forces found North Korean Bang-122 artillery shells on the Israel-Gaza border, and a Hamas-aligned terrorist group in Gaza possesses North Korean-made 122-mm multiple rocket launchers.
NORTH KOREA'S HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP WITH IRAN AND SYRIA
North Korea has a long history of partnership with Iran and Syria, detailed in the Stimson report, and as a result, its military technology has reached Iran’s terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
Since the start of the war, North Korean state media has repeatedly illustrated violence perpetrated by Israel and has whitewashed Hamas. North Korea’s party daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, stated that the international community believed “Israel’s constant criminal acts against the Palestinian people” caused the war. The state media has not shown the carnage of the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.
North Korea historically has described Israel as an “imperialist satellite state” and recognizes Palestinian sovereignty over the entirety of Israeli territory, except the Golan Heights.
During the 2008-2009 and 2014 Gaza wars, North Korea said Israel was committing crimes against humanity. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman, Yasser Arafat, received North Korean weapons from Kim Il Sung.
North Korean intelligence officers provided training to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) commander George Habash and facilitated the PFLP-Japanese Red Army 1972 terror attack at the Lod Airport in Israel, the report revealed.
Between the end of the Cold War and 2007, these ties weakened. However, they strengthened after the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, when Hamas turned to North Korea for military assistance. Hamas reportedly gave North Korea a six-figure payment for rockets and military-use communications equipment. Hamas conducted this transaction through a third-party company in Lebanon.
At the time, North Korea said allegations that it was performing such activities were “utterly useless sophism and sheer fiction let loose by the US.”
Once again, North Korean Bulsae-2 anti-tank guided missiles were found in the inventory of the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, a Gaza-based terrorist group and one-time ally of Hamas.
In May 2021, a small quantity of F-7 rockets were found with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the same Brigade that was part of the attacks on October 7.
This transfer of weaponry from North Korea to Hamas is largely performed through third parties, the Stimson report stated, possibly from North Korea to Iran to Sudan and then to Egypt, where arms are trafficked to Hamas through Hamas’s tunnel network.
In 2009, a North Korean plane smuggling 35 tonnes of rocket launchers, grenades, and missiles was seized in Thailand. US and UN investigators said it is part of a global North Korean illegal arms smuggling network used to finance its nuclear weapons program.
NORTH KOREA TIES WITH HEZBOLLAH AND THE HOUTHIS
In addition to Hamas, North Korea has a history of ties with Hezbollah and the Houthis. In the 1980s, Hezbollah terrorists arrived in North Korea for military training. After 2000, North Korean instructors came to Lebanon to train Hezbollah how to build underground bunkers to store arms, food, and medical facilities. Hezbollah’s tunnel network that stretches to the Israel-Lebanon border was built with North Korean guidance.
North Korea also allegedly transferred improvised Katyusha and Grad rockets to Hezbollah, also transferred through third parties in Syria and Lebanon from Iran. North Korea has aided Iran’s production of several types of rockets, which were then transferred to Hezbollah.
In July 2015, South Korean intelligence officials revealed that the Houthis had fired 20 North Korean-made Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia. The Houthis allegedly captured these scud missiles on the battlefield, as these had been purchased originally by the Yemen Armed Forces from North Korea in 2002.
A year later, Houthi's leadership invited North Korean officials to meet in Damascus, Syria, to discuss technology transfers. These arms transfers have not been officially confirmed.
#3
I read the headline, North Korea training Hezbollah, and wondered when did that happen. Oh, the 80's. Now I see, I suppose the 80s are still relevant to some people.
A major war between Israel and Hezbollah is ruled out until the moment and the U.S. and La Belle France have played a key role in weakening this possibility, European diplomatic sources said.
If it makes them feel better to think so...
"The chances of a broad war were present during the first days of the war in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , but the supposed regional and international parties of this war understood its calamities and destructive results in advance and managed to avoid it, even preventing any wrong calculation that could lead to igniting the war," the sources added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Wednesday.
And as a Lebanese official said "the chances of a broad war remain present as long as the Israeli aggression against Gaza and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... continues," Lebanese diplomatic sources told the daily that Washington is "serious about preventing an expansion of the war."
Over 190 people have been killed in Lebanon during more than three months of cross-border festivities, including over 140 Hezbollah fighters and over 20 civilians, among them three journalists. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents on both sides of the border and Israel says it is keen on returning its residents to their homes even if that required a military campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... airs footage from Hamas ...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7 onslaught, saying it shows a terrorist "sawing at the necks of dead Israelis, evidence of beheadings."
