[JustTheNews] In response to a new emergency rule issued by the Trump administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety suspended issuing certain commercial driver licenses.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took emergency action to drastically restrict who is eligible for a non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit (CLPs) and CDL. The action was taken in response to an ongoing nationwide audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which identified “a catastrophic pattern of states issuing licenses illegally to foreign drivers.”
As of Friday, “non-citizens will not be eligible for a non-domiciled CDL,” Duffy said, unless they have a verified employment-based visa and are verified through a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system, The Center Square reported.
The FMCSA audit uncovered systemic non-compliance in several states, including Texas, where it said licensing patterns were “not consistent with federal regulations.”
Texas DPS then announced, effective Monday, that it suspended issuing non-domicile CDLs and all CDLs to non-citizens who are refugees, asylees or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
The suspension also impacts the issuance of non-domicile CLPs and CLPs for non-citizen refugees, asylees and DACA recipients, it said, adding that Texas DPS “has never issued any type of license to asylum seekers who have not been approved for lawful presence.”
As of Monday, Texas DPS is not issuing, renewing or reissuing CDL/CLPs if an applicant “falls under the non-domicile, refugee, asylee or DACA categories.” Those with pending applications “will not be allowed to continue any written or skills testing until the services for non-domicile CDL/CLP are reinstated,” it said.
The department is working with FMCSA to comply with the new rules and says it will publicize additional information as it becomes available.
The action was taken after Texas DPS officers have been strictly enforcing the English language proficiency FMCSA requirements, citing hundreds of violations. The majority of offenders have not held Texas driver’s licenses, The Center Square reported.
Troopers working through DPS’ Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division have been working with inspectors to conduct English language proficiency reviews for all commercial license operators on Texas roadways. Evaluations ensure drivers possess the necessary communication skills for roadway safety and compliance with federal regulations, according to state policy.
State employees have been aggressively targeting commercial drivers after Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year directed Texas DPS troopers to enact “zero-tolerance enforcement of federal safety regulations across the board – whether drivers are operating across state lines or only within Texas.”
"Truckers play an instrumental role in Texas' robust economy and in keeping our highways safe," Abbott said. "Every commercial driver's license operator on Texas roadways must be able to communicate clearly in English to ensure compliance with traffic laws, follow safety directions, and prevent accidents.”
Abbott also directed DPS to stop issuing intrastate commercial driver licenses for drivers who cannot speak English sufficiently to communicate with department personnel.
The initiatives were taken after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April to enforce English proficiency for commercial drivers.
While federal law mandates commercial vehicle drivers to be proficient in reading and speaking English, the requirement wasn’t enforced under previous administrations.
the question being how much was honest, neutral spy craft — especially after 9/11 —and how much was government corruption?
[DM] Wikipedia's co-creator has revealed the moment he learned the CIA and other intelligence agencies were hijacking public entries for their own benefit.
Larry Sanger appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast to claim Wikipedia had lost its way and began censoring accounts which held right-wing or conservative views.
'There is a whole army of administrators - hundreds of them - who are constantly blocking people that they have ideological disagreements with,' he said.
'Over the years, conservatives, libertarians, were just pushed out.'
While Sanger maintained he was unaware if there were 'puppet masters that were controlling the process', he did admit that sometime between 2006 and 2007, he began asking questions about intelligence agencies interfering with the entries.
'Virgil Griffith did Master’s research,' he revealed, speaking of the American programmer who served a five year prison sentence for North Korea with evading sanctions.
'He came up with a tool called Wiki Scanner that enabled people to look up the IP addresses of people who had done edits and like, who had edited which articles. And so they were able to find a whole bunch of edits coming from Langley.'
Langley is often a term used to describe the CIA, the unincorporated community of Langley in Virginia, where the headquarters is based.
'The way that intelligence works now is that of course there’s the old fashioned cloak and dagger spying going on, but a large part of the remit of intelligence today is to manipulate public opinion in various ways,' Sanger said.
'Wikipedia is like just a gold mine for the intelligence agencies of the world because it’s like a one stop shop.
'You can just like type in the things that you want people to believe. Now how that works, like which agencies are involved, how. How the heck should I know?'
