At least they’re only accused of funding Somalia’s Jubaland military, not Al Shabaab.
[JustTheNews] The company was founded by a Somali immigrant who later tried to run for office in his home country and allegedly sent money to fund a paramilitary force.
A health services contractor in Maine founded by a Somali immigrant is now accused by a whistleblower of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program, raising concerns in Congress that fraud in government programs is more widespread than previously known.
The recent charges from last month connected to a $1 billion fraud ring among Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have focused renewed attention from lawmakers on rooting out fraud in federally-funded programs across the country.
Just days after the Minnesota fraud ring surfaced in the national conversation, a whistleblower who worked for a health services contractor in Maine came forward in a public interview and alleged the company, Gateway Community Services, defrauded the state’s Medicaid program for years.
The company was founded by Abdullahi Ali, a Somali-American who also ran for office, a position equivalent to governor, in a Somali state. At the time, he was serving as Gateway’s executive director.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says that he plans to probe the cases in both Minnesota and Maine to determine whether similar fraud using public dollars exists elsewhere. He believes there is a high chance his committee will find more.
“This does appear that it's a very organized scheme in multiple states with groups of Somalis,” Comer said in an interview with NewsNation, which first aired the whistleblower's allegations. “I would go out on a limb and say this is happening in other states with other social programs with other groups," Comer said.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS REFUSING TO COOPERATE
Comer noted that the Trump administration is intent on rooting out fraud in these federally funded programs, but a refusal by states run by Democratic governors to turn over key data threatens to hamper the effort. His committee’s probe, Comer warned, would rely on congressional subpoena power to compel information if any state or entity refuses to turn over requested information.
"Minnesota could be and hopefully is the worst offender, but there are other blue states run by Democrat governors who refuse to turn over any data, not only to Congress, but to the cabinet secretaries like [Agriculture Secretary] Brooke Rollins, who are trying to get a handle on programs like SNAP,” Comer told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Tuesday.
"If anyone that has received correspondence from us thus far requesting information, if they don't turn over that information, then they will get a subpoena. And we're serious about this. We're not going to back down," he added.
STATE CHARGED FOR SERVICES NEVER PERFORMED
The whistleblower in the Maine case, Christopher Bernardini, came forward in an interview with NewsNation earlier this week, recounting what he observed when he worked for Gateway Community Services as its self-described “billing guru” from May 2018 until April 2025.
Bernardini said the company presided over a system in which false records were filed about client visits. He alleges that the company manipulated an electronic monitoring system designed to track staff visits to low-income and disabled clients, but staff never actually made those visits. Afterwards, Gateway charged Maine’s Medicaid program despite never performing the stated services.
“I just couldn’t fathom it — I thought we were helping people; I thought this was all on the up-and-up,” Bernardini told NewsNation in an exclusive interview. “I have a passion for helping people and I thought that we were doing the right thing this whole time.”
Bernardini said he grew disillusioned with his work when he “saw how they were swindling people” and when “I had clients calling me to tell me their staff hadn’t shown up and I was told to bill those hours anyway.
“It just got worse and worse until I started really putting up a stink,” he said.
Gateway founder Ali responded to the accusations of fraud in a post to X, according to NewsNation. The post appears to have been deleted, and his account appears to be locked.
“I make no apologies for building a successful business in Maine, working hard to earn a living, earning my PhD, giving back to my Maine community, and running for office in Jubaland,” he wrote, according to The Hill. “I am proud to contribute my hard-earned $ to support my people back home. America is a nation of laws—you cannot change facts by fabricating false stories. I am proud Somali-American.”
Ali started Gateway Community Services in 2015 in Portland, Maine. It is a for-profit company that provides behavioral health services that include mental health counseling and services for children with intellectual disabilities. Gateway, along with its sister nonprofit organization, Gateway Community Services Maine, employs more than 250 people across the state, the Portland Press Herald reported in a profile of Ali last year.
ALLEGATIONS DATING BACK TO 2022
Gateway first came to the attention of the state’s Medicaid system’s integrity unit years ago, NewsNation reported. On March 22, 2022, the company received a notice of violation from the Medicaid system, known as MaineCare, alleging the government had overpaid for Gateway’s services by more than $900,000. The estimate was later revised down to just over $770,000. The state believed it had overpaid Gateway because documentation did not have matching start and stop times and there were missing signature dates.
While Ali led the company, he also unsuccessfully ran for political office in his native Somalia, the presidency of one of the country’s southern provinces, Jubaland. In an interview with Kenyan media, Ali bragged that he had raised funds for the Jubaland-Somali army–a paramilitary force–providing them with resources to help buy “weapons, bullets and food.” The admission raised concerns he had funneled taxpayer money into the African country, the Maine Wire reported earlier this year.
Bernardini told NewsNation the questionable activity ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic when the federal government made available close to $1 trillion as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.
“Once the PPP loan stuff started going on, this one really ticked me off because, all of a sudden, I started seeing these staff come aboard. They’d be on board for two or three weeks,” Bernardini said.
“No hours worked. I’d put in their training hours. That's because, again, I was doing the time cards and I started seeing bonuses, $2,000 bonuses, going to these staff that had only been with us for two weeks. Never worked a shift with a client and yet the PPP loan comes, they’re giving $2,000 away like they’re lollipops at a doctor’s office and I’m like, ‘Where the hell’s my $2,000 bonus, I’ve been here six, seven years.’”