The US network says an unnamed Israeli source provided the CCTV footage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which is censored and edited to highlight the use of the knife.
#1
Good. People need to see the truth. Oct 7 censorship was heavy handed. You couldnt get the truth out. People kept saying there was no evidence of beheading and every... Every time I re-posted GoPro footage from jiahidi telegram channels, it was immediately taken down.
[GEO.TV] Pakistain has received $700 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of its bailout programme, State Bank of Pakistain (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed said Wednesday.
The loan was approved after the IMF Executive Board completed its first review last week, bringing the total disbursements under the $3 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA) to about $1.9 billion.
Following the board’s approval last week, Antoinette Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Chair, had said: "There are now tentative signs of activity picking-up and external pressures easing."
The nine-month SBA approved by the Executive Board on July 12 last month, aims to provide a policy anchor for addressing domestic and external balances and a framework for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.
To secure the bailout, Pakistain implemented tough IMF-requested measures: a revamped budget, a record interest rate hike, and painful increases in electricity and gas prices.
Under the bailout deal, the IMF also got Pakistain to raise $1.34 billion in new taxation to meet fiscal adjustments.
Are they actually collecting more taxes, or did they just pass some laws to do so?
The measures fuelled all-time high inflation of 38% year-on-year in May, which is still hovering above 30%.Pakistain has received $700 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of its bailout programme, State Bank of Pakistain (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed said Wednesday.
"The authorities took challenging steps to bring both electricity and natural gas prices closer to costs in 2023. Continuing with regularly-scheduled adjustments and pushing cost-side power sector reforms are vital to improving the sector’s viability and protecting fiscal sustainability," Sayeh said.
[IsraelTimes] Israel will be allowed to participate in ice hockey’s U20 World Championships Division III tournament in Bulgaria after the sport’s governing body received safety assurances from Bulgarian authorities, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) says.
In early January, the IIHF announced that Israel had been barred from participating in international competitions, citing safety concerns. The move was denounced at the time by the Israeli Ice Hockey Association as an antisemitic.
"We are grateful to the Bulgarian authorities, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Interior, the local police and all our stakeholders for their support and assistance in this matter," the IIHF says in a statement.
The IIHF announced that they will make further decisions regarding Israel’s participation in future tournaments in February.
The U20 World Championship Division III, Group A will take place in Sofia from January 22-29.
The Israeli Ice Hockey Association announced in response that it will file a claim with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the international hockey group over its "antisemitic decision to exclude Israel is an unusual and very serious step that does not meet any international sporting standard and stands in complete contradiction to Olympic values."
[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... on Wednesday warned that a "full-fledged confrontation" between Israel and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... would be a "total disaster" amid fears of a wider war.
A disaster for Hezbollah and the amour propre of the Arab world. Not at all the same as a disaster for Israel.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, Guterres reiterated his call for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
No. This time they’re going to enjoy the natural consequences of their actions.
Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas ...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... 's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.
Since then, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.
And whose fault is that, pray tell?
"The spillover that is already taking place, the risk of a full-fledged confrontation in Lebanon, it would be a total disaster. We need to avoid it at all cost," Guterres said.
If Hezbollah chose to sit quietly with folded hands, there would be no spillover. Just like Gaza was peaceful on October 6th.
Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels have also struck what they consider Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Paleostinians in Gaza since the war there started on October 7.
The United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... chief suggested that a ceasefire would help to avoid further chaos.
Not when Hamas has promised to repeat October 7th as often as it takes to make Israel Judenfrei.
"What we are seeing in the Red Sea, all this demonstrates that it's not enough. It's very important to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. It's very important to have a humanitarian ceasefire," he said.
Does that mean Hamas will repair all the harm they have committed against the people of Israel by their continued aggression? A much better use for the donations coming in from the UN, et al, which would only be used to rebuild the war tunnels.
Guterres repeated his call for an independent Paleostinian state to be established.
"I believe that the present situation has demonstrated that the two-state solution is an absolutely central way to solve this problem," he said.
That’s nice. How fortunate that your opinion doesn’t matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Once this business with Hamas is sorted, the Middle East can get on with the real conflict - Sunni vs Shia. The 'kill all the juice' thing is just sort of a side quest to the main event.
