[IsraelTimes] Biennial November arms show won’t feature 6 companies that were set to present, organizer says, without giving reason, in latest snub of Israeli defense industry amid Gaza war
Israeli defense companies have been barred from next month’s Dubai Airshow after a “technical review,” its organizer said Tuesday, without providing further details.
Registrations were withdrawn for all six Israeli defense companies that were due to take part, said Tim Hawes, managing director of Informa Markets, which organizes the show.
“The [Israeli] exhibitors that were previously coming won’t be participating,” said Hawes, on the sidelines of a press conference to announce details of the exhibition.
“There was a technical review which we do of all companies that take part in the show,” he said, adding the decision had been made by the airshow’s technical committee.
Hawes did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision. The next edition of the biennial airshow, one of the world’s biggest, takes place in November.
The Emirati ban follows recent European restrictions on Israeli defense firms, including a reported Dutch veto on Israeli participation in a large, upcoming military exhibition in Rotterdam. In June, several Israeli companies were barred from displaying at the Paris Air Show, despite France’s President Emmanuel Macron saying in January that Israeli firms would be allowed to attend.
Spain has also announced an arms embargo on Israel, and other countries, including Britain and Canada, have taken steps to limit their defense trade with Israel.
Israel’s inaugural participation in the Emirati exhibition in 2023 was overshadowed by the October 7 Hamas massacre and hostage-taking, and Israel’s ensuing offensive against the terror group in Gaza. Israeli defense exhibitions were empty and unstaffed at the start of the show as Israelis returned from abroad en masse and reservists were drafted to fight.
The United Arab Emirates is among a handful of Arab nations with ties to Israel.
It established normal diplomatic relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, but those relations have been strained by the war in Gaza, which entered its third year on Tuesday amid ceasefire-hostage talks in Egypt.
[iNews] Text messages reveal Jihad al-Shamie was living a complicated personal life with three wives
The Manchester synagogue terrorist had been living a double life with up to three wives in separate towns before he carried out the attack, The i Paper has learned.
It is believed his first wife and young child were living with Jihad al-Shamie, 35 at his address in Prestwich, north of Manchester.
According to reports, he had also married an NHS nurse in an Islamic ceremony.
That’s Elizabeth Davis, 46, mother of five, nurse, resident of resident of Bolton, and convert to Islam, to her family’s shock. How many of the five are Mr. Al-Shamies’s?
The i Paper can now reveal he also had a third wife, another convert he had married in a religious ceremony. A marriage certificate shows the pair married in January 2022.
Islamic marriages that take place in the UK are not legally binding under UK law.
Investigators say that while they are still working to establish the "full circumstances of the attack", their initial assessment is that Shamie was "influenced by extreme Islamist ideology".
Eyewitnesses claim he shouted "this is what they get for killing our children" while carrying out the attack, in which two Jewish people were killed and four were hospitalised — an apparent reference to the conflict 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... Police have said Shamie did not appear to be known to counterterrorism officials before he attacked the synagogue, killing two worshippers on Yom Kippur.
This new evidence of his tangled personal life includes claims he was "controlling" in his relationships and that his life had begun to fall apart in the years before the attack.
Counterterror police have been granted warrants giving them extra time to question four people arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
Two others, a man and a woman, were released without charge after being arrested last Thursday.
SYRIAN FAMILY MOVED TO MANCHESTER IN 1990S
Shamie was born in Syria but moved to Britannia with his family in the 1990s when he was a young child. He was granted UK citizenship in 2006.
The family initially lived in Crumpsall, north Manchester, before later moving to Prestwich — both are areas with a large mix of both Jews and Moslems of different backgrounds.
Neighbours near Shamie’s home in Prestwich were shocked when armed officers stormed the small council house in the hours after the attack.
Few residents knew him or his family very well. The i Paper has seen evidence that he lived something of a nomadic existence across multiple locations in the north of England.
Shamie’s primary residence was the three-bed home in Langley Crescent, where he was sometimes seen exercising in the garden. He is listed as having lived there with his brothers Jawad and Kenan and their father Faraj.
However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese... it is believed his first wife and young child were also living with Shamie at this address for some time.
A SECOND WIFE IN NELSON
In 2022, Shamie began an affair with a second woman in Nelson, a Lancashire town about 25 miles away from his family home.
A certificate shows the pair were married according to Islamic law in January of that year. The woman, who does not want to be identified, says Shamie told her he was single, and described him as "controlling".
In April 2023, she discovered he was already in a relationship and confronted him. "Look, I’m gonna be honest with you, I do have a wife and baby son at home," he wrote in an exchange of messages between the pair.
"I didn’t tell u because I really liked you and wanted u to be my 2nd wife but I didn’t know how u wud react."