All of this prompted Bernardini to submit a tip to the Maine State auditor’s office in the Spring of 2024. He said he was asked to provide information for the audit several times. However, Gateway ended Bernardini’s contract in April 2025.
“I’ve been waiting patiently for this to blow up, and I knew it would eventually,” Bernardini said in the interview. “I only wish I would have spoken up sooner.”
#1
Maine is a cesspool. I live in Maine. I lay all of this at the feet of the Democrap Governor and her cronies. I escaped Massachusetts, only to land in this lesser Democrap hellhole. I should have moved to Texas. (Damned autocorrect ALWAYS tries to correct my spelling from Democrap to Democrat. I see no way to turn it off. At least it knows that crap is crat.) I can hardly wait for the Guv et al to be drawn and quartered - I wish.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/13/2025 3:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Never forget that you must buy a new TV "Republican" (spit) Senator Susan Collins is from Maine.
[DM] A Republican activist from Idaho has received a barrage of death threats and abuse after he won free beer for reporting an illegal migrant to ICE.
Ryan Spoon, vice chairman of the Ada County Republican party was announced as the first winner of the Old State Saloon bar's giveaway in Eagle, Idaho.
Bar owner Mark Fitzpatrick won praise from Homeland Security after announcing on social media last month that if individuals provide evidence such as photos, videos, or alternative documentation to help ICE locate migrants without legal status, they qualify for a month of free beer.
The bar additionally boasted it 'may award multiple months of free beer' if several deportations occur.
Spoon was the first recipient of the award, after a friend tagged him in the bar's post on X pointing to a tip he had submitted earlier this year that led to a raid and deportation.
'They tagged me in the post and said 'hey Ryan Spoon already qualifies for this.''
Spoon told Daily Mail he has faced a barrage of abuse from liberals since his win was announced.
'This has really brought out the crazies,' he said. 'I have received numerous death threats or similar inferences of harm.'
Spoon said he had responded to a public call for action in January from ICE director Tom Homan, asking Americans to send in information if they knew about illegals in the US.
Less then 48 hours after President Donald Trump's inauguration, he tweeted out on X about legislator and state Rep Stephanie Mickelsen, after she publicly disparaged ICE's immigration policies.
'Attention, Mr Homan,' read Ryan's tweet, 'could you please send some illegal immigration raids to the businesses owned by Idaho's state Rep Stephanie Mickelson. She has been bragging about how many illegals her business employs. Here is a list of businesses to raid,' he continued, linking to an 'about' page on his rival Mickelsen's political website.
'You can report her, too!' he added.
When asked about his motivation behind sending in the tip Spoon said: 'I sent her public confession in so that she wouldn't get away with what she was doing. We finally have a president who has the b*lls to do something about it.
'We should uphold the laws we have.'
As Spoon's social media posts about contacting ICE rapidly garnered over 2,000 shares, he declared that 'sharing alone wasn't enough.'
He took further action by officially reporting Mickelsen's farming businesses to the ICE tip line and website.
Mickelsen hit back accusing the right winger of harassment. In an op ed for the Idaho Statesman on March 29 she wrote: 'Recognizing both the need for border security and the reality that critical aspects of our economy depend on foreign workers, I've become the target of intimidation tactics designed to silence me.'
However, ICE showed up at Mickelson's family run farm only three days after Spoon's tweet, where they located and arrested an illegal immigrant with a prior criminal record.
The Mickelsen Farms employee, Sajid Soto, had previously been charged with battery and drug possession in November 2022.
According to the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office, Soto admitted to choking his wife during an argument, and then whilst being held in the local jail, officers reported finding methamphetamine in his wallet. However he was released under the Biden administration and went to work at the farm.
Following the tip-off Soto was arrested and held at Nevada Southern detention center in Las Vegas before being deported.
Spoon says that reporting illegals is 'a patriotic act of civic duty.'
However as news of the bar's free beer offer spread, civil liberties groups claimed it was encouraging vigilantism and racial profiling and feared the scheme could lead to false accusations.
The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, an Idaho group focused on combating hate and bias, condemned the bar's social media posts claiming the offer 'dehumanizes people and divides our communities,' and argued that tying someone's possible deportation to a month of beer, treats immigrants' lives and families like a game or contest.
Mickelsen hit back accusing the right winger of harassment. In an op ed for the Idaho Statesman on March 29 she wrote: 'Recognizing both the need for border security and the reality that critical aspects of our economy depend on foreign workers, I've become the target of intimidation tactics designed to silence me.'
However, ICE showed up at Mickelson's family run farm only three days after Spoon's tweet, where they located and arrested an illegal immigrant with a prior criminal record.
The Mickelsen Farms employee, Sajid Soto, had previously been charged with battery and drug possession in November 2022.
According to the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office, Soto admitted to choking his wife during an argument, and then whilst being held in the local jail, officers reported finding methamphetamine in his wallet. However he was released under the Biden administration and went to work at the farm.
Following the tip-off Soto was arrested and held at Nevada Southern detention center in Las Vegas before being deported.
