[ToloNews] The year 2024 was marked by significant challenges for Afghan refugees in host countries. Key issues included the second wave of forced deportations from Pakistain, continued mistreatment 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 Pakistain, and the execution of Afghan citizens in Iran.
FORCED DEPORTATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE
Since the start of the second wave of deportations, 93,000 Afghan refugees have been forcibly returned from Pakistain. In response, the Islamic Emirate and international organizations, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, initiated efforts to support returnees.
Afghan refugees faced severe challenges in host countries, including executions, torture, bans on education and work, and even restrictions on bread sales in some Iranian cities. Mustafa, a refugee deported from Iran, said:
"They captured us last Saturday, and today we arrived here. We were severely mistreated, beaten, and treated worse than animals. If the Islamic Emirate creates job opportunities, we wouldn’t need to go to neighboring countries to work."
The Islamic Emirate and international organizations urged host countries, particularly Iran and Pakistain, to treat Afghan refugees with respect and refrain from forced deportations. Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, appealed:
"We request neighboring countries and the international community to allow Afghan refugees to live freely and not expel them forcibly. Let them return voluntarily to Afghanistan."
UNHCR’s Chief Representative for Afghanistan, Arafat Jamal, emphasized the importance of humane treatment:
"Our first message is to Pakistain and Iran, which is that you have been such generous hosts for 45 years. Please don’t stop right away; you must treat the Afghans with dignity and allow them to return safely and voluntarily."
DEADLY INCIDENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
On October 16, Afghan refugees were attacked by Iranian border guards in Saravan, Sistan-title='Balochistan'>Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries. While Iran initially denied the incident, the Islamic Emirate launched an investigation, which later confirmed that two refugees were killed and 34 others injured. Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, said:
"So far, two deaders and 34 eyewitnesses, some of whom were maimed, have been transferred by the delegation. Others remain in Iran and Pakistain."
According to reports from Iranian human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... organizations, at least 74 Afghan refugees were executed in Iran in 2024 for various alleged crimes. In response, the Islamic Emirate engaged with Iranian authorities to address these issues. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson, said:
"We are in contact with the Iranian government and have emphasized that their treatment of refugees must align with the law. Efforts are underway to transfer Afghan prisoners back to Afghanistan."
IMPRISONMENT AND PRISONER TRANSFERS
The imprisonment of Afghan refugees in Pakistain, title='Turkey'>The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , Iran, Iraq, and the UAE remained a significant challenge. On November 17, an Iranian delegation visited Afghanistan to discuss the transfer of Afghan prisoners. Following discussions with Afghan officials, it was revealed that 8,000 Afghan refugees are currently imprisoned in Iran, and plans for transferring 1,000 prisoners were finalized.
Mohammad Yousuf Mistry, Head of the General Directorate of Prisons, said:
"They promised to transfer more prisoners in the future. By the set timeline, other prisoners will also be handed over to us."
HOUSING FOR RETURNEES
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced that it is waiting for the Islamic Emirate leader’s directive to begin distributing housing for returnees across 30 provinces in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing.
Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, said:
"Currently, we are clearing settlements and carrying out developmental work. Basic facilities like clinics and schools are being built, and once we receive orders, land distribution will begin."
According to the latest IOM report, over 1.2 million Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan from Pakistain and Iran in 2024.
[KhaamaPress] Amid increasing rumors about the presence of Pak military forces in Wakhan, Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... police command in Badakhshan addressed the issue.
Ihsanullah Kamgar told the Bakhtar News Agency that they are monitoring the borders and have not received any reports of Pak soldiers being present.
Following festivities between the Taliban and Pak military forces, some activists and users close to the Mighty Pak Army claimed that if the conflict between the Taliban border forces and Pakistain continues, Pak forces will capture Wakhan.
On Monday, the Taliban police spokesperson in Badakhshan told the Bakhtar Agency, "The country’s security forces are fully prepared to respond to any foreign threats at the borders, and border security is under strict supervision."
Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... Serajuddin Haqqani, acting Interior Minister of the Taliban, met with China’s Ambassador to Kabul, Zhao Xing, to discuss the strategic importance of the Wakhan Corridor amid rumors of Pak military presence in the region.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Matin Qani later confirmed the meeting, stating that Haqqani and Zhao discussed the strategic significance of the Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan, as rumors about Pak troops in the area circulated.
After Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Paktika ...which coincidentally borders North Wazoo and Kurram Agency... by Pak fighter jets and border festivities, Pak users have criticized the Taliban. These users, who are supportive of the Pak military, have labeled the Taliban—once a strong ally of Pakistain—as an enemy and an accomplice of India. Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... critics of the Taliban view the group as a Pak puppet and remain suspicious of the growing tension between the Taliban and Pakistain.
The Wakhan Corridor is a strategically significant region in northeastern Afghanistan, sharing borders with China, Tajikistan, and Pakistain.
The situation in the Wakhan Corridor remains highly sensitive, with ongoing speculation about the interests of regional powers. While the Taliban maintains that it is vigilant and prepared to defend Afghanistan’s borders, the involvement of neighboring countries, particularly Pakistain, adds complexity to the region’s security dynamics.
As tensions rise, the strategic importance of Wakhan continues to attract international attention. The outcome of this issue could have significant implications for Afghanistan’s future relations with its neighbors, particularly Pakistain and Tajikistan, as well as for the region’s broader geopolitical landscape.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s solution to the Houthi threat from Yemen is based on working with an international coalition, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“The Houthis should not be under-rated,” says the official. “They are more technologically advanced than perceived by many. They are ideologically toxic, and they have displayed the will to fight against the Saudis and others.”
“The Houthis pose a threat to international security and global trade,” the official continues. “Therefore, an international coalition should confront and eliminate this threat.”
The official adds that Israel has “exposed Iran’s vulnerabilities” and that there is an opportunity now for Israel to work with an international coalition “to put the Houthis in their box.”
Attempts to reach a hostage deal with Hamas remain stuck, the Israeli official adds, reiterating that a major obstacle is still Hamas’s refusal to provide Israel with a list of living hostages.
Given Hamas’s positions in negotiations, there is growing skepticism by some that a deal can be reached at all, let alone before Donald Trump returns to the White House, according to the official.
[KhaamaPress] A refugee rights organization in Spain has reported that more than 10,000 migrants colonists have bit the dust this year while attempting to reach the country by sea. Fish are well fed
The Spanish migration rights group Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) stated on Thursday, December 26, that the number of migrant deaths has increased by 58% compared to last year.
The report notes that tens of thousands of migrants colonists have left West Africa in 2024, heading toward the Canary Islands.
Camino Fronteras added that, on average, 30 migrants colonists die every day while attempting this dangerous journey.
The organization’s report further reveals that among the dear departed, 1,538 were children and 421 were women, with most of the drowning incidents occurring in April and May of this year.
Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... Spain’s Ministry of the Interior has stated that 57,700 migrants colonists arrived in Spain by sea by December 15, 2024, marking an increase of nearly 12% compared to the same period last year.
In April of the previous year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that over 400 migrants colonists had drowned in the first three months of the year in the Mediterranean Sea.
This staggering rise in migrant deaths underscores the perilous conditions people face as they attempt to escape dire circumstances in their home countries. Despite the risks, many migrants colonists continue to embark on these dangerous journeys, driven by the hope of a better life.
Poverty and war remain critical drivers of migration, forcing individuals to risk their lives in search of safety and better opportunities, highlighting the need for global efforts to address these root causes.
[NYPOST] Plea deals for three murderous Moslems behind the 9/11 attacks are back in play after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin lost his bid to nix the disturbing agreements that would spare them the death penalty
A military appeals court on Monday night ruled against Austin's order this summer nullifying plea deals reached with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad ...Mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He was captured in Faisalabad, Pakistain in 2002 and interned at Guantanamo... , Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
The terrorists' defense attorneys argued that the secretary did not have the authority to overturn the agreements after they were already approved by the top authority of the Guantanamo Bay courts in July.
They further claimed that Austin's order was unlawful interference in the case.
The move clears the way for Mohammad, the criminal mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and his co-conspirators to plead guilty in a hearing next week.
However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... Austin retains the ability to appeal the decision. Reps for the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors offered the deal to bring about an end to the pretrial court proceedings that have dragged on for more than a decade.
The decision comes after a lower court in November ruled that Austin's order came too late — and that the act was beyond his scope of authority.
''We agree with the military judge that the secretary did not have authority to revoke respondents' existing PTAs because the respondents had started performance of the PTAs,'' the three-judge panel said.
