[KhaamaPress] Nearly 10 days have passed since the first deadly shooting by Iranian border forces at Afghan migrants colonists and five days since the second incident, yet the fact-finding team from the interim government has not made any findings.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... spokesperson, stated today (Tuesday, 22 October) that the distance from the incident location is the reason for the prolonged investigations. He added, "The delegation is visiting three borders," and the investigation is ongoing.
This is even though it has been nine days since the first shooting, which reportedly resulted in around 260 casualties, according to Hal Vash. It has also been almost a week since the second shooting occurred on Thursday evening, 17 October.
In the latest development, Hal Vash, a human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organization, reported that Iranian authorities intend to bury the bodies of the migrants colonists killed in the Kalgan Saravan region.
The bodies of migrants colonists who were killed in the deadly shootings by Iranian border forces on 13 and 17 October
…definitely two attacks. Good to know…
in eastern 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... are being held in the morgue of "Razi" Hospital in Saravan.
Hal Vash further reported that the "Taliban government" is attempting to recover at least 13 bodies of Afghan migrants colonists who bit the dust due to the shootings at the Kalgan Saravan border and to return them to Afghanistan.
The Taliban has not made any statement on this matter, and the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran, as expected, has denied such an incident.
[Garowe] A top military commander associated with the Rapid Support Force (RSF) defected his outfit, joining the 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... ese army, in what seems to be a huge win for the military rulers who are battling to control the country amid resistance from the paramilitary wing.
The commander is said to have defected along with some of his fighters, further weakening the Rapid Support Force. This is the first major defection since the fighting started several months ago.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has seized control of large parts of the country in a conflict with the military that the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... says has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises., Aljazeera reports.
But those who support the national army posted photos purportedly of Abuagla Keikal — a former army officer who became the RSF’s top commander in the southeastern state of El Gezira — after he had defected.
And the Sudanese army which has made significant gains against the Rapid Support Force within the capital Khartoum, said Keikal had decided to make the move because of his former force’s "destructive agenda".
It did not go into further detail and there was no statement, in print or on video, from Keikal. The army has also claimed an advance in the state of Sennar, in southeast Sudan near the border with Æthiopia, opening up a supply route from eastern Sudan into the south.
"[The army] said that any other fighter from the RSF who wants to come and join ranks with the army is welcome to do so," said Hiba Morgan, an Al Jazeera correspondent, who added that RSF was losing strategic areas.
The conflict has displaced more than 10 million people, driven parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine, and drawn in foreign powers that have supplied both sides with material support, Aljazeera adds.
It began in April 2023 when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position before an internationally backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict. The RSF paramilitary wing was the cornerstone of Omar al-Bashir ...Former President-for-Life of Sudan. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. He was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it... 's regime.
[Garowe] The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has slammed Kenya over the deportation of four Ottoman Turkish nationals while expressing 'deep concerns' regarding the incident that could be in breach of various international statutes.
According to the government of Kenya, the refugees were repatriated following the request by the government of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... . The statement comes after reports of several people being kidnapped in the capital city, Nairobi, on Friday.
A British national told the BBC he and several Ottoman Turkish citizens had been kidnapped by masked men. He said he had been released after eight hours when he showed his alleged abductors a copy of his British passport.
"UNHCR urges the Government of Kenya to abide by their international legal obligations, and in particular, to respect the principle of non-refoulement [forced return of refugees], which protects asylum-seekers and refugees from any measure that could lead to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened," UNHCR said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya said it agreed to Turkey's request to repatriate the refugees because the East African nation has "robust historical and strategic relations" with Turkey, and that it had been assured the refugees would be "treated with dignity".
Multiple sources in Ankara say the four men were deported because they are believed to be followers of the Gulen movement, a powerful Islamic community with followers in Turkey and worldwide, whose leader has just died.
The Gulen movement runs a network of schools in Kenya and around the world. Known as Hizmet or "service" in Turkey, it was blamed for a 2016 coup attempt and later declared a terrorist organization, BBC reports.
