[IsraelTimes] Jews were targeted in 28 hate crimes in New York City last month, far more than any other group, the NYPD says. Because there's no hate in black-on-black crime?
The figure amounts to 68% of the 41 total hate crimes reported to police last month.
The total antisemitic incidents for February is twice the amount reported to police during the same period last year.
Jews are consistently targeted in hate crimes in the city more than any other group, and last year were targeted more than all other groups combined.
Roughly 12% of New York City’s population is Jewish.
Last month, Asians were targeted once, four incidents targeted Black people, two were against other ethnicities, three against Muslims, and two hate crimes were based on sexual orientation.
The figures are preliminary and subject to change if, for example, a crime that appeared to be discriminatory turns out to have had another motivation.
Jewish security personnel say many antisemitic hate crimes likely go unreported to police.
[ToloNews] The Institute for Economics & Peace has reported a decline in terrorism levels in Afghanistan in its Global Terrorism Index 2025 following the rise of the Islamic Emirate to power.
That’s because the biggest terror group in Afghanistan conquered the country, and so now has no need to terrorize itself.
According to this report, for the second consecutive year, Afghanistan is not among the top five countries most affected by terrorism, ranking ninth instead.
The Institute for Economics & Peace stated: "For the second consecutive year, Afghanistan was not among the five countries most impacted by terrorism, marking its best ranking since the Index’s inception."
The report further highlights that as the Islamic Emirate nears four years in power, it has maintained relative internal stability.
Additionally, the Islamic Emirate pledged that security is ensured across the country and that Afghan soil poses no threat to any nation.
Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, stated: "Our intelligence forces are fully capable and vigilant, neutralizing security threats before they occur. It is also a fact that, to a great extent, the activities and movements of unauthorized and destructive groups have been curbed."
"The fight against terrorism is a global responsibility. However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... Afghanistan has shouldered this responsibility alone for the past three and a half years. Despite this, no evidence has emerged in this period indicating the presence of any terrorist base in Afghanistan that could pose a threat to other countries," said Abdul Sadeq Hamidzoi, a political analyst.
The Global Terrorism Index also noted that over the past year, relations between the Islamic Emirate and Pakistain have deteriorated due to border tensions and Pakistain’s Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on TTP hideouts in Afghanistan.
[Garowe] The United States army may not pull out from Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... state any soon since it's keen to double efforts in the fight against ISIS turbans, a Pentagon brasshat told VOA, amid concerns over possible retreat in coming days.
Both the United Arab Emirates and the US Africa Command have been assisting Puntland in targeting the bandidosgunnies from the air in recent weeks, significantly helping in the destruction of the group’s caves and hideouts in the Cal-Miskaad mountains.
Recently, the US forces announced the death of 16 bandidosgunnies including Ahmed Maeleninine, described by U.S. officials as a "recruiter, financier and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe."
A senior defense official who spoke in confidence indicated Washington is prepared to potentially lend additional help. Puntland has vowed to double the efforts despite the non commitment by the federal government of Somalia.
"The Department remains committed to supporting our partners in our shared efforts to disrupt, degrade, and defeat terrorist organizations in the Horn of Africa," the official told VOA.
Observers said the "persistent" pressure by the Somali forces, along with help from the U.S. and UAE, appears to be paying off.
"Indications [are] that the Puntland forces are making real progress against ISIS in Somalia’s hideouts," a former senior Western counterterrorism official told VOA, requesting anonymity to discuss the ongoing developments.
"The question is whether they [the Puntland forces] will be able to continue to hold the captured hideouts, or whether ISIS will be able to return in the coming weeks and months," the official said.
If the Somali forces can hold the captured territory, though, the damage to the terror group could extend well beyond Somalia’s borders. Most training camps of the group have been seized by the Puntland forces, who are in the final stretch towards liberating the state.
"Given the central role of the al-Karrar office in financing the wider ISIS network, there could be some knock-on impact," said the former Western counterterrorism official.
Al-Karrar is one of nine regional 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.... offices established to help sustain the terror group’s capabilities. Since 2022, the office has been a key cog in the terror group’s financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa.
Regional security analysts warn IS could regroup if Puntland’s counterterrorism forces are unable to maintain their pursuit.
"Their mobile special forces have been the pointed end of the spear," said Samira Gaid, a Horn of Africa security analyst.
"For the moment, it appears that the Puntland forces are committed and well-resourced," she told VOA. "However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... much will depend on the Puntland forces then securing and manning the territories it will liberate to ensure the group does not make a comeback."
As for IS, the terror group is "attempting to melt into the population, though this is difficult," said Gaid. "It’s the natural progression when faced by a force that is superior."
Said Abdullahi Deni, Puntland region’s leader, has also offered IS members in Somalia, including women and kiddies, a chance to surrender and for imported muscle to possibly even return to their countries of origin.
"They [IS] envisioned it as a place where they cannot be seen, strategically a tough place, and gives them access to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Gulf," he said.
The major aim is to capture Abdulkadir Mumin, the man believed to be the global leader of ISIS turbans. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... there were claims that he may have died following US Africa Command Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in May 2024, but such reports have been ruled out.
[IsraelTimes] The family of a top Hamas official was paid some $1,000 (£790) for his 14-year-old son to narrate a BBC documentary, the Telegraph reports.
As far as I can tell from the internet, that’s about what an average Gazan family earns in a week — pretty good money for a couple hours work for a young teen..
The BBC has apologized for “serious flaws” in the making of the “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone,” which was produced by UK company Hoyo Films, after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of Hamas’s former deputy minister of agriculture Ayman al-Yazouri.
The money was paid into a bank account belonging to the boy’s sister, the report says, noting that it was paid by Hoyo Films and not directly by the BBC.
The BBC has previously acknowledged that a payment was made, but has not disclosed the amount.
The BBC removed the documentary from its platform after a backlash and launched an immediate review into the “mistakes,” which it called “significant and damaging.”
[IsraelTimes] Interview: David Collier quickly revealed the film’s narrator to be ‘Hamas royalty,’ but he also believes this episode could be a turning point for an outlet perennially accused of anti-Israel bias.
The documentary cost £400,000 ($515,000) to produce,
How much of that was spent in Gaza, ending up in Hamas pockets?
and the BBC is entirely funded by taxpayers. The broadcasting company has apologized profusely in an unprecedented statement, with chairman Samir Shah calling the affair “a really, really bad moment” and “a dagger to the heart of the BBC claim to be impartial and trustworthy.”
[Rudaw] Germany has deported more than 200 refugees to the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the year, a refugee association said on Thursday.
Abubakr Ali, the head of a Kurdistan Region refugee association, told Rudaw that over 200 refugees were deported from Germany in the past two months, stressing that migration to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... has decreased but remains at an unsatisfactory level.
"Refugees who return or are deported face many problems, and some of them remain in the streets without shelter," he lamented.
Ali noted that most of the deported refugees are from the Kurdistan Region’s Badinan area. "Britannia and other European countries have also deported many Kurdish refugees," he said.
"Those who return to Kurdistan also face other challenges, such as a lack of housing, not being welcomed properly by their families, and lack of job opportunities," he explained.