[IsraelTimes] IDF representatives yesterday updated the families of former Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... hostages Sgt. Ron Sherman and Cpl. Nik Beizer regarding new information on the cause of their deaths during Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... captivity.
The bodies of the two soldiers, along with civilian Elia Toledano, were recovered from a Hamas tunnel in Jabaliya on December 14. Two days prior, the bodies of Warrant Officer Ziv Dado and civilian Eden Zacharia, who were murdered on October 7, were found in the same area.
The IDF representatives presented the families of Sherman and Beizer with the pathology report and findings from the operation to retrieve the bodies.
Near the location where the bodies were found, the IDF carried out an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... targeting the commander of Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade, Ahmed Ghandour, who was hiding in a tunnel.
The IDF’s investigation, presented to the families, has found that the military was not aware of hostages being held in the area when the strike on the tunnel was carried out.
The bodies were found during scans of the tunnel, without any prior intelligence, according to the IDF’s findings.
The pathology report shown to the families shows that their bodies had no signs of trauma or gunfire, indicating that they were not killed directly by the airstrike or other IDF action.
Due to the condition of the bodies, medical officials have so far been unable to determine a cause of death.
At this stage, the military cannot confirm or deny that they may have suffocated, been strangulated, poisoned, or another cause indirectly related to an IDF attack or Hamas action.
Samples were taken for toxicology testing, which may shed light on their cause of death.
[IsraelTimes] A telecommunications blackout in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip has entered its sixth day, the longest continuous outage since the Israel-Hamas ...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... war began, internet monitor NetBlocks says.
Gaza’s internet services have been constantly disrupted throughout the war, now in its fourth month.
"The disruption, now entering its sixth day, is the longest sustained telecoms outage on record since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war," NetBlocks says in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
[Breitbart] Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that Israel cannot defeat Hamas — that there is no “military solution,” and that Israel will have to accept a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu reportedly rejected the idea.
NBC News reported Wednesday that Blinken, and Biden, are therefore trying to work around Netanyahu — the democratically-elected leader of Israel — in a departure from the Biden administration’s posture as the supposed defender of democratic ideals:
Blinken told Netanyahu that ultimately there is no military solution to Hamas, according to the officials, and that the Israeli leader needs to recognize that or history will repeat itself and violence will continue. But, the officials said, Netanyahu was unmoved.
The officials said the Biden administration is trying to lay the groundwork with other Israeli and civil society leaders in anticipation of an eventual post-Netanyahu government. In an attempt to work around Netanyahu, Blinken also met individually with members of his war Cabinet and other Israeli leaders, including opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, officials said.
But Blinken faces two obstacles: one, that Israelis believe that they are, in fact, capable of winning the war, and that they are doing so; two, that Palestinians themselves do not want a state more than they want to destroy Israel, meaning a state is doomed to fail.
On the first point, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, delivered a comprehensive summary Wednesday night of the war’s progress. While fighting in the southern portion of Gaza remains challenging, he said, the IDF had largely destroyed Hamas in the northern and central regions of the territory. The south is where Hamas’s leaders are believed to be hiding underground — surrounded by over 100 Israeli hostages, whom they are using as bargaining chips and human shields.
Israelis are nearly unanimous in their determination to destroy Hamas — a dramatic shift in attitudes since the October 7 terror attack, when Israelis were largely prepared to ignore Hamas as long as it did not attack them. The mass murder of 1,200 people, along with the abduction of 253 more, mostly civilians, changed attitudes in Israel across the political spectrum.
Many left-wing Israelis who once considered themselves “more Palestinian than the Palestinians” now see all Palestinians as a potential threat.
According to Gallup, nearly two-thirds of Israelis now oppose a Palestinian state, given what Hamas did to them, and to Gaza — and given the pro-terror sympathies of the corrupt Palestinian Authority, which governs most Palestinians in the West Bank.
That is a radical reversal from the position of most Israelis just a decade ago, when “twice as many Israeli adults supported an independent Palestinian state (61%) as opposed one (30%).” Hamas’s rocket and terror attacks are responsible for the change.
Blinken and President Joe Biden are committed to the old, failed model of Middle East peacemaking, in which the Palestinian issue must precede all others. President Donald Trump rejected that idea — and the result was the historic Abraham Accords.