Under the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. Turkey has remained silent over the incident, which has been widely condemned.
A Kenyan law firm named Mukele and Kakai which said it was acting on behalf of the four men, warned various airlines against ferrying them abroad, maintaining that they were enjoying refugee status in the country. It termed them victims of political victimization.
The Kenyan government said it had an "unswerving commitment to the protection and promotion of refugee rights" and was "committed to the privacy and confidentiality of the repatriated individuals".
The British national, Necdet Seyitoglu, told the BBC that six other people he knew - all Ottoman Turkish citizens - were also kidnapped in the same manner from different locations in Nairobi.
Turkey is often in negative news headlines with President Tayyip Erdogan accused of targeting opposition figures in the country. Turkey has close bilateral ties with the Republic of Kenya, which hosts over 800,000 refugees from across the world.
[IsraelTimes] After a slew of complaints, platform acknowledges blocking Israel-based users post-Oct. 7 ‘to prevent uploads of graphic material,’ doesn’t address lifting ban on antisemitic users
The live-streaming service Twitch has come under fire in recent days as allegations of allowing antisemitic content and intentionally blocking Israel-based users have piled up.
Members of the streaming community in recent weeks have accused the platform of allowing anti-Israel hate speech, blocking users in Israel and lifting bans on antisemitic streamers, while the annual TwitchCon conference last month reportedly included a panel during which popular livestreamers ranked others on a scale of Arab to Jew.
Multiple reports, including by the Ynet news site on Sunday, said that users in Israel were not able to register for the platform using either email or phone, while popular livestreamer Destiny posted on X an email purportedly from Twitch telling an Israeli user that they were "not eligible" to make an account.
The platform on Monday addressed some of the allegations for the first time, claiming that it had temporarily limited signups in the region and said it had fixed some issues, but failed to address many of the accusations.
In a statement on X, Twitch acknowledged having "temporarily disabled sign ups with email verification in Israel and Paleostine" in order to prevent the posting of "graphic material" related to the October 7 Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... attack.
However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the streaming platform claimed that it had not blocked anybody from signing up via phone number, despite the claims from users in Israel that they were not able to do so. Twitch also stated that while it "inadvertently" did not re-enable email verification after its initial block, it has since "fixed the issue."
The statement also vaguely addressed the other allegations, saying that it had "heard concerns about whether our Community Guidelines apply to all content on our service. We continue to enforce our rules as consistently as possible, and are actively reviewing content and taking enforcement action where needed."
Streamer Ethan Klein accused Twitch CEO Dan Clancy of antisemitism on Friday after the company re-platformed streamers Sneako and Fresh & Fit, whom Klein described as "maybe the two most openly antisemitic creators online."
Both users have reportedly trafficked in Holocaust denial and promoted conspiracy theories about Jews. Since his return, Sneako has lauded Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as "inspiring" and a "martyr."
Meanwhile,
...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... the Spilled news site reported Saturday that a panel discussion at the official TwitchCon event last month included a board on which other streamers were rated by categories ranging from "Arab" to "Loves Sabra," derogatorily analogizing Israeli-Jews to an Israeli hummus brand.
The statement from Twitch did not address any concerns about the conference nor did it directly mention the decision to lift the bans on certain users who had previously been barred from the platform.
[IsraelTimes] Dublin says ICJ ruling against Israeli presence in West Bank and Gaza might free it from obligations to European Union trade policy that prevented same legislation passing in 2018.
[KhaamaPress] Legal activists believe that the fate of approximately 70,000 Afghans currently living temporarily in the United States is closely linked to the upcoming presidential election.
These refugees, who arrived after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, are still navigating uncertain legal conditions.
Many Afghan immigrants colonists lost hope of returning to their homeland after the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... regained power and began implementing murderous Moslem policies. This shift has turned dreams of going back into fears of what awaits them.
After the fall of Kabul, thousands of Afghans rushed to the airport in a desperate attempt to avoid potential Taliban reprisals. This group included numerous individuals who had collaborated with U.S. and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... forces during the conflict.