Germany hosts one of the largest refugee populations worldwide. In late January, the German parliament passed a motion that tightened migration rules. It contains five points: preventing illegal immigration, deporting illegal immigrants colonists, deporting foreign criminals, imprisoning immigrants colonists who must leave Germany, and ending family reunification.
Tens of thousands of mostly young people leave Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for Europe annually in search of a better life, using smuggling routes. Many hope to settle in Germany.
Not a miracle, but a technology and paradigm shift sharply reversing the Gramscian march through the institutions. Glory hallelujah!
[IsraelTimes] In first, Fox News says State Department canceled visa of student who took part in ‘Hamas-supporting disruptions’; Rubio: ‘Zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists’
The US State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who it perceives as supporters of Paleostinian terror group Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... , Axios reported on Thursday, citing senior State Department officials.
Fox News separately reported the State Department revoked the visa of a student who allegedly participated in what the department termed as "Hamas-supporting disruptions." The revocation marked the first such action, according to the report.
The State Department was working with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, according to Axios.
The State Department did not comment directly on the reports but Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... said on social media that "those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists."
"Violators of US law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation, and deportation," he added.
The other two departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... signed an executive order in January to combat antisemitism and has pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Paleostinian protests against Israel that have been ongoing for months
…where months is defined as starting about a week after the 10/7/2023 Hamas invasion of Israel…
amid the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
The AI-fueled "Catch and Revoke" effort will include AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts, Axios reported.
Let the computer compile over the weekend. Real humans can check the work for validity starting Monday morning. Or, given that the first target has already been dealt with, perhaps that was the work of last weekend, and now we are seeing the very first result. Either way, kudos to all involved!
Axios said officials were checking news reports of demonstrations against Israel’s policies and Jewish students’ lawsuits highlighting foreign nationals allegedly engaging in antisemitism.
X, TikTok, YouTube, Tumblr, Telegram, Facebook and the other one the the kids liked for a while, organization websites… So very many sources of grist for the mill.
The Fox News report did not mention any details about the person whose visa was revoked except that it was revoked on Wednesday, that the person was a university student and that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will proceed with removing that person from the country. It cited a State Department spokesperson.
Trump has said he will stop federal funding for educational institutions that allow what he called illegal protests.
"Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or .. arrested," Trump said on Tuesday.
The US Constitution’s First Amendment protects freedom of speech and assembly. Free speech advocates like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and pro-Paleostinian groups expressed alarm over the Axios report.
The right of free speech and assembly stops when innocent bystanders are threatened, assaulted and battered, and public or private property is damaged.
AI tools "cannot be relied on to parse the nuances of expression about complex and contested matters like the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict," Sarah McLaughlin, a scholar at the foundation, said.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the reported developments "signal an alarming erosion of constitutionally protected free speech and privacy rights."
No it doesn’t. So sorry your Progressive friends led you astray to the point of being expelled from the country.
I'd settle for colleges being forced to *arrest and remove* anyone from campus who is present with a mask covering their face (without an active health emergency declared by the state).
[IsraelTimes] Wespac, a low-profile charity tied to leading activist organizations, is in jeopardy as it battles lawsuits in five courts, including from its own insurer
On a sunny April morning in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... , a group of anti-Israel activists rushed onto an interstate highway leading to O’Hare International Airport. Irate drivers were stuck in traffic for more than an hour, their anxiety mounting as their flight departures approached.
One of the drivers who missed his flight filed a class action lawsuit against the activist groups that organized the protest — National Students for Justice in Paleostine, American Moslems in Paleostine, the US Campaign for Paleostinian Rights, and a low-profile nonprofit in New York called Wespac.
The advocacy group, based in Westchester County, north of New York City, has handled funding for a range of leading anti-Israel activist groups around the US. Its status as a financial lynchpin for the protest movement has drawn a barrage of lawsuits that is threatening its existence, in a crisis for the group that deepened last month when it was sued by its own insurance company.
"This is not normal. I haven’t ever seen anything like this, but I haven’t ever seen anything quite as politically charged as this. This is huge," Doug White, a longtime adviser for US philanthropies, said in an interview.
Wespac, a progressive nonprofit founded in 1974, has served as a fiscal sponsor for the protest groups, in a financial arrangement in which a nonprofit collects donations on behalf of other groups that do not have nonprofit status themselves.
For the pro-Paleostinian groups, the fiscal sponsorship means they can receive tax-deductible donations and grants, without having to file the tax documents expected of nonprofits, such as laying out their operating budget, total assets and spending. The arrangement does not require the fiscal sponsor to detail the organizations it collects funding for, meaning the activist groups’ finances are murky, hard to track and closed to the public. Best practices recommend that nonprofits detail their fiscal sponsorships, but Wespac does not make its arrangements public.
Groups affiliated with Wespac have contributed to the harassment of Jews on college campuses, hosted events that supported terror groups, and targeted cancer patients, museums, memorials to the dead, transportation hubs and holiday events.
Following disruptive protests by its affiliates, Wespac was sued in at least four courts — in New York, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Illinois and Washington, DC.
In a January email to supporters, Wespac pleaded for financial assistance to fend off the legal offensive.
"WESPAC’s work has taken on enormous significance since October 7, 2023, as the injustice of apartheid has turned to genocide 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... ," the email said. "The well-funded forces of darkness are now waging legal warfare against us."
The email said the group had received financial support from an "outside foundation," but had lost that support, and needed $90,000 to cover its legal bills.
"The threat to WESPAC’s survival is real," the email said. "Please give generously."
During the O’Hare airport protest, activists stormed onto a highway offramp leading to the airport, blocking traffic and linking their arms inside PVC pipes to hinder their removal, according to the lawsuit. Traffic backed up for miles.
The O’Hare airport lawsuit alleged 12 counts against Wespac and the other defendants, including false imprisonment, highway obstruction and public nuisance.
In response to the lawsuit, Wespac sought defense and coverage from its insurer, the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance Risk Retention Group (ANI). The insurance firm said in a lawsuit filed last month that it was not required to cover Wespac’s legal bills, putting the group in further financial jeopardy.
Last month… so after President Trump was sworn in, when it became clear that Jew-hate is no longer a risk-free indulgence.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal Southern District Court of New York, argues that ANI is not responsible for covering damages related to a client’s fiscal sponsorships. The case said Wespac had not notified ANI of its financial sponsorship of National Students for Justice in Paleostine or paid extra coverage for the sponsored groups.
A palpable point.
The filing also said that the activist groups had willfully blocked the highway, and the insurance policy did not cover damages caused by a riot, unlawful assembly or mob action.
And there it is. The point on which all future cases will rotate.
The lawsuit said defending and indemnifying Wespac in the O’Hare airport lawsuit would cost more than $75,000.
Hopefully considerably more than a mere five figures. To be fair, Wespac’s very, very rich Progressive donors can easily afford whatever it costs, but will they want to be embarrassed by being seen on what is now the wrong side of history?