Carlson had claimed Wikipedia has become 'a weapon of ideological, theological war, used to destroy its enemies.'
The former Fox News host said he once 'really believed in Wikipedia' and donated large sums of money because he was 'so thrilled by its existence.
'Now it’s like the leading source of dishonesty, or, I would say, disinformation,' he said.
Sanger said he first recognized and began to describe Wikipedia as 'propoganda' in 2020. Prior to that, despite having his reservations about the direction the website had taken, he said he would not have used the same word.
He was only working for Wikipedia for two years, helping to launch the project and 'set a lot of the original policies' before exiting the brand in 2002.
Carlson questioned whether he ever considered at the time that 'intel agencies could get involved and start changing the way people understand what they did', to which Sanger said never in his wildest dreams.
'Not in 2001, in 2000, in 2002. I was a babe in the woods. It wasn't until like, I think it was 2006, 2007.'
Sanger has since reached out to both President Donald Trump and former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, urging them to 'investigate what United States employees were actually editing Wikipedia.'
'Maybe there’s reasons, legitimate reasons for government employees to do this, but at least Elon Musk did retweet that and got a lot of support.'
To Sanger's knowledge, no such DOGE investigation took place, but he has since learned 'now there is a congressional investigation.
'I don’t know if my tweet had anything to do with the start of that,' he said.
With over 1,000 entries written over many years, the ADL Glossary of Extremism has served as a source of high-level information on a wide range of topics for years. At the same time, an increasing number of entries in the Glossary were outdated. We also saw a number of entries... pic.twitter.com/1Wj7hy6sLV
…number of entries intentionally misrepresented and misused. Moreover, our experts have continued to develop more comprehensive resources and innovative ways to provide information about antisemitism, extremism and hate.
At ADL, we always are looking for how we can and should do things better. That's why we are moving to retire the Glossary effectively immediately. This will allow ADL to explore new strategies and creative approaches to deliver our data and present our research more effectively. It will keep us focused on ensuring we do what we do best: fighting antisemitism and hate in the most impactful ways possible.
An important resource gone, hopefully it's replaced soon. It was being used by the Pentagon and FBI for training to identify domestic terror threats.
Good to know. The Anti-Defamation League, unfortunately, has suffered from capture by the left, as had the FBI and the DOD. The Trump administration is working hard to return the latter to political neutrality, but there are other Jewish and non-Jewish organizations picking up the work the ADL used to do.
All that for a hudna. Still, all those airplanes were heading in their general direction yesterday— had someone overheard something and shared?
[IsraelTimes] Iran-backed rebels sanction 13 American companies, including Exxon Mobil and Chevron, despite agreement earlier this year to not go after US-linked ships
Yemen’s Houthis will target US oil majors, including Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N, despite an earlier truce agreed with US President Donald Trump’s administration to not attack US-linked ships sailing in the Red Sea and the wider Gulf of Aden, the Iran-backed terror group said on Tuesday.
The Sanaa-based Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), which liaises between Houthi forces and commercial shipping operators and is associated with the Houthi military, sanctioned 13 US companies, nine executives and two vessels.
Entities designated by the Houthis “shall be dealt with in accordance with the principle of confrontation,” HOCC said on its website of what it will do regarding those deemed to be under their sanctions.
The announcement is a notice that the companies, which also include ConocoPhillips COP.N and Diamond S Shipping, are deemed hostile entities that are open to attack.
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In May, the US announced a surprise deal with the Houthis in which it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks on US vessels. The deal did not stop attacks on Israel.
On Monday, the Houthis attacked a Dutch cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, injuring two crew and leaving the ship ablaze and adrift.
[IsraelTimes] Rome reels from the fallout of the Middle East conflict, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attempting to steer a course between domestic pressure and international concerns
For Italy’s center-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Global Sumud Flotilla has become a tempestuous issue that threatens to unmoor her government.
For weeks, the flotilla — comprising more than 40 international aid vessels — has dominated Italian headlines. As of Tuesday morning, the fleet was roughly 150 nautical miles from Gaza’s shores and is set to reach the Strip within the coming days.