The United States managed to evacuate nearly 124,000 people from Afghanistan. On August 29, 2021, the Biden administration announced that Afghan refugees transferred to the U.S. could remain temporarily under legal protection.
Reports indicate that around 70,000 Afghans are currently living in the U.S. under the "humanitarian parole" program. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... their legal status remains uncertain, with no permanent resolution.
Migrant rights activists suggest that the upcoming U.S. elections could have a decisive impact on the legal future of these Afghans, potentially resolving their residency status.
The U.S. utilized the humanitarian parole program to admit most Afghan refugees. This program is designed for individuals facing severe emergencies outside the United States.
The program requires the U.S. president to renew it every two years, whereas the country’s refugee policy allows for permanent residency for individuals who fear returning to their homeland.
Approximately one-third of the Afghans who arrived in the U.S. have settled in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Virginia, and Texas, while the remainder reside in various other states. Despite being legally able to work and study, they often face challenges due to the lack of permanent residency and social security numbers.
The plight of Afghan refugees in the United States highlights the ongoing challenges in addressing their legal status. While humanitarian parole offers temporary relief, a long-term solution depends on Congress passing the necessary legislation. The uncertainty surrounding these individuals’ futures underscores the complexity of immigration policies in responding to humanitarian crises.
[IsraelTimes] Ex-head of Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence charged in updated indictment against suspects accused of trying to abduct and kill Masih Alinejad; defendants are in Iran
The United States has issued fresh charges over an attempted Tehran plot to kidnap and assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York, and has indicted an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official among others in the case, according to a court document on Tuesday.
Ruhollah Bazghandi and three other men were charged in the updated indictment against those accused of trying to abduct and kill Masih Alinejad.
The Iranian opposition activist and journalist has been living in exile in New York City. Her identity is not in court papers, but she confirmed to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that she was the intended target.
Bazghandi and the other newly-charged suspects are based in 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 remain on the lam, prosecutors said.
They said that Bazghandi’s internet activity, as well as that of the three other individuals whose names were unsealed on Tuesday, pointed to their involvement in multiple liquidation plots.
"Today’s indictment exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime," said US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.
US prosecutors have previously charged other suspects in the case, including Khalid Mehdiyev, who was arrested for having a rifle outside Alinejad’s Brooklyn home, and Rafat Amirov. Both are in US custody and have pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to murder-for-hire charges.
Alinejad fled Iran following the country’s disputed 2009 presidential election and went on to study in Britannia before joining the staff of the US-government-backed Voice of America’s Persian-language service.
The plot against the dissident journalist came to light in 2021 when the US Department of Justice unveiled charges against four Iranian intelligence agents, who allegedly planned to kidnap her from her Brooklyn home and smuggle her back to Iran.
She said at the time that FBI agents had warned her she was being watched, and that her home was not safe. The agents showed her intimate photographs of her Brooklyn home and of her family that they said were taken by an investigator doing surveillance for the Iranians.
Bazghandi, who was previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, is described in court papers as a brigadier general who previously served as chief of the IRGC’s counterintelligence department.
In October 2017, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a wing of the US Department of Treasury, designated the IRGC as a global terrorist group, saying it has played a key role in supporting Iran’s involvement in international terrorism.
In April 2023, the office said Bazghandi was involved in liquidation plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran, along with his participation in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran and involvement in operations in Syria by the Revolutionary Guard’s counterintelligence department, the indictment noted.
Bazghandi was allegedly behind an attempt to assassinate a former Israeli consul general, as well as three Israeli tourists, in Istanbul in June 2022.
[IsraelTimes] George Washington University study lays bare the Islamic Republic’s ‘tragicomic’ alliances with criminal gangs to kill dissidents and US officials, including former President Trump.