In addition to National Students for Justice in Paleostine, Wespac has served as a fiscal sponsor for the Paleostinian Youth Movement, the US Paleostinian Community Network, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, the Paleostinian Feminist Collective, the Paleostine Freedom Project, Adalah-NY, and Within Our Lifetime, the leading anti-Israel protest group in New York. The Anti-Defamation League said in a 2022 report that Wespac sponsored a total of 15 groups related to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, far more than for any other cause. It is unclear how many groups it has sponsored in total.
Wespac does not make its fiscal sponsorships public, and it is unclear which activist groups it is still working with. The Paleostinian Youth Movement has moved to a new fiscal sponsor, and several of the other groups no longer have a donations option on their website. National Students for Justice in Paleostine collected donations through Wespac until at least July 2024, according to an archived web page, but soon after, it removed the donation page from its website.
Wespac did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuits or its fiscal sponsorships. The group did not yet have representation in the ANI lawsuit.
White, a philanthropic adviser who has written five books about nonprofits, said it was fine for charities to take a controversial stand but that they should be open about their activities, especially for an issue as politically charged as the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict. He said Wespac should be "aggressively transparent," including by listing its fiscal sponsorships and laying out its reasons for pro-Paleostinian activism.
"That’s not a political statement. It’s just a transparency statement regarding the role nonprofits play in society," he said. "To me, it’s rock solid in terms of the obligation they have to be transparent and to explain themselves."
White said Wespac appeared to be "trying to hide something," and that there were solid grounds for the lawsuits, adding that he has never seen a case of a nonprofit insurer suing one of its clients.
If Wespac goes under, the anti-Israel groups would likely lose the funding donated to them through Wespac that they have not received yet and lose the ability to receive tax-deductible donations. Neither the donors nor the activist groups would likely have recourse to recoup the donations, White said.
Where does the money go, if it isn’t returned to the donors nor passed through to the intended recipients?
The groups would need to become independent charities themselves, or find a new fiscal sponsor to receive tax-deductible donations.
"They’d have to find another mothership to continue its work, and I suspect that they would probably not find one because Wespac, if that goes out, and it goes out for this reason, who else is going to do that?" he said.
Wespac took in $2.3 million in revenue, mostly from contributions and grants, between September 2022 and August 2023, the most recent period for which tax filings are available. That figure was more than double its revenue the previous year, and up sharply from the $411,000 it received in 2019-2020.
Under the very Progressive Biden administration, Jew-hate was profitable as well as fashionable..
On its tax forms, the group’s stated mission is "current affairs education." Most of Wespac’s events are focused on domestic and local social justice and environmental issues.
In addition to the lawsuits, Wespac is under pressure from the federal government.
Oh?
On Monday, the US Department of Justice said it had filed a statement of interest in the California case against Wespac and other defendants. The lawsuit alleges the defendants blocked access to a synagogue in violation of federal legal protections.
It’s a universal law: you always have to pay for your pleasures, one way or another.
"Members of our Jewish community should not have to think about their safety when they go to worship," Acting US Attorney Joseph McNally for the Central District of California said in a statement. "We make clear today that federal law prohibits people from obstructing access to places of worship."
Last year, 16 Republican senators asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Wespac and other nonprofits that support National Students for Justice in Paleostine. The senators’ letter said the agency should examine whether, by directing funds to the group, the nonprofits were supporting terrorism in violation of their tax-exempt status.
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... ’s defense ministry on Thursday called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliates to immediately disband and surrender their weapons, asserting that the group has reached the "end of its lifespan."
"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end their terrorist activities, dissolve themselves, and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons and surrender," defense ministry spokesperson Zeki Akturk said in a press briefing.
"The PKK organization has come to understand, albeit belatedly, that it has reached the end of its lifespan and that it has no choice but to dissolve itself," he added.
Akturk also revealed that Turkey’s military operations have "neutralized" 26 fighters in the past week, and that 478 have been neutralized since the start of the year. Turkey uses the term "neutralize" to refer to adversaries who are captured, maimed, or killed.
His remarks come after the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire with Turkey on Saturday, stating that it agrees with the contents of leader Abdullah Ocalan’s recent letter that called on the group to disarm and disband, but set a physical meeting with their jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! leader as a precondition to any successful grinding of the peace processor.
Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization, as do its Western allies. Ocalan’s letter has raised hopes for a resolution to the nearly four-decade-long conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.
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[NYPOST] Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited New York City Wednesday, stopping at the Brooklyn subway station where a migrant allegedly torched a sleeping homeless woman to death.
Noem, who has been traveling across the nation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, was spotted at Coney Island's Stillwell Avenue subway station, where the infamous arson attack took place last December.
Along with the stop in Brooklyn, Noem was seen visiting the US Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma vessel at Pier 88 in Manhattan, where she was pictured with ICE, NYPD, Coast Guard and ICE officials.
"Met with law enforcement officials this morning in NYC. Those who are in this country WILL be tracked down, prosecuted and not allowed to return," Noem wrote about the trip on X.
"If aliens voluntarily leave now, they may have the opportunity to return the right, legal way and live the American dream. If they don’t, they will face the inevitable consequences," she added.
[ToloNews] American media outlets have reported that Mohammad Sharifullah,
…also identified as Mohammad Sharif, also known as “Jafar”, he’s the ISIS-K big turban President Trump announced as delivered by Pakistan two days ago during his State of the Union address to Congress…
the individual accused of being the orchestrator behind the attack on Kabul International Airport, has confessed to his crime and may face the death penalty.
The US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the president of the United States has pledged to hold those involved in this attack accountable.
The US Secretary of Defense said: “This is a president who saw what happened the debacle in Afghanistan, and said when I’m president, I will make sure those held accounts—those who perpetrated the death of 13 Americans and injury of dozens of others—we will find them. We will keep our word.”
He also described the day US forces withdrew from Afghanistan as "one of the biggest disasters" in American history and stressed that all aspects of the withdrawal will be thoroughly examined.
Hegseth added: “We are doing a full investigation of what happened in Afghanistan. Those who were involved and made the decision to put our troops at risk will be held accountable.”
Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, has criticized what he called the Biden administration's failure to capture this ISIS member. He claimed that Biden's government has paid little attention to Afghanistan-related issues over the past four years.
Mohammed Sharifullah is accused of masterminding the attack on Kabul International Airport during the evacuation process in 2021. This attack resulted in the deaths of 13 US soldiers and a large number of Afghan civilians.
[KhaamaPress] Rooters, citing its sources, reported that a new directive from U.S. President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... may prevent Afghan and Pak nationals from entering the United States. The news agency stated on Thursday, March 6, that the restriction could come into effect as early as next week, barring Afghan citizens from traveling to the U.S.
The restriction is expected to target countries with majority Moslem populations, and other nations may also be added to the list. During Trump’s first term as president, he implemented a similar travel ban targeting citizens from Moslem-majority countries, which was later overturned by President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing... The new ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who have been approved for resettlement or granted special immigrant visas. This move will particularly impact those who have been waiting for resettlement and are hoping to reunite with their families in the U.S.
Trump has instructed two of his cabinet ministers to present a list of countries that could face partial or full travel suspensions to the U.S. by March 12. Afghanistan is expected to be included in this list, facing a complete travel ban for its citizens.