The agreements were originally signed by Pentagon official Susan K. Escallier, whom Austin appointed to be in charge of military commissions.
While the initial blow of the plea deals shook many 9/11 victims' loved ones and survivors, some have told The Post that the on-off nature of their status has put them through an emotional roller coaster.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. According to the publication, on December 30, the military appeals court overturned the order of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who in August canceled a pre-trial deal between the prosecution and three terrorists - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi - to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
The case of conspiracy with the hijackers has been in the pre-trial stage since 2012.
The defendants are suspected of helping the terrorists who carried out the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the two towers of the World Trade Center collapsed after terrorists flew two hijacked passenger planes into them. As a result, over 2.6 thousand people died.
A previously unknown video of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on September 11 has emerged. The footage was published by Japanese photographer Kei Sugimoto.
In September 2023, two more victims of the terrorist attacks were identified. The total number of identified victims of the terrorist attacks is 1,649 people. Another 1,104 victims remain unidentified. The names of the identified victims, a man and a woman, are kept secret at the request of their relatives. The victims were identified through DNA analysis of their remains.
[IsraelTimes] The United States has imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the US election this year.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said the entities – a subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and an organization affiliated with Russia’s military intelligence agency – aimed to “stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election.”
The Cognitive Design Production Center planned influence operations since at least 2023, the Treasury said, while the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) circulated disinformation about candidates in the election and directed and subsidized the creation of deepfakes.
The Treasury says CGE also manipulated a video to produce “baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate.” It did not specify which candidate was targeted.
Republican Donald Trump was elected president in November, beating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.
“The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, says in the statement.
“The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”
It added that the Cognitive Design Production Center had planned influence operations since at least 2023, to “incite socio-political tensions among the US electorate in the lead up to the 2024 US elections, on behalf of the IRGC.”
The Center for Geopolitical Expertise, meanwhile, was said to direct and subsidize the production of deepfakes — manipulations of genuine audio, photos or video of people to create false likenesses — while circulating disinformation about candidates in the 2024 US election, the Treasury added.
Besides the center, its director Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin was also hit by sanctions. The sanctions add to earlier ones imposed on the IRGC, GRU and other proxy groups.
Earlier this year, the US government charged that Iranian authorities sought to undermine confidence in US democratic institutions. They allegedly used “social engineering and other efforts to gain access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both parties,” the Treasury said.
In a separate notice, the Treasury Department also announced sanctions Tuesday on Russian judge Olesya Mendeleeva over the detention of former Moscow city councillor Alexei Gorinov.
Gorinov had been convicted for speaking out against Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“Russia’s manipulation of its legal system silences dissent and suffocates the truth about Russia’s indefensible war against Ukraine,” Smith of the Treasury added.
On Monday, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia called for the immediate and unconditional release of Gorinov.
[IsraelTimes] Newly released UK government files reveal that a senior US official warned his British counterparts that US president George W. Bush thought he was "on a mission from God" during the second Iraq war.
Did he wink and say it in a Detroit accent? ‘Cause that’s an old movie joke for that generation
The declassified documents reported by The Telegraph involve a conversation between then US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and UK ambassador to Washington David Manning in April 2004 regarding the ongoing battle in Fallujah.
Armitage said that Bush initially "wanted to kick ass" with US Marines taking the entire city.
But after being warned that such a move could bring down the Iraqi government, ’Bush backed off," Manning wrote.
"Rich [Armitage] summed it all up by saying that Bush still thought he was on some sort of a mission from God, but that recent events had made him ’rather more sober,’" the report says.
Armitage reportedly asked Manning to have UK prime minister Tony Blair exert a moderating influence on Bush.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli players have been barred from next month’s World Indoor Bowls Championships in England after a campaign by pro-Palestinian groups.
The decision has been condemned by a local parliamentarian and Jewish representatives.
The World Bowls Tour says in a statement the involvement of Israeli bowlers at the Scottish International Open in August had produced “a significant escalation in related political concerns.
“As a result of the intensity of the situation, the WBT Board, in consultation with our event partners and other relevant stakeholders, has made the difficult decision to withdraw the invitation for Israel to participate in the forthcoming World Indoor Championships,” it adds.
“Bowls is, and always has been, a sport that unites people and this choice reflects our commitment to protecting the championships and ensuring they run smoothly for everyone involved.”