He later tried to convince his second wife to continue the arrangement. "Look, I know what I’m asking for is a lot and it’s not easy, but I’m telling you the truth now because I want to be totally honest with you," he wrote.
"I’m not lying when I say I love you. This can work if both party’s [sic] are aware and the truth is on the table. I’ll support you financially, I promise. Just give me a chance."
Shamie admitted his first wife was "jealous" but added: "It’s natural when a man has two wives, jealousy happens.
"But she accepts it, she’s known about us from day 1."
THE ’JAY SHAMI’ ALTER EGO
Despite appearing to want to maintain two relationships, Shamie also used dating sites where he referred to himself as "J" rather than "Jihad".
His second wife claims he had multiple Facebook accounts and would often use the name "Jay Shami".
He also appears to have used an address in Leeds. Shamie had a profile on a tutoring website where he claimed to be based in the West Yorkshire city and used the name "Jay Alshamie". He offered English lessons for £10 an hour.
According to The Sun on Sunday, Shamie also had a third relationship with a white woman in Bolton who converted to Islam four years ago.
It is believed that this woman, a mother of five, may also have married Shamie in an Islamic ceremony.
Neighbours believe his first wife left their Prestwich home with his young son around six months ago.
Resident Kate McLeish, 38, told the Daily Mail that Shamie seemed to have become a "bit of a loner" recently, and she overheard him arguing and swearing at a woman on the phone in his car.
He was also unemployed and insolvency records show he was subject to a 12-month debt relief order taken out on 5 September last year.
Such orders, an alternative to personal bankruptcy, are for people who have savings or valuable items worth less than £2,000 in total and cannot repay their debts.
FATHER ’PRAISED OCTOBER 7 ATTACK ON ISRAEL’
Following the attack, Shamie’s father, Faraj, posted a statement on his Facebook page on behalf of the Shamie family condemning the attack as "heinous".
Faraj appears to have worked as a trauma surgeon in war zones around the world.
Some posts on his page show he also allegedly praised the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023, writing "may Allah give you victory" in reference to Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... Faraj deleted at least one post, including one posted last week, seen by The i Paper when it was still online, stating: "Bad news for Israel in the next few days, unfortunately, no one can prevent what is written."
In a stream of messages on October 7, 2023, and in the days after, Faraj wrote: "Group of fighters storming an Israeli army camp using simple means, namely balloons [paragliders] and cycle of violences, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israel will not remain."
The posts, seen by this paper and also translated by The Daily Telegraph, add: "Men like these prove that they are God’s men on earth, regardless of who leads them.
"May God protect Paleostine and its heroic people. May God bless you and your men, the descendants of men."
[IsraelTimes] Prosecutors say accused arranged for two assault rifles, similar to those used in 2015 attack in Paris, to be smuggled into Britain, ‘wanted to kill hundreds of innocent people’
Two men plotted an 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.... -inspired terror attack on the Jewish community in northwest England with the aim of "killing hundreds of innocent people," British prosecutors said on Wednesday at the start of their trial.
Walid Saadaoui, 38,
…born in Tunis, he’s from Abram in Wigan…
and Amar Hussein, 52, are charged with preparing terrorist acts, while Walid Saadaoui’s brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36,
…from Hindley in Wigan, he took receipt of his brother's will and the key to a safe containing £75,000, to be used to take care of his family.…
is charged with failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.
All three have pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." and are on trial at Preston Crown Court. Judge Mark Wall told jurors that the case had nothing to do with last week’s deadly terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester, and the timing of the trial was coincidental.
Prosecutors say Walid Saadaoui and Hussein had "embraced the views of the so-called Islamic State ... (and) were prepared to risk their own lives" in order to become deaders.
DEFENDANTS PLANNING ’UNTOLD HARM,’ SAYS PROSECUTOR
Walid Saadaoui had arranged for two assault rifles, an automatic pistol, and ammunition to be smuggled into Britannia, with a further three weapons and more ammunition to be delivered, when he was arrested in May 2024, prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu said.
Sandhu said the assault rifles were similar to those used in a 2015 attack in Gay Paree, which killed 130 people, and were "capable of causing untold harm."
"Untold harm was precisely what Walid Saadaoui had planned to cause, together with the defendant Amar Hussein," Sandhu said, before he was interrupted by Hussein shouting from the dock: "How many babies?"
Sandhu said that Walid Saadaoui and Hussein’s plan was to "identify a mass gathering of Jewish people whom they could attack," with a third man they thought was called "Farouk."
"In addition, they intended to kill any law enforcement or coppers who got in their way," Sandhu said.
He told the jury that Walid Saadaoui and Hussein were arrested because "Farouk," who they thought "wanted to kill hundreds of innocent people just as they did," was in fact an undercover operative.
