[Real Clear Politics] White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller assesses the alleged Somali fraud scandal, which he says could be the largest in American history, and the impact of the "refugee industrial complex" on Friday's broadcast of FOX News Channel's "The Ingraham Angle."
"President Trump has blown the lid off of the refugee industrial complex," Miller said. "And the way this works is exactly the way that you said, the U.S. government, historically, and this, of course, got taken to the highest degree ever under Biden, hands out billions with a B, billions of dollars in grants to these third party groups, non-governmental organizations, to work with the Department of State, to find the poorest populations from the most dysfunctional places in the world and then bring them into small town America."
LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right, here with end of the year reaction, Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Stephen, thank you so much on this busy night for being here. Tim Walz, you might have seen this. When after President Trump today for daring to highlight the massive fraud happening in his state. Watch this.
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[IsraelTimes] Laws promoting academic freedom have limited the fallout in the United States and Europe, but some schools have found creative ways to isolate Israel under the radar.
In early November, the University of Naples Federico II, the oldest public university in the world and one of the largest in Europe, signed a resolution to boycott cooperation with Israeli institutions. The boycott came weeks after a ceasefire in the two-year Israel-Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... war took hold 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.
The resolution announcing the measure expressed "hope that the truce will lead to a real turning point toward conditions of stable and lasting peace."
Henceforth, it said, the university would suspend "the signing of new scientific and educational collaboration agreements with Israeli universities, institutions, and public and private companies."
The statement, which followed an appeal to the university’s administration in August from more than 230 professors and faculty members, may have been surprising in its timing. But it followed a clearly established pattern among universities worldwide over the past two years.
Academic boycotts of Israeli institutions and professors have intensified since October 7, 2023. And despite laws prohibiting such boycotts in both the US and Europe, those involved in fighting them say universities have been developing new tactics to distance themselves from Israeli academia without being penalized by regulators and funders. That has left Israeli academics, their schools and those supporting them to innovate their own ways of safeguarding their place in higher education.
"Last year was already a very bad year for boycotts, and we saw it get even worse at the beginning of 2025," said Emmanuel Nahshon, head of an Association of Israeli Universities task force for combating academic boycotts, in a telephone interview.
His organization tallied 300 instances of boycotts in the year following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war in Gaza. The following year, the number more than doubled to 700.
The instances include hundreds of boycotts of individual researchers, as well as restrictions on working with institutions and international programs. The ceasefire in Gaza may eventually help lower the temperature of anti-Israel boycotts around the world, Nahshon said, but he doesn’t expect improvement in the near term.
"And that is only the number of overt boycotts that are clearly defined," he said. "On top of that, you have cases where things are less clear, like when an Israeli submits an article to a publication but doesn’t get a response, or if they are not invited to speak at a conference on a topic where they are an expert. These are harder to pinpoint, but no less damaging."
BOYCOTTS AT DOZENS OF UNIVERSITIES
Israeli academia has been subject to boycotts for decades, particularly after the pro-Paleostinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign made it a central target of its anti-Israel strategy in 2004. It’s a trend that BDS has pursued in other fields as well, with actions to target Israel being promoted by Hollywood actors, sports associations, and cultural institutions.
Israeli academia relies heavily on international cooperation, with some 38 percent of Israeli research conducted in cooperation with European academics, the Innovation, Science and Technology Ministry has said. Many Israeli tech companies, including in the defense industry, have lucrative contracts with universities.
Much of that cooperation is anchored in European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... programs like Horizon Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Erasmus, which support research, innovation, and educational programs across the continent. Those programs require universities to commit to principles like promoting academic freedom and cross-border collaboration. Formally boycotting Israel would mean forgoing access to billions of euros earmarked for research and development.
According to Nahshon, the reliance of European universities on funding from those same programs has curbed boycott efforts. An attempt to cut off Israel from the EU research funds earlier this year fell short.
However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... Nahshon said, at least one school, the University of Ghent in Belgium, has openly stated that its commitment to the anti-Israel boycott movement outweighs the importance of receiving EU funding. It is not exactly clear what the university is doing to make up those losses, he noted.
Overall, more than 30 universities across Europe have voted to boycott Israel on an institutional level, Nahshon said, primarily in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italia, and Spain.
In recent months, boycotts have gained particular momentum in Italian universities. Decisions to suspend agreements with Israel have come from the Universities of Pisa, Bologna, Siena, Cagliari, and Milan, in addition to the campus in Naples, according to Nahshon’s task force.
The prospect of an expanded embargo on Israel’s academic institutions would "strategically damage Israel’s scientific future and threaten its security, high-tech sector, and the entire economy," a recent report by the task force to university presidents concluded.
’SHADOW BOYCOTTS’ AND STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS IN EUROPE
To get around the funding restrictions, universities that institute boycotts use "devious, problematic" tricks, Nahshon said. In some cases, they have set up ethics committees that recommend cutting ties with Israeli institutions, allowing administrators to claim the decision had been made for them.