The decision removes Daniel Alomin from the singles draw and pairs players Amnon Amar and Itai Rigbi.
The Norfolk Palestine Solidarity Campaign says the move was the result of joint action with Scottish Sports for Palestine and Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card.
Rupert Lowe, member of parliament for the populist Reform party in the Great Yarmouth constituency that hosts the championships in Hopton-on-Sea, says on X he was “genuinely disgusted” and would fight it.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said there was no justification for an “overt act of discrimination against Israeli participants, who are excluded solely on the basis of their nationality.”
World Bowls, the Melbourne-based recognized international federation that organizes the rival World Bowls Indoor Championships, emphasizes that the WBT was not affiliated with them and had made the decision alone.
“World Bowls has 60 member countries from across the world including Israel and all of our members continue to be welcome and eligible to participate in all World Bowls-staged events,” it adds.
“As a result of the intensity of the situation, the WBT Board, in consultation with our event partners and other relevant stakeholders, has made the difficult decision to withdraw the invitation for Israel to participate in the forthcoming World Indoor Championships,” it added.
“Bowls is, and always has been, a sport that unites people and this choice reflects our commitment to protecting the championships and ensuring they run smoothly for everyone involved.”
The above was subsequently updated to include the denouement, the abject reversal reported in the blog post below:
In a letter to the team published by the network, WBT apologizes for the earlier decision.
“We would firstly wish to extend our sincere apologies to both you and to PBA Israel, for any upset or offense that we have caused by the withdrawal of the invitation to the three members of PBA Israel in advance of the January 2025 championships. This was absolutely not our intention.
Surely they don’t mean to say the withdrawn invite was accidental.
However, as we made clear, we had found ourselves in a very difficult position in relation to the security of the venue and to the competitors and other attendees,” WBT says.
“However, over the past 48 hours, we have been exploring practical ways in which our concerns could be overcome, so as to enable the invitation to PBA Israel to be reinstated. We are pleased to say that following discussions with various partner agencies, we have been able to confirm today an increase in the security presence at the event. The WBT Board is accordingly satisfied that this increased level of security which will be in place is sufficient to be able to welcome the PBA Israel Team to the event starting on 10 January 2025,” the letter continues.
“The sole consideration behind this [initial] difficult decision had been the safety and security of all participants, staff and attendees involved in the tournament. Following significant feedback and credible concerns regarding the potential risks posed to,” the WBT chief claims.
“We fully understand how upsetting our earlier decision would have been to the competitors from Israel, which is why we have sought to try and find a solution that would enable the invitation to be reinstated.”
The Norfolk Palestine Solidarity Campaign had said the earlier move to bar the Israeli team from participating was the result of joint action with Scottish Sports for Palestine and Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card.
[Rudaw] A US soldier died in Iraq last week due to a "non-combat related incident" while supporting the global coalition against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS), the Department of Defense said on Monday.
"Capt. Eric Richard Hart, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, died Dec. 28, 2024, in Iraq as a result of a non-combat related incident," the Department of Defense said in a blurb.
An investigation into the incident is underway.
He was in Iraq to support Operation Inherent Resolve, a US-led mission of around 2,500 troops in Iraq to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
In its latest report on anti-ISIS operations, the Pentagon said that the jihadists have "limited capabilities" in the country.
"ISIS displayed limited capabilities, conducting the lowest number of attacks observed since the onset of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq in 2003. The group also showed no significant improvement in attack sophistication," said the report from October 29.
[IsraelTimes] US President-elect Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... reiterates his ultimatum to Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... to release the hostages it is holding 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... by the time he takes office.
At a New Year’s Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump is asked by a CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... news hound whether he has spoken recently to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a potential ceasefire and hostage deal, talks for which appear to have hit a snag.
"We’re gonna see what happens," Trump replies, before adding: "I’ll put it this way: they better let the hostages come back soon."
[IsraelTimes] World Central Kitchen says an Israeli security check of its employees in Gaza has prompted the charity to make changes so that it can continue feeding people in the Strip.
The charity says it “felt this step was necessary to protect our team and operations” following a Nov. 30 Israeli airstrike on a car in Gaza that killed five people, including a WCK worker. Israeli authorities said the WCK worker took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
After the airstrike, Israel publicly demanded an investigation into WCK’s hiring practices in Gaza, including security checks through COGAT, the Israeli department in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
WCK says it made “changes in Gaza” after Israeli authorities handed over the results of their security check. WCK didn’t explicitly say if it has terminated any employee who Israeli authorities had flagged.
