[IsraelTimes] State Department announces its preliminary authorization for the energy-rich nation to buy 8 UAVs, marking a shift in US-Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... relations.
The State Department approval announced early Thursday for Qatar comes after Doha had been trying to purchase the drones during the Biden administration but hadn’t gotten the OK despite serving as an interlocutor for Washington to the Taliban ...Arabic for students... in Afghanistan, Iran’s theocracy and Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... 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 a rusty 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.
Qatar has been a key mediator of the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas during the ongoing war, which began with Hamas’s October 7th, 2023, onslaught.
The immediate approval under US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... serves as a far-different starting point for his government’s relations with Qatar — particularly after he initially backed a four-nation boycott of Doha during his first term.
"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.
Qatar’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Qatar is the second-largest purchaser of US military equipment after Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , spending over $26 billion for F-15 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, missile defense systems and other gear.
The proposed sale now goes to the US Congress. Lawmakers typically weigh in on such sales and, in some cases, can block them.
Under terms of the sale, Qatar would purchase eight of the drones, as well as hundreds of bombs and missiles to arm the pilotless aircraft with and the equipment necessary to fly them by satellite.
General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet (12,100 meters) and have an endurance of more than 30 hours before needing to land.
The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over the Middle East for years, in Afghanistan, Iraq and now over 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... during the American bombing campaign there. The drone has a land and sea version.
The initial approval for Qatar, however, comes after the nearby United Arab Emirates has been waiting since 2020 to purchase up to 18 MQ-9 drones as part of a $23 billion deal also including advanced F-35 fighter jets. Trump has a particularly close relationship with the UAE, which reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel under his administration in 2020.
[Breitbart] The United Kingdom is banning even more types of blades in hope of getting on top of its crime problem, “ninja swords” being the latest specific blade shape blamed for killings.
The crime problem being functionally a Moslem colonist problem, but do go on.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer flaunts a “manifesto commitment delivered” this week as he announces what the government calls “ninja swords” are to be banned later this year. From the first day of August, anyone owning such a weapon faces six months in prison, and this penalty will later increase to two years, it was said.
Watch this law, too, be enforced only against the native population.
This is a major step-up from the law presently, which differentiates between swords — which can be objects of art — in private collections, and with actually wielding a sword as a weapon in public. Running up to the ban, the government will be running a sword surrender scheme.
The government’s definition, offered in its statement today, claims a “ninja sword” is in the “majority” of cases characterised by a “a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches with one straight cutting edge with a tanto style point”. A tanto point is a relatively shallow chisel-like tip, developed to make the sword more effective against armoured opponents, unlike a more fragile tapered points which can be prone to snapping if used aggressively.
The “ninja sword” ban is the latest instance of the United Kingdom’s governments demonstrating a belief that it is the availability of tools like swords or even kitchen knives that results in knife crime. The government has previously banned what it calls “zombie knives”, a modern form of machete which typically feature a serrated back edge and lurid colours.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said at the time of the Zombie Knife ban that “Dealing with the accessibility of deadly and intimidating weapons is key and we are doing all we can to reduce how easily they can end up in the wrong hands”. And yet, somehow, UK knife crime is still on the rise. In fact knife crime has only fallen one year in the past decade, in 2020, the year of the Coronavirus lockdowns.
The British government also obsessed over the availability of knives in the aftermath of the Southport killings, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer blasting online retailer Amazon.com for selling kitchen knives, the British media following suite. There is even a celebrity-backed campaign in the UK to ban the sale of kitchen knives with a point, claiming this isn’t needed for an average home chef and could simply be rounded off.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage, a critic of this approach, responded: “Starmer wants us to talk about how a 17 year old could buy a knife online. The truth is there are murder weapons in every kitchen drawer. What we should be talking about is the total failure to stop this terrorist & the cover-up of information that the public were entitled to.”
#1
....Yesterday, it was announced that the last steel plant in the UK was closing (the PRC owners blamed Trump, natch) and that His Majesty's Government will no longer permit exploration for, or drilling of, oil in UK waters.
Last one outta London get the lights.
Oh, wait - don't sweat it; they'll run out of power before then.
#2
So whenever a government, especially UK right now, puts up scare quotes on something, I check my wallet and count the cutlery, errr, sporks, nope too dangerous, I count the...spoons.
In a bit of irony, call Ronan's Law.
After young man named Ronan Kanda who was killed by a pack of teenagers in Wolverhampton using 'swords and machetes'.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A year after the monstrous terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, committed by people from Central Asia before a concert of the group Piknik, the exact number of victims of this crime has become known. As a result of the terrorist attack, 146 people died, six of them children.
Many Russian publications prepared articles, stories, special projects dedicated to the memory of the victims for the anniversary of the terrorist attack, published mourning lists of victims with their photographs and short biographies. In various media, these lists included from 143 to 145 names. Information about 145 and even 144 and 143 victims of the terrorist attack was posted online by the largest (according to statistics from Liveinternet.ru) Russian mass media. However, the official number of victims is higher.
“The criminal case materials include 146 deceased persons, 6 of whom were minors,” a source familiar with the progress of the investigation told Regnum.
Confusion over the numbers arose in the first week after the terrorist attack. In the first days, the Ministry of Emergency Situations published lists of the dead. The last of them, published on March 27, included 143 names. Now this list is unavailable on the department's website, but it has been preserved on the pages of the media. Some time later, it became known that one of the wounded, Belarusian citizen Amin Koshevarov, died in the hospital, and the number of victims rose to 144.
[RedState] Every once in a while, an email lands in your inbox that makes you wonder, "How the heck did I get on this email list?" Such is the case with an email I received yesterday from Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). I suspect I'll be dumped from that email list rather quickly, but, until then, I'll play Jeffrey Goldberg for a bit (although CAIR isn't exactly being secretive about their intent to help campus agitators escape justice).