Italy’s delegation includes several dozen participants, among them lawmakers from the main opposition parties.
“Flotilla, alarm in Italy,” warned the front page of Corriere della Sera on Monday. La Repubblica and La Stampa carried similar headlines such as “Flotilla, too many risks.” Coverage of the flotilla has been repeatedly featured on front pages over the past several days.
“I am not surprised, given the Italian tradition of dialogue and peace-building,” Arturo Scotto, a center-left Democratic Party MP, told The Times of Israel in a phone interview on Monday from the boat Karma, supported by the left-wing Italian nonprofit ARCI, which organizes cultural and recreational activities.
“The images coming from Gaza are devastating, showing almost two years of unrelenting carnage,” Scotto added. “This shared sense of urgency has brought together secular citizens and Catholics, young and old, workers and entrepreneurs — cutting across broad swaths of society.”
Scotto said he was the first Italian MP to visit Israel and the areas devastated by Hamas in December 2023. He described the attacks as terrorism and stressed that he has Israeli friends and long-standing ties with liberal movements in the country. Now firmly convinced Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, in many ways Scotto embodies the anguish felt by many who identify with Italy’s center-left over Israel’s war in Gaza.
In recent weeks, some polls have suggested that support for Israel has declined, even among conservative voters who in recent years have tended to be more sympathetic toward the Jewish state across the Western world.
A survey by the Italian polling company Izi, released on Saturday during the popular talk show “L’Aria che tira,” found that 87.8% of respondents favored recognizing a Palestinian state — including 99.8% of left-wing voters and 73.7% of supporters of the coalition parties.
Another poll, conducted by OnlyNumbers and published in La Stampa on September 15, asked respondents to choose their preferred future for Gaza. Nearly 40% opted for a Palestinian state (including 25% of voters for Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy), 21% supported a temporary international administration, and 11% favored extending Israeli control with humanitarian guarantees. About 26% of respondents did not provide an answer.
Neither poll provided information on sample sizes or margins of error.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have repeatedly taken to the streets in solidarity with Gaza. Several universities and academics have cut ties — or signaled their intention to do so — with Israeli counterparts, and dockworkers have blocked Israel-bound cargoes.
NAVIGATING INCREASINGLY CHOPPY WATER
In recent months, opposition parties, too, have increasingly framed the plight of Gazans as a “genocide,” placing it at the center of political debate to pressure Meloni and her allies, who have sought to maintain a more middle-of-the-road stance.
A vivid demonstration of how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is currently at the forefront of the Italian domestic arena came as Meloni attended the United Nations General Assembly last week.
Taking the podium, she navigated a delicate balancing act.
On the one hand, she stressed the brutality of the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... atrocities, and rejected the notion that Israel was responsible for the war, "for it was Hamas that started the war," and could bring "Paleostinians’ suffering to an end, by immediately releasing all the hostages."
On the other hand, she stated that Israel went too far, causing "a slaughter of civilians," and announced that Italia was going to vote in favor of some of the sanctions against Israel proposed by the European Commission.
"A reaction to an aggression must always respect the principle of proportionality," Meloni said. "Israel has crossed that line."
In the wake of several major European countries — including La Belle France, Spain, and the UK — recognizing a Paleostinian state in recent weeks, for the first time, Meloni indicated that Italia was prepared to follow suit, but with two conditions: the release of all hostages in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and the disarmament of Hamas.
Much of the international media framed the speech as a sharp critique of Israel by one of Europe’s most conservative, Trump-aligned governments. In Italia, attention centered on Meloni’s comments about the flotilla, which were delivered to journalists on the sidelines of the UN Assembly.
"It is gratuitous, dangerous, and irresponsible," Meloni said. "There is no reason to risk one’s own safety to deliver aid that the Italian government and relevant authorities could have dispatched in a few hours."
She condemned the unattributed September 23 drone attack on the flotilla when off the shores of Greece and noted that Italia had sent a military ship to provide assistance if needed. At the same time, she expressed hope that the flotilla would accept Italia’s mediation offer and allow the delivery of aid to be completed through the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which would distribute it in Gaza, rather than the activists on the boats themselves. Meloni said the mediation effort is being coordinated by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.