The charity says that prior to receiving the COGAT results, “we had no reason for concern regarding any of these individuals and, because Israel does not share intelligence with aid organizations, we do not know the basis for Israel’s decision to flag these individuals.”
[IsraelTimes] The head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees claims that since the war in Gaza began, at least 745 people were killed and more than 2,200 injured in its shelters where they had sought United Nations protection.
How many were drawing a second (or first!) salary from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, etc? How many were willing or unwilling human shields for the first group? How many were hostages? How few were actual innocent bystanders unaware of the other categories?
Philippe Lazzarini says in a post on X that nearly 650 incidents were recorded against buildings and facilities belonging to the agency, known as UNRWA, and over two-thirds of its buildings and schools have been damaged or destroyed.
Lazzarini says 258 UNRWA staff members have been killed and at least 20 are in Israeli detention centers since the outbreak of the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre and mass abduction in southern Israel. Israel says it doesn’t target civilians, while Hamas hides and fights among them.
He says the agency continues to receive reports that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have used UNRWA facilities, and it has verified the takeover of its premises by the IDF on several occasions.
Israel has accused UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas supporters and it passed legislation on October 28 — which takes effect in 90 days — banning the UN agency from operating in the country.
#2
745 Palestinians been killed in its Gaza shelters
I can see some economies of scale here: Instead of driving all over town picking up random corpses, you just load up a dump truck at the site and cart them off to the protein banks. Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.
From an OSHA standpoint, it does not say much for the quality of UN shelters if nearly 3,000 people were killed/injured in them. However, the UN Special Committee on UnWarranted Assumptions cautions against extrapolating this conclusion to the UN as a whole.
Reeking of desperation, they try anything to get Israel to stop.
[IsraelTimes] Against the backdrop of its assertion that it cannot produce a list of the living Israeli hostages in its control amid the ongoing Gaza war, Hamas has reportedly proposed that Israel agree to a seven-day ceasefire that would allow the terror group to put together the names of hostages that it can release in a potential deal with Israel.
During the week-long ceasefire, no hostages would be released, but Israeli troops would be allowed to remain in Gaza and those displaced would remain barred from returning to the northern part of the Strip, the Kan public broadcaster reports, acknowledging that Israel is unlikely to accept the proposal.
[IsraelTimes] Discussions to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal have reached a dead end, Arab mediators tell the Wall Street Journal.
The impasse means that is unlikely an agreement will be secured before the end of the Biden administration, the report says.
According to the mediators, the sides were mulling a 60-day truce that would see up to 30 hostages released while Israel would set free Palestinian prisoners and increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The outlet says “both parties hardened their positions,” with Israel insisting that only living hostages be freed and refusing to approve some of the Palestinian prisoners named by Hamas, while the terror group for its part returned to insisting on a path toward the end of the war sparked by its October 7 onslaught.
The mediators tell the Journal they expect both sides to return to the negotiating table after US-president elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
#1
With each rejection of a hostage deal, it becomes clearer and clearer that Hamas is not in control of the issue. Is it higher up, like Iran running the show in the background?
We also know they are lying about the numbers of alive hostages in captivity. So I guess they have no intensions or permission, at this time, to deal. Only to play it to the hilt for MSM coverage.
So What Next?
Say, what if, there be any babies that were produced by the Hamas gang rapes over the last 14 months?
#5
I can see Trump telling Israel to withdraw from Gaza after his inauguration, then ARCLIGHTing the SH$$ out of the area. It would actually be the only thing that bunch of idiots would understand. Total destruction of Gaza and returning the territory to Israel would REALLY shake up the Muddled East.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/01/2025 16:04 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Cue question for two-statist ostrich
In camp-produced Arabic cross-stitch:
"Is scion of rape
Whose mom failed to escape
Just a new refugee or Jew hostage?"
Enthusiastically joining the war against Israel by other means.
[IsraelTimes] A social media campaign has picked up around the globe over the past day calling for Israel to release Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
Israel detained Abu Safiya along with nearly 240 others during a raid on the hospital last week, alleging that Hamas was using the medical facility as a shelter from Israeli strikes.