The email's subject line was, "CAIR Releases ‘Travel and Free Speech Guidance During the Trump Administration’," and in the body of the email, CAIR links to a guide for "non-citizens," campus agitators and other troublemakers of the antisemitic kind on how to avoid being detained and deported/repatriated by the Trump administration. They very helpfully offer separate guidance for those who are here legally and those who may be visa or green card deficient.
There was also a link to the recording of a recent CAIR seminar, which doubled as a Ramadan fundraiser, that was full of handy-dandy tips for those who mistake being offered the privilege of studying in the United States for an open invitation to rampage, always while masked, across college campuses while calling for the wholesale elimination of the state of Israel. Israel is also known as one of the U.S.'s closest allies, which only seems to embolden the agitators.
Here's a bit of CAIR's guidance on how to make sure your digital footprint is invisible to law enforcement:
"Delete some of the apps, some pictures you have on your phone. Things that you think are maybe innocent, but in this day and age, with the Mahmoud Khalil’s case [sic], what are they charging with all this—it’s not my job as an immigration attorney to make the community fearful, but be smart about what we’re doing," said Spojmie Nasiri, an immigration attorney on CAIR’s National Board of Directors.
If any of this rings a bell, it's because Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a citizen of Lebanon who worked as a professor at Brown University, was recently given a one-way ticket home after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials at Boston's Logan International Airport discovered deleted photos on her phone of Hezbollah militants. In fact, Dr. Alewiah was trying to get back into the United States after having attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by the Israeli Air Force back in September, while on a visit home to Lebanon.
The message from CAIR is clear: don't be a Rasha Alawieh. Delete those photos showing you're a terrorist-loving simp!
Better yet, get a burner phone.
"Maybe buy a burner phone, or maybe have a backup phone," she added. Nasiri also warned that non-citizens’ phones are subject to searches after traveling abroad and recommended setting up two-factor authentication and turning off facial recognition.
CAIR also advises those with expired visas to not go back to their home countries to "get your stamp" because you might not be allowed back into the US. It's apparently better to be an illegal subversive than actually behave yourself while here.
It's obvious that CAIR is miffed at the recent crackdown by the Trump administration on foreigners who use their time in the U.S. not to help make it better, but to stoke dissent. And, hey, it's clearly good for CAIR's business to peddle in its perverse form of antisemitic and anti-American "tourism."
So much special pleading! Really, it’s disgraceful — these are vile, vicious, willfully blind people.
[IsraelTimes] Homeland Security says Rumeysa Ozturk, who co-authored anti-Israel op-ed in Tufts student paper, ‘engaged in activities in support of Hamas,’ glorified killing of Americans
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... said Thursday that he has canceled the visas of more than 300 "lunatics" in a crackdown against anti-Israel activism on American university campuses, including that of a Ottoman Turkish student detained in Boston.
Asked during a visit to Guyana to confirm reports of 300 visas stripped, Rubio said: "Maybe more than 300 at this point. We do it every day, every time I find one of these lunatics."
Rubio said the US would not provide visas for people who participate in movements involved in "vandalizing universities, harassing students taking over buildings."
He did not provide evidence that Rumeysa Ozturk, who had co-authored an anti-Israel op-ed in a Tufts University student newspaper, was involved in those activities.
Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts, was detained Tuesday shortly after she left her home in the Boston suburb of Somerville. US government lawyers said in a court document Thursday that Ozturk had already been moved out of Massachusetts by the time her lawyer secured a court order that she be kept in the state. She was moved to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana, the lawyers said, adding that they had informed Ozturk’s lawyers that she was being moved there and helped facilitate contact with her Wednesday night.
A senior spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said federal authorities detained Ozturk and revoked her visa after an investigation found she had "engaged in activities in support of Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... , a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans." The DHS did not provide evidence for the allegation.
"A visa is a privilege, not a right," the spokesperson said. "Glorifying and supporting gunnies who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security."
Friends and colleagues of Ozturk said she was not closely involved in campus protests against Israel. Ozturk’s only known activism, they said, was co-authoring a Tufts Daily op-ed, which accused Israel of genocide and called on the university to engage with student demands to cut ties with the country.
"To my knowledge, the only thing I know of that Rumeysa organized was a Thanksgiving potluck," said Jennifer Hoyden, a close friend of Ozturk’s who studied with her at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
"There’s a very important distinction between writing a letter supporting the student Senate and taking the kind of action they’re accusing her of, which I’ve seen no evidence of," said Hoyden.
Ozturk’s arrest appeared to be part of US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States... ’s pledge to deport students who engage in "pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity."
Trump has also vowed to deport non-citizen "Hamas sympathizers" on US college campuses amid the wave of anti-Israel student protests since October 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking 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 a rusty 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... Earlier this month, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Paleostinian US resident and Columbia University graduate. Khalil had been prominent in Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has called for "violent mostly peaceful resistance" to Israel. The US government accused Khalil of having distributed Hamas propaganda. He is now facing possible deportation.
A University of Alabama student has also been detained by ICE, the university confirmed. The Crimson White, the student newspaper, reported that Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student from 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... studying mechanical engineering, were tossed into the calaboose. But neither the university nor the newspaper explained why Doroudi had been taken into ICE custody.
OZTURK DETAINED BY MASKED OFFICERS, WAS DOXXED OVER AN OP-ED
Video obtained by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named appears to show six people, their faces covered, taking away Ozturk’s phone as she shouted before she was handcuffed.
"We’re the police," members of the group are heard saying in the video.
A bystander is heard asking, "Why are you hiding your faces?"
Ozturk, who is Moslem, was meeting friends for iftar, a meal that breaks a fast at sunset during Ramadan, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai. Khanbabai, who said no charges have been filed against Ozturk, filed a petition seeking her release Tuesday and then an emergency motion Wednesday.