Sandhu said Bilel Saadaoui was not planning to take part in an attack, but "sympathized with the views of the Islamic State" and had been given access to money by his brother Walid to look after his family after his death.
Police were able to catch Walid Saadaoui 'red-handed' because the two men believed that they were planning their terrorist attacks with a third man called Farouk, who wanted to kill hundreds of innocent people just as they did, Mr Sandhu said.
'What they did not know, however, was that Farouk was an undercover operative,' he added.
Their best jihadi friend, the informant. *sigh* More jihadi idiots.
'Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein's plans were laid bare through their communication with Farouk and, as a result, the police were able to stop those plans from becoming a tragic reality.'
[NY Post] The Cabinet of Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa on Wednesday denounced protesters who threw rocks at his motorcade, calling it an assassination attempt, as investigators remained silent about Tuesday’s attack.
Late Wednesday, however, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office announced that a judge had declared the arrest of five suspects illegal and ordered their release.
The office said on the social platform X that the judge’s decision kept it from bringing charges against them.
Noboa declared a state of emergency Sunday across 10 provinces after the removal of a fuel subsidy triggered two weeks of anti-government demonstrations organized by Ecuador’s largest Indigenous group.
Diesel prices have since risen from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon.
The past three administrations have only succeeded in a minimal fuel price hike after weeks of protests followed by negotiations with Indigenous groups.
Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo told a local news program Wednesday: “The level of aggression with which they attacked the caravan shows that this was a clear assassination attempt and an act of terrorism against the (president).”
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, the protests’ organizers, said that the presidential motorcade had entered a place where they knew there were protesters “to justify their war policy,” and that the administration is responding to legitimate demands with force.
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And to think, only a few years ago they were excited about seducing their long lost Jewish cousins to apply for citizenship.
[IsraelTimes] Vote enshrines law that bans all weapons deals, outlaws the transit of jet fuel with potential military use and bars advertising products coming from Israeli settlements
[IsraelTimes] Israel concerned over potential sale of advanced fighter jet to Turkey, whose leader on Wednesday charged Israel in past 2 years ‘went beyond what Hitler did in terms of genocide’
The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... said Wednesday that he was hopeful his meeting last month with US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... would help lift sanctions blocking Turkey’s purchase of F-35 jets, and also help resolve a legal case against state lender Halkbank.
The US CAATSA sanctions, applied in 2020 over Turkey’s purchase of Russian air defenses, and the US charges that Halkbank HALKB.IS helped 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... skirt separate sanctions that emerged as key issues in the White House talks two weeks ago.
The sides announced no agreements on those issues after the meeting between Trump and Erdogan.
"I hope the F-35 issue will be resolved and CAATSA sanctions will be lifted," Erdogan told news hounds on a flight back from Azerbaijan, when asked about the meeting and a subsequent phone call with Trump.
"We must achieve this. Our visit has ushered in a new era in Ottoman Turkish-US relations and further strengthened the dialogue and friendship between us," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks shared by his office on Wednesday.
During Trump’s first term, the US removed Turkey, a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program after Turkey purchased an air defense system from Russia. US officials worried that Turkey’s use of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system could be used to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could end up in Russian hands.
Israel has expressed concern in the past over the potential sale of the advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and other nearby countries, as it is anxious to preserve its qualitative military edge in the region.
Today, Israel is the only country in the Middle East with F-35s in its arsenal, currently operating 45 of the aircraft with another 30 units on order.
While the US has been reluctant to embrace Turkey under Erdogan in the past, citing concerns about the country’s human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... record under the longtime leader, as well as Ankara’s ties with Russia, Trump has described his relationship with Erdogan as "very good."
Turkey’s role as a key regional player has grown, with the country recently becoming a crucial mediator and interlocutor between Israel and Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... , as it maintains good relationships with both the terror group and the US.
Turkey is also one of the world’s most outspoken critics of Israel and supporters of Hamas, with Erdogan often accusing Israel of genocide and comparing it to Nazi Germany, and likening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler ...late Fuehrer of Germany, founder of the Third Reich, currently communing with his pals Himmler and Heydrich. He is reincarnated every few days, sometimes every few hour if it's an election year, as a politician somebody doesn't like... "For the last two years, they indeed even went beyond what Hitler did in terms of genocide," Erdogan said on Wednesday in a statement.
On Halkbank, Erdogan said that Trump told him both at the White House and in their phone call that "the Halkbank problem is finished for us," according to a readout.
On Tuesday, Rooters reported, citing two sources, that Ottoman Turkish officials proposed settling the case against Halkbank for some $100 million during the White House meeting. Shares in Halkbank subsequently rose 7.9% in Istanbul.
