[IsraelTimes] Footage shows Arab Israeli influencer Yoseph Haddad in a physical confrontation with Dennis Feitosa, an anti-Israel Republican Party activist, while being hosted on the Digital Social Hour podcast in Los Angeles.
Haddad was being hosted on the podcast in a debate-style format where he was set to debate 10 anti-Israel activists one after another.
In the studio, Feitosa calls Haddad a “genocidal asshole” and appears to try to egg him onto a physical confrontation by putting his arm around him. Haddad pulls his arm off.
In another part of the clip, Feitosa grabs Haddad’s hand from across the table, and Haddad then grabs Feitosa’s head and tries to slam it into the table before others in the room try to separate them.
The fighting appears to continue out in the parking lot, where others present try to keep the two separated.
I was attacked by a groyper in the U.S... he just didn’t realize he had picked a Golani soldier! I came today to take part in a filmed debate against a group of anti-Israel activists, with the person debating me constantly changing. At one point, a man who was clearly a groyper… pic.twitter.com/Tk1s0tlbmB
…who was clearly a groyper came up against me. Even in the studio, he started cursing and turning the argument into a physical confrontation.
After the filming, in the parking lot, he managed to attack me from behind, but very quickly he realized that he f***ed up because when it comes to anti-Israel attacks, we don’t stay silent. He picked the wrong guy!
This isn’t anything new. When they can’t win a verbal debate, they turn to physical confrontation...which they lose as well!
By the way, pay attention at the end of the video to the other idiot accusing me and Israelis of attacking people. This is exactly the classic example of anti-Israel activists... they attack Israel and then cry foul when Israel responds and wins!
[IsraelTimes] Human Rights Watch and 3 other groups ask New York to strike down Trump’s measures against court, calling them an ‘unlawful abuse of power’ that prevent justice being served
Rights groups on Tuesday sued US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... over his sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court, saying the measures block victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.
The Trump administration, which rejected the ICC’s authority, had imposed travel bans and asset freezes on several judges and prosecutors, primarily over their investigations into key US ally Israel.
In a New York court filing, four groups including Human Rights Watch said the sanctions should be struck down as they violate laws including First Amendment free speech protections.
"This is an unlawful abuse of power constituting a frontal attack on the rule of law, the independence of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, basic precepts undergirding the international legal order, and the principle of equal access to justice," the lawsuit stated.
The 101-page complaint said the restrictions "cause grave damage to the ability to bring to justice the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity."
The US sanctions, issued under an executive order Trump signed in February 2025, had targeted eight judges, three prosecutors, a UN expert and three human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... organizations.
The sanctions followed the ICC’s November 2024 decision to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s conduct during the war against Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... 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 court said there were reasonable grounds to believe the two bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The allegations came after Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel that sparked the ongoing war. Israel strongly rejected the allegations and disputed the court’s jurisdiction.
Neither Israel nor the US is a member of the ICC. Furthermore, Jerusalem has argued that the Paleostinian Authority’s membership in the court does not give it jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.
Trump’s February 2025 executive order accused the court of taking "illegitimate and baseless" action against the US and Israel, citing both the warrants against the Israeli leaders and the ICC’s investigation into alleged crimes by US personnel in Afghanistan.
Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest example of organizations pushing back on what they call the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine international law and prevent efforts to combat impunity by governments around the world.
Other organizations joining the lawsuit are the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Open Society Institute.
The groups assert that the financial and legal penalties against the ICC have forced them to "curtail a wide range of human rights and legal work in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
Efforts to retain the global tribunal’s power come as the ICC faces enormous pressure, both internally and from its more than 120 member states. Among those sanctioned by the US last year was Karim Khan, who was the ICC’s chief prosecutor until he was removed from the post last month, nearly two years after sexual misconduct allegations against him first emerged.
Last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... announced that the US was launching a "sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US illusory sovereignty."
In a video message, Rubio said the US would pressure member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court and ban staff from traveling to the United States.
#1
..."US illusory sovereignty"? The ICC (spit!) thinks US sovereignty is illusory? I've got a nice M-16 sorta-clone here to counter that point of view. And I am not alone.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/12/2026 4:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That’s one Fred’s auto-translate gems, Whiskey Mike.
#3
Congress literally passed the Hague invasion act to prevent them from seizing and putting any of our citizens or allies on trial. It's irrelevant if they're found guilty or not, or are guilty or not.
They simply aren't allowed to try them.
This even overrides the NATO treaty ratified by the Senate. Because usually we're not allowed to attack the territory of formally allied nations. It's a matter of great trust for US allies to put US bases and troops on their soil like we have with all our allies.