The military said it suspects Abu Safiya of being a Hamas terrorist. When asked if he had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not offer an immediate comment. He was detained by the IDF earlier in the war before being released, ostensibly due to a lack of evidence against him.
Doctors around the world have been posting photos of themselves holding signs calling for the Kamal Adwan director’s release, using the hashtag #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya.
[IsraelTimes] UN report says Gaza healthcare nearing ‘total collapse’ due to Israeli strikes.
A United Nations report published today alleges that Israeli strikes on and near hospitals in the Gaza Strip had left healthcare in the Palestinian territory on the verge of collapse.
“Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care,” the UN human rights office says in a statement.
Its 23-page report, entitled “Attacks on hospitals during the escalation of hostilities in Gaza,” looked at the period from October 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
It said that during this time, there were at least 136 strikes on 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians and causing significant damage to, if not the complete destruction of, civilian infrastructure.
The report noted that medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit, or are not used to commit, acts harmful to the enemy outside their humanitarian function.
Israel says that hospitals have been extensively used by terror groups who operate in and around the facilities, sometimes launching attacks from within.
Israel notes that hospitals lose their protected status under international law when used by armed operatives as military sites and to plan and launch attacks. It also says that it acts extensively to protect civilians in the hospitals and ensure their safe evacuation.
Israel has repeatedly published documentation of terrorists in hospitals and even shown hostages being hidden in medical facilities.
However, the UN report says it found that Israel’s repeated claims that Gaza hospitals were being improperly used for military purposes by Palestinian groups “vague.”
“Insufficient information has so far been made publicly available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information,” the report says.
[IsraelTimes] Security agency releases audio from rescue of hostage in Gaza as part of report summarizing its operations; also highlights involvement in killing dozens of terror commanders
In an annual report published Tuesday summarizing its activities over the past year, the Shin Bet said it interrogated more than 650 suspects from 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, thwarted 1,040 major terror attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem, busted 20 terror cells among Arab Israeli citizens and foiled a record 13 Iranian espionage plots.
Since the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -led onslaught that sparked the war on October 7, 2023, the Shin Bet said it was involved in killing dozens of top officers in Hamas and other Paleostinian terror groups in both Gaza and Leb ...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. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... . The internal security agency also said it assisted in several missions to rescue hostages from Gaza and unveiled audio from the rescue of Cpl. Ori Megidish last October.
Additionally, the agency said it helped thwart hundreds of cyberattacks on Israel; secure hundreds of Israeli officials on trips to Gaza, Lebanon and Syria; and protect dozens of Israeli groups abroad — including Israeli participants in the Malmo Eurovision and Gay Paree Olympics — amid a worldwide rise in violence against Israelis and Jews.
During 2024, the agency said, Shin Bet agents assisted in detaining some 1,350 Paleostinians passing through IDF checkpoints, including 40 senior commanders, 165 people considered close to brass hats, 45 suspected of involvement in the October 7 onslaught and another 100 thought to have information about the hostages.
In all, the Shin Bet said it "handled" some 2,500 suspects from the Strip this past year, over 650 of whom were later interrogated. According to the agency, the interrogations yielded information that was "life-saving" for troops in Gaza and led to the targeting of hundreds of terror sites there.
The Shin Bet said it helped guide operations in Gaza to kill over 30 top Hamas officials, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who soldiers rubbed out in a chance encounter in Rafah in October, and military chief Muhammad Deif, who was targeted in an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Khan Younis in July and confirmed dead a month later after numerous failed liquidation attempts.
Both were architects of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, devastating attack on southern Israel, when thousands of snuffies stormed the border to kill some 1,200 people and abduct 251, sparking the war in Gaza.
The Shin Bet said it assisted in the elimination of 25 Lebanon-based senior commanders in Paleostinian terror groups, including Hamas, al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine.
Among those killed by Israel in Lebanon was Hamas’s deputy political leader, Saleh al-Arouri.
’BRINGING YOU HOME’
The Shin Bet was also involved in three hostage rescue missions in Gaza since the beginning of the war, as well as several missions to recover the bodies of captives.
To date, Israel has rescued eight hostages alive and recovered the bodies of 38 people, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to flee their captors. It is believed that 96 of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza, including 34 confirmed dead.