Spoon says that reporting illegals is 'a patriotic act of civic duty.'
However as news of the bar's free beer offer spread, civil liberties groups claimed it was encouraging vigilantism and racial profiling and feared the scheme could lead to false accusations.
The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, an Idaho group focused on combating hate and bias, condemned the bar's social media posts claiming the offer 'dehumanizes people and divides our communities,' and argued that tying someone's possible deportation to a month of beer, treats immigrants' lives and families like a game or contest.
Conservative commentators have issued a surge of support for the bold stance celebrating it as a triumph against illegal immigration.
So much so, that even the Trump administration homeland security publicly amplified the now-viral offer.
The DHS issued a repost on X accompanied by a gif, flaunting their support for the initiative to its 2.5 million followers - a moment Spoon described as surreal.
'That was pretty cool,' he quipped. 'My first reaction was wow what a difference from a year ago.
'For all the negativity and for all the death threats, there's also a lot of support pouring in'.
Spoon says the backlash has provoked an influx of donations to the bar and visitors from across the United States.
'There have been dozens of people that have sent in donations to buy rounds of drinks for people in the bar,' he said.
However, this is not the first time the bar has amassed scathing criticism online, it previously sparked outrage when bar owner Fitzpatrick launched 'Heterosexual Awesomeness Month' promotion in June 2024 as a response to Pride Month.
He advertised discounts and complimentary drinks for straight men, women, and couples.
The bar is a big fan of Trump and served up MAGA-themed cocktails, including the Maga Rita, Trump's Survival Shot, and Biden's Last Fall Mudslide.
It also sells a variety of merchandise, including T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan 'Make America Straight Again.'
Fitzpatrick told Fox News: 'At Old State Saloon, we really aren't strangers to speaking out boldly about conservative Christian values and truth, and putting the truth out there.'
He added that he was well aware that speaking up in a world of 'deception' and 'evil' was likely to cause people to get 'really upset.'
The attack on Martyr Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani carried out by ISIS-K was planned from the Mastung area of Balochistan, Pakistan.
In a recently released video, new revelations by an important member of ISIS-K have further intensified concerns about the region’s security situation.… pic.twitter.com/l0UcOpLlsG
The attack on Martyr Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani carried out by ISIS-K was planned from the Mastung area of Balochistan, Pakistan.
In a recently released video, new revelations by an important member of ISIS-K have further intensified concerns about the region’s security situation. The video was published by the Al-Mersad media outlet. In it, the individual confesses that ISIS-K was behind the assassination of the martyred former Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, stating that the suicide bomber had been dispatched from clandestine training camps in the Mastung district of Balochistan centers considered to be key ISIS hubs for training and coordination.
According to her statements, ISIS-K maintains organized and covert training facilities in various areas of Balochistan and Pakistan,
Eh? Isn’t Balochistan one of the provinces of Pakistan?
where not only are suicide attackers prepared, but planning for targeted operations inside Afghanistan is also conducted. The video indicates that the network exploits its old hideouts in Balochistan, Karachi, and the tribal regions, using these routes to send its fighters into Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and other cities.
Reports from Al-Mersad further reveal that several senior ISIS-K leaders have recently been killed by unknown assailants in major Pakistani cities. Despite this, a malicious circle within the Pakistani regime continues to deny the presence of ISIS in the country, a stance that has only deepened suspicions and concerns.
[IsraelTimes] Official says unresolved disputes over Gaza, Rafah Crossing and security make summit with Netanyahu unlikely despite interest from Jerusalem, Washington
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi currently has no plans to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a government official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel, amid reports that the Israeli premier is actively seeking such a sit-down.
Egypt has fumed at Israel for a host of issues in recent months that remain unresolved, accordingly decreasing the chances that Sissi will meet Netanyahu any time soon, despite interest in Jerusalem and Washington in making such a summit happen, the official said.
Throughout 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, sparked by Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7 onslaught, Cairo warned Israel against military operations that would push Paleostinians southwards in the Strip toward Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, viewing such a possibility as a red line and a national security threat.
Cairo still fears that Israel hasn’t ruled out the effort amid plans to focus the first reconstruction projects in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border, the official said.
Tensions have also flared over the Rafah Crossing. Israel has allowed the crossing to open only for Paleostinians exiting Gaza, a policy Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said last week Cairo views as an attempt to thin the enclave’s population — an outcome Egypt has said it will not permit.
Strains deepened further in October, when Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen pulled out of a planned signing ceremony for a lucrative natural gas deal with Egypt, arguing the terms were unfair to Israel — a move that angered both Cairo and Washington.
Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, and other Israeli officials have also repeatedly accused Egypt of amassing troops in the Sinai Peninsula, in what Jerusalem claims is a violation of their 1979 peace treaty. Egypt has dismissed the allegations outright.
Netanyahu and Sissi have long shared a strained relationship and have not spoken since before the war.
While Netanyahu has sought in recent months to repair ties, Sissi has shown little interest in engaging with the Israeli leader absent what the official described as fundamental changes in Israel’s conduct toward Egypt.
The official added that Sissi is also wary of being used as a "prop" by Netanyahu in an Israeli election year.