As the saying goes, the only thing more dangerous than being an American enemy is being an American ally.
[Rudaw] The executive order to establish a new Desert Operations Command in Muthanna province near the Saudi border aims to fill a security vacuum and prevent attacks from across the border, an Iraqi lawmaker told Rudaw late Monday.
Sherwan Dubardani, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir that the new force is intended to address security gaps in the vast desert area after an executive order was issued on Sunday to establish a new Desert Operations Command in Muthanna province near the Saudi border.
“The formation of this force is to fill the security vacuum in the Muthanna desert and to prevent any attacks that might be carried out from that border,” Dubardani said.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between Baghdad and Riyadh over attacks allegedly launched from Iraqi territory. On July 28, Saudi Arabia accused Iraqi armed groups of carrying out drone attacks against its energy facilities.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade for ultra-Orthodox troops has declared its first reserve battalion operational, following a recent drill in the Golan Heights.
The brigade’s Shimon Reserve Battalion carried out its first-ever battalion-level exercise last week, completing its “official establishment and preparation for operational activity,” the military says.
The battalion is composed of soldiers who completed the Shlav Bet (Stage B) track, in which older people who previously received exemptions from service draft for the first time, as well as Haredi soldiers from other parts of the military.
“As part of their training, the recruits underwent full combat training adapted to the Haredi way of life at the Hasmonean training base, and the battalion will later also absorb graduates of the brigade’s standing army service track,” the IDF says.
In the coming months, the Shimon Battalion is expected to be called up for operations on the northern front, “according to operational needs,” the military adds.
The establishment of the brigade is part of the military’s efforts to expand the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, as it faces personnel shortages caused by the war.
It also aims to demonstrate, despite opposition to enlistment from leading Haredi rabbis, that military service can go hand in hand with ultra-Orthodox observance.
[IsraelTimes] Israel told the United States about the Iranian liquidation threat that caused the US Secret Service to take President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... off Air Force One and transfer him in a catering truck to a military plane as he prepared to fly out of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... member, but not the most reliable... last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed US official.
Israeli intelligence indicated that 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... was plotting to use shoulder-to-air missiles to take down Trump’s plane, according to the report.
Senior Trump aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... , remained on the plane despite the threat, the official said.
Last month, the newspaper reported that Israeli intelligence had indicated a new plot was in development to assassinate the US president, but did not provide details.
Two US officials told Channel 12 news at the time that the information related to general dialogue between Iranian officials on potentially assassinating the US president, rather than a specific plot.
Trump had flown to the NATO summit in Ankara aboard a newly renovated 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-donated jet. The trip was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.
Before departing the Ottoman Turkish capital, Trump said he would instead use an older baby blue Air Force One plane "for old time’s sake" to RAF Mildenhall in Britannia, while the new Qatari-gifted plane stopped at the same base so US service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.
But after Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A, the Washington Post revealed Monday.
The report on clandestinely putting Trump on a third aircraft and quietly whisking him out of the country added a fresh layer to just how seriously concerned US security officials were about the threat against Trump during the ongoing war with Iran, which has been publicly pledging to assassinate him since the US killed Iranian IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Calls for the US president’s death featured prominently in the recent mourning commemorations for slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> Trump confirmed the report later Tuesday, telling news hounds that he slipped away from Air Force One after the summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a "different plane."
"I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go in a different flight, different plane," Trump said.
"I just have to do what they say," Trump continued after a trip to Ohio, while asserting the plan he secretly flew on was "at greater risk."
"I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," he added. "I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for."
Trump also stressed that he "doesn’t trust Iran."
"Are you saying I trust Iran?! I’m the last person to trust Iran," he insisted. "They’ve lied to me constantly. We have total control over the Hormuz strait right now... we own it."
"At some point maybe they’ll do something and get blown away, but right now we’re in a very good position," Trump further claimed. He described the Islamic Theocratic Republic as "the bully of the Middle East" since its founding in 1979, but "no longer."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[Regnum] The Jerusalem District Court has temporarily banned the construction of crocodile ditches around the high-security wings of Ktziot Prison,
…previously in our archives as Ketziot Prison …
which holds Hamas prisoners.
True, the noble impulse was dictated not by concern for the safety of Palestinians, but by complaints from animal rights activists about “excessively dangerous conditions” for the guard reptiles.
And although a final decision on the issue has not yet been made, supporters and opponents of the crocodile guard have already engaged in fierce battles over the right to interpret the situation.
"ISRAELI ALCATRAZ"
The Ktziot military-political prison, which officially changed its name to the more euphonious Lavi ("Young Lion") in 2026, is known far beyond the borders of Israel.