In other cases, known as "shadow boycotts," schools simply "ghost" Israeli researchers or avoid engaging in joint projects without giving any reason, providing a defense against any accusation of deliberate isolation.
"These are much more serious than student protests," Nahshon said. "These are decisions organized at the university level, with entire institutions making the commitment to sever ties with their Israeli counterparts."
Often, it is those student protests that lead to boycotts. A key motivator for the wave of boycotts in Italia was the pro-Paleostinian flotilla that attempted to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver a small amount of humanitarian aid. The activists on the boats included several dozen Italians, including elected officials, and the flotilla was accompanied for a time by an Italian naval vessel.
"The Global Sumud Flotilla this summer galvanized the support of many Italian students, and they were able to pressure university administrators to boycott Israel, even though the administrators themselves were against it," said Serena Di Nepi, a history professor at La Sapienza University of Rome.
"Students are very passionate," she added. "They think that by protesting, they can make a difference, like the anti-Vietnam War protests in the US in the 1970s."
But she said that the boycotts are still a minority of cases. Most universities are reluctant to participate in boycotts, she asserted, and most university leaders are still dedicated to maintaining academic freedom in the face of the student demonstrations.
"There’s a heavy atmosphere on campus, but even in schools that have signed the boycott, I think many university governments won’t actually participate," she predicted.
EXTERNAL PRESSURE ADDS TO THE HEAT
Sometimes, the pressure comes from outside the university. In Ireland, a number of public figures, including actress Olwen Fouéré, recently rejected honorary doctorates from the University of Galway due to a research partnership it has with The Technion — Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, studying sustainable seawater technologies.
Galway’s president has said that the school would not participate in any new research agreements with Israeli partners, but that it was contractually obliged to continue the existing partnership with the Technion.
Israeli academics have also faced boycotts at gatherings and pan-European associations. In one case, in February 2024, Gilad Hirschberger, a psychology professor at Reichman University, was disinvited from giving a keynote address to a conference in Norway because the organizing committee decided "to avoid collaboration with representatives of countries involved in ongoing warfare," according to the text of a letter that he posted on social media.
In September of this year, Guy Stiebel, the chairman of Israel’s Archaeological Council, and 22 other Israeli academics were told by the European Association of Archaeologists that they would be allowed to attend the organization’s annual meeting only if they hid their affiliations with Israeli universities.
"My initial gut reaction was: ’I do not wish to belong to any club that is willing to have me as a member,’ Stiebel wrote in a letter to the EAA following that decision. "A boycott contradicts all that defines academia and academic freedom, and undermines everything that academia seeks to achieve."
A deluge of protest letters from others in Israel eventually led the association to reverse its decision, and it announced the day before the conference that the ruling was "rushed and misjudged." But Stiebel is not resting easy.
"We were ’successful’ in this case, but no one can assure what will happen next time," Stiebel told The Times of Israel. "This is just one example of something happening every week in Israeli academia, and it’s a very slippery slope for everyone."
FEWER BOYCOTTS IN THE US
Thank you, President Trump.
Across the Atlantic, a stronger culture of academic integrity in the US has made the fight against boycotts somewhat less charged than in Europe, according to Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), which works to counter antisemitism and anti-Israel activities on American campuses.
Boycotts have not taken hold despite student governments nationwide voting, across recent decades, in favor of BDS resolutions.
"In the United States, we have held the line," Elman said. "There’s not a single university — at the [official] university level, from president to chancellor — where the administration has adopted an academic boycott of Israel."
This is in part due to sustained, coordinated efforts by organizations such as her own, alongside groups including Hillel International, American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Federations of North America, Elman said.
"Our argument is always that academic boycott is antithetical to the academy," Elman said. "We continue to be successful in making the case for open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas."
Many US states have also enacted so-called "anti-BDS" laws over the past decade, prohibiting or penalizing state institutions for supporting or participating in boycotts of Israel.
Under US President Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... , anti-discrimination regulations are being enforced much more aggressively on the federal level as well, with federal grants and funding tied to compliance with their standards.
The Trump administration has repeatedly cited campus antisemitism in its moves to withhold federal funds from universities, and the release of those funds has come alongside the school taking steps to counter anti-Jewish discrimination.
"Trump clamped down strongly on a lot of the causes of the problem," Elman said.
SHUNNED ON CAMPUS AND AMID COLLEAGUES
That’s not to say that Israeli professors are welcome on campus. A recent survey conducted by AEN and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that a large majority of Jewish and Zionist American faculty reported experiencing shunning and exclusion, including smear campaigns, boycotts, and doxxing efforts carried out by colleagues and administrators.
#2
Given the low-grade product coming out of our finest universities, one could argue that an academic boycott is a good thing for Israel. Never mind that a university running a boycott has missed the whole idea of academia.