The Enemy From Within: It’s being reported the leaker of classified documents identifying Israeli targets against Iran is Ariana Tabatabai, an American of Iranian origin and the Chief of Staff of the Pentagon Counterterrorism Office! This is a member of Biden and Kamala’s… pic.twitter.com/NuJdRslskj
#2
Resulting in the convenient aborting of the planned Israeli strike target folder. Element of surprise scuttled. Strike unlikely to happend prior to the election, or the Trump inauguration.
#16
Surprisingly, to some at least, the domination of those who feel so strongly that no law or established check and balance applies has given way to outright spying.
#17
Ref #14 above-once Trump takes office someone needs to lockdown the Adjudication files for every one of the Biden Administration TS/SCI-Single Scope-SBI's. The investigative leads to the Iranian penetrations are all found therein.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top aides sidestepped 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... ’s request during a meeting Tuesday to publicly clarify that Israel is not seeking to lay siege to northern Gazoo, a US official tells The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer insisted during the meeting that Israel is not implementing the so-called General’s Plan aimed at isolating northern Gaza and argued that claims to the contrary have been detrimental to Israel’s public image, the US official says.
Blinken urged Netanyahu to clarify this publicly, but he and his aides demurred, the official adds.
The back-and-forth highlighted a long-held US frustration with the Israeli premier, who Washington feels offers private assurances that he knows the US wants to hear while failing to follow through in public due to fear of alienating the far-right coalition partners he relies on to remain in power.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s COGAT military agency in charge of humanitarian aid says it facilitated the entry of 237 aid trucks into northern Gaza since October 14.
Before that, no aid was allowed into northern Gaza for a full two-week period, leading aid groups to sound alarm over the dangerous conditions in northern Gaza where several hundred Palestinians are believed to still reside. The Biden administration also issued a letter warning that Israel’s continued receipt of offensive US weapons was at risk if Jerusalem didn’t take massive steps to address the humanitarian crisis.
The two-week halt on aid into northern Gaza led to reports that Israel was implementing the so-called “General’s Plan” to lay siege to northern Gaza. The IDF denied this, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to do the same, and a former deputy chief of the National Security Council accused the security cabinet of having secretly approved the controversial proposal, which he called a “war crime.”
COGAT in a statement notes that it began surging aid into northern Gaza on October 14 following a directive from the political echelon.
Whether this directive was due to international pushback over Israel’s alleged implementation of the General’s Plan remains unclear.
COGAT says the 237 trucks that have entered Gaza over the past nine days have included “food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment from Jordan and the international community.”
The aid was transferred to the northern Gaza Strip via the Allenby Crossing and Ashdod Port to the “Erez West” between Israel and Gaza after undergoing security checks.
“The IDF, via COGAT, will continue to act in accordance with international law to facilitate and ease the humanitarian response to the Gaza Strip,” COGAT says.
[IsraelTimesj Moti Kahana, who led extractions of Jews and others in peril from Syria, Ukraine and beyond, says his firm can ensure secure distribution of assistance, prevent Hamas taking control of it
Israel is looking at hiring private subcontractors to secure and deliver humanitarian aid 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... so that it cannot be diverted by Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... and other gangs, two Israeli officials confirmed to The Times of Israel on Monday.
While Israel has managed to significantly weaken Hamas since the start of the war, the terror group has been able to maintain a cash flow by taking control of the aid entering Gaza and profiting from its distribution, the Israeli officials said.
Some in the international community have pushed for the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority to be given responsibility for aid distribution as part of a broader effort to restore PA governance in Gaza, but the idea has been dismissed by the Israeli government, which now rejects the two-state solution model that the PA was established to advance. Israel briefly tried to empower local clan leaders in Gaza to manage aid distribution, but the effort fell apart almost immediately, as those community heads quickly found themselves under threat.
This has led Israel to consider hiring foreign subcontractors to distribute aid, with the security cabinet discussing the idea during a meeting on Sunday night, the officials said.
American-Israeli businessman and philanthropist Moti Kahana is hoping that his Global Delivery Company will be picked for the job, and GDC has already put together a plan that he says can be implemented in Gaza within 30 days.