US District Judge Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ advance notice.
The government said in its response Thursday that it "will set forth the timeline" of Ozturk’s arrest and transfer from Massachusetts. The facility where she’s being held is one of nine in Louisiana that house immigrants colonists waiting for legal proceedings or deportation, according to a 2024 report on ICE’s website. It’s situated on the outskirts of a rural town about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Lafayette.
In a statement Wednesday night, Tufts President Sunil Kumar said the university was "in touch with local, state, and federal elected officials and hope that Rumeysa is provided the opportunity to avail herself of her due process rights."
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last March criticizing the university’s response to student demands that Tufts "acknowledge the Paleostinian genocide," disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel. After the op-ed was published, Ozturk’s name, photograph and work history were published on the website Canary Mission, a website that describes itself as documenting people who "promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses."
A large crowd gathered Wednesday night in Somerville to protest Ozturk’s detainment. Speaking to the crowd, Lea Kayali, from the Paleostinian Youth Movement said, "It’s important that we all remember what she wrote about and why she was targeted, which is Paleostine."
"It’s important for us to remember that this is not new for immigrant communities, and this is not new for Paleostinians," she added. "The US government is deliberately trying to target our movement and scare us into silence. But we will not be silenced."
At Thursday's press conference in Guyana, a reporter asked Rubio about a particular case involving a student having a visa revoked, and he did not shy away from it. In fact, he got a little fired up and doubled down on the message that the Trump administration has been sending to people who come into this country with bad intentions. He even put it into simple language that maybe Democrats can understand.
Let me be abundantly clear. If you go apply for a visa right now, anywhere in the world — let me just send this message out — if you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus — we're not going to give you a visa. If you lie to us, and get a visa, and then enter the United States. and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, we're going to take away your visa. And once you've lost your visa, you're no longer legally in the United States.
And we have a right like every country in the world has a right to remove you from our country. So, it's just that simple. I think it's crazy. I think it's stupid for any country in the world to welcome people into their country that are going to go to your universities as visitors — they're visitors! — and say I'm going to your universities to start a riot. I'm going to your universities to take over a library and harass people. I don't care what movement you're involved with. Why would any country in the world allow people to come in and disrupt...we gave you a visa to come in and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we've given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we're gonna take it away. I encourage every country to do that, by the way, because I think it's crazy to invite students into your country that are coming onto your campus and destabilizing it. We're just not gonna have it.
So, we'll revoke your visa, and once your visa's revoked, you're illegally in the country and you have to leave. Every country in the world has a right to decide who comes in as a visitor and who doesn't. If you invite me into your home because you say, 'I wanna come to your house for dinner,' and I go to your house and I start putting mud on your couch and spray-painting your kitchen, I bet you you're gonna kick me out. Well, we're gonna do the same thing if you come into the United States as a visitor and create a ruckus for us. We don't want it. We don't want it in our country. Go back and do it in your country, but you're not gonna do it in our country.
The reporter followed up by asking, "Did you confirm, there's been a report that 300 visas been permanently revoked?" To which Rubio replied confidently, "Maybe more. Might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa." She seemed shocked at that response, but Rubio did not back down and gave a perfect example of one of the millions of reasons why illegal immigration is such a huge threat to our national security.
At some point I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them, but we're looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up. And by the way, we wanna get rid of gang members too. So, Venezuela sent us a bunch of gang members. I'm sure you've heard of Tren de Agua, Mr. President. Terrible gang, vicious gang. They flooded in our...
Yesterday, just so everybody knows, yesterday one of these gang members who was involved in New York City in attacking a police officer, was deported back to Venezuela because they're now taking flights again, you know, because of, of some strong measures we've taken. And this guy lands, this guy's the guy that attacked a police officer in New York City and laughed about it in court with a smirk on his face. When he gets off the plane in Venezuela, he's welcomed by this character named Diosdado Cabello. I don't know if you've heard of this guy. And, and he welcomes him, hugging the guy. So, does anybody have any doubt that these people are pushing these people into the United States to destabilize us in the region? That, so, yeah, we're looking for people like this and we wanna get them out of the United States. Absolutely.
Rubio is referring to 19-year-old Darwin Andres Gomez-Izquiel, who attacked a police officer in January 2024, and Diosdado Cabello is the so-called "Minister of the Popular Power for Interior, Justice and Peace of Venezuela." In reality, he's a major criminal involved in narco-terrorism who is wanted in the United States. However, he currently oversees Venezuela’s police forces and prisons as part of Nicolás Maduro fraudulent administration.
YouTube video of Secretary ‘Rubio’s full remarks can be watched at the PJ Media link.
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding and beautifying the nation’s capital.
Trump’s order establishes the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which is directed to carry out a number of different actions on the safety front, ranging from enforcement of laws to helping with officer recruitment for the city’s police department.
Trump’s order establishes a program to spruce up the city, too. This effort includes “restoring and beautifying Federal buildings, monuments, statues, memorials, parks, and roadways, removing graffiti from commonly visited areas, and ensuring the cleanliness of public spaces and parks.”
Additionally, the National Park Service is directed to remove graffiti and clear out homeless encampments that are on federal lands in the city.
#4
Biden let the city go. A couple years ago, was in the city for a work function and got off the Metro, took the escalator to ground level and was in the middle of a houseless camp. Was dark out and sketchy. One of the bums started following me down the block. Less than ideal.