Situated in a village near the Egyptian border, it traces its roots to the field camps for prisoners of war during the First Intifada, which were established in these areas in the late 1980s.
The institution has been popularly nicknamed "Israeli Alcatraz"—a nod to the infamous American prison. And for good reason.
The three-section complex, with a total area of approximately 400,000 square meters, is divided into dozens of individual holding units, where contact between inmates is minimized. The prison perimeter is equipped with several lines of fencing, guard towers, surveillance systems, and other security equipment.
To be fair, this is where they house the worst of the worst of the Palestinian terrorists, including those picked up in Israel following 10/7 and those captured instead of killed in Gaza.
In addition to being prohibited from group outings, Ktziot Lavi prisoners are also severely restricted from contacting their families and meeting with their lawyers in person (interaction is permitted only in the presence of Israeli agents and for no more than 15 minutes per month). Most prisoners are also denied the right to appeal their sentences or to be released on parole.
During its existence, the complex was demonstratively closed several times (for example, as part of the implementation of the Oslo Accords in 1996), but each time it was again converted into a detention center for “especially dangerous” Palestinians detained by the army or special services of the Jewish state.
Among others, those who passed through the prison's stages were the former "Sheriff of Jenin" Zakaria Zubeidi,
…the former Jenin chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades…
the high-ranking Hamas commander Muhammad Mardawi,
…also spelt Mahmoud Mardawi…
and the pediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya, whom the Israelis call "the chief physician of Hamas hospitals."
…. and a colonel in the Hamas Medical Military Corps.
Even after the facility came under Israeli Prison Service control in 2006 (and was formally converted into a maximum-security civilian prison), its "Palestinian wings" were never empty. Moreover, with the departure of the Israeli military, the proportion of Palestinian prisoners increased from 82% to 95%. This is because Lavi began to house not only "irreconcilables" but also anyone suspected of working for Hamas and other unfriendly Palestinian organizations.
Furthermore, there is a widespread belief that key Palestinian underground leaders, Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat, are secretly being held in the "Israeli Alcatraz." Israel refuses to disclose their location even to the Americans.
INNOVATIVE APPROACH
However, despite the strictness of the regime at Lavi, there were many people in Israel who considered the level of control at the institution insufficient.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir championed this position. He believed the prison was inadequately secured, and that those held there should be terrified of the very thought of escaping, as after 2023, a large number of Hamas and jihadist fighters and commanders were sent to Ktziot Lavi. Many of them had nothing left to lose, meaning they were far less afraid of the heavily armed prison guards than ordinary prisoners.
Ben-Gvir wanted to take collective fear to a new, literally animalistic level. And nothing would instill fear in Israel's enemies more than dozens of crocodiles prowling day and night in a deep, steep ditch.
Ben-Gvir first voiced this idea at a meeting with the leadership of the Israel Prison Service in late 2025. The controversial minister justified his proposal by arguing that crocodiles would become a "serious obstacle" to Palestinian prisoners attempting to escape.
This is especially true for those held in high-security areas, which are considered particularly dangerous by the Israeli prison system. Ben-Gvir also casually mentioned that he was inspired by the experience of American prison guards in Florida, where natural pools inhabited by alligators created an additional obstacle for escape-prone prisoners.
The Minister of National Security failed to convince his interlocutors. Most officials considered the idea too dangerous and vetoed it. Furthermore, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority opposed the initiative.
The agency stated that the relocation of a large non-native predator could pose threats to both the ecosystem and humans. As a result of the complex opposition, the crocodile guard project stalled, and Ben-Gvir himself harbored a grudge against his opponents.
However, in early July 2026, fate dealt him an unexpected gift. Environment Minister Idit Silman suddenly decided to change the legal status of Nile crocodiles, which were planned for conservation use.
Crocodiles were reclassified as farmed wild animals, lifting the ban on their breeding in captivity, as well as their use "for commercial, public, and other purposes."
Ben-Gvir seized on this innovation and immediately announced the construction of a defensive ditch around Lavi with a total length of more than 170 meters and a width of fifteen meters.
However, this time, the Minister of National Security's triumph lasted only a few days. Israeli activists intervened, specifically the animal rights organization Let the Animals Live. They filed a class action lawsuit, claiming that proponents of the crocodile-as-prisoners idea had not consulted with experts and, in pursuit of aesthetic appeal, had endangered a vulnerable species.
CROCODILES OF DISCORD
The Jerusalem District Court, which heard the case, quickly sided with the animal rights activists.
Judge Avraham Rubin concluded that the arguments regarding potential harm to the animals deserved careful consideration, and therefore, until a final decision on the case was made, the transport of crocodiles onto the facility's grounds was prohibited.