"We also know that there are some processes (related to Halkbank) that need to be completed. Our hope is that these processes will conclude positively as soon as possible," Erdogan was quoted as saying on the flight.
The US Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2023 rejecting Halkbank’s claimed "sovereign immunity" in regards to its role in skirting sanctions against Iran.
Halkbank was hit with US criminal charges in 2019 that it took part in a yearlong scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and natural gas proceeds, violating sanctions on Iran.
The funds were used to buy gold and the transactions were disguised as food and medicine purchases in order to fall under a humanitarian exemption to the sanctions, according to court documents. As part of the scheme, Halkbank allegedly used front companies to funnel $20 billion to Iran, including $1 billion through the US financial system, the US Justice Department said.
The United States charged the bank with six counts of fraud, money laundering, and sanctions offenses, calling it one of the most serious sanctions-breaking cases it has seen.
Erdogan has repeatedly rejected the allegations facing Halkbank, insisting that Turkey did not violate the US embargo on Iran.
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[BREITBART] The commander of the Department of Homeland Security's illegal alien operations in Los Angeles and 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... reacted to the arrest of the man who allegedly offered a bounty for his kidnapping or murder. He stated that violent mostly peaceful gangs are ''feeling way too comfortable'' in sanctuary cities like Chicago when they believe they can threaten to kidnap and kill law enforcement officers.
''When violent mostly peaceful gangs can plot to kidnap and kill law enforcement officers in a U.S. city like Chicago, that means they are feeling way too comfortable,'' Border Patrol Commander Op At Large Gregory Bovino wrote in a post on social media. ''Time to make them feel uncomfortable.''
Bovino's comments followed the arrest reported by Breitbart News' John Binder of alleged Latin Kings gang member Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is accused of posting a bounty for the kidnapping or death of Chief Bovino.
In an Immigration and Customs Enforcement blurb, officials reported:
HSI Chicago received a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation from a user named ''Juan'' appearing to place a $2,000 bounty for information ''cuando lo agarren,'' which translates to ''when they catch him,'' and a $10,000 reward ''if you take him down.'' A third response of ''LK—.on him'' indicates the involvement of the Latin Kings. [Emphasis added]
During an interview on Fox News' Sean Hannity show, Bovino reacted to the threat, saying, ''It's a war zone out there— That $2,000 to kidnap, $10,000 to kill senior Border Patrol officials and senior ICE officials here in Chicago. Now, Sean, what happens between the kidnapping and the killing portion? That's something out of a third-world country. Is this America?''
On America Reports, a visibly shaken Bovino said, ''This is something out of a third-world country.''
''Is this America?'' the chief asked.
Bovino criticized Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's efforts to aid the illegal alien population and his language that is raising the danger level for law enforcement officers attempting to round up the ''worst-of-the-worst'' criminal aliens. He told Fox News that Pritzker should ''get with the program.''
Read on, dear Reader. As far as I can tell, she has learnt nothing from her ordeal.
[IsraelTimes] Iran-aligned terrorists turned up TV volume so she could hear about attack, says researcher, as she wishes that ‘God grant relief to the people of Gaza and the starving, injured and exhausted hostages’
Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian researcher who was held for two years by a Shiite militia in Iraq and released last month, on Tuesday recounted being in captivity when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and lamented the “horror” that Palestinians in Gaza have since faced.
“On this day two years ago, I was detained in my second prison at the Popular Mobilization Forces camp,” she wrote in Arabic on X.
Tsurkov was held by Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned militia.
“The guards from ‘the Brigades’ turned up the volume on their television so I could hear the news from behind the walls about the October 7 operation.”
“From the news I overheard from channels supportive of Iran’s axis, I thought the operation targeted only military sites because the broadcasters mentioned ‘prisoners’ (not ‘hostages’) and talked a lot about ‘soldiers.’”
The Hamas-led invasion from Gaza — which took several days for Israeli forces to finish off — involved thousands of terrorists, who killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Tsurkov said that, watching news of the attack, her captors were “overjoyed.”
But, she said: “I knew a catastrophe would befall Gaza and its people, though I could not imagine the scale of the violations and their horror.”
The researcher noted a Hebrew-language interview from July with the wife of former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi, who led the military when the attack happened. As her husband left their home early that morning, she recalled him telling her, “Gaza will be destroyed.”
Tsurkov wrote: “May God grant relief to the people of Gaza and to the starving, injured, and exhausted hostages.”
“All of them are paying a heavy price for the decisions of leaders who care about staying in power and are indifferent to their fate,” she added.
True. And the salt in their wounds is that they gave Hamas the votes that put them in power.
Tsurkov’s post was met with critical replies, as some users questioned what she was doing in Iraq and where her loyalties lie. She clarified that she had entered the country on her Russian passport and explained what she was studying, providing links to previous research.