#5
Oh D.C. Fond memories. Battered taxis with the smell of a fried cat and a Somali driver who wouldn't find Dupont Circle if he were driving around it. Aggressive homeless people in front of the White House, power walks to the nearest Metro Station (if you stopped you'd be approached by drug dealers or questionable females who needed a shower as dearly as the next dose of whatever was available for less than ten dollars).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/28/2025 13:19 Comments ||
Top||
#6
^ Don't romanticize it so much
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2025 13:59 Comments ||
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#7
Heh
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/28/2025 14:09 Comments ||
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#8
Ahhhhh! Our nation's capitol!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2025 16:47 Comments ||
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[Townhall] The Justice Department on Thursday announced that it has disrupted a scheme to finance terrorist group Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... The DOJ seized a little over $200,000 in cryptocurrency that was supposed to go toward funding Hamas, according to a blurb.
As alleged in court documents, a group chat claiming association with Hamas on an encrypted communications platform provided Hamas supporters worldwide with a changing set of at least 17 cryptocurrency addresses. Supporters were encouraged to donate money to those addresses. Those funds were sent into an operational wallet and laundered through a series of virtual currency exchanges and transactions by leveraging suspected financiers and over-the-counter brokers. More than a million dollars was raised and laundered using the laundering system and the virtual currency accounts described in the affidavit.
Included among the assets seized were cryptocurrency addresses valued at approximately $89,900 and three additional accounts containing cryptocurrency valued at approximately $111,500. These accounts were registered in the names of Paleostinian individuals living in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... member, but not the most reliable... and elsewhere.
U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. explained that the seizures "show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas" and said the terrorist group "is responsible for the deaths of many U.S. and Israeli nationals."
"Disrupting funding mechanisms and seizing cryptocurrency from Hamas is one of the FBI’s many tools that we use in the fight against terrorism. The FBI will work with our partners to dismantle this terrorist group and protect the American people from their violent mostly peaceful and horrific acts," said Assistant Director David J. Scott of the FBI Counterterrorism Division.
Hamas receives funding from a myriad of sources. A significant portion comes from state sponsors such as 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... and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... . The Iranian regime has given as much as $260 million each year, Rooters reported. Between 2007 and 2021, Qatar has sent about $1.8 billion to the terrorist group.
However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... Hamas also obtains funds through charitable organizations and non-government organizations. They raise funds under the guise of humanitarian aid. For example, the U.S. Treasury Department last year imposed sanctions on an Italia-based group called the Association of Solidarity with the Paleostinian People for funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group over ten years.
Mohammad Hannoun (Hannoun) is an Italia-based Hamas member who established the Charity Association of Solidarity with the Paleostinian People, or Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Paleostinese (ABSPP), a sham charity in Italia which ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing. As an executive at ABSPP, Hannoun has sent money to Hamas-controlled organizations since at least 2018. He has solicited funding for Hamas with senior Hamas officials and sent at least $4 million to Hamas over a 10-year period.
It appears Israel does provide some value in this relationship.
[IsraelTimes] According to report, Israeli officials have privately expressed dismay at security breach, as Republican and Democrat lawmakers demand probe into incident
Information on US Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s leaked by senior US officials in a group chat that accidentally included a journalist was reportedly based on Israeli intelligence drawn from a human source in 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... , the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The report, citing two US officials, said that Israel provided intelligence from an individual in Yemen about a senior 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... figure who was targeted in the March 15 US airstrike discussed in the group chat on the Signal messaging app.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed this week that he had been accidentally added to a conversation in Signal by national security adviser Mike Waltz, which then revealed classified details of an upcoming US airstrike on Yemen.
The Atlantic published a number of the messages sent in the conversation, including one from Waltz writing on March 15 that "the first target — their top missile guy — we had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed."
According to the newspaper, Israeli intelligence assisted the US in identifying and eliminating the suspect in question.
A US official quoted by the WSJ said that Israeli officials have privately complained to their US counterparts over the security breach and the now-public nature of Waltz’s messages.
The White House has publicly asserted that none of the information shared on Signal was classified, even though officials have provided no evidence that that’s the case.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told news hounds in Hawaii he had not texted "war plans" or "attack plans" in the Signal group, pointing out he had called his post a "team update."
Two days after its original story — and in the wake of US officials insisting that the information shared was not classified — The Atlantic published a follow-up sharing detailed messages sent in the Signal group chat, including a timeline of the strikes before they were carried out and the types of planes and missiles being used, shared by Hegseth.
US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... has stood by Waltz, describing the incident as a "glitch" and saying that the national security adviser "has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man."
He later described the intense media coverage of the incident and sharp criticism as being "all a witch hunt."
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee requested an investigation Thursday into the incident, ensuring at least some bipartisan scrutiny on the episode.
Sen. Roger Wicker ...junior United States Senator from Mississippi, a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, winning reelection the next year. A lawyer by training, he was previously a Congressman, and before that a state senator... , the Republican chair of the committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat, signed onto a letter to the acting inspector general at the Department of Defense for an inquiry into the potential "use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know."
Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.
Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!... the Justice Department, which has traditionally handled investigations into the mishandling of classified or sensitive information by both Republican and Democratic administrations, showed that under Trump it would likely stay on the sidelines. When asked at an unrelated news conference what the Justice Department plans to do, Attorney General Pam Bondi deflected, saying the mission was ultimately a success.
[IsraelTimes] Amid boycotts due to inclusion of far-right EU lawmakers, Jerusalem event features appearances from Bosnian leader facing arrest warrant and sanctioned ex-Paraguay president
There was no shortage of controversy at the Israeli government’s first-ever international conference on combating antisemitism Thursday in Jerusalem, as mostly right-wing speakers hurled scathing attacks at left-wing organizations and news outlets that they claimed have been enabling antisemitism.
The confab at the International Convention Center was thrown into the global spotlight last week after several high-profile Jewish leaders said they would not attend due to the inclusion of far-right European politicians whose parties have long faced their own allegations of antisemitism.
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, whose office organized the confab, opened with a word to the far-right European politicians about the uproar surrounding their participation in the event.