The decision apparently came as a surprise to Ben-Gvir. Following the verdict's publication, the minister launched into an angry tirade against the "liberal counter-revolution" and the "traitors entrenched in the courts," who, in his view, were hindering the government's efforts to reform the prison system and adapt it to the challenges of the times. Ben-Gvir also declared that he would see his project through, "no matter the cost."
The Israeli opposition also took the opportunity to attack the Minister of National Security, accusing him of squandering public funds and possessing manic tendencies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also received a dose of criticism ; according to opponents, he himself has nurtured radicals within the government and does not even think of stopping them.
Regardless, landscaping work in the Lavi area continues despite the ban. Moreover, judging by the latest satellite images, Ben Gvir has dispatched even more excavators and workers to the area following the Jerusalem court's verdict.
Apparently, the Minister of National Security still believes that the crocodile guard project he developed can still be implemented in some form. Or at least the foundation for it can be laid.
“Wudn’t us, habibi! Maybe your mother-in-law is mad again?”
[IsraelTimes] The IDF denies carrying out a strike in the Nabatieh area after Lebanese media reported that two people were hurt and an ambulance was damaged in the area.
In response to a query, the military says that “following a review, no IDF strike in the area is known.”
[IsraelTimes] Lebanese media reports that a vehicle was targeted in an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Nabatieh this morning.
Lebanon’s National News Agency adds that an ambulance team from the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Authority, Islamic Message Scouts Association, and other medical personnel was hit by a second strike while transporting an injured person in the area.
[IsraelTimes] Oil ministry says 95 million cubic meters of lost daily output to be restored by end of September; global energy prices rise as hopes fade for US-Iran deal to open Hormuz.
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... will restore 95 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of gas production capacity by the end of September, its oil ministry said on Tuesday, as Tehran repairs energy infrastructure damaged during the war with Israel and the United States.
In July, a senior government official said Iran expected to restore about 100 mcm per day of natural gas production capacity "within the coming months," after strikes cut output by about 230 mcm/day since the war started in late February.
Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad was quoted by the ministry’s news outlet as saying 95 mcm/day of lost capacity would return following damage to gas-processing facilities in Assaluyeh.
He said the impact had largely been offset by using spare capacity at other gas-processing plants.
Reconstruction of four damaged gas-processing plants was advancing rapidly, Paknejad said, adding debris had been cleared, reconstruction systems were in place and contractors had begun work.
He said rebuilding was expected to finish ahead of schedule, allowing the full lost capacity to return to the production network.
Some of the restored capacity would nevertheless be unavailable during the winter, Paknejad said, meaning Iran would need to manage both gas supply and consumption carefully to avoid challenges in meeting demand.
ENERGY PRICES RISE AS HORMUZ DEAL HOPES FADE Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream... energy prices surged globally as hope for a Strait of Hormuz deal between the US and Iran faded, with the two sides appearing no closer to a deal on the crucial waterway despite upbeat comments from the White House earlier in the month.
Brent crude futures rose 5 percent in just the previous two days, and were last around $88 a barrel, their highest since July 31 and nearly 25% above early July’s near-four-month lows.
"We’re now in a bit of a Mexican standoff, if you’d like, in terms of who blinks first," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
"This is going to be almost a war of attrition now," he said. "You probably can see the [oil] market sitting around the $75 to $95 range while we wait to see who blinks first."
Stephen Innes, global strategist at Quintex Intel, said: "In effect, both sides are trying to weaponize the oil barrel without firing another shot. Washington is trying to choke Iran’s ability to get its crude out, while Tehran is squeezing the artery through which everybody else’s crude gets through."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] A Syrian court has sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and several former officials to death in absentia. This was reported on August 11 by the state news agency SANA.
Assad was found guilty of premeditated murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment, and crimes against humanity. The court cited his position as the highest decision-maker and his role in leading state structures implicated in these crimes.
In the same case, Assad's cousin, Atef Najib, who previously headed the political security department in the city of Daraa, was sentenced to death.
Death sentences were also handed down in absentia to the former president's younger brother, Maher al-Assad, former Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassim al-Freij,
…a new name to add to the list from the past few days…
and five other defendants still wanted in the case. The court found them guilty of premeditated and intentional murder, as well as torture resulting in death.
In December 2024, Bashar al-Assad left Syria, resigned, and received political asylum in Russia along with his family. The Kremlin noted that the asylum was granted for humanitarian reasons and aimed at ensuring the safety of the former president and his family. Later, arrest warrants in absentia were issued for Assad in France and Syria.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/12/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[175 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
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.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...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 
...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 