The U.S. Department of State, which handles the resettlement of Afghan nationals, is reportedly working to ensure that those who have already been approved for special immigration visas (SIV) are exempted from this travel ban. Currently, around 200,000 Afghan nationals with approved visas or applications are stranded in Afghanistan and Pakistain.
The new policy raises concerns for thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees and immigrants colonists who are at risk of being unable to escape the volatile situation in their home country. As the political and humanitarian situation continues to evolve, both Afghan citizens and the international community are watching closely for any updates regarding this new travel restriction.
[IsraelTimes] Federal court rules in favor of American victims of Hamas attack, who allege Binance trading platform helped facilitate terror group’s atrocities
A judge in a New York court ruled last week that a lawsuit filed by American terror victims against the cryptocurrency company Binance can move forward, in a case the plaintiffs’ legal team hopes will secure billions for victims of the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... invasion of Israel and stymie funding for terror groups.
The initial complaint was filed last year on behalf of 40 American victims of the October 7 attack or their representatives. The lead plaintiff is Judith Raanan, who was taken hostage with her daughter on October 7 and released weeks later. Other plaintiffs had family members murdered on October 7.
The lawsuit argues that Binance provided financial services to Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... in violation of federal anti-terrorism laws and contributed to the Hamas attack. The lawsuit also names 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 Syria as defendants.
The case is in the federal Southern District Court in New York. Binance’s legal team had filed to dismiss the case, arguing the lawsuit lacked US jurisdiction. The plaintiffs said the jurisdiction was appropriate because of Binance’s business and banking operations in New York. The judge in the case denied the motion to dismiss last week, meaning the case cleared a significant hurdle and could move forward, toward a resolution.
The US Department of Justice and US regulators have said that Binance permitted Hamas and other terror groups to evade US financing laws to secure funding, starting in 2019. The company paid more than $4 billion in a historic settlement with the US in 2023, and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for money laundering. The October 7 lawsuit seeks to build on the federal investigations.
"Cryptocurrency exchanges feel that they operate by a different set of rules," said Dov Gold, a lawyer in the case with Seiden Law, a New York-based firm. "We had to persuade a judge that a cryptocurrency exchange can be held liable under this anti-terrorism law statute despite the anonymity provided by cryptocurrency."
Israeli authorities have also seized Binance accounts linked to Paleostinian terrorist groups.
During the hearing last week, the judge, John G. Koeltl, told the defense it was "somewhat breathtaking" that Binance had said, in effect, "We accept terrorist accounts which allow the transmission of funds to murderous Moslems because we treat murderous Moslems just like anyone else."
The legal team behind the case said damages could amount to a maximum of around $60 million per fatality. Those damages plus others, such as for hostages, could lead to a settlement in the billions, the legal team estimated.
Binance reported a revenue of $12 billion in 2022. The company says it is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform by trade volume and has more than 260 million customers.
The lawyers also hope the case will have wider implications by setting a legal precedent that cryptocurrency exchanges can be held liable for terror financing on their platforms. That legal precedent, plus the potential damages stemming from the lawsuit, could dissuade the platforms from working with terror groups.
"We wanted to make a point also to hold these financial institutions accountable," said Robert Seiden of Seiden Law. "You’re never going to stop people from paying murderous Moslems to do what they do. It’s almost impossible. But if you can make it more difficult for them, then that’s at least some positive outcome in this case."
Binance’s legal team did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit progressed as federal authorities also sought to crack down on terror groups.
The federal Office of the Attorney General said in a memorandum last month that it had established the Joint Task Force October 7 to "seek justice" for the attack’s victims, address Hamas threats, and combat antisemitism. One of the task force’s stated goals is to investigate and prosecute Hamas funders.
[KhaamaPress] In February, 20% of the Afghans deported from Islamabad and Rawalpindi were found to have UN Refugee Agency documents, raising concerns about the forced expulsions of individuals seeking protection.
In February, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) revealed a significant spike in deportations, with 930 Afghans forcibly returned to Afghanistan—double the number from just two weeks earlier. Notably, 20% of those expelled from Islamabad and Rawalpindi held UN Refugee Agency documents, highlighting the escalating deportation crisis.
The United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... reported that in January, 1,245 Afghans were detained or arrested across Pakistain, more than double last year’s figures. This indicates a growing crackdown on Afghan refugees, many of whom are undocumented or have migration documents but still face deportation.
Many of those detained hold migration documents, recognizing them as people needing international protection. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... these individuals continue to face challenges in securing protection, with many trapped in a hostile environment in Pakistain.
Islamabad and Rawalpindi have seen a sharp rise in arrests and deportations of Afghans. Refugees in these cities live in constant fear of daily police raids, with many unable to obtain legal documentation to avoid detention.
The forced deportation of Afghan refugees highlights their precarious situation in Pakistain. The Pak government’s deadlines for undocumented refugees to leave intensify their vulnerability, as the country does not recognize them under the Refugee Convention.
Despite claims from the Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... that returnees will be safe, the UN reports that former Afghan officials and military personnel are still being targeted. This raises doubts about the safety of deported individuals returning to Afghanistan.
[IsraelTimes] Swiss government invited signatories to talk on applying convention to West Bank and Gaza, but too few participants signed up; Foreign Ministry says it worked ‘intensively’ for this
Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... on Thursday canceled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the West Bank, 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 East Jerusalem, for want of participants, in what Israel’s Foreign Ministry called a "significant diplomatic achievement" for the Jewish state.
The country had invited 196 parties to the conventions to participate in the March 7 conference in Geneva on the situation of Paleostinian civilians living in those areas, but then told them the gathering had been canceled, four diplomatic sources told Rooters.
"In the absence of a consensus between the High Contracting Parties, [Switzerland], as depositary State, decided not to convene the meeting," said Swiss foreign ministry spokesperson Nicolas Bideau on X.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry credited itself with a role in the talks’ cancellation, asserting in a statement that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had worked "intensively... under the radar" to prevent the conference.
The conference was set to address the Fourth Geneva Convention, part of a series of international treaties agreed upon in 1949 after World War II, which defines humanitarian protections for civilians living in areas of armed conflict or under military rule.
Had the conference taken place, participants were likely to sign a communiqué that "include elements that present Israel in a negative light, without reference to the fact that Israel is a democratic country fighting a terror organization," the Foreign Ministry said.
"The meeting was even expected to make anti-Israel resolutions that Israel’s enemies would have used in international forums" and in mechanisms used to "slander Israel," its statement continued.
The ministry also took an issue with Switzerland’s calling the conference in the first place.
"A conference of countries that are signatories to the Geneva Convention is supposed to be held only for general matters related to the Convention, not specific issues," the ministry wrote.
It noted that Switzerland has nevertheless called three such meetings, all related to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
"The diplomatic effort [to avert the conference] succeeded, and a great number of countries decided not to take part in the biased conference," the ministry said.
The cancellation amounted to a diplomatic blow for neutral Switzerland, which prides itself on conflict mediation and frequently hosts summits and peace talks.