"It is not acceptable to put people’s safety at risk in initiatives that, more than focusing on aid, seem aimed at creating problems for our government," she added.
"Sooner or later, someone will have to explain why our prime minister attacks the flotilla more harshly than she ever did with Netanyahu’s massacres," Democratic party leader Elly Schlein commented in an interview with La Repubblica on Sunday.
"Does she really think that among the hundreds of thousands who rallied for Paleostine, there isn’t a single person who voted for her?" Schlein added.
TURBULENT TIMES
Highlighting the intersection between the flotilla and Italia’s internal politics, Scotto argued that what he described as the government’s attempt to claim credit for mediation efforts had a counterproductive effect.
"A certain interference by the Italian government... has not helped the mediation that the patriarchate [already] had with the flotilla leaders," he said. "It has certainly slowed things down."
With the pope in Rome, Italians maintain a close connection to the Catholic church, with surveys indicating that nearly four in five still identify as Catholic, even if few attend services regularly. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierluigi Pizzaballa, enjoys broad respect across the political spectrum.
Yet as of Tuesday morning, the flotilla’s steering committee — composed of activists from nine countries, including Italian Maria Elena Delia — had rejected the offer to distribute aid through the Church. (Delia did not respond to multiple interview requests from The Times of Israel.)
Scotto stressed that he considered the Israeli blockade on Gaza’s waters illegal, but he, along with fellow politicians and journalists from several countries aboard the Karma, would not participate in any attempt to breach it. (Israel maintains that international law gives it full authority to enforce the blockade and intercept vessels.)
"I believe the flotilla is acting as a substitute for governments that should have established a maritime humanitarian corridor themselves," he said. "The mission is fully within international law."
"Our role on these boats has always been to provide an institutional escort to the flotilla, but we are not part of it," Scotto added. "We are not going to force the blockade."
Scotto characterizes Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide and rejects the idea that Italia’s pro-Paleostinian protests are driven by anti-Israel sentiment. (Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.)
"Those who protest the genocide in Gaza, to stop the conflict, are a wide range of people who care about peace," he said. "They have nothing to do with Hamas. They are pacifist movements who say ’enough’ as they see the brutal images of dead children and famine."
Scotto also noted that he was mindful of the upcoming Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, which this year falls on Wednesday night and Thursday. He emphasized that it was important for the flotilla not to arrive during the festival "to respect the sensitivity of the Israeli people."
MAVI MARMARA, PART II?
Earlier this year, Israel successfully intercepted a yacht carrying Swedish activist Greta "Pippi" Thunberg ...an autistic sixteen year old Swedish expert on climate change, though I guess she's older now... and others as it attempted to reach Gaza.
This time, however, the flotilla involves more than 40 boats and hundreds of activists, making the operation far more complex. Many fear a repeat of the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli commandos boarded a Gaza-bound ship carrying 600 passengers. After encountering violent mostly peaceful resistance, the commandos opened fire, killing 10 Ottoman Turkish activists.
"It is very dangerous," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Corriere della Sera on Sunday.
"I have asked the Israelis for reassurances that there will be no violence, but I do not know who is on board the ships," he added, suggesting that some activists might not be as peaceful as they claim.
Asked about Tajani’s remarks, as well as Israel’s claims that the flotilla has ties to Hamas, Scotto said he had detected no violent mostly peaceful intentions among the participants.
"I do not think there are Hamas holy warriors," he said.
"There are people from different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and religions," he added. "There are differences in tone, language, and biography, but we are talking about disarmed, peaceful, nonviolent mostly peaceful activists. All the training sessions were grounded in the doctrine of nonviolence."
When asked whether he could guarantee that there are no weapons on board the flotilla, Scotto replied, "I really think there aren’t — certainly not on our boat."
"If you look at all the videos from the boats, including those showing packages of humanitarian aid being opened, you can see that the only ’weapons’ we carry are those used to feed people," he said.
#2
Meloni should take a clue from history. There was a time when Arafat's outfit ran for cover in a boat and Israel was dissuaded from sinking it. Just sayin'.