The comments came as Netanyahu was reportedly working to arrange a visit to Cairo, where he hoped to meet Sissi and sign a multibillion-dollar agreement to supply Israeli natural gas to Egypt. Israeli officials have been coordinating the effort with senior US diplomats, according to a senior American diplomatic source familiar with the preparations.
Netanyahu has publicly visited Egypt twice in the past, both times under former president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , with his last official state visit taking place in January 2011. Other meetings were held secretly.
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the Gaza war, diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt have largely frozen, aside from ongoing security coordination — particularly between intelligence services — focused on hostage-related issues.
Additional disputes have emerged over control of the Rafah Crossing, Egypt’s refusal to accept Gazook refugees, potential Egyptian participation in the planned International Stabilization Force for Gaza, and recent drone-based smuggling attempts from Egypt into Israel.
The proposed gas deal, estimated at $35 billion, carries clear economic benefits for both sides. However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... Cohen has warned thon the lam-scale exports could undermine Israel’s domestic energy security and has delayed the agreement pending the resolution of broader security disagreements with Egypt.
Netanyahu, for his part, reportedly views the deal as an opportunity to demonstrate that Israel is strengthening and expanding its peace agreements in the region after the war, and to advance his long-standing vision of using Israel’s natural gas reserves to secure long-term state revenues.
[IsraelTimes] Israel believes that Qatar has made a decision to “destroy the relationship between Israel and the Trump administration from the ground up,” a senior Israeli official tells Ynet.
Qatar is engaged “in jihad,” says the senior official.
Israel sees Qatar as one of the suspects in what it believes is a state-backed global campaign, using intelligence agencies and private companies, to smear Israel online, says an Israeli official.
There have been recent attempts to smooth the fraught relationship between the two countries.
Israeli and Qatari officials met in New York last week, in the first of a series of trilateral meetings set up by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who is looking to mend ties that were frayed by Israel’s botched September strike on Hamas offices in Qatar.
Qatar’s prime minister said in an interview last week that his country will not foot the bill for rebuilding Gaza, despite speculation that it would be the main backer of reconstruction.
Important Update: Further fueling rumors that Saudi Arabia has restricted UAE aircraft from flying directly to Yemen without first landing in the Kingdom for inspection and clearance, tracking data shows that the VIP UAE Air Force transport aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 650… https://t.co/fKUgcxRguOpic.twitter.com/54ynXegrjb
Further fueling rumors that Saudi Arabia has restricted UAE aircraft from flying directly to Yemen without first landing in the Kingdom for inspection and clearance, tracking data shows that the VIP UAE Air Force transport aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 650 (CL60) with registration “1350”, which we reported on earlier, in fact followed a multi-leg route before arriving in Aden.
The aircraft departed Abu Dhabi at 08:50 UTC (11:50 AM local time in Yemen), landed in Riyadh at 10:25 UTC (1:25 PM local time in Yemen), and subsequently departed Riyadh at 11:30 UTC (2:30 PM local time in Yemen) en route to Aden.
It is difficult to believe that a UAE delegation would require a refueling stop in Riyadh, given that a direct flight to Aden is significantly shorter. It is equally unlikely that the stop was intended for a face-to-face meeting lasting barely thirty minutes. This raises the possibility that the aircraft may also have picked up Saudi-based personnel in Riyadh. Taken together, these details lend further weight to the assessment that the stop in Riyadh was primarily for inspection and clearance.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/13/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1765 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[France24] UAE-backed south Yemeni separatists have taken control of vast new areas, rattling the anti-Houthi government and threatening to further divide a country fractured by more than a decade of civil war.
Yemen is already split between the Iran-backed Houthis who control much of the north and a fractious patchwork of anti-rebel groups in the internationally recognised government.
The separatists of the Southern Transitional Council are part of that anti-Houthi government, but their advances have raised fears that the group might secede in an effort to revive the once independent South Yemen.
WHAT IS THE STC?
Headed by Aidaros Alzubidi, the STC is a coalition of groups that want to bring back South Yemen, which existed from 1967 until its unification in 1990 with North Yemen.
They now control almost all of South Yemen's former territory.
The STC has gained influence during Yemen's civil war, which has pitted the Houthis against forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the United Arab Emirates.
Close to Abu Dhabi, the separatists are part of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the eight-member body that heads the internationally recognised government.
Alzubidi is the PLC's vice-president while Saudi-backed Rashad al-Alimi, who has heavily criticised the separatists' advance, is its president.
The STC already controlled swathes of Yemen's south coast, including al-Mukalla, the capital of the country's largest province Hadramawt.
Last week, its forces swept inland, seizing the key city of Seiyun as well as oil fields in the mostly desert area bordering Saudi Arabia.
In recent days, some local leaders in neighbouring Mahra province, which borders Oman and is a key smuggling route, also joined their alliance, the STC told AFP.
From @thetimes by @SameralAtrush [@STCSouthArabia] has sent delegates to meet Israeli officials, arguing they have a common cause against the Houthis, the group backed by Iran that controls large parts of Yemen and has repeatedly attacked Israel over the past two years. The STC…
STC has sent delegates to meet Israeli officials, arguing they have a common cause against the Houthis, the group backed by Iran that controls large parts of Yemen and has repeatedly attacked Israel over the past two years.