When one user asked: “Regardless of the passport, are you Russian or Israeli?” the researcher responded: “I have two nationalities and I am opposed to both governments.”
If after all that she still opposes Israel’s government, then she is a heartless fool.
Tsurkov also said she would share more about her experience in captivity, including addressing a hostage video released by the US-designated terror group, during upcoming interviews, beginning in the coming days with the New York Times.
Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, went missing in Iraq in March 2023. She was abducted as she was leaving a cafe in the Iraqi capital’s Karrada neighborhood, an Iraqi intelligence source told AFP in 2023.
Upon her release last month, she thanked US President Donald Trump, as well as several members of his administration who were involved in securing her release. She also thanked Gal Hirsch, Israel’s hostages and missing persons coordinator. Notably, she did not thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
некультурный.
Israel was said to have had very little to do with freeing her, and The Times of Israel reported following her release that without the intervention and pressure of the US administration, she might have remained in captivity in Iraq for many more years.
[IsraelTimes] Dan Brotman, recently released from Lebanese custody, connects with Ilan Grapel, who was accused by Egypt of espionage in 2011, to create a unique support group of two
Israeli-American Dan Brotman handed his US passport to a Lebanese border control officer at the Masnaa border crossing with Syria in May, expecting an easy passage. Brotman began to feel nervous when the officer held his passport for an extended period while examining his computer screen.
The officer took the passport, brought Brotman to a back office, where he was told he was "suspended." He was stripped of his phone and other electronics and led to a filthy holding cell.
A window opened, and his group’s tour guide looked in, telling him that the rest of his group was being told to leave and that he was being transferred to Beirut. A Lebanese soldier then shouted at Brotman that he was an "Israeli soldier," Brotman said.
"From that moment on, I was completely on my own," Brotman recently told The Times of Israel.
Brotman spent six days in captivity in Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... . He was deprived of food and information, subject to interrogations, and unable to brush his teeth or shower in the Middle Eastern heat. He slept in handcuffs that left deep welts on his wrists.
After his release, he was suffering from PTSD and sought out someone to talk to. He discovered Ilan Grapel, another Israeli-American who had been confined in Egypt more than a decade earlier. Brotman located Grapel’s contact information online and sent him an email.
"I said something along the lines of, ’You’re not going to believe this. Something happened to me very similar to what happened to you and I just got out, and I really need to talk to someone,'" Brotman said.
The two started speaking on the phone, forging a bond over their shared experience.
"The first thing, I counseled him to be ready," Grapel said. "Just to be able to explain your story and explain it rationally."
WORLD TRAVELERS DETAINED IN ARAB STATES
The Times of Israel spoke to Brotman and Grapel via Zoom before their first in-person meeting in Toronto, where they spoke at a local Jewish community center about their captivities.
Brotman, 38, grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Israel at age 18. He stayed for three years, serving in the IDF’s Education Corps and receiving Israeli citizenship. He then moved to South Africa for 11 years, where he worked for Jewish and Israel-related groups and co-founded an educational travel company.
He has traveled extensively around the world, including to countries hostile to Israel, using his American passport, driven by a desire to see and understand locations that are generally off-limits, such as Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... Grapel, also an Israeli-American, from New York, is another world traveler who was detained in Egypt in 2011 when he was 27. The Egyptians accused Grapel of espionage, without evidence, a claim Israel denied. Israel released 25 Egyptians from Israeli prisons, mostly smugglers, to secure Grapel’s release. Grapel had been in Egypt volunteering with a refugee agency and was held for nearly five months.
After receiving the call from Brotman, Grapel advised him to be prepared for a "negative reaction from the Israeli public," who may have felt that the two travelers put themselves in harm’s way to the detriment of Israeli interests. Grapel said he told Brotman he needed to "just explain what we were doing in these places."
"Something that was very hard early on was that I got some negative reactions from people, basically saying, ’Your story doesn’t deserve to be told. You asked for it.’ Victim blaming, essentially. ’You were reckless, irresponsible,’" Brotman said.
Grapel "prepared me for any negative reactions I would get, either in the press or from friends or even just acquaintances," Brotman said.
Grapel, 42, also told Brotman to take an optimistic view, focusing on the fact that they could have been imprisoned for much longer.
"The transition from being in, to looking at what could have been, in both of our cases, long-term imprisonment, to all of a sudden finding your freedom and being able to appreciate it and acclimate back into the real world," Grapel said.
A HIDDEN DIARY IN A DUNGEON-LIKE CELL
The Times of Israel is relying on Brotman’s account for details of his captivity, including a diary he kept while imprisoned, unbeknownst to his captors.