#3
Our Marines that were murdered in 1983 were there to protect Arafat Palestinian liberation organization At the behest of our state department. /spit
Posted by: Difar Dave ||
10/01/2025 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest other than Hamas for Greta to achieve a Rachel Corrie martyrdom. That’s a headache that no sensible person should want.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/01/2025 12:16 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Flotilla currently being intercepted by IDF-Navy.
The military escorts that had accompanied them have left the flotilla.
It's Yom K already in Israel btw.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/01/2025 15:32 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Islamic Republic says first group of 120 of its nationals to arrive in next two days, after plane reportedly carrying deportees departed Louisiana for Qatar Tuesday
The United States is planning to deport some 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, as part of US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... ’s broader crackdown on immigration, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.
"In the first step, they decided to deport 120 Iranians who entered the US illegally, most of whom through Mexico," the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s director general for parliament affairs, Hossein Noushabadi, told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The deportation, an uncommon instance of cooperation between the two countries, came after months of talks, according to The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , which first reported the move.
CALL TO RESPECT IRANIANS’ RIGHTS
Noushabadi said the US was "planning to deport around 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, in line with the new anti-immigrant approach of the US government."
The first group of 120 would reach 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... in the next one or two days, he said.
The New York Times reported that a US-chartered flight took off from Louisiana on Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Iran via 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... sometime on Tuesday.
Some of the Iranians had volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not, the newspaper said.
It was unclear what the identities of the deportees were or their reasons for trying to emigrate to the US.
The US in February deported 119 people from different countries, including Iran, to Panama as part of an agreement between the two countries.
[IsraelTimes] Qatari PM says plan still needs ‘clarification and discussion’ as Turkish spy chief arrives in Doha to hold talks with terror group, which is facing heavy pressure to take deal.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will give Hamas “three or four days” to agree to his Gaza peace plan, “or pay in hell,” as the terror group faces heavy pressure from the Arab world to accept the proposal.
A day after unveiling the proposal alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump told reporters as he departed the White House that Israeli and Arab leaders have accepted the plan and “we’re just waiting for Hamas.”
He said the terror group has about “three or four days” to respond. “Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end.”
Asked if there is room for negotiations on the peace plan, Trump said: “Not much.”
“We have one signature that we need, and that signature will pay in hell if they don’t sign. I hope they sign for their own good and create something really great,” Trump later told US generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia.
The 20-point plan, unveiled at the White House on Monday, would see all 48 hostages — roughly 20 of whom are believed to be alive — released within 72 hours, and the Strip demilitarized and handed over to a transitional, “technocratic” government. Hamas members who give up their arms would be granted amnesty.
Hamas, which is reportedly leaning toward accepting the deal and will give its response to mediators on Wednesday, faces considerable pressure to approve the plan, with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt all welcoming the initiative.
Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was sent to Doha by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to participate in talks on Tuesday with Hamas over the proposal, according to Turkish state media.
The presence of Kalin, a close confidant of Erdoğan, marks a more public step in Ankara’s mediation role over the past two years, and follows multiple successful meetings between Erdoğan and Trump.
Kalin has previously held talks at home with Hamas leaders on Gaza-related issues.
Qatar announced it would hold discussions with Hamas negotiators and Turkey on Tuesday to discuss the proposal.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told the Al Jazeera channel on Tuesday that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, as described in the plan, required “clarification and discussion.” He added, however, that ending the war is “a clear clause in the plan.”
He also said that the future, postwar governance of Gaza is mentioned in the plan, and will be a matter for discussion with the Americans, but “has nothing to do with Israel.”
That’s certainly one opinion. Not the determinative one, to be sure — that would be Israel’s — but nonetheless an opinion.
“The plan is in its early stages and needs development. We are trying to create a path that safeguards Palestinian rights,” he added.
Taqqiyah mixed with truth. What do you believe, dear Reader? A taste:
[IsraelTimes] Politically independent Gaza City mayor, academics and businessmen warn of total economic and infrastructural collapse in first joint letter urging US president to pressure Israel
Before the ongoing Israel-Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... war, 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... Chamber of Commerce head Ayed Abu Ramadan was one of the key figures in the enclave’s economy, representing Gaza’s traders both inside the Strip and abroad.