"I apologize for the lies spread against you by those who slander the State of Israel worldwide," Chikli said, before launching into a tirade accusing Israel’s left-wing Haaretz newspaper of manufacturing the controversy. Calling the outlet a "beacon of lies and anti-Zionist propaganda," he insisted that "Haaretz and others like them do not represent the Jewish people."
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy — both originally slated to give keynote addresses — along with British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, were among those who canceled their participation in the event due to concerns that the inclusion of far-right politicians would legitimize their movements that have long histories of antisemitism, Holocaust denial and racism.
As a compromise aimed at easing tensions, President Isaac Herzog hosted Jewish leaders for a private gathering Wednesday night before the conference, without the presence of the right-wing figures.
Speaking to journalists after the conference, Chikli defended his decision to invite the far-right European parliament members, saying he had spoken at length with each one regarding their beliefs about Israel.
"Actions speak louder than words," Chikli said, noting that Marine Le Pen of La Belle France’s National Union party — whose leader Jordan Bardella attended the confab — had shown genuine concern for the French Jewish community. Representatives from Germany’s AFD party were not invited due to radical voices within, despite its pro-Israel stance, Chikli said.
Hermann Tertsch, member of the European Parliament for Spain’s hard-right Vox party, told The Times of Israel that he felt compelled to participate in the confab despite the controversies.
"I’m here because the fight against antisemitism is a very important question that affects us all," Tertsch said, noting that he had been honored by the Jewish community of Madrid for his work fighting antisemitism. "We are fighting a very serious fight, and what we are doing is annoying other parties that don’t see the danger."
PM: MANY THOUGHT ISRAEL ON VERGE OF EXTINCTION
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the conference on Thursday, calling antisemitism a "disease" threatening all civilized societies.
Before the Holocaust, Netanyahu said, many people understood that growing European antisemitism would destroy not only Jewry but also the surrounding civilizations.
"Today we issue a similar warning — the fate of free societies is tied to their willingness to fight the scourge of antisemitism."
Now, Netanyahu said, this hatred has reemerged in the form of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... and radical Islam in 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... , Iran, Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... and 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 a rusty 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 unlike during the Holocaust, he added, Jews now have an army to defend themselves and fight back.
"On October 7th, we were surprised," Netanyahu said. "We had a terrible, terrible massacre. And many believed that Israel was on the verge of extinction. [Former Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah put it very clearly. He said: "The Jewish state, the Jewish army — they’re no more than a spider’s web," and it could be easily swept aside."
"Well, a year and a half later, Nasrallah is gone," Netanyahu continued. "[Former] Hamas chairman Ismail] Haniyeh is gone. [Former Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is gone. [Former Syrian President Bashar] Assad is gone. We have battered Hamas. We brought Hezbollah to its knees. We destroyed the remnants of Syria’s army. We hit the 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... s with the great help of our American allies. And we exposed Iran’s vulnerability."
SILENCE IS COMPLICITY
At a subsequent panel entitled "Don’t confuse me with the facts," speakers accused left-wing movements of fanning the flames of antisemitism by peddling falsehoods.
Far-right Historian Gadi Taub criticized progressive movements in Israel for undermining Zionism, doubling down on Chikli’s attack on Haaretz — his former employer — saying it "systematically undermines Zionism."
Jordan Bardella, head of La Belle France’s far-right National Union party, described his movement as "the best shield for our Jewish compatriots." He said La Belle France must work with Israel to fight against antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition.
"In the face of the disturbing resurgence of anti-Jewish hatred throughout Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and the world, and in the face of terrorism that intends to destroy our lives and our values, we French believe more than ever that our nations must unite their voices and join forces in the fight," he said.
"I am aware of the symbolic importance of my invitation here, and the responsibility of my party... in the war against barbarism, which is also our war," he added.
Former president of Paraguay Horacio Cartes told the audience that silence in the face of antisemitism "is not neutrality, but complicity."
Cartes, who is sanctioned by the US for alleged ties with Hezbollah, as well as corruption, was invited to the confab by the Prime Minister’s Office, according to a report in Haaretz.
Another foreign leader, Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, attended the conference but exited briefly after being notified that a court in Bosnia had issued an international warrant for his arrest due to his calls for the Serb-run half of Bosnia to secede from the rest of the country.
Dodik left the conference voluntarily and then later returned, event organizers said. As a signatory to the European Convention on Extradition, Israel would be obligated to extradite citizens wanted in other countries. It is not clear whether Bosnia issued an extradition request to Israel during the event.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF has raised concerns over a deepening crisis within the reserves force as the military prepares to escalate operations in the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reports.
Tens of thousands of reservists are expected to be called up, but officials report a decline in motivation, with an increasing number indicating they will not report for duty, due to a combination of weariness, a lack of clarity on the goal of continued fighting and anger at government policies.
A senior reservist commander tells Haaretz that brigade and battalion leaders are handling numerous cases of reservists declaring their refusal to report, adding that the primary reason cited is a perception that the government has not done enough to free the hostages, followed closely by opposition to plans for a law exempting ultra-Orthodox from conscription and concerns over the government’s judicial overhaul.
According to a reserves officer who spoke to Haaretz, both fighters and commanders are experiencing significant exhaustion after completing hundreds of reserve days over the past year. He noted that many reservists are struggling to commit to additional deployments, not only due to political concerns but also because of sheer fatigue.
Among those refusing to serve is combat navigator Alon Gur, who publicly announced his resignation from the Air Force last week after 16 years of service. “The line was crossed,” he wrote online, accusing the government of prioritizing politics over human lives. Gur’s subsequent removal from duty has since prompted other reservists to follow suit, raising concerns within the military leadership.
According to the IDF, the rate of reservists showing up for duty, as of February, was 85 percent. In contrast, the IDF reported at the start of the war that more than 100% of reservists called up for duty had shown up, marking the largest-ever call-up of reservists in Israel’s history.