The STC hopes to garner the favour of President Trump, who wants to extend the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab countries, by promising to recognise Israel once southern Yemen is independent, two sources said.
[Breitbart] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) amnesty for Ethiopian nationals living in the United States.
In a press release on Friday, the DHS clarified that TPS designations “are time-limited” and are not meant to be used as a “ticket to permanent residency.” Ethiopian nationals who have no “lawful basis” for staying in the U.S. were given “60 days to voluntarily depart” from the country.
“Temporary Protected Status designations are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency,” a spokesperson from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said. “Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the person safety of returning Ethiopian nationals. Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, Secretary Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system.”
Breitbart News’s John Binder reported in April 2024, that under the Biden administration, DHS redesignated and extending TPS amnesty for “more than 15,000 Ethiopian nationals” in the U.S.
At the time, the Biden administration was found to have increased the number of foreign nationals in the U.S. who were either eligible or receiving TPS amnesty, to roughly 1.2 million. But WHO will drive our taxis?
President Donald Trump’s DHS has also announced that it would be ending TPS for thousands of Burmese, Honduran, Venezuelan, and Haitian nationals, among others, living in the U.S.
They didn’t like Israel and did all sorts of things to hamstring Israel’s war, while claiming to be Israel’s best friend and protector.
[IsraelTimes] Sources say US also limited how Israel could use certain intelligence to pursue high-value targets in Gaza, add that Biden rejected request from officials to formally cut off access
US intelligence officials temporarily suspended sharing some key information with Israel during the Biden administration over concerns about its conduct of the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , according to six people familiar with the matter.
In the second half of 2024, the US cut off a live video feed from a US drone over Gaza, which was being used by the Israeli government in its hunt for hostages and Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... terrorists. The suspension lasted for at least a few days, said five of the sources.
The US also restricted how Israel could use certain intelligence in its pursuit of high-value military targets in Gaza, said two of the sources, who declined to specify when this decision was taken.
All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss US intelligence.
The decision came as worries intensified in the US intelligence community about the number of civilians killed in Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Officials were also concerned that Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, was mistreating Paleostinian prisoners, the sources said.
Officials were concerned that Israel had not provided sufficient assurances that it would abide by the law of war when using American information, according to three of the sources. Under US law, intelligence agencies must receive such assurances before sharing information with a foreign country.
While the Biden administration maintained a policy of continuous support of Israel with both intelligence and weapons sharing, the decision inside the intelligence agencies to withhold information was limited and tactical, said two of the sources. The officials sought to ensure that Israel was using American intelligence in accordance with the law of war, said the sources.
One person familiar with the matter said intelligence officials have latitude to make some intelligence-sharing decisions in real time without an order from the White House. Another person familiar with the matter said any requests by Israel to change how it uses US intelligence required new assurances about how it would use the information.
Rooters could not determine the dates of the decisions or if president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. We get to suffer the consequences... was aware of them. A spokesperson for Biden did not respond to a request for comment.
DENYING BATTLEFIELD INTELLIGENCE TO AN ALLY IS UNUSUAL
The intelligence sharing resumed after Israel provided assurances that it would follow US rules.
The Biden administration’s concerns about Israel’s actions in Gaza have been widely reported, but less is known about how the US intelligence community handled relations with its Israeli counterparts. Rooters’ reporting underscores the depth of intelligence officials’ concern over how Israel used American intelligence.
Israel and the United States maintained security cooperation throughout the war in Gaza, said the Israeli military press office, which did not directly address the instances when intelligence was withheld.
"The strategic intelligence cooperation continued throughout the war," the office wrote in an email.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, which oversees Shin Bet, did not respond to a request for comment.
The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees US intelligence, did not respond.
It doesn’t matter in any way whatsoever, but now all the bloviating fools feel good about themselves. Still, it keeps them too busy to actually accomplish anything meaningful.
[IsraelTimes] Head of Palestinian agency hails ‘strong endorsement’ from General Assembly; US also slams ‘unserious and biased’ resolution, condemns UNWRA as ‘a Hamas subsidiary complicit in Oct. 7’
The UN General Assembly on Friday endorsed the International Court of Justice’s view that allegations of Hamas infiltration of the agency are unsubstantiated, in a vote hailed by the organization’s chief as “a strong endorsement” of its neutrality.
“The UN General Assembly has given a strong endorsement to the ruling by the International Court of Justice that claims about UNRWA being infiltrated by Hamas are not substantiated, nor are allegations that UNRWA is not a neutral organization,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, adding that the vote is “an important sign of support for UNRWA from the overwhelming majority of the international community.”
Citing the ICJ, he said UNRWA is “the key humanitarian actor in the occupied Palestinian territory,” urging member states to support its work in Gaza and expand “critical public health and education services.”
As part of its recent non-binding advisory opinion, the ICJ also asserted that Israel is legally obligated to allow UNWRA to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, and stated that the provision of aid to the Strip during the war there has been inadequate.
Lazzarini and other UN officials have touted UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza, though Israel and the Trump administration have accused the agency of links with Hamas, allegations the agency has vigorously disputed. Israel has published evidence of UNRWA employees taking part in the October 7, 2023, onslaught and in taking and guarding hostages, as well as accusing the agency’s school of consistently glorifying terrorism and opposing the State of Israel’s right to exist.