Hamas released 105 hostages during the weeklong ceasefire last November, and four hostages before that.
The Shin Bet released a never-before-heard recording from the October 30, 2023, operation in which troops in north Gaza freed Megidish, a surveillance soldier kidnapped from the Nahal Oz army base.
In the recording, a Shin Bet says to Megidish over the radio: "Ori, Ori my dear, you are in good hands, the guys rescued you, they’re bringing you home. You are amazing and brave, well done. Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes, I’m okay," Megidish can be heard saying.
WEST BANK AND JERUSALEM
In the West Bank and Jerusalem, the Shin Bet said it had foiled 1,040 "significant" terror attacks, including 689 planned shootings, 326 involving bombs, 13 stabbings, nine car-rammings, two suicide kabooms and one kidnapping.
Relative to 2023, which saw a years-high surge in terror attacks, the Shin Bet reported a 40% drop in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year.
The agency said that, in cooperation with the IDF and police, it participated in dozens of special operations in the West Bank, including to detain suspects or eliminate threats, as well as several raids against button men operating in hospitals in Jenin and Nablus, in the northern West Bank.
Since the October 7 Hamas atrocities, Israel has largely blocked entry to Israel for Paleostinians from the West Bank, disrupting the livelihood of thousands, and carried out large-scale counterterrorism operations there. Troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas, according to the IDF.
During that span, more than 835 Paleostinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry. The military has said that the vast majority of them were button men killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or snuffies carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 43 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
TERROR CELLS, ESPIONAGE AND CYBERATTACKS INSIDE ISRAEL
Within Israel, the Shin Bet said that during 2024 it carried out hundreds of operations, uncovering 20 terror cells made up of Arab citizens. Five of the cells had planned to carry out terror attacks with bombs or boom-mobiles, the agency said.
On 32 occasions, the Shin Bet said, it had dispatched the elite Tequila team to foil imminent terror attacks. The counterterrorism force is made of fighters from the Shin Bet and the police’s elite Yamam unit.
The Shin Bet also said it had detained a record number of suspects in espionage-related cases in 2024 — an increase of 400% compared to 2023. On Monday, the agency said it had arrested a resident of Petah Tikva for allegedly torching cars and surveilling the phone of former defense minister Benny Gantz on behalf of Iran.
According to the Shin Bet, 13 incidents of Israelis allegedly spying or carrying out other tasks for Iranian elements were foiled in 2024. The Shin Bet said 27 indictments had been filed in connection to the incidents.
Iran, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction, supports Hamas and has smuggled arms to Paleostinian terror groups in the West Bank. The Islamic Theocratic Republic took a blow this past year as the Assad regime in Syria fell and Israel decimated Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese proxy.
The Shin Bet said it also helped the IDF and National Cyber Directorate foil some 700 cyberattacks in 2024, out of thousands of cyberattacks by various adversaries amid the Gaza war — a five-fold increase relative to previous years, according to the Shin Bet.
Palestinian health authorities say 45 patients and wounded people have been evacuated for treatment outside the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
They left the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis early this morning and traveled through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel. They will receive treatment in the United Arab Emirates.
The patients are accompanied by over 100 of their relatives, according to the hospital.
Among them was a 10-year-old boy, Abdullah Abu Yousef, suffering from kidney failure. The child was accompanied by his sister after the Israeli authorities reportedly rejected his mother’s application to join him. Israel says it screens escorts for security.
“The boy is sick,” says his mother, Abeer Abu Yousef. “He requires hemodialysis three to four days a week.”
[Rudaw] Two journalists jailed over a year ago for covering anti-government protests have asked to be released after expressing “remorse” for their actions, claimed Iran's judiciary on Tuesday.
“By writing a letter to the head of the Judiciary, Elaha Mohammadi and Nilufar Hamedi expressed regret for their actions in the years before their arrest and asked for forgiveness,” the state-owned IRNA cited a statement from the Judiciary Media Center.
Hamedi, 31, was handed a seven-year jail sentence for collaborating with the US while Mohammadi, 36, was given a six-year term, Iran's judiciary said in October 2023.
Both were also given five-year sentences for conspiring to commit crimes and propaganda against Iran, it added.
“The letter of regret and remorse … has been received for further investigation and judicial decision and is under investigation and judicial decision-making,” IRNA reported.