The military has said that the reserve army is operating at the relevant level of competency and is fulfilling its missions
[IsraelTimes] One of the candidates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering for the next Shin Bet chief publishes an op-ed blaming the Biden administration for Israel’s failure to secure the hostages abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
Eyal Tsir Cohen, a former Mossad official who is now a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, writes with his co-author Jesse R. Weinberg in Real Clear Defense that due to American pressure last year, Netanyahu delayed the Israeli ground incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. Netanyahu has publicly claimed that US pressure was not the reason for the postponement.
“During the negotiations, a surge in Israel’s offensive before Ramadan in the spring of 2024 could have brought Hamas to a breaking point and led to a breakthrough in the negotiations,” the opinion piece asserts. “Instead, in direct contravention to Israel’s combat doctrine, which places at its epicenter a quick and offensive approach, as well as the strategy laid out by the Prime Minister, Israel was forced to pull back as American pressure and diplomatic considerations limited Israel’s room to maneuver.”
There are a half dozen tweets at the link with various videos of the protests. Separately, I saw a meme yesterday, something to the effect that: During the Nazi era there were Germans who rescued Jews. But in Gaza not one Arab has rescued a single Jew. I understand that the some Gazans would very much like to get rid of Hamas and end the war. But until they do something to free the captives held in durance very vile or turn in those involved in the 10/7 invasion, I’m afraid I have no sympathy — it is nothing more than a demand for a consequence-free end to their own discomfort.
[IsraelTimes] Hundreds — if not thousands — attend protests throughout Strip, as Hamas warns participants that they’ll be treated as Israel collaborators
Hundreds out of a population of somewhere above 1 million…
Protests against Hamas family:courier,"Courier New","Courier 10 Pitch",serif;background:#FFFB99'>..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... were held throughout 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 a rusty 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... for a third consecutive day on Thursday, with participants putting themselves at risk after the terror group warned the public against taking part in such demonstrations.
Footage from the various protests showed hundreds — if not thousands — of Paleostinians marching through the ruins of Gaza, shouting against the terror group. The rallies took place in northern Gaza’s Jabalya and Beit Lahiya in the central Strip’s Gaza City along with other locations.
Chants and signs heard at Thursday rallies included the slogans, "Hamas out," "Al Jazeera out," "Hamas are terrorists" and "The people want to overthrow Hamas."
Demonstrators also called for an end to the war and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has taken the lives of roughly 50,000 Paleostinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
At some of these rallies, masked men holding batons were filmed looking on. Supporters of the demonstrations said these men were Hamas operatives seeking to intimidate those protesting. Several participants posted on social media that they received death threats from Hamas members who warned them not to attend such rallies again.
Earlier Thursday, Hamas issued a joint statement with other Gaza terror groups warning that those participating in the protests would be treated as Israel collaborators — a group that is stomped out brutally by Hamas.
While the protests were still relatively small, the fact that they have not relented amid Hamas intimidation indicated that the phenomenon was gaining momentum.
Another round of protests was also scheduled for Friday, according to social media posts from organizers.
Hamas has violent mostly peacefully cracked down on previous protests in the past. This week, though, there has been no outright intervention, which some see as a sign of the terror group’s waning power. The group’s armed personnel are also thought to be keeping a low profile since Israel resumed military action in Gaza earlier this month following the two-month ceasefire.
Protests are relatively rare events in Gaza, especially against Hamas, which has maintained an iron grip on the Strip since it violent mostly peacefully ousted the Paleostinian Authority from the territory in 2007.
While there have been more public statements by individuals in Gaza against Hamas rule since the war started, large-scale demonstrations against the group have been almost nonexistent.
The last documented protest in the Strip against Hamas took place in January 2024, when Paleostinians in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis called for an end to the war, the end of the terror group’s rule over Gaza, and the release of the Israeli hostages.
Before the war, anti-Hamas protests were also relatively rare events and were often suppressed violent mostly peacefully by the terror group.
Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel is also demanding that the group give up power, disarm, and send its leaders into exile.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Paleostinian prisoners, a complete end to war, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas won a landslide victory in Gaza in the last Paleostinian elections, held in 2006. It seized power in Gaza from the PA, which is based in the West Bank and dominated by the secular Fatah movement, the following year after months of factional unrest and a week of heavy street battles.
Rights groups say both the Paleostinian Authority and Hamas violent mostly peacefully suppress dissent, quashing protests in the areas they control and jailing and torturing critics.
[IsraelTimes] Proposal envisions Trump issuing statement calling for Gaza calm, resumption of talks for permanent ceasefire, but diplomat says Hamas likely to demand more for Edan Alexander
Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... has presented Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... with a new US proposal to restore the 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 a rusty 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... through the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Thursday.
In exchange for Alexander’s release, US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... would issue a statement calling for calm in Gaza and the resumption of negotiations for a permanent ceasefire, the diplomat said, confirming reports on Channel 12 and the Axios news site.
The Arab diplomat expressed skepticism that Hamas would agree to release Alexander for only a statement from Trump and said the terror group would likely ask for something more substantial, given its skepticism regarding Israel’s willingness to adhere to agreements. Alexander is one of the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are still alive, according to Israeli intelligence assessments.
Hamas has already refused a proposal from US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff, which sought to extend the first phase of the ceasefire. The group has insisted on sticking to the terms of the deal signed in January, which should’ve entered its second phase on March 2. That phase envisions the release of all remaining living hostages in exchange for a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to end the war until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled and has accordingly refused to enter the second phase, instead pushing for an extension of the phase one temporary ceasefire. After more than two weeks in a holding pattern, Israel renewed intensive military operations throughout Gaza on March 18.