Now, Biden and Blinken are trying to make new peace agreements — such as a Saudi-Israeli peace deal — contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state. And Blinken is casting Israelis as if they are not ready for peace, in contrast to the Arab world.
That is a total inversion of the truth, according to opinion polls, which suggest that the vast majority of Palestinians support Hamas’s terror attack of October 7. Arab public opinion is similar, though the Abraham Accords have remained intact so far.
NBC News also reports that Blinken is pushing a deal in which Saudi Arabia would agree to normalized relations with Israel in return for a Palestinian state. Ironically, Saudi Arabia was on the verge of a deal without a Palestinian state before October 7.
It was the Biden administration, according to one report, that actually stalled that deal by insisting on additional concessions to the Palestinians — concessions that the Saudis did not demand and for which the Palestinians did not agree to any compromises.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... that would have seen Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem agreeing to provide the Paleostinians with a pathway toward statehood.
Netanyahu told Blinken during his visit to Israel last week that he wasn’t prepared to make a deal that allows for a Paleostinian state, NBC News reports, citing three unnamed senior US officials.
Blinken responded that Hamas ...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... cannot be removed through military means alone and that a failure by Israeli leaders to recognize this will lead to history repeating itself, a US official tells The Times of Israel, confirming this detail from the NBC report.
Blinken came to Netanyahu with the proposal after he received commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists... and four other Arab leaders to help fund the reconstruction of Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... after the war and support the return of a reformed PA to the Strip, NBC news says.
Bin Salman also told Blinken he was prepared to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Gaza reconstruction, two US officials have told The Times of Israel, noting that he indeed is conditioning that deal on Israeli steps toward Paleostinian illusory sovereignty. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the officials noted that this condition falls well short of an expectation that Israel agree to the immediate establishment of a Paleostinian state.
NBC reports that the only request to which Netanyahu agreed was for Israel not to launch a major attack against Hezbollah in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... . US officials who spoke with The Times of Israel confirm that agreement.
They note, however, that Israel also agreed to another major US request — that it allow a team of UN officials into Gaza to carry out an assessment regarding the conditions required for Paleostinians to be able to return to their homes in the northern Strip.
NBC cites three administration officials who claim that the administration is looking past Netanyahu to try and achieve its goals in the region, with one of them telling the network that the premier "will not be there forever." However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... two US officials tell The Times of Israel that as a matter of policy, the US is not actively planning for a post-Netanyahu era and is still seeking to work with the current premier.
Blinken did, however, hold private meetings with other members of the war cabinet, including Minister Benny Gantz, who is seen as a potential successor to Netanyahu, as well as Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
One of the senior administration officials tells NBC that Biden’s hopes of reshaping the Middle East after the war are completely linked to the eventual establishment of a Paleostinian state, which means they will likely have to wait until there is a different government in Israel.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/18/2024 2024-01-18 00:57 ||
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#1
One of the senior administration officials tells NBC that Biden’s hopes of reshaping the Middle East after the war are completely linked to the eventual establishment of a Paleostinian state, which means they will likely have to wait until there is a different government in Israel.
The idea that most Israelis have, finally, grasped that Peace with Arabs is neither possible not desirable - just doesn't cross their gender-fluidity-believing minds, eh? Or, maybe, they don't realise that - unlike USA where the desires of the majority can be safely ignored - Israel is a true democracy.
Contrary to all the shouters — and Tom Lehrer — not everybody hates the Jews.
[IsraelTimes] The Finnish government signs an agreement to donate $1 million to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, blood bank and breast milk bank service.
Finland’s ambassador to Israel Dr. Nina Nordström signs the agreement with MDA director-general Eli Bin and meets with the MDA senior management team to learn about the organization’s preparedness, especially now during the war with Hamas ...one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and attacks from Hezbollah along the northern border.
Nordström also tours the MDA 101 Emergency Call Center in Kiryat Ono and hears from teams who answer calls from across the country, using advanced dispatch technologies. She meets with emergency medical technicians and medics from the western Negev and Sderot who responded to calls under rocket fire on October 7 and in the first days of the war. Nordström also hears the stories of MDA volunteers and employees who were killed in the line of duty treating others.
"I thank the Finnish government for their wonderful donation that will help us to act wherever needed and as much as needed, to ensure the wellbeing of Israeli residents," Bin says.
#2
^"Walt, can't you ever give anybody credit with trying to do something decent, once in a while?" Dad asked. "Sure I can. Decent people." - H. Beam Piper Four-day Planet
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says "the likelihood of war in the north is higher than before."