PALESTINIANS, ISLAMIC COUNTRIES SAID THEY’D SKIP CONFERENCE
The Paleostinian Authority’s ambassador to the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told Rooters earlier that his delegation did not plan to attend the event, criticizing a draft declaration circulated among participants.
"We want the international community to take concrete measures and this fell short of expectations," he told Rooters, saying such measures could include economic or diplomatic steps against Israel. "What we want is for the Geneva Conventions to be implemented."
A member of The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said that the group had also planned to miss the event, saying the document "did not reflect the gravity of the situation."
Britannia felt that, along with many other states, it could not fully support a proposed declaration as a precondition for attending the conference, according to a statement from its diplomatic mission.
Diplomats from other Western states that back Israel also privately expressed concerns about the meeting, although at least some European countries had been planning to attend.
[Rudaw] The United States said on Thursday that it is reviewing all current sanctions exemptions that offer 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... any form of economic or financial relief. A waiver allowing Iraq to buy Iranian electricity expires in two days.
"The Iraq sanctions waiver, as you've noted, for Iran gas imports, expires on the eighth and we have, at this point, as you might imagine, we have nothing to announce with regards to the current electricity waiver that expires on the eighth, in line with National Security Presidential Memorandum number two, we are reviewing all existing sanctions waivers that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief," Tammy Bruce, Department of State spokesperson, told Rudaw during a press briefing.
The US government in summer extended its sanctions waiver for Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran for another 120 days. It expires on Saturday and it is not clear if Washington will renew it.
Washington has repeatedly renewed a four-month waiver to Baghdad in a bid to help the country provide sufficient electricity to its people.
Bruce urged the Iraqi government to "eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible," welcoming Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-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... i’s "commitment to achieve energy independence."
Iraq is heavily dependent on gas imports from neighboring Iran to prop up its production of electricity. The waivers help Iraq bypass existing US sanctions on Iranian exports and are intended to act only as a short-term stopgap until Iraq is able to wean itself off of Iran for its energy needs.
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[IsraelTimes] Police say they plan to deploy some 3,000 police and border officers across Jerusalem tomorrow for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
A spokesman says police will operate with additional reinforcements at checkpoints on the perimeter of Jerusalem, in East Jerusalem and within the Old City. Police say they aim to prevent “hostile elements from exploiting Ramadan for incitement, disturbances, terrorism or any form of violence.”
Several roads adjacent to the Old City, including Nablus, Sultan Suleiman and Salah a-Din Streets in the East Jerusalem downtown, will be closed to traffic from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Police advise drivers to use Begin Road as an alternative route.
The holy site has been a flashpoint for violence, particularly with large crowds gathering on Ramadan, and has seen frequent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces over the years, sometimes leading to wider violence.
Last month, Hebrew outlets reported that Israel’s security establishment plans to allow only 10,000 West Bank Palestinians to enter the al-Aqsa compound for Friday prayer, and only if they submit a request in advance. Ex-prisoners released under the current ceasefire deal will not be permitted to enter the compound.
Hamas calls on Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as Arab Israelis to reject efforts to impose restrictions and to travel to the Temple Mount in large numbers and oppose attempts by Israel to “desecrate and control” the site, “by any means.”
[IsraelTimes] Police in Jerusalem gear up to secure prayers at the Temple Mount on the first Friday of Ramadan, with the Prime Minister’s Office saying Palestinians from the West Bank will be able to visit the holy site under the same terms approved by the government last year.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office says males 55 and older, women who are at least 50-years-old and children 12 or younger will be allowed to enter Jerusalem to attend the prayers after receiving a permit from Israeli authorities.
The statement adds that Israel is committed to upholding freedom of worship “for all religions and nations.”
#1
It amazes me that we continue to pretend that *anything* associated with Islam can be "holy", whether its a date on a calendar or a site on the map.
NOTHING is "holy" to them. They are a culture of murderers. They have no concept of holy, of compassion, or love. They are an enemy of civilization and need to be eradicated.
[IsraelTimes] Israel hopes to take direct control of the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and presented a plan last week that would enable it to do so, the Washington Post reports, citing sources briefed on the details of the plan.
Relevant agencies are said to have been briefed on Wednesday and Thursday last week by COGAT, the Defense Ministry body facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, regarding its plans for the future of aid deliveries to the war-torn Palestinian enclave.
According to the report, the plan will see all entry points from Israel into the Strip shuttered, with the exception of the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Any aid arriving at the Kerem Shalom border crossing will undergo a mandated screening, the Post reports, and will be directed to one of several planned “logistics hubs,” from where it will be distributed.
The logistics hubs could potentially be secured by private contractors, the Post says, citing officials from several international aid organizations and the United Nations.
It adds that Israel also plans to create a tracking system to ensure that all aid reaches its intended destination, amid accusations from Israel that the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza has been diverting supplies for its own use.
The report comes after Israel announced earlier this week that it was halting the entry of all aid into Gaza due to what it said was Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal to extend the recently completed first stage of a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
[IsraelTimes] US government officials have accused Israel of leaking information to the media about the Trump administration’s would-be-secret direct negotiations with Hamas in an attempt to sabotage the talks, the Ynet news outlet reports.
According to the report, Israel was not informed of the talks between the US and Hamas ahead of time, as a previous attempt to hold such a meeting had been canceled following pressure from Jerusalem.
As such, Ynet reports, when the US decided to go ahead with the talks despite Israel’s stance, it was decided that Jerusalem would not be informed of their existence. Nevertheless, when Israel’s point man on the hostages, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, got wind of the talks, he informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about their existence.
The first media reports regarding the existence of the talks between the US and Hamas appeared less than a day after Netanyahu was informed of them, Ynet says, leading the US to suspect it was behind the leak.
Citing US officials, the report suggests that Israel leaked the information with the intent of sabotaging the talks as it is opposed to being left in the dark as other parties make arrangements for the future of the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, the report suggests that Jerusalem opposes the talks as it is concerned that the US will lose interest in pursuing a complete hostage deal for all remaining captives if it succeeds in freeing the five US citizens held by the Gaza terror group.
Several other longtime US allies, including the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia, are said to be considering changes to their intelligence sharing protocols.
According to the report, among the concerns shared by various US allies is the fear that the identity of important foreign assets could be revealed, thus jeopardizing them, amid the US’s reconciliation with Russia.
Citing unnamed sources, NBC says that discussions on the potential scaling back of intelligence sharing “are already happening,” but that no decisions have been made thus far.
An Israeli official denies the report’s content, telling NBC that “cooperation between Israel and the United States on every level, including the sharing of crucial intelligence data, is as strong and solid as ever.”
The UK and Canada similarly reject the report, and there is no comment from New Zealand or Saudi Arabia.
What is this need to tell secrets to total strangers who turn out to be reporters — or friends known to be reporters? Loose lips not only sink ships, guys, but they annoy allies. Cut it out!!!
[IsraelTimes] Israel was not given advance notice by the Trump administration that it would be holding talks directly with Hamas officials, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
Israel heard about the talks through “other channels,” says The New York Times, citing an Israeli official.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, Israel’s point man on the hostages, informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the talks, and told the US team in Doha that it knew about the contacts with Hamas, according to the Times.