Kahana has drawn attention for leading audacious missions to extract thousands of Jews and other people in peril from Syria, Iraq, 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... , Afghanistan and Ukraine, and he believes his successes can be replicated in Gaza.
Speaking to The Times of Israel on Monday, Kahana said he envisioned GDC being responsible for distributing aid from border crossings to specific towns in Gaza. He has been in touch with a British firm comprising former combat soldiers from Western militaries who would be charged with securing the convoys together with the communities receiving the assistance. He declined to reveal the identity of the security contractor before details have been finalized.
Kahana described GDC’s plan to build a "gated community" around the first town earmarked for receipt of humanitarian aid. He stressed that the community would not be a "ghetto" and that residents would be able to come and go as they please. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... it would be protected by the GDC-subcontracted security firm and provide a safe location where locals would be able to receive aid without having to pay protection fees to Hamas or criminal gangs.
The formula’s success will spark the interest of surrounding communities, allowing the "gated community" concept to gradually be replicated across the Strip, he said.
Kahana predicted that the pilot program would require 100 staffers, most of whom would be connected to the private security subcontractor.
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... he recognized that GDC is more likely to succeed if it hires Paleostinian locals. He said roughly 2,500 Paleostinians have already been vetted by the Israel Defense Forces and the PA for such work and that he would like to hire them.
"The GDC plan for Gaza is intended to respond to the reality that theft or diversion of assistance by Hamas, other terrorist groups or armed criminals is a major impediment to the delivery of humanitarian assistance," read a blurb from Kahana’s firm issued on Monday evening.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed hours earlier that armed gangs in Gaza have prevented aid from entering the Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
"GDC will work with a security company that has extensive experience in operating overseas with the highest standards of integrity, respect for human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... and cultural sensitivity," the release said. "Personnel working for our security sub-contractor are trained and equipped for non-lethal and lethal methods of crowd control. They are trained to use deadly force only as a last resort if their lives are in danger."
While far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have proposed tasking the IDF with distributing aid, the security establishment has pushed back on the idea, and the GDC statement argued that the Israeli army lacks the "training, equipment and discipline" for the matter.
Kahana said the project would cost $200 million for six months and quipped that the sum is far less than the $320 million that the US spent on a temporary aid pier, which it was forced to disassemble after less than two months due to weather-related damage.
The CEO of the New Jersey-based GDC said he has been working on this plan to deliver Gaza aid since the war broke out over a year ago and has been in regular contact with bigwigs from the IDF and Defense Ministry, who have been supportive. Nonetheless, a final approval from the government to launch the plan has remained elusive. Kahana has also submitted the plan to the White House and State Department but has not yet secured a meeting with officials in the Biden administration.
This has not deterred him from regularly advocating for GDC’s recruitment on his social media pages, which also feature significant criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... "If Netanyahu decides not to hire the best in the industry, which his own IDF has already worked with, because of my political views, then so be it... I cannot fake who I am... and I’m not going to change my political opinions for money," he said.
Kahana also claimed that launching the "gated community" pilot could lead to an opening in Israel’s long-deadlocked efforts to free the hostages.
"What I told then-war cabinet minister Benny Gantz was that when you get our team and supply in, you get information out," he said, pointing to his success in extracting civilians from Syria after his associates were able to enter the war zone there.
"There’s a good chance, based on what I successfully did in the past, that maybe I’ll be able to get one hostage out. My goal is to get one, and if I get one out, maybe I can do more," he said.
One would hope so. Politicians rarely cut fat until forced. Newt Gingrich was an anomaly.
[IsraelTimes] Military spending balloons to $4.7b; economic output shrinks amid widespread call-ups, hard-hit tourism industry; credit downgrade likely to cause public service cuts, higher taxes
On top of the heavy toll on human life, Israel’s war against the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... and Hezbollah terror groups has been expensive, and the painfully high financial costs are raising concerns about the long-term effect of the fighting on the economy.