The US State Department confirmed that Brotman was detained in Lebanon in May. The US embassy in Beirut said it had "no further information to provide," and the Lebanese embassy in the US did not respond to a request for comment.
"We take seriously our commitment to assist US citizens abroad and provide consular assistance," a State Department spokesperson told The Times of Israel. "The United States takes seriously all allegations of the mistreatment of US citizens in prisons and detention centers overseas. "
While he was captive, Brotman said Lebanese Sherlocks interrogated him about his military experience and told him Israel was a terrorist state.
Brotman was detained in Lebanon after he crossed into the country following a visit to Syria. He had been on an eight-day tour in Syria with an international group of mainly Americans and Europeans.
He had been in Lebanon twice before, and said that during his previous visits, he met civilians who "were not anti-Israel."
"They all said, ’We want peace with Israel.’ They had very warm feelings, actually, towards Israel. For me, it was really shocking being held by the government and them telling me that I come from a terrorist state," he said.
In his diary, Brotman wrote that he was shuttled around different holding cells, one of which had dried feces smeared on the floor and no natural light. Another cell was "dungeon-like," all concrete and cold, with no blanket. He wrote that at one point, he could hear a man screaming as the guards fired blank gunshots at him, and he heard the guards slapping another captive. One of his cells had a television and he watched footage of Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... hostage Edan Alexander being released and Tom and Jerry cartoons.
The two travelers’ experiences were different in some ways, and similar in others. Grapel’s case made international news; he received support from Israeli and US elected officials, and he was confined for far longer than Brotman, whose captivity has received scant attention and no public backing from elected representatives. Grapel was released as part of a prisoner swap, while Brotman is still unsure why he was let go.
Both Brotman and Grapel said the most difficult aspect of their detention was the isolation. Grapel’s "best two weeks" were at the beginning, when interrogations allowed him to converse with his captors, drink tea and coffee, and get information from prosecutors.
"But then I had three and a half months, four months of no conversation or sparse conversation. That’s definitely the worst part," he said.
Brotman said that, after he was detained, he didn’t know if anyone knew about his condition.
"It was just not knowing who knew on the outside, not knowing if people were fighting for me," he said.
He added that his captors repeatedly lied to him about his release, apparently to keep him calm.
"They just make shit up," he said. "’You’re on a plane tonight.’ Then nighttime comes, ’Oh, no, you’re not leaving tonight.’ Constantly not being able to believe anyone, not having a lawyer you can trust, and just having people lie to you every day."
Grapel also advised that therapy wasn’t helpful for him, but that telling his story was cathartic.
"I just explained that finding people who were willing to listen might be helpful," Grapel said.
Grapel said the effects of his captivity have faded in the 14 years since he was released, but Brotman still experiences flashbacks, he said.
"I think about what happened to me every day. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the night," he said.
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
Brotman said he has received little support from the US government, has received no information since he was released, and hasn’t heard from the Israeli government. Lebanese officials threatened him against speaking publicly, he said.
He is seeking information about what happened behind the scenes during his detention, why he was detained, why he received little support, and why he was released. With the help of the Lawfare Project, a US Jewish legal advocacy group, he has filed a complaint with the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The group is supposed to ask Lebanon for clarification about the incident, and Brotman is awaiting a response.
Brotman believes an informant told the Lebanese government about his background before he reentered the country from Syria. He is listed on a website called "Find IDF Soldiers" that targets IDF veterans in Canada. Archived web pages show that Brotman’s entry appeared on the website in May, around the time he was detained.
While he was in captivity, he saw a document on an interrogator’s desk printed in both English and Arabic, he said. He believes that, if it had been an internal Lebanese document, it would have only been in Arabic. Brotman documents his travels on social media, but hadn’t posted about his trip to Lebanon and Syria, he said.
"I think the US government knows what happened," he said.
He also hopes bringing light to his case will expand protections for American Jews who have Israeli citizenship in places like Lebanon.
Brotman now lives in Montreal, where he works at a company that helps individuals acquire second passports — a fitting position for Brotman, who, in addition to his US and Israeli citizenship, has a South African passport and is in the process of acquiring Canadian citizenship.
Grapel teaches at a Jewish school in Orlando, Florida.
Brotman said the pair wants to tell their story to a US audience and has started contacting Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in the US about holding further events together.
After being released, both Brotman and Grapel resumed their world travels, although they have circumscribed where they go.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advised Grapel against traveling in the Arab world, but his "wanderlust pulled me into South America," he said. He learned Spanish and lived in Colombia and Panama.
"For now, I’m going to stick to places where we’re permitted," he said.
Brotman recently visited his 100th country, Peru, and plans to visit another six countries in December. He will avoid any country that partakes in "hostage diplomacy," such as Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... and Russia, and Arab countries that bar Israelis.