The two journalists covered the death in custody of Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, which sparked countrywide protests more than two years ago.
Amini, 22, died on September 16, 2022 after being arrested for allegedly wearing a lax hijab. Her death sparked Iran’s largest protest movement in the past four decades, initially calling for greater freedoms for women before turning into a full-scale antigovernment revolution. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested as authorities initiated a brutal crackdown on dissent.
Forced confession is a strategy often used by the Islamic republic, especially after the Jin Jiyan Azadi (Women, Life and Liberty) movement, to target detained protesters. The individuals were accused of being linked to “foreign intelligence services” and “spying for a foreign country.”
Executions also frequently follow convictions that are based on confessions condemned by rights groups as often extracted under duress.
In May last year, the US rejected any ties to Hamedi and Mohammadi as “obviously not true,” blasting Iran for repeated human rights violations and calling on the Islamic republic to end arbitrary detentions and sham trials.
They have both been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September of last year.
According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index issued by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, a non-profit organization aiming to safeguard freedom of information, Iran is listed as 176 out of 180 in the world, making it one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom.
#2
Let's follow this drone down a well
Where an owned ayatollah can tell
Us what makes Tehran tick.
"Little Satan?"
"Saint Nick."
"Serving Santa, we're ruling in Hell!"
[IsraelTimes] Head of HTS armed wing Murhaf Abu Qasra gets nod as new rulers look to transform insurgents, including foreign jihadi fighters, into army
Syria’s new authorities announced on Tuesday that the military chief of the Islamist group that spearheaded the offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... had been appointed defense minister in the transitional government.
"The General Command announces the nomination of General Murhaf Abu Qasra as defense minister in the new government of the Syrian Arab Republic," said a statement carried by the official news agency SANA.
Abu Qasra, 41, a former agronomist, led the armed wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... for five years.
As commander of the Islamist rebel forces, he played a key role in the offensive that ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning advance from north Syria to the capital Damascus.
On Sunday, Abu Qasra was given the rank of general in a decree from HTS chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria’s de facto leader.
Some other key positions in the transitional government, headed by Mohammad al-Bashir, have already been filled.
In remarks broadcast on Sunday, al-Sharaa said the new Syria "cannot be run by the mentality of groups and militias."
Bashir, who led the rebels’ self-proclaimed "Salvation Government" in their northwestern Idlib bastion, was made interim prime minister until March 1. That’s when Syria’s different factions are set to hold a political dialogue to determine the country’s political future and establish a transitional government that brings the divided country together.
Speaking to al-Arabiya Sunday, al-Sharaa said HTS would dissolve itself at the March 1 meeting after years of being the country’s most dominant rebel group.
In an interview with AFP on December 17, Abu Qasra said HTS would be "the first" to dissolve its armed wing and integrate into the national forces, demanding that other groups do the same.
Abu Qasra also said that the new leadership would seek to extend its authority to semi-autonomous, Kurdish-held areas in Syria’s north and northwest.
Al-Sharaa said Sunday that talks were ongoing with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria, whom he hoped to integrate with the Syrian security agencies.
In comments carried by state media Monday, Iranian security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian said that a new "resistance" would emerge in Syria to fight Israel, while insisting that the so-called axis of resistance set up to stage attacks on the Jewish state had not been weakened by Assad’s fall.
"With the occupation of Syrian territories by the Zionist regime, a new resistance has been born that will manifest itself in the years to come," said Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, IRNA news agency reported.
Tehran’s allies in the region, including Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with 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 Hezbollah in Leb ...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. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... , have suffered severe blows in conflicts with Israel since war broke out in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 251 kidnapped into the Strip.
HTS #1 meets senior Christian clerics
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with high-level Christian clergymen, amid calls on the Islamist chief to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month.
“The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus,” Syria’s General Command says in a statement on Telegram, which included pictures of the meeting with Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican clerics.
Syria’s foreign minister receives phone call from his Egyptian counterpart
[IsraelTimes] Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shiban, appointed by the new rulers, says on X that he had received a phone call from his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, where they discussed the importance of both countries in bringing peace to the region.
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 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 
...
...Mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He was captured in Faisalabad, Pakistain in 2002 and interned at Guantanamo...
According to the publication, on December 30, the military appeals court overturned the order of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who in August canceled a pre-trial deal between the prosecution and three terrorists - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi - to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