“UNRWA = hotbed of terrorism,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, wrote on X in response to Friday’s vote.
Danon accused the General Assembly of passing “a resolution calling on Israel to cooperate with terrorism,” adding, “That will not happen.”
He referenced a video published in February 2024 from the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, in which an an UNRWA employee can be seen abducting Yonatan Samerano’s body from Israel into the back of an SUV.
“We will not forget the crimes against humanity committed by UNRWA workers on October 7th,” Danon added. “We will not forget that an UNRWA ‘social worker’ kidnapped Yonatan Samerano’s lifeless body to Gaza. For the sake of peace in the world, UNRWA must go.”
The US State Department also denounced the vote, calling the resolution “unserious and biased, demonstrating the continued prevalence of anti-Israel bias over substantive diplomacy” at the United Nations.
“The United States stands with Israel in rejecting this notion entirely,” the State Department added in a statement. “Moreover, the United States refutes every effort to empower UNRWA, a Hamas subsidiary that was complicit in the atrocities of October 7, is devoid of meaningful oversight, and continues to promote antisemitism and glorify terrorism. It is unaccountable, corrupt, and will have absolutely no place in Gaza.”
In addition to the General Assembly vote, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar issued a joint statement on Friday “affirming the indispensable role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees and caring for their affairs.”
The statement came against the backdrop of an Israeli raid on UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem and reports that the US is looking into designating the UN agency as a terror group due to its ties to Hamas.
Israel has long sought to shutter UNRWA, saying it perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by continuing to confer refugee status on descendants of Arabs who left their homes in what is now Israel during the War of Independence from 1947 to 1949.
It ramped up its campaign against the agency after evidence showed that employees of the agency had participated in the October 7 attack and had incited against it, passing legislation last year banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory.
Israel has also alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
[IsraelTimes] One expert says students are deepening their networks in Jewish and Israel-focused circles to ‘simply be with people who get it,’ often opening the path to immigration
It will be interesting to see how many return in the next five years or so, now that the hot war has been wn.
[IsraelTimes] More doctors, engineers, and high earners moved away during 20-month period, costing state some NIS 1.5 billion in lost taxes, Tel Aviv U. economists find, warning trend may be ongoing.
#1
Great! Israel's immigration policy is highly restrictive but if you're Jewish they clear a path for you. It's the only place in the world you'll ever really feel at home. Because it literally is home!
#3
An ex-coworker and friend invented Israel's first modern drone in the 1960s-1970s. Israel then built an overpass over his home that was noisy and cars sometimes fell off of while the state of Israel refused to compensate him in any way. He got pissed off and immigrated to the USA going to work at Motorola.
#4
It was maximum Israeli socialism then. No doubt he had a great many other complaints as well. Nothing changed on the socialism side until Bibi took office, I believe.
[IsraelTimes] Names of Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, maps reportedly passed to negotiators as official says last captive could potentially be returned ‘within a short time’
Israel has provided mediators with a list of the names of Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... operatives believed to have direct knowledge of the location of slain hostage police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Channel 12 reported Friday, as Jerusalem intensified efforts to secure the return of his body and warned that progress in talks hinges on the issue.
According to the report, Israel passed the mediators not only the names of the Islamic Jihad members, but also detailed maps tied to areas where Gvili is believed to be buried.
Israeli officials assess that the information was conveyed clearly and expect terror groups 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... to step up search efforts as weather conditions improve following the recent Storm Byron, the report said.
An Israeli official quoted by Channel 12 said that if the terror group genuinely chooses to cooperate, Gvili’s return could potentially be achieved "within a short time."
Israeli officials have also made clear that there will be no advancement to the next phase of the ceasefire deal without the return of Gvili, the last remaining hostage in the Strip.
Security officials confirmed that in recent days, Israel has identified several possible leads regarding the location of Gvili’s burial site and has begun preliminary checks. The area under examination is reportedly connected to Islamic Jihad, whose operatives kidnapped Gvili during the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... -led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Islamic Jihad has recently conducted searches in several areas across the Gaza Strip in an apparent effort to locate Gvili’s remains.
Gvili, a member of the Yasam police counter-terror unit, was on medical leave at the time of the onslaught, awaiting surgery on his broken shoulder following a cycle of violence accident. Nevertheless, when he heard of the attack, he put on his uniform and headed toward the front line.
In January 2024, the IDF announced that Gvili had been killed on October 7 while battling Hamas in Kibbutz Alumim, and his body taken to Gaza. His family, however, has refused to accept his death without the return of his body.
Last week, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that an Israeli delegation traveled to Cairo for talks with mediators. The delegation was led by government hostage point man Gal Hirsch and included representatives from the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet and Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... According to Channel 12, discussions concluded with an agreement to focus on an immediate and intensive effort aimed at completing the mission of returning Gvili.
During the Cairo talks, Israeli officials informed the mediators that individuals within Islamic Jihad possess direct knowledge of Gvili’s whereabouts. The discussions also addressed the next stage of the ceasefire framework, which Israel says must include Hamas’s disarmament and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli official told Channel 12 that mediators have conveyed Hamas’s interest in moving forward with the agreement.