Over the past two years, Abu Ramadan said, his situation has been "less difficult" than that of most Gaza residents — for instance, he currently lives in an apartment rather than in a tent, a rare luxury in a territory in which the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... estimates 90 percent of residential buildings to have been damaged or destroyed by Israel.
But like many others in Gaza, Abu Ramadan longs for one thing: an end to the war. In recent days, Abu Ramadan and 16 other prominent local figures in Gaza sent, through intermediaries, a letter to US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... calling on him to pressure Israel and halt the fighting that began with Hamas’s bloody invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. The group believes Trump received the letter by Friday.
"You have the power to succeed where others failed, to stop the bloodshed, protect innocent lives and set the stage for a just and lasting peace," the signatories wrote in the letter to Trump, which was obtained by The Times of Israel.
"We know that the only one who can stop this war is Trump. He is one of Israel’s biggest supporters, and clearly, his influence on Israel is significant. He is the only one who can move the needle on this issue," Abu Ramadan told The Times of Israel in a phone call from southern Gaza.
In a series of once almost unthinkable conversations between Gaza-based Paleostinians and an Israeli news outlet, The Times of Israel spoke with four of the signatories this week. In unison, they called for an end to the war and distanced themselves from the Hamas terror organization that rules the Strip, saying the group no longer has the support of the public.
The letter is the first of its kind during the war in which members of Gaza’s elite are calling for a ceasefire and peace with Israel. According to the signatories, the letter reached Trump just as the White House was finalizing his plan to end the war.
WHO IS BEHIND THE LETTER?
The most prominent signatory is Gaza City’s mayor, Yahya al-Sarraj. Before the war, about 1 million people lived in Gaza City, making it not only the largest metropolis in the Strip but also the largest Paleostinian city overall.
As with any other governing role in Gaza, the position of mayor traditionally required subordination to Hamas’s governing structures. But in a WhatsApp conversation with The Times of Israel, al-Sarraj categorically denied that he or the municipality had any affiliation with Hamas.
"The municipality is a local authority independent administratively and financially, and is not subordinate to any political entity or faction. Its role is only to serve citizens and provide services in water, sewage, sanitation, and urban planning," he said. al-Sarraj also described himself as politically independent, with an academic and professional background unrelated to any political movement.
"The Paleostinians in Gaza love peace and want an immediate halt to the killing and destruction," he stressed, adding that "the letter was sent now in order to push and encourage the US president to move forward with steps to end the war and not to miss the opportunity — for the benefit of all sides."
Senior local figures from Gaza’s civil society, including businesspeople, academics, and doctors, have rarely spoken out over the past two years.
Abu Ramadan acknowledged that many among Gaza’s elite fled the Strip during the war. Between November 2023 and May 2024, the Rafah crossing into Egypt was open, allowing departures on ostensible medical grounds for those who could pay several thousand dollars to Egyptian companies operating the crossing, even without meeting medical criteria for treatment abroad.
"Of course, the departure of the elite — traders, businesspeople, doctors, and ordinary families, about 120,000 people in all — had a negative effect, even on morale, and on health and the economy," Abu Ramadan said.
But, he added, "That doesn’t amount to 1% of the impact of the genocide. We can withstand any conditions, but the massacre now underway is extremely difficult." (Israel categorically denies perpetrating a genocide in Gaza, where Hamas notoriously embeds itself in the civilian population to use its people as human shields.)
[IsraelTimes] The Knesset votes to allocate an additional NIS 30.8 billion ($9.2 billion) to defense spending. The legislation comes in response to Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June and the ongoing war in Gaza.
55 members of Knesset vote in favour of the proposal, with 50 opposed, with many members of both the opposition and coalition not in attendance.
The supplementary budget allocation is intended to cover increased defense spending, including for personnel, security operations, and related costs, raising overall government expenditure from NIS 756 billion ($228 billion) to NIS 787 billion ($237 billion) for 2025.
The Knesset also votes to raise the maximum overall deficit to 5.2% of GDP, up from the current cap of 4.9%.
“The army and its needs during wartime must stand above all disputes,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking at the Knesset plenum.
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 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