Egypt subsequently worked to convince Hamas to accept a proposal largely similar to the one proposed by Witkoff earlier this month, which envisioned the release of five living hostages in exchange for an extension of phase through April 19 during which the sides would hold talks on the terms of the phase two permanent ceasefire.
Cairo threatened to deport a group of Paleostinian security prisoners who have been stranded in Cairo since being released earlier this year as part of the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase. Hamas’s abroad leaders responded positively to the offer, but they were overruled by the terror group’s Gaza leader Muhammad Sinwar, the Arab diplomat said.
Following that rejection, Witkoff held talks with Qatari mediators to come up with a new proposal, and the US envoy presented it to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Wednesday, according to the Axios news site.
The previous US effort to secure the release of American hostages was vehemently opposed by Dermer and Netanyahu, who felt it might bridge to a more permanent ceasefire ending the war before Hamas has been removed from power, the Arab diplomat said.
Hamas has yet to respond to the latest US proposal, but Qatari mediators told the terror group that compliance would create goodwill for them with Trump, making it more likely that he will push Netanyahu to agree to a permanent ceasefire, the diplomat added.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators met with a Hamas delegation in Doha on Thursday evening to discuss the latest US proposal, the Arab diplomat said.
How Israel will respond to it is also unclear. Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs and top advisers on Thursday to discuss the matter, according to an Israeli official.
Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened to intensify Israel’s military campaign in Gaza if Hamas didn’t begin releasing hostages, saying the IDF would begin occupying additional parts of the Strip.
The premier insisted earlier this week that Israel is nearing the defeat of Hamas — something he has been claiming for over a year.
Critics have argued that additional military operations endanger the remaining hostages and won’t accomplish what Israel was unable to do during the first 15-plus months of the war. Arab allies have instead proposed sidelining Hamas through a diplomatic initiative that includes gradually returning the Paleostinian Authority to govern Gaza — something Netanyahu has flatly rejected.
[REGNUM] The scandal involving Iranian agents' attempt to gain access to the secrets of the Israeli nuclear center in Dimona is gradually acquiring new details. The identity of the second "Israeli engineer", whose capture was previously dryly reported by counterintelligence, has become known.
The spy turned out to be 65-year-old Eduard Yusupov, a resident of the small town of Netivot, who repatriated from Azerbaijan six months ago.
The Israeli General Security Service (Shabaq), although it claims that there is a “clear Iranian connection” to the new scandal, is in no hurry to pin all the blame solely on Tehran.
There are enough details in the case that do not match the “handwriting” of Iranian intelligence and point to the intervention of a “third country.” Moreover, one that has fairly good business relations with Tel Aviv.
OLD MAN BY THE SEA
According to the case materials, Yusupov repatriated to Israel at the end of 2024. Upon arriving in the Promised Land, he quickly established contacts with his former friends.
One of them introduced Yusupov to the Azerbaijani businessman “Musa”, who allegedly lived in Dubai and was planning to soon open a new business in Israel.
It was “Musa,” who, according to the Shabak, was a career Iranian intelligence officer, who hired and directed the repatriate’s espionage activities, hiding behind “business interests.”
Under his command, the agent documented sensitive information about “national infrastructure sites” throughout the country, including army bases, military installations in the Negev and the Dimona nuclear center, the Haifa port, as well as parks, libraries, zoos, shopping and entertainment centers.
With Musa's money, Yusupov also rented an apartment in Haifa with a view of the port, so that it would be easier to photograph objects of interest, including close-ups of ships and industrial facilities moored at anchor.
Interest in Haifa is hardly accidental. The city is home to large petrochemical and industrial facilities, several research institutes and design bureaus.
The key Israeli naval base is also located here, where the elite combat flotilla "Shayetet 7" (submarine fleet) and the special detachment of combat reconnaissance divers "YALTAM" are quartered.
Unlike the nearby notable settlement of Atlit, where a naval commando base (Shayetet 13) is located, the “friend or foe” principle does not work so well in Haifa.
The city is a major tourist hub, where cruise ships and "seasonal residents" periodically call. Therefore, the intention of a fresh repatriate to rent an apartment "with a sea view" did not arouse much suspicion among the locals.
Nor did the constant travels of the 65-year-old citizen around the country raise any questions. Especially since each such route necessarily included tourist sites or “biblical places” and fit into the logic of the repatriate’s acquaintance with his historical homeland.
However, even while carefully maintaining secrecy, Yusupov did not work for long: already in February 2025, he was targeted by counterintelligence and arrested.
However, by that time the new Israeli had managed to collect and transfer to the customer a “decent amount” of analytical reports and photo chronicles.
Having studied the confiscated dossier, the Shin Bet sounded the alarm: in a couple of months, Israel's opponents, thanks to the efforts of one agent, received a fairly detailed report on the state of the country's key naval, air force, and ground forces bases.
They also now have a general understanding of the defense system of a key nuclear facility, as well as details of the organization of the air defense system and the warning of missile attacks.
Considering that Iran – which is considered the main customer of Yusupov’s work – has still not abandoned plans to strike at Israeli territory (Operation True Promise 3), such a detailed audit of the facilities would come in very handy.
AZERBAIJANI TRACE
There are plenty of oddities in this new episode of the spy story.
And the first is an unusually large, by the standards of previous cases, sum of reward for rather simple tasks. According to the investigation, Yusupov earned a total of about 41 thousand dollars - an absolute record among local agents.
For comparison: the holder of the previous “record,” Doron Bokobza, who was arrested in the same case, received barely more than a thousand from Tehran.
In addition, Yusupov's handler diligently played the role of an Azerbaijani businessman: he corresponded in Russian and also built a dialogue with the agent "based on cultural commonality." And, more importantly, he did not give a single hint of a connection with Iran.
At some point, the accused may even have believed that he was working in the interests of the Azerbaijani intelligence community, although Yusupov continues to insist that he carried out all tasks “for business reasons,” with no intention of undermining Israel’s security. He denies any contacts with the Persians.