"Either they agree to disarm and demilitarize Gaza, or we will do it ourselves," the official said. "Israel will not leave a threat to the State of Israel in Gaza."
So it’s to be a parade ground force. How nice for them. Do remind them that Hamas and friends laced the entire Gaza strip with underground tunnels now likely to sink suddenly underfoot, and aboveground buildings with booby traps and IEDs, so they should go very carefully whenever they leave their bases if they want to keep their pretty uniforms and their pretty selves in one piece. Just saying.
[IsraelTimes] US military to host conference in Doha next week to discuss plans for International Stabilization Force, though it remains unclear how Hamas will be disarmed
International troops could be deployed in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip as early as next month to form a UN-authorized stabilization force, two US officials told Rooters, but it remains unclear how the Paleostinian terror group Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... will be disarmed.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... , said the International Stabilization Force (ISF) would not fight Hamas. They claimed lots of countries have expressed interest in contributing and US officials are currently working out the size of the ISF, composition, housing, training and rules of engagement.
The US Central Command will host a conference in Doha on December 16 with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, the officials said.
More than 25 countries are expected to send representatives to the conference, which will include sessions on the command structure and other issues related to the Gaza force, they said.
An American two-star general is being considered to lead the ISF, but no decisions have been made, the officials said.
The goal of deploying the ISF in January is not new, and The Times of Israel has reported for nearly two months that US officials have been talking about that aim. But the timeframe is appearing increasingly unlikely, as even the countries that were thought to be interested in contributing troops, such as Azerbaijan and Indonesia, have yet to formally announce decisions to do so.
Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ’s Gaza peace plan. Under the first phase, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year war began on October 10, with Hamas releasing hostages and Israel freeing detained Paleostinians.
"There is a lot of quiet planning that’s going on behind the scenes right now for phase two of the peace deal," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told news hounds on Thursday. "We want to ensure an enduring and lasting peace."
INDONESIA PREPARING FORCE THAT WILL DEPLOY TO GAZA
Indonesia has said it is prepared to deploy up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-related tasks in Gaza.
"It is still in the planning and preparation stages," said Rico Sirait, spokesperson of Indonesian Defense Ministry. "We are now preparing the organizational structure of the forces to be deployed."
An Azerbaijani official told The Times of Israel last week that Baku doesn’t have nearly enough information on the ISF’s mandate in order to make a decision to join the force.
Israel still controls 53% of Gaza, while nearly all the 2 million people in the enclave live in the remaining Hamas-held area. The plan — which needs to be finalized by the so-called Board of Peace — is for the ISF to deploy in the area held by Israel, the US officials said.
Then, according to the Trump peace plan, as the ISF establishes control and stability, Israeli troops will gradually withdraw "based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization."
A UN Security Council resolution adopted on November 17 authorized a Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish the ISF. Trump said on Wednesday that an announcement on which world leaders will serve on the Board of Peace will be made early next year.
DEMILITARIZING GAZA
The Security Council authorized the ISF to work alongside newly trained and vetted Paleostinian police to stabilize security "by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state gangs."
However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... it remains unclear exactly how that would work.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz noted on Thursday that the ISF was authorized by the Security Council to demilitarize Gaza by all means necessary — which means use of force.
"Obviously that’ll be a conversation with each country," he told Israel’s Channel 12 news, adding that discussions on rules of engagement were under way.
Hamas has said the issue of disarmament has not been discussed with them formally by the mediators — the US, Egypt and 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... — and the terror group’s stance remains that it will not disarm until a Paleostinian state is established.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Sunday that the second phase would move toward demilitarization and disarmament.
"Now that raises a question: Our friends in America want to try and establish a multinational task force to do the job," he said. "I told them I welcome it. Are volunteers here? Be my guest," Netanyahu said.
"We know there are certain tasks that this force can perform ... but some things are beyond their abilities, and perhaps the main thing is beyond their abilities, but we will see about that," he said.
[Ynet] In every flock, there is a lead sheep; in Israel, the author argues, the slide into political coarseness is led by the prime minister, who elevated figures behind anti-LGBT marches and appointed unfit ministers, setting the tone for the rest to follow
“Israel will clear the rubble from Gaza and pay billions,” ynet reported this morning. It is inconceivable. We will pay for clearing the rubble. Israeli taxpayers will finance the damage Gazans brought upon themselves. Should we also pay for the Hamas pickup trucks that were destroyed? How far will this go? Will we pay salaries to the Nukhba militants? A so-called “full right-wing” government will fund Gazans for the damage caused by terrorism they inflicted on themselves. How pathetic.
The three Bs — Bibi, Ben-Gvir and Bezalel — as a shabby parody of the eternal three Bs: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, only without their genius or talent. What do B.B.B. tell themselves? Why do they think we should pay for this? If there is no one to pay, let it remain as it is — a monument to destruction and a permanent reminder to the Palestinians and everyone else in the region of what happens to those who attack Israel. It is good that in Tulkarem, Qalqilya and other towns and villages in Judea and Samaria they remember the price well. A scenario of an attack on an Israeli community from east or west of the separation barrier is not far-fetched, and they should know that in such a case, their towns will look like Gaza does today.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
12/13/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1762 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
TW, my point is that.
If the opposition was in control, there would be no rubble.