[IsraelTimes] Ahlam Firwana, whose son serves in US Navy, reportedly leaves the territory thanks to the intervention of US officials, veterans and a pause in IDF strikes
The mother of a sailor in the US Navy was reportedly evacuated from 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... in a joint effort by US officials, American military veterans, and the Israel Defense Forces.
Ahlam Firwana, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday night, crossed the war-torn territory, from Gaza City in the north to the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing in the south, over the course of 19 hours last month. She is now in Jordan.
Firwana is one of hundreds of dual nationals to have been evacuated from Gaza over the course of the two-year war, and a rare case since US 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... suspended visitor visas from Gaza in August. Thousands of sick Paleostinians and their caregivers have also been evacuated with Israeli coordination.
Firwana’s son, Younis, who gained US citizenship via his military service, has been trying to get his family out of northern Gaza for a year and a half. An online fundraising appeal posted by his wife, Amanda Hancock, in April 2024, said the family’s home in the area had been destroyed, and that 19 of his relatives were living in a house with 50 people.
"Now they’re eating birdseed to survive because there’s hardly any food left in North Gaza," she wrote at the time. "They haven’t seen any fruit or vegetables for months. It’s dangerous for them to go outside for very long because it’s a free-fire zone where drones kill people without warning. There are dead bodies and the smell of death everywhere."
The Post reported that Firwana received US approval for his mother to enter the US but couldn’t find a way to renew her passport or get her out of Gaza. A group of US military veterans, the Special Operations Association of America, which, according to the Post, has helped get more than 1,000 people out of Gaza, agreed to help and put together a team of people to coordinate the evacuation.
روزنامه واشنگتنپست گزارش داد که دولت دونالد ترامپ در هفتههای اخیر موفق شد اخلام فیروانه، شهروند ۵۹ ساله نوار غزه و مادر یکی از سربازان نیروی دریایی آمریکا، را از این منطقه خارج کند.
این عملیات با هماهنگی میان ایالات متحده، اسرائیل و اردن انجام شد و شامل توقف موقت درگیریهای… pic.twitter.com/wlG44JSv4j
One of those involved was Steve Gabavics, who served as a colonel in the US Army and was the chief of staff of the US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority from 2001 to 2004. He said he spoke with contacts in Israel, including in the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad, to ensure a “security buffer” around Firwana and to ensure her location wasn’t targeted in a strike.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, as well as the White House and US State Department, did not respond to requests for comment, the Post said.
The veterans’ group also reportedly enlisted the help of Morgan Ortagus, the White House deputy special envoy to the Middle East, who connected them with the US embassy in Amman, Jordan. Jordan obtained approval for Firwana to enter the country.
“The team at Embassy Jordan went above and beyond to help the mother of an American service member to get safely out of Gaza,” an unnamed US official told the Post. “This is an example of the heroic work our Foreign Service officers perform around the world every day.”
Initially, the veterans’ group donated $10,000 to hire transportation for Firwana, but Israel’s order for all civilians to evacuate Gaza City ahead of the IDF’s major offensive there complicated that plan. Instead, another of Firwana’s sons obtained a vehicle, the Post reported, and drove her. Because roadways were clogged, she finished the journey’s last nine miles on foot.
She is now in Jordan awaiting visa approval. Her son Younis is grateful she is safe, telling the Post, “That means a lot, that these guys care about my family.”
But he also said that he hoped for a greater American effort to evacuate civilians.
“The US,” he said, according to the Post, “should be doing more than this.”
"I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan... BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!" - President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/lAUxi1UPYh
The exact terms of the deal, worked out in Egypt on Monday by Israeli and Hamas negotiators, are still not clear. And while it’s wise not to celebrate until the hostages are safely home, this is nonetheless a major breakthrough. Under the framework reportedly on the table, Hamas would be required to fully disarm in exchange for an end to Israel’s military operations. In return, more humanitarian aid would flow into Gaza, and plans for the territory’s reconstruction could finally move forward.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... announced late on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... have signed off on the "first phase" of his plan to secure the release of all hostages and end the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... war, two years and a day after the fighting was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
"This means that ALL of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw [its] troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable and everlasting Peace," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He later hailed the accord as "a great day for the world," saying, "The whole world has come together on this one, Israel, every country has come together. This has been a fantastic day... a wonderful day for everybody."
Trump told Fox News that all the hostages would probably be released on Monday. "We think they will all be coming back on Monday... and that will include the bodies of the dead," he said. "They [the hostages] are in a terrible situation there. They are deep, deep in the earth. As we speak, so much is happening to get the hostages freed."