Military spending has ballooned, and economic growth has stalled, especially in dangerous border areas that were evacuated. Economists say the country could face declining investments and higher taxes as the war strains government budgets and forces tough choices between social programs and the military.
Here is a look at the monetary costs Israel faces as a result of the conflict:
SPENDING ON THE MILITARY HAS SOARED
The government is spending much more per month on the military, from $1.8 billion before Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — killing around 1,200 and taking 251 hostage — to around $4.7 billion by the end of last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The government spent $27.5 billion on the military last year, according to the institute, ranking 15th globally behind Poland but ahead of Canada and Spain, all of which have larger populations. Military spending as a percentage of annual economic output was 5.3 percent, compared with 3.4% for the United States and 1.5% for Germany. That pales in comparison to Ukraine, which spent 37% of its GDP and more than half its entire government budget on fighting off Russia’s invasion.
In the three months after Hamas attacked, Israel’s economic output shrank 5.6%, the worst performance of any of the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of mostly rich nations. The economy partly rebounded with growth of 4% in the first part of this year, but grew only 0.2% in the second quarter.
The war has inflicted an even heavier toll on 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... ’s already broken economy, where 90% of the population has been displaced and the vast majority of the workforce is unemployed. The West Bank economy has also been hit hard, where tens of thousands of Paleostinian laborers lost their jobs in Israel after October 7, and IDF raids and checkpoints have hindered movement. The World Bank says the West Bank economy contracted by 25% in the first quarter.
The war has imposed many economic burdens on Israel. Call-ups and extensions of military service threaten to crimp the labor supply. Security worries deter investment in new business, and disruptions in flights have kept many visitors away, cutting into the tourism industry.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog had finished eating the rat terrier... the government is paying for housing for thousands of people who had to leave their homes in the south near the border with Gaza and in the north where they have been exposed to near-daily rocket fire from Hezbollah.
One of the biggest concerns is the open-ended nature of the fighting, which has lasted more than a year. Israel’s economy rebounded quickly from a 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently 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... — but that conflict lasted only 34 days.
Moody’s Ratings cited that idea on September 27, when it lowered the Israeli government’s credit rating by two notches. The Baa1 rating is still considered investment grade, albeit with moderate risk, according to Moody’s.
THE ISRAELI ECONOMY IS STILL STRONG, WITH MODEST DEBT
Israel’s economy is hardly collapsing. The country has a diversified, highly developed economy with a strong information-technology sector, which supports tax revenues and defense spending. Unemployment is low, and the TA-35 stock index is up 10.5% on the year.
Even amid the fighting, tech companies raised some $2.5 billion in capital during the third quarter, according to Zvi Eckstein, head of the Aaron Institute for Economic Policy at Reichman University.
Israel started the war "in the best economic condition" regarding government debt, which stood at a relatively modest 60% of GDP, Eckstein said. "We financed the war mainly with debt," which has now risen to 62% but is still contained compared with La Belle France at 111% and in line with Germany at 63.5%.
The institute foresees debt reaching 80% of GDP, assuming the fighting does not markedly intensify and some sort of ceasefire or conclusion can be reached by the end of next year. Even then, higher defense spending is likely, especially if Israel maintains a military presence in Gaza after the war.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s budget for 2025 foresees a deficit of below 4%, saying that will ensure that Israel’s debt burden remains stable. Smotrich said Israel has a stable shekel, rising share prices, a tight jobs market, strong tax revenues and access to credit, and a rebounding tech sector.
Moody’s questioned the deficit figures, forecasting a 6% deficit for next year.
The credit downgrade will lead to higher borrowing costs, meaning Israelis are likely to see cuts to public services and higher taxes, said Karnit Flug, a former head of Israel’s central bank and now vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute.
US STEPPED UP MILITARY AID AND COULD PROVIDE FINANCIAL BACKING
Before the war, American military aid to Israel amounted to around $3.8 billion per year under a deal signed during former US president Barack Obama teachable moment... ’s administration. That comes to roughly 14% of Israel’s prewar military spending, much of which goes to US defense companies.