What do they expect Bibi to do - tell the orange man to f*ck off?
#2
I am as grateful that Israeli voters keep putting Bibi into office as that American voters chose Donald Trump. With all their faults, both men love their countries and have eagerly made the hard decisions.
I don’t understand why President Trump is pushing Israel to pay for this, unless he knows they’ll be able to empty Hamas, et al bank accounts…or perhaps already found that much cash in the tunnels.
Sheep to be sheared later. For now they can spend their own money to do work that would otherwise go undone.
[IsraelTimes] Son of Syrian rabbi meets with Syria’s social affairs minister in Damascus, tours father’s former synagogue; two Israeli rabbis reportedly visit closed synagogues in Aleppo
Syrian authorities on Wednesday granted a license to a Jewish-Syrian organization that plans to work to return properties confiscated under previous governments and restore Jewish holy sites, one of its founders said.
"This is a strong message from the Syrian state that we do not discriminate between one religion and another... Syria helps all Syrian men and women of every religion and sect who want to build our new state," Syria’s Social Affairs and Labor Minister Hind Kabawat told AFP, announcing the authorization granted to the Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation.
The president of the Foundation is Henry Hamra, who fled from Syria to the US in the 1990s with his father, Yusuf Hamra, reportedly the last rabbi to leave Syria, amid restrictions placed on it by the deposed Assad regime.
Henry Hamra, who ran unsuccessfully in Syria’s legislative elections in October, said the group will "work on making an inventory of Jewish properties and returning those confiscated during the previous regime, as well as protecting, caring for and restoring holy sites so that they are accessible to all Jews in the world."
Hamra met with Kabawat in Damascus on Wednesday, according to photos published by Mouaz Moustafa, head of the former Syrian opposition group Syrian Emergency Task Force.
Photos published by AFP also showed Hamra praying with his son Joseph at Damascus’s al-Franj Synagogue, which he previously visited in February with his father, the synagogue’s former rabbi.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Jewish group, including two unnamed Israeli rabbis, also visited two synagogues in northwestern Syria’s Aleppo that had closed decades ago.
SOHR published footage from the visit showing the group in front of the entrance to a synagogue. According to SOHR, the visit took place under heavy protection by authorities.
The visit "aimed to inspect the assets of Syrian-Jewish people" and came amid "a religious-cultural event with the participation of an association that operates in north Syria," SOHR said, without naming the association. During the visit, Aleppo’s governor promised the group to help restore stolen Syrian Jewish property to its owners, SOHR reported.
The city lent its name to the Aleppo Codex — a 10th-century manuscript of the Hebrew bible renowned for its precision — which was housed in Aleppo’s central synagogue for some six centuries until 1947, when it was lost during an antisemitic riot sparked by the UN resolution partitioning Paleostine into two states, Jewish and Arab.
The remains of the badly damaged codex were salvaged by the synagogue’s rabbi at the time; in 1958, a Syrian Jewish refugee brought them to Israel, where they are displayed at the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Syria’s centuries-old Jewish community was able to practice their religion under former president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, but was prevented from leaving the country until 1992.
After that, their numbers plummeted from around 5,000 at the time to just a handful now.
"We have counted dozens of Jewish-owned houses that were confiscated by the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... regime," said Moustafa.
Syria’s new authorities, who this week celebrated the first anniversary of Bashir al-Assad’s downfall, have made overtures toward the country’s dwindling, storied Jewish community, including by letting in Jewish groups. One group that visited Damascus in September, with the express approval of Syria’s Foreign Ministry, included The Times of Israel Editor David Horovitz.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of ImpNavigator
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin ios in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Estimates of damage to Iran's missile program have been exaggerated. According to Israeli media, an Israeli army representative stated at a closed meeting of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that, according to their data, Iran is rapidly restoring its missile potential after the 12-day war and has already resumed large-scale production of ballistic missiles.
In short, this is yet another statement of a fact I have already stated and written about many times. Iran's missile industry is very large and largely located underground. The damage Israel inflicted on Iran's missile industry during the war, although noticeable, was actually quite limited and affected only part of the above-ground infrastructure. The Iranians began repairing this damage almost immediately at the maximum possible pace.
The fact that Iran, as early as this fall, began purchasing large quantities of sodium perchlorate from China again, which is used to produce ammonium perchlorate (one of the main components of solid rocket fuel), was in itself an indirect sign that Iran is rapidly increasing its ballistic missile production.
And again, regarding Israeli assessments. They write that Israel overestimated the damage inflicted on the Iranian missile program during the 12-day war and that it turned out to be not as serious as initially thought.
Moreover, Israel now estimates that Iran once again possesses approximately 2,000 "heavy ballistic missiles" (referring to IRBMs capable of reaching Israel), as it did before the war began in June. This means that the Iranian missile industry quickly replaced the missiles launched and lost during the 12-day war.
Let me remind you that during the 12 days of the war, the US and Israel were able to disable (and then only temporarily) only two of Iran's 24 missile cities. In fact, as was stated in the summer, Israeli propaganda systematically overstated the damage inflicted on Iran and just as systematically understated the damage from Iranian missile strikes.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/13/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1764 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Bomb them again then.
Posted by: chris ||
12/13/2025 1:24 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.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