Other unconfirmed reports said all hostages would be freed by Monday, and indicated that Hamas would not hold the kind of propaganda ceremonies, on stage in front of large Gazook crowds, at which hostages were handed over to the Red Thingy in previous deals.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations had earlier told The Times of Israel that Hamas would release all the remaining living hostages as early as Saturday. Twenty of the remaining 48 hostages are believed to be alive. All slain hostages that Hamas is able to locate are also to be released.
The deal will be formally signed on Thursday in Egypt, the sources said, adding that the biggest issues in the Gaza talks have been resolved and what remains to be finalized is merely procedural. The official signing was tentatively set for midday.
Trump is set to head to the region this weekend. Invited by Netanyahu to address the Knesset, in a phone call they held some two hours after he announced the deal, the president indicated he would do so.
"All parties will be treated fairly!" Trump stressed on Truth Social, in a message widely understood to be directed at Hamas, which has sought guarantees from the American leader that he will not allow Israel to resume the war once the hostages are released.
"This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Moslem world, Israel, all surrounding nations, and the United States of America; and we thank the mediators from 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... , Egypt and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... , who worked with us to make this historic and unprecedented event happen," Trump continued.
"BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!" he added.
CABINET TO MEET ON THURSDAY TO RATIFY DEAL
Within seconds of Trump’s post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying, "With God’s help we will bring them all home."
"A great day for Israel," the premier said in a subsequent statement.
"I will convene the cabinet tomorrow to ratify the agreement and bring all our precious hostages home," he said. He thanked Israel’s soldiers, "whose courage and sacrifice have brought us to this day," along with Trump and his aides, "for their commitment to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages."
"With God’s help, together, we will continue to achieve all our goals and expand peace with our neighbors," Netanyahu added.
In a third statement, in English, Netanyahu wrote: "With the approval of the first phase of the plan, all our hostages will be brought home. This is a diplomatic success and a national and moral victory for the State of Israel."
"From the beginning, I made it clear: we will not rest until all our hostages return and all our goals are achieved. Through steadfast resolve, powerful military action, and the great efforts of our great friend and ally President Trump, we have reached this critical turning point. I thank President Trump for his leadership, his partnership, and his unwavering commitment to the safety of Israel and the freedom of our hostages," the prime minister wrote.
Soon after Trump announced the deal, he and Netanyahu spoke by phone, and the prime minister invited the president to address the Knesset when he comes to the region this weekend. Trump told Channel 12’s Barak Ravid he would likely come to Israel and speak in the Knesset. "They want me to give a speech at the Knesset and I will definitely do that if they want me to," Trump said. "It is a great day for Israel and for the world. My call with Bibi was great. He is so happy. He should be. It is a great achievement. The whole world has come together to reach this deal including countries that were enemies."
Netanyahu’s office said, "The two held a very emotional and warm conversation, congratulating one another on the historic achievement of signing the agreement for the release of all the hostages."
In its own statement confirming the deal, Hamas said it had reached an agreement that ends the war, withdraws Israeli troops, secures the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and ensures the release of Paleostinian prisoners. Nearly 2,000 of them will be released as part of the deal, including 250 serving life sentences.
The Hamas statement thanked the mediators, including Trump, "who has worked to bring about a complete and final cessation of the war and the full withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip."
The initial partial withdrawal of Israeli troops ahead of the hostage release will leave Israel in control of just over a majority of the Strip. Hamas was working to secure a timetable for the pullout after earlier drafts of the plan described it as performance-based. It was unclear whether Hamas was able to change the terms.
"We call upon President Trump, the guarantor countries of the agreement, and all Arab, Islamic, and international parties to compel the occupation government to fully implement the obligations of the agreement and to prevent it from evading or delaying the implementation of what has been agreed upon," Hamas said.
The terror group hailed the "steadfastness" of Paleostinians, adding that "our people’s sacrifices will not be in vain. We pledge to remain faithful to our cause and never abandon our national rights until freedom, independence, and self-determination are achieved."
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari tweeted that mediators secured an agreement "on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Paleostinian prisoners, and the entry of aid."
"The details will be announced later," he added.
Trump told news hounds earlier Wednesday that he planned to travel to the region this weekend — likely to Egypt — if a deal was inked.
#2
Like others I am doubtful that a comprehensive and permanent peace is at hand.
However, a 2 year reprieve from active fighting will allow the IDF to upgrade a number of systems, including entraining Iron Beam in its missile defense and drone enabled real time battle prep maps that allow Israel to spot terrorist activities earlier than previously. It will also allow time to upgrade intel networks.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/09/2025 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
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.
[IsraelTimes] Biennial November arms show won’t feature 6 companies that were set to present, organizer says, without giving reason, in latest snub of Israeli defense industry amid Gaza war
[iNews] Text messages reveal Jihad al-Shamie was living a complicated personal life with three wives
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...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 
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