Speaking to troops in northern Israel, during a drill simulating an offensive in Lebanon, Halevi says the IDF is "increasing readiness for fighting in Lebanon, we have a lot… pic.twitter.com/XHQkYV2ghU
... we have a lot of lessons from the fighting in Gaza, many of them are very relevant to fighting in Lebanon, and there are some that must be adjusted."
"We want to reach a very clear goal in Lebanon, to return the residents to the north, all the communities in the north," he says, referring to some 80,000 displaced Israelis amid the Hezbollah terror group's daily attacks.
"I don't know when the war in the north is, I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past," Halevi says.
"I can tell you that I think we are starting it with many more advantages," he adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm reminded of Patton's desire to march on Russia.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] The head of an Israeli soldier who was decapitated by Hamas terrorists on October 7 was put up for sale in Gaza for $10,000, it has emerged.
Sergeant Adir Tahar, 19, from Jerusalem, was murdered by the terrorists after they threw grenades at him as they rampaged through southern Israel and massacred 1,200 Israelis.
The gunmen then beheaded the young soldier and took his severed head back to Gaza, his heartbroken father David Tahar told Channel 14 as he blasted the 'insanely barbaric' violation of his son's body.
David, overcome with grief, was forced to bury his son's mutilated body before vowing to do everything in his power to bring Adir's head home and give him 'peace of mind and body'.
After a gruelling two and a half months, IDF soldiers finally recovered the 19-year-old's head inside a duffel bag filled with tennis balls in a freezer in Gaza, David said.
The IDF later told him that after an interrogation of two Hamas terrorists, it emerged that one of them had tried to sell Adir's head for $10,000 (£8,000) in Gaza.
'It's insanely barbaric,' David said, as the father detailed how in the depths of his despair he had found a video online showing his son's decapitated body.
'The terrorists, the barbarians, they beheaded him and took the head to Gaza. I did everything I could, it wasn't easy, in the end I got a body without a head. I insisted that the army let me see the body,' David said.
David, with quivering hands, opened his son's coffin shortly before he was buried and saw his worst nightmare - Adir's decapitated body that had been punctured by shrapnel.
'Half an hour before I buried my child, his body arrived at Mount Herzi, I opened the coffin when I was alone,' David said. 'I understood then what I was burying. He was unrecognisable.'
Adir had been identified from his soldier dog tags and a DNA test due to the horrific mutilation of his body by the terrorists.
During his search for information about Adir, the heartbroken father discovered horrific video of his son on Telegram.
'There's a video from Telegram. Unfortunately I found the video of my son, where you can see that my child is without this essential part of him,' David said.
More than two months after his son was murdered and decapitated, IDF soldiers managed to recover Adir's head from a duffel bag filled with tennis balls and documents.
David buried his son again three weeks ago after Adir's head was recovered.
The barbaric murder and beheading of Adir sheds yet more light on the terrorists' savage attack on October 7. In response, Israel has launched a withering bombardment of Gaza that has killed 24,000 people so far according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The rampaging terrorists unleashed horrors that defy belief on October 7, with rescue workers previously detailing how Hamas gunmen killed a husband and gouged his eyes out before doing on to cut his wife's breasts off.
Medics have told how entire families were slaughtered in their homes by the black-clad terrorists who were wielding assault rifles and grenades as they launched their surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7.
One Israeli colonel also recounted how one gunman cut open a pregnant mother's stomach and killed her baby in front of her before they shot her in the head.
In response, Israel has launched withering airstrikes on Gaza, reducing the small enclave to rubble and killing thousands.
At least 24,448 Palestinians, about 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry's latest figures.
There’s no way of confirming that the followers of the Father of Lies are telling the truth. How many of those teens were on the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad payroll? Israel figures they killed about 9,000 in Gaza since they followed the 10/7 invaders home, plus another 1,000+ in Israel of the 3,000 invaders.
Today, the IDF stepped up strikes on Khan Yhunis in southern Gaza ahead of the expected delivery of medicines for hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid under a newly brokered deal.
The agreement announced on Tuesday allowing medicines to reach the hostages and aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory was brokered by Qatar and France.
Under the deal, 'medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza... in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza,' Qatar's foreign ministry said.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the deal, under which 45 hostages are expected to receive medication.