The Times report corroborates a report from Axios yesterday, which says Israel only learned about specific aspects of the talks through other channels.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida warns that any Israeli military escalation against the Gaza terror group will most likely lead to the killing of some hostages.
He further adds that Israeli threats of war and blockade will not secure the release of hostages, and claims that the terror group is still committed to abiding by the truce deal with Israel, the first stage of which recently concluded.
Fifty-nine hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip following the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, at least 35 of whom have been confirmed dead by the IDF.
[IsraelTimes] The US has offered Hamas a deal in which 10 living Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire, a Palestinian source tells Sky News Arabia on Thursday.
“Washington asked Hamas to release ten hostages… in exchange for extending the ceasefire for sixty days, starting negotiations on the second phase and the position of Israeli forces along the Philadelphi Corridor,” as well as resuming the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the source says.
The source does not indicate when the offer was presented.
According to the source, “Hamas is still considering its response to the American proposal.”
[IsraelTimes] The Police Prosecutions Division files an indictment against a resident of Holon who transported a terrorist to Bat Yam and who was responsible for placing explosives on buses that exploded in Holon and Bat Yam last month.
The defendant told investigators that he transported the terrorist twice on that day in return for a payment of NIS 450, Kan News reports
In the first journey, he took the terrorist to a checkpoint in the West Bank, and the second time, he transported him from the checkpoint to Bat Yam.
He admitted that he transported the terrorist but claimed he did not know that he was involved in terrorist activity.
“He sat next to me with the bag, I didn’t know that he had an explosive and that he was a terrorist,” the defendant is reported as having told investigators.
The defendant was released to house arrest after being indicted since the judge did not believe there was evidence that he knew he was transporting a terrorist.
Kan reports that the terrorists responsible for placing the explosives have yet to be apprehended.
[IsraelTimes] Defense Minister Israel Katz issues a highly unusual statement, threatening to deport members of protest flotillas to the Gaza Strip and use their boats to allow Palestinians to leave the territory.
There were attempts last year for protesters to reach the Gaza Strip by boat and deliver aid there with the approval of Israeli authorities, though there have been no reports of such attempts recently.
“The defense minister instructed the IDF to allow the protest flotillas to reach the Gaza coast, disembark the protesters in Gaza, and seize the ships and transfer them to the port of Ashdod so that they can be used to evacuate Gaza residents who are interested in leaving Gaza,” reads a statement issued by Katz’s office.
“Whoever comes to demonstrate on the shores of Gaza, we will send them into Gaza and use the ships to evacuate Gaza residents who are interested in leaving voluntarily,” Katz says in remarks provided by his office.
[IsraelTimes] Exercise includes F-15i and F-35i fighter jets alongside a US B-52 bomber, whose help Israel could potentially need to strike Iran’s underground nuclear sites
The Israeli Air Force held a joint exercise with the US Air Force on Tuesday, in what was likely a message to 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... amid speculation about a potential joint strike on the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
During the exercise, pilots "practiced operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday.
The drill included Israeli F-15i and F-35i fighter jets flying alongside a US B-52 bomber.
"The exercise aimed to strengthen and maintain the longstanding cooperation between the forces while expanding connectivity and building integrated capabilities for a range of scenarios," the IDF said.
The drill is potentially aimed at readying the Israeli military for a potential joint strike with the US on Iran.
The IAF has already carried out two strikes on Iran without US support, in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel. The Israeli strikes reportedly left key Iranian air defenses crippled.
Israeli Air Force F-15I and F-35I fighter jets fly alongside a US B-52 bomber during a drill on March 4, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Israel would likely need the heavy capabilities of the B-52s to effectively hit Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear sites.
A report late last month said Iran had placed its nuclear facilities on high alert and deployed additional air defenses, bracing for a potential attack — but included an official’s statement that the existing defenses "may not be effective in the event of a large-scale strike."
Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... the UN nuclear watchdog has said that Iran is currently enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian use, and the country has obstructed international inspectors seeking to visit its facilities.
US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... has repeatedly said Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on the Islamic Theocratic Republic upon his return to office in January.
At the same time, Trump has advocated a diplomatic agreement to stop Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, saying last month: "I think Iran would love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them."
This week, Russia offered to mediate talks between the US and Iran about latter’s nuclear program.
Russia and Iran have expanded military ties in recent years, with a report Tuesday showing that Russian officials had visited Iranian missile production and air defense sites twice last year, both times within weeks of Tehran launching massive missile barrages at Israeli cities. In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... hosted his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in Moscow where they signed a 20-year strategic partnership.
[IsraelTimes] School condemns remarks by Sebastian Ben Daniel, posted under his alias ‘John Brown’; in apology letter, he asserts ‘political actors’ are trying to stifle freedom of speech
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev suspended a lecturer on Wednesday over his criticism of the Israel Defense Forces, which includes asserting that soldiers are "taught to murder Paleostinian children."
The school said that Dr. Sebastian Ben Daniel, of the computer science department, would be suspended until the matter had been fully probed.
Ben Daniel, who posts to social media under the alias "John Brown," has long published inflammatory criticism of the IDF.
Over a thousand students reportedly asked for his suspension after the posts were highlighted in media reports.
The university said in a statement that it "condemns and completely rejects the insulting remarks of John Brown that slandered IDF soldiers, particularly as many of the university community are themselves soldiers."
It noted that published comments, "terrible as they were," were not made as part of Ben Daniel’s academic role.
Earlier this week, Ben Daniel held a meeting with the university rector. On Wednesday, he published an apology letter that accused "political actors" of working to stifle freedom of speech.
"I regret that the witch hunt over what I wrote on the social networks is affecting you, and has entered the study hall by force, and against our will," he wrote in a letter to the students, as reported by Hebrew media outlets.
He claimed that "political actors" had taken his remarks out of context and stressed that his criticism was "entirely separate" from my academic work.
"The goal is always to keep things separate," he said. "With that, I know that my remarks have consequences for you and that the separation is not absolute, no matter how much I wanted it to be, and how much I intended it to be.
"If any of you were hurt by the things that have been publicized, I apologize for that here and hope you understand that that was not my intention."
He criticized his suspension, saying the aim of the politicians "is not to harm me, but freedom of speech in Israel, and that by way of fatal harm to academia, which is the last fortress standing before them." He drew a comparison to the days of dictatorship in his native Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... Among the posts he has published, as reported in Hebrew media, are remarks that IDF soldiers "voluntarily" follow orders to "murder children," that troops are "taught to murder Paleostinian children," and that IDF soldiers are "baby murderers, not because of orders, but because they were taught to murder babies."
The right-wing Im Tirzu organization dismissed the apology letter, saying in a statement that "the lecturer did not retract his words and published an embarrassing apology."
It said suspension was not enough and that Ben Daniel should have been dismissed. The group filed a complaint with police for suspected incitement against soldiers, Walla reported.
The right-wing Btsalmo nonprofit welcomed the suspension.
"Anyone who incites against IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens should be in the garbage bin of history and not in academia," it said in a statement.