Since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict across the Middle East, the United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project that was released on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
Beyond strictly military aid, the US has offered critical financial support for Israel during times of trouble. Congress in 2003 approved $9 billion in credit guarantees that let Israel borrow at affordable rates after the economy suffered during the second intifada, or Paleostinian uprising.
Some of those guarantees remain unused and could in theory be tapped to stabilize government finances if Israel faces unaffordable borrowing costs.
WHAT’S THE WAY FORWARD?
The government has convened a commission under former acting national security adviser Jacob Nagel, who negotiated Israel’s most recent US aid package, to offer recommendations on the size of the future defense budget and to assess how increased defense spending could affect the economy.
Economist Eckstein said a budget that includes some tax increases and cuts in social spending would be needed to support a postwar rebound and pay for likely higher ongoing defense costs.
[ABCnews] Among people who would support parties in the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if an election in Israel were today, 88% picked Trump as better for Israel's security and 84% preferred him for the U.S. presidency -- results that may reflect tensions between Netanyahu's government and the Biden administration.
Supporters of Israeli opposition parties, by contrast, split closely, 39%-37%, Harris-Trump, in preference for the presidency. That said, even opposition party supporters picked Trump over Harris as better for Israel's security, albeit by a comparatively close 41%-32%....
The shares picking Trump as better on security ranged from 53% of secular Jews to 88% of Orthodox Jews. Patterns are similar in preference for the presidency: Secular Jews favored Trump by 11 points, 46%-35%, widening to 65%-17% among traditional Jews and 69%-3% among ultra-Orthodox Jews, and peaking for Trump at 85%-4% among Orthodox Jews.
U.S.-based Jewish organizations are working to get out the vote among Americans living in Israel ahead of the November election, which comes weeks after the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, said his organization has coordinated with the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and partnered with Yeshiva University, a private Orthodox Jewish university in New York, on outreach instructing young Americans taking their gap years in Israel on how to request their absentee ballots and vote from abroad.
"First of all, it's important, from our point of view, for every American citizen, no matter where they are, to hopefully participate in the election," Diament told Fox News Digital. "You know, this past year has obviously been a very intense, serious and historic year in terms of what's going on in Israel as it continues to battle against Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran itself. We have friends and family who are there, whose lives are really on the line. And so it's really important for Americans there who have the right to vote to, again, participate, because the United States is Israel's most important ally."
He estimated that there are a few thousand Jewish Americans currently in Israel taking their gap year, typically done between high school and college. His own son is one of those students this year.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (or Orthodox Union), which represents more than 1,000 Orthodox Jewish synagogues around the U.S. as well as several hundred Jewish K-12 schools, also works on educational resources targeting another demographic – the few hundred thousand Jewish American immigrants who permanently relocated to Israel – so they, too, can participate in the 2024 election.
The deadline to request absentee ballots is approaching for several battleground states. Of the about 420,000 Jewish Pennsylvanians, Diament said that some studying or living in Israel "could have an impact on the vote" in their communities around Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and even Scranton.
"Joe Biden won Pennsylvania in the last election by an 80,000 vote margin," Diament said. "So, you know, a shift in the American Jewish vote in Pennsylvania by, you know, several thousand or 10,000 or more votes could be very, very significant in this election."
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in January urged Americans living in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza to check their voter registration to provide for enough time to participate in the upcoming 2024 federal elections. As the U.S. does not offer in-person voting at embassies or consulates abroad, U.S. citizens are encouraged to vote by absentee ballot if they cannot meet their state's in-person voting requirements.
At the time, the embassy noted how "many U.S. federal elections for the House of Representatives and Senate have been decided by a margin smaller than the number of ballots cast by absentee voters."
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said all states are required to count every absentee ballot "that is valid and reaches local election officials by the absentee ballot receipt deadline."
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/23/2024 00:00 ||
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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.
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
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/\ Excellent find 3dc. I believe we are beginning to formulate a pretty accurate picture of Kamala. 
...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...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