The International Committee of the Red Cross welcomed the deal, saying it was 'a much-needed moment of relief'.
A security source in Egypt said a Qatari plane carrying medicines had arrived on Wednesday at El-Arish near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
France said the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah where they would be handed over to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.
[IsraelTimes] Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says that Tehran shared intelligence with Baghdad about what it said were activities of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has said its Revolutionary Guards attacked Israel’s "spy HQ" in Iraq in the city of Erbil on Monday. Iraq later denied that there was any such spy center in the country.
Speaking in Davos, Amir-Abdollahian also says that his country’s armed forces targeted an "Iranian terrorist group" in Pakistain the day before, after Islamabad said the strike killed two children.
"On Pakistain, none of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistain were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones," Amir-Abdollahian says on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... "The so-called Jaish al-Adl group, which is an Iranian terrorist group, was targeted," he adds.
[An Nahar] European and Western diplomats have advised Hezbollah, through Lebanese officials, to lower the intensity of its cross-border attacks on Israel during this period in order not to give Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu an excuse to expand the war on the South, a media report said.
Israel is "speaking of halting the aerial and ground military operations against Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and moving to the third phase, which will be a security war, and this has begun on the ground through the withdrawal of of elite military units from northern Gaza," the diplomats said, according to Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ’s al-Binaa newspaper.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth meanwhile reported that "all signs indicate that the patience of Israel over the Lebanese border is about to run out."
"Currently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are giving a chance to diplomatic efforts through U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein in order to reach a political settlement," the Israeli daily added.
Over 190 people have been killed in Lebanon during more than three months of cross-border festivities, including over 140 Hezbollah fighters and over 20 civilians, among them three journalists. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents on both sides of the border and Israel says it is keen on returning its residents to their homes even if that required a military campaign.
[IsraelTimes] Iran-backed Hezbollah has rebuffed Washington’s initial ideas for cooling tit-for-tat fighting with Israel, such as pulling its operatives further from the border, but remains open to US diplomacy to avoid a ruinous war, Lebanese officials say.
“Hezbollah is ready to listen,” a senior Lebanese official familiar with the group’s thinking says, while emphasizing that the group saw the ideas presented by veteran US negotiator Amos Hochstein on a visit to Beirut last week as unrealistic.
Hezbollah’s position is that it will fire rockets at Israel until there is a full ceasefire in Gaza.
Despite the rejection and Hezbollah’s volleys of rockets toward Israel, the group’s openness to diplomatic contacts signals an aversion to a wider war, one of the Lebanese officials and a security source say, even after a purported Israeli strike on Beirut on Jan. 2, which killed a Hamas leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ...Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005... on Wednesday lashed out at the caretaker government for "ceding the strategic military and security decisions to Hezbollah" and "putting the Lebanese people and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ’s higher interests in the face of the region’s storms and the open conflicts among all its parties."
"At a time all Arab countries, from the biggest one to the smallest one, are distancing themselves from the ongoing conflict in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and the Middle East, we don’t understand according to what logic Lebanon is being implicated in this war, especially that it is currently the smallest and poorest nation due to its ongoing financial, economic and political crisis," Geagea said in a written statement.
"Perhaps the caretaker government, seeing as it is acting in caretaker capacity, cannot carry out developmental projects and economic initiatives and cannot rehabilititate the infrastructure and so on, but at the core of its responsibilities lies the mission of sparing Lebanon war and confronting the dangerous things that threaten the citizen’s security, life, family, work, interests and future," Geagea added.
He also accused the government of "endorsing the Axis of Defiance’s stance on the ongoing wars in the Middle East."
Geagea is apparently referring to recent stances by caretaker PM Najib Mikati, who on Friday noted that pacifying the situation in south Lebanon without taking into consideration what’s happening in Gaza would be "illogical."
"Based on our Arab identity and principles, we demand a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible, in parallel with a serious ceasefire in Lebanon," Mikati added.
"We do not accept that our brothers be facing genocide and destruction as we seek an own agreement with anyone," the premier went on to say.
More than three months of cross-border violence have killed 190 people in Lebanon, including more than 140 Hezbollah fighters and over 20 civilians including three journalists. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
The violence has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
lashed out at the caretaker government for "ceding the strategic military and security decisions to Hezbollah"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] 
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
...one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] The head of an Israeli soldier who was decapitated by Hamas terrorists on October 7 was put up for sale in Gaza for $10,000, it has emerged. 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