[Israel.times] Sasha Troufanov says he met ‘friend’ Braslavski in captivity, hopes his voice gives him ‘light and hope in the dark place’; Braslavski was taken from the Nova festival on Oct. 7
A recently released hostage provided the first public sign of life from captive Rom Braslavski in a video posted to social media on Thursday.
In the video, Sasha Troufanov, who was freed last month as part of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire agreement, said that while he is relieved and happy to be home, he "can’t disconnect from the captives still held 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... , those left behind."
"I think a lot about my friends, especially one person who I briefly met in captivity, named Rom Braslavski," he said.
Troufanov was held by the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror group and was alone for most of the time in captivity.
News that he had met Braslavski amounts to the first evidence made public that Braslavski was alive after being captured by Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -led turbans on October 7, 2023.
"Rom, I hope my voice will give you light and hope in the dark place where you are. I want you to know that I, your friends and family, and all of Israel are praying for you and doing everything we can to secure your release," Troufanov said.
Braslavski, now 21, was working as a security guard when he was taken captive by Hamas turbans from the Nova desert rave on October 7.
The Jerusalem resident was one of several security guards at the party who tried to save others as the wave of turbans launched an assault on the event during the early morning.
He was in touch with his mother around 10:30 a.m., telling her that he was okay, located in a situation room, and would be home in a few hours.
Braslavski got two young women to safety that morning and was then maimed in both hands, according to other survivors who saw him.
He continued to try and save others. He was last seen at 1:30 p.m. while helping a young woman get out of a garbage container where she was hiding and head to a safer location.
Braslavski is among 59 hostages still being held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
[Rudaw] The British government on Thursday announced the removal of sanctions of two dozen Syrian entities, including the country’s central bank, marking a milestone in the western diplomatic relations with Syria following the downfall of the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... regime.
The UK Treasury declared that sanctions had been lifted from Syria’s central bank and 23 other banking, commercial, and oil entities, whose assets had been frozen for six years.
The UK government initially imposed the sanctions on Syria in 2019 to penalize "individuals and entities involved in repressing the civilian population in Syria" during the 2011 uprising against Assad’s rule, as well as those who "supported or benefited" from his regime.
The move by the UK follows a similar step by the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... in late February, which suspended several restrictive measures targeting key energy and transport sectors, as well as a number of Syrian banks, including the Industrial Bank, Popular Credit Bank, Saving Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, as well as the Syrian Arab Airlines. These entities were also included in London’s sanctions relief list.
However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... the EU emphasized that it would proceed cautiously, warning that it could reinstate sanctions if the new Syrian government failed to establish "an inclusive government" that accommodates the country’s various ethnic and religious groups, according to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.
The diplomatic shift comes after the swift overthrow of the Assad regime by a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) in early December. In late January, HTS leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was appointed as Syria’s interim president. Sharaa vowed to hold "free and fair elections" to pave the way for the formation of an inclusive government and the drafting of a new Syrian constitution.
On Sunday, Sharaa formed a seven-member committee tasked with drafting a constitutional declaration for the country’s transitional period. The move came days after the National Dialogue Conference, held earlier that week. While the conference was praised for pledging reforms, it was also criticized by some groups in Syria - particularly Kurdish political parties - which deemed it exclusionary and rushed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The scandal with Israeli reservists who sold Iran some of the secrets of the legendary Iron Dome missile defense system had barely died down when a new spy story shook the country. This time, Iranian agents seriously raised the stakes by encroaching on Israel's "nuclear pearl."
To gain access to the nuclear research center in Dimona (Southern District), a native Israeli was recruited, again with no obvious grievances against the authorities.
And although Israeli intelligence agencies report that they were able to disrupt the enemy operation before the secret information leaked, there are still plenty of “blank spots” in the case.
ENGINEER FROM BEER SHEVA
The Israeli intelligence services spent only a month and a half searching for and capturing the “atomic mole” – in February 2025, Doron Bokobza, who worked as an engineer at Haifa Chemicals South, was arrested.
The company, which specializes in the production of agricultural fertilizers and industrial chemicals, is located in the same area as the research center targeted by Iranian agents. Workers from both facilities often crossed paths in Dimona.
The case materials, which became public a few days ago, noted that in December 2024, Bokobza himself approached an Iranian operative and offered his services. He justified his operational value by "having the necessary contacts" to penetrate the territory of the nuclear complex, and later backed up his words with "photographs of secret facilities."
The motive that pushed the Israeli to cooperate with foreign intelligence is traditionally said to be the thirst for profit.
The accused allegedly had serious financial problems (to which some media outlets added card debts, the existence of which was not mentioned in the case). At the same time, it is impossible to call him an opponent of the current government - he was almost not interested in the political life of the country and did not consider himself a "regular critic" of the authorities.
By the time of his arrest, Bokobza had earned around a thousand dollars from espionage, a record sum among agents recruited by Iran over the past year.
NUCLEAR PEARL
The interest of Iranian intelligence services in the nuclear research center in Dimona is not accidental.
Built in the Negev desert in 1958, the facility has a controversial reputation. Although Tel Aviv explains its work solely for scientific purposes, many are convinced that the complex is also used to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
According to investigators, it is capable of producing, depending on the load, from 15 to 60 kg of weapons-grade material per year. This is equivalent (with an average nuclear warhead weight of 5 kg) to producing 3-12 nuclear weapons annually.
Israel, committed to a policy of “double ambiguity,” neither confirms nor denies the military component of the complex’s operation, but clearly demonstrates its high value for the country.
Thus, the late Israeli leader Shimon Peres (whose name the facility bears today) called the research center the country’s “nuclear pearl” and its main asset.
It is not surprising that any encroachment on the center in Dimona is perceived by Tel Aviv as extremely painful.
PAIN POINTS
Penetration into the inner perimeter of the nuclear center in Dimona opens up wide opportunities for the Iranians. First of all, to obtain data on its real scale.
Back in 1986, defector Mordechai Vanunu revealed to the press information about the existence of secret underground floors beneath the facility, but only in general terms. Israeli intelligence managed to steal it before the dossier was made public in full. Almost forty years later, information about the “forbidden part” of the complex is still fragmentary and contradictory, and it does not provide any insight into Israel’s “nuclear arsenal.”
It is important for Iranian security forces to obtain up-to-date data on the nuclear center's defense systems. Especially since the information from the "Vanunu dossier" is seriously outdated, and attempts to "probe" the defense of the complex with their own proxies (for example, with the help of Hamas missile launches in 2014) have led to nothing.
Having our own “eyes and ears” in the center would allow us to identify vulnerable spots and subsequently use them to guide missiles and drones.
Tehran conducted a simulation of a strike on the center in Dimona back in 2021, as part of the strategic exercises "Great Prophet - 17", and in the context of the growing confrontation with Israel (when Tel Aviv threatens to strike, including on the nuclear infrastructure of its counterpart), the Iranian authorities are keeping the facility in their sights even more.
Finally, Iranian intelligence services have a chance to paralyze the facility from the inside, using malware. Especially since the precedent was created long before that.