The new operational data somewhat puzzled the Israeli special services. Especially considering that between Baku and Tel Aviv, which are striving for a strategic partnership, there is a “gentleman’s agreement” on the inadmissibility of subversive work against each other.
The appearance of a friendly "third party" in the spy game would seriously change the configuration of the entire affair and force the Israeli government to ask its partners uncomfortable questions.
Partly, the unprecedented generosity with which the alleged client paid the agent for his work—an average of 15 thousand dollars a month—helped to arouse new suspicions.
In addition, Yusupov became the first whose fees came in cryptocurrency - before this, the agents received money mainly through classic hiding places and without additional checks "from the outside", which is also atypical for Iranian intelligence.
It should be added that there have already been scandals with a "spy flair" in relations between Israel and Azerbaijan. The last one was in October 2024. Then the arrest of seven people from Azerbaijan, accused of working for Iran, somewhat spoiled the negotiating climate between Tel Aviv and Baku.
This was also facilitated by the fact that the Israeli press constantly emphasized the ethnicity of those arrested, slandering the Jewish community of Azerbaijan, thereby provoking unnecessary unrest within it.
The current scandal largely follows the trajectory of previous ones and creates additional tension between Baku and Tel Aviv.
So far, the Shabak has not completely ruled out the version that “Musa” could, in addition to Iran, also work for a third-party client, and therefore is slowing down the rapprochement of the two countries through special agencies.
This surge of suspicion came at an inopportune time for the Israelis, given their intelligence service's attempts to get close to Tehran using agents of influence on Azerbaijani territory.
So, with the “Yusupov affair,” Iran, apparently, was able to solve another secondary task: to undermine the Israelis’ trust in their Transcaucasian outpost for some time and weaken Tel Aviv’s pressure in the zone of Tehran’s geopolitical interests.
[IsraelTimes] An Iraqi Yazidi woman who was kidnapped to Gaza and rescued by Israel during the war in the Strip has spoken to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
“I told myself I was going to be stuck there forever,” Fawzi Amin Sido tells the paper (the comments are translated to English here from the Hebrew in which they were published). “I was sad because I started to realize that’s it, I would never see my family again. I didn’t even know if they were alive or dead.”
Sido was kidnapped by ISIS in 2014 at the age of 11 and trafficked to the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces extracted her in coordination with other nations and transferred her home to her family in Iraq.
Sido says she underwent rape, sexual assault and other forms of abuse by multiple men throughout her years in captivity. She has left behind two children born in the Gaza enclave.
“Life in the Gaza Strip was very difficult, and every step was accompanied by immense hardship,” she says. “There is no freedom, people constantly tell you what to do. This led me to very difficult mental places and also to suicide attempts. I felt like I was going crazy.”
“I look at everything that happened to me there in Gaza as a nightmare or a bad dream, as if it didn’t even happen to me. Now that I’m in Germany, I’m in an emotional storm. I was happy to return home, but I mourn the fact that I had to leave my children behind in Gaza. One of the things that kept me sane was that I wrote every day. I would like to continue that, but now I need a blank, clean page.”
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/28/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11143 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
So the Hamas Gaza Enclave had a Yazidi slave that was captured over a decade ago when ISIS went on the offensive.
By this former slaves conversation, she indicates everyone she encountered knew she was being held captive, and in the same conversation indicates no one showed her any compassion.
I'm not a big fan of genocide but Gaza makes a compelling case.
#2
If there was one, there were probably more than one, just the others weren’t able to — or didn’t think of — reach out to Israeli rescuers. At one point ISIS was holding frequent slave sales with standardized prices for beautiful harem boys and girls, and plain ones and adults for household and other labour — buyers were calling in orders from all over the ummah. Boko Haram has been doing the same in Nigeria, but those captives are naturally less expensive.
#1
Lithium batteries and seawater don't mix very well.
But this concept is a cool one and I wish them success.
Personally,I would just replace the batteries with a diesel generator as it can run on jet fuel (kerosene) as wel and probabily weight the same or less.
What the article doesn't mention is how many SHP (Shaft Horse-Power)each of the electric motors can product or even the total SHP of all 12 motors together. It might be a bit easier to replace the motors with two or four small turboprops?
#2
Aluminum-graphene battery technology might be the answer to the 'seawater test', but that's a few years out. Sodium-ion is close, but then there's that seawater thing again.
There are other compound types being developed, but they're more for long-term power storage and not for use with motors which require a more instantaneous discharge.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/28/2025 6:16 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Regent’s Viceroy, which holds 12 passengers
The pictured window placement would suggest 6 rows of two. That's 2 stretchers and support gear.
#6
water on the outside and the air on the inside.
I understand that the technical definition of ships is things that move through water, keeping the water on the outside and air on the inside. And that nowadays we differentiate them from space ships: things that move through air and space, keeping more air or vacuum on the outside and air and some water on the inside.
#7
Lieutenant (j.g.) Nathan Green Gordon won the CMOH for his daring rescue of 15 downed airmen under fire during a mission in Kavieng Harbor, New Ireland, on February 15, 1944.
I think he rescued three crews with the last being like 600 yards off an occupied beach.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/28/2025 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Diesel-electric subs have successfully used batteries for years and years
Yes, but those are typically lead-acid battery. a bigger version of your car battery.
[IsraelTimes] Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says in a meeting with journalists in Lebanon that no one in Lebanon wants normalization with Israel, and everyone opposes it.
He also asserts that the five points held by Israel in southern Lebanon have no military or security value other than to continue to pressure Lebanon.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of an interview the Lebanese prime minister gave to a Saudi channel last week, where he criticized Hezbollah and stated that the war it waged with Israel did not help Lebanon.
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.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