In 2012, Israel, using a computer worm implanted in the control system of centrifuges at the low-enriched uranium plant in Netanz, was able to set Iran's nuclear program back several years. And although official Tel Aviv continues to deny participation in the operation, of all Tehran's adversaries at the time, it was the only one with sufficient technical capabilities to carry out an attack of this type.
Tehran has a chance to pay Israel back in the same coin, especially since Iranian “combat viruses” have advanced greatly over the past decade and can reach where missiles and drones cannot. And although the possible damage from disrupting the operation of the Dimona facility is unlikely to be great, the psychological effect of the operation is much more important for Tehran.
SIMPLE TRACE
Although the “Bokobza case” was solved hot on the heels, it contains many oddities.
For example, in the statements of the accused, which were widely circulated by the press, it is emphasized that he never visited the nuclear center, the data about which he was collecting. And he took the photos from open sources - and thus "profited from the gullibility of the enemy."
However, this position contradicts the data of the Shabak: counterintelligence cites at least three instances of the transmission to an Iranian liaison of photographs of objects taken strictly in accordance with the technical specifications.
The description of the first contact also seems illogical: allegedly Bokobza found an account in a messenger with an Iranian flag on the avatar and initiated interaction with the message: “I am Israeli and want to work with you.” The correspondence with the Iranian operative was conducted over an open channel and without allegories. When visiting objects, Bokobza often neglected secrecy and allegedly did everything to attract the attention of counterintelligence.
Such crude work does not fit well with the agent's task: the Iranians hardly expected to take a well-guarded target "by storm". But to briefly throw the Israelis on a false trail, passing off another "disposable" agent as an important target - that's quite possible.
It seems that Israeli detectives have gradually begun to understand this.
A second "Israeli engineer" has appeared in the case, whose personal information has not yet been disclosed. Unlike the main defendant, he was a full-time employee of the nuclear center and could theoretically carry out Iranian intelligence tasks on the "inner perimeter."
True, there is still no guarantee that the second trail will not also turn out to be a side track, and then Iran will have enough time to obtain the secrets of the “nuclear pearl”.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/07/2025 6:47 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Countries get inspected when they show they can’t be trusted with the things. Israel has had nukes for about four decades, and never used them despite strong temptation. They’ve demonstrated they don’t need supervision.
A long way to say what Frank G. said so efficiently.
[IsraelTimes] The US will exert a campaign of maximum pressure of sanctions on Iran to collapse its oil exports and put pressure on its currency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says.
“Making Iran broke again will mark the beginning of our updated sanctions policy,” Bessent tells members of the Economic Club of New York.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a plan to stop and inspect Iranian oil tankers at sea under an international accord aimed at countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction, sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters.
Trump has vowed to restore a “maximum pressure” campaign to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero, in order to stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Trump hit Iran with two waves of fresh sanctions in the first weeks of his second term, targeting companies and the so-called shadow fleet of aging oil tankers that sail without Western insurance and transport crude from sanctioned countries.
Those moves have largely been in line with the limited measures implemented during former US president Joe Biden’s administration, during which Iran succeeded in ramping up oil exports through complex smuggling networks.
Trump officials are now looking at ways for allied countries to stop and inspect ships sailing through critical chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait in Asia and other sea lanes, according to six sources who asked not to be named due to the sensitive subject.
That would delay delivery of crude to refiners. It could also expose parties involved in facilitating the trade to reputational damage and sanctions, the sources say.
“You don’t have to sink ships or arrest people to have that chilling effect that this is just not worth the risk,” one of the sources says.
“The delay in delivery… instills uncertainty in that illicit trade network.”
The administration was examining whether inspections at sea could be conducted under the auspices of the Proliferation Security Initiative launched in 2003, which aims to prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.
The US drove that initiative, which has been signed by over 100 governments.
This mechanism could enable foreign governments to target Iran’s oil shipments at Washington’s request, one of the sources said, effectively delaying deliveries and hitting supply chains Tehran relies upon for revenue.
The National Security Council, which formulates policy in the White House, was looking into possible inspections at sea, two of the sources say.
At some point this kind of thing will slip to Page 3: Non-WoT, but it seems to me that at this stage the HTS conquest is still solidifying control. It will be interesting to see how totalitarian this polished Al Qaeda group chooses its caliphate to be the next several years — more like Kemalist Turkey, like the Mullahcracy of Iran or Wahabbi Saudi Arabia, or as nasty as the ISIS caliphate?
[IsraelTimes] Size of delivery, the second since Ahmed al-Sharaa came into power, is unclear; Moscow seeking to maintain influence in Damascus after backing ousted leader Assad during civil war
Syria began paying Russia to print its currency under a multi-million dollar contract during the 13-year-old Syrian civil war, after Damascus’s previous contract with a subsidiary of the Austrian central bank was terminated due to European sanctions.
It is unclear if the arrangement is now continuing under the same terms. One source familiar with the contract said it was.
Russia supported Syrian autocrat Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... during the war, swaying the conflict with its bombardment of rebels, including the Islamist group 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... , which ousted Assad in a lightning offensive last year.
But Russia quickly moved to maintain its ties with Damascus in the weeks after Assad fled to Moscow, with an eye on keeping its two key bases in the country’s coastal region.
A senior Russian diplomat visited Damascus in January, and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... on February 12.
Two days later, Syria received its first shipment of local currency from Russia.
The cash shipments are critical: Syria’s war-ravaged economy has slid further in the past months amid a shortage of currency that Syrian officials have attributed in part to delays in the Russian cash shipments, as well as to hoarding of Syrian pounds.
A senior former Syrian official said Russian cash shipments in the hundreds of billions of Syrian pounds (tens of millions of US dollars) used to arrive in Damascus each month. Rooters could not determine exactly how much had arrived on Wednesday, the second such shipment since Assad was ousted on December 8.
The cash crunch has left Syrian depositors struggling to use their savings and has piled pressure on local businesses who are already being squeezed by new competition from cheap imports as the protectionist economy is opened up by the new rulers.
Adding to the economic malaise, a planned 400 percent public-sector salary increase has not materialized, and neither has the Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i finance underpinning that increase, sources told Rooters, attributing the issue to ambiguity surrounding US sanctions and US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... ’s Syria policy.
Economists and analysts say Syria’s cash shortage is largely behind the currency’s strengthening on the black market in the months since Assad fell, while it has also been helped by an influx of visitors from abroad and an end to strict controls on trade in foreign currencies.
The pound on Thursday was trading at around 10,000 per greenback on the black market, compared to the official central bank rate of 13,000.
It traded at around 15,000 per US dollar before Assad was toppled.
Syrian central bank governor Maysaa Sabreen told Rooters in January that she wanted to avoid printing Syrian pounds to guard against inflation.
The central bank only has foreign exchange reserves of around $200 million in cash, sources previously told Rooters, a huge drop from the $18.5 billion that the International Monetary Fund estimated Syria had in 2010, a year before the civil war erupted.
The bank also holds nearly 26 tons of gold, the same amount it held before the war, the sources said.
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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.
[IsraelTimes] Jews were targeted in 28 hate crimes in New York City last month, far more than any other group, the NYPD says.
...
...
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...46th president of the U.S. 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...a 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 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