[KhaamaPress] Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... acknowledged that the rulers in Kabul have relied on violence, intimidation, and fear to maintain control over the people. "It's ISLAM. Duh!" Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said on Friday in Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... that a government ruling through "fear and force" cannot be considered legitimate, implicitly acknowledging the use of intimidation by the Taliban.
Speaking to a crowd of locals, Haqqani stressed that leaders should not humiliate or condemn citizens, and that a government should foster trust, justice, and stability among the people.
He stated, "A government that rules solely through fear is not a government. There must be a bond of love and trust between the rulers and the ruled."
Over the past four years, the Taliban have been widely accused of violent mostly peacefully suppressing protests, arresting critics, and carrying out public floggings and executions, drawing sharp criticism from international human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... organizations.
Haqqani also referenced Afghanistan’s history of foreign domination, saying Afghans have long suffered due to their desire for independence and freedom, and that the Taliban should avoid replicating oppression against their own people.
Human rights groups continue to highlight Haqqani’s controversial past as a senior figure in the Haqqani network ...a branch of the Afghan Taliban that was based in Pakistain. The network is a family business founded by the late Jalaluddin Haqqani... , which has been linked to kidnappings and attacks on civilians during the insurgency.
Observers note that while Haqqani’s remarks signal rhetorical support for more accountable governance, decades of documented abuses and ongoing human rights violations in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan suggest a significant gap between words and practice.
Footage shows South Sudan’s People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) entering Heglig town in Sudan’s West Kordofan 🇸🇩, following their capture by the RSF. The SSPDF 🇸🇸 is deploying forces there to secure the Sudanese oil fields under the tripartite agreement reached with the SAF and RSF. https://t.co/KreTY8JSrFpic.twitter.com/9XUtX5zfmx
Footage shows South Sudan’s People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) entering Heglig town in Sudan’s West Kordofan, following their capture by the RSF. The SSPDF is deploying forces there to secure the Sudanese oil fields under the tripartite agreement reached with the SAF and RSF.
#Yemen | Videos show Saudi forces continuing to withdraw equipment, including KAADB Al-Wahsh MRAPs, from the coalition’s main base in Buraiqa. The convoy is most likely heading either toward the port or for redeployment to Ma’rib.
Videos show Saudi forces continuing to withdraw equipment, including KAADB Al-Wahsh MRAPs, from the coalition’s main base in Buraiqa. The convoy is most likely heading either toward the port or for redeployment to Ma’rib.
Other footage shows the Southern Transitional Council (STC) mobilizing UAE-donated Streit Group–made Typhoon MRAPs and additional equipment toward the east.
New reinforcements from the UAE-backed 🇦🇪 STC militias arrived today in the town of Qishn in Yemen’s Mahra province. The STC continues to tighten its grip on the area, despite Saudi Arabia’s 🇸🇦 demands that it withdraw and allow the NSF to take control of the province’s towns. https://t.co/80cNOXHM8Zpic.twitter.com/LprsIUyH39
Those who claim they only loathe Israel’s actions but they don’t hate all Jews are liars.
[IsraelTimes] Several Dutch anti-Israel groups plan to protest tomorrow outside of Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall, where IDF chief cantor Shai Abramson will perform a series of Hanukkah concerts after a previous ban on his performance was overturned.
Groups, including an anti-Zionist Jewish collective called Erev Rav, plan to hold alternative Hanukkah programming, including the public lighting of a Hanukkah menorah in the square across from the concert hall in protest of what they call the IDF’s “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.
In early November, the hall, also known as Concertgebouw, said it would cancel the December 14 concert due to Abramson’s appearance on the program. However, after the announcement caused an international uproar, it later reached a compromise with the event’s organizers. While the main concert on Sunday afternoon will be held without Abramson’s presence, he will perform at two private concerts later in the evening.
Erev Rav says its protest will be peaceful, “but we cannot predict how authorities or counter-protesters may respond.”
“Please assess your own risk tolerance and make informed decisions about participation,” it says in a post on social media.
[KhaamaPress] A senior U.S. official told Congress that about 2,000 Afghan evacuees were allegedly flagged for possible murderous Moslem links, though no confirmed ties were established.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official has informed Congress that thousands of individuals flagged for potential murderous Moslem links have entered the United States in recent years, including a limited number among Afghans evacuated after the fall of Kabul. Joe Kent, director of the U.S. Government’s Counterterrorism Center, briefed the House Homeland Security Committee and raised concerns about gaps in screening during the 2021 evacuation.
Kent said the center’s assessment estimates that around 18,000 suspected individuals arrived in the country during the Biden administration, a number he described as reflective of broader strains on the U.S. immigration and border system. Several U.S. media outlets have reported that Republican politicians view these figures as evidence of weakened oversight.
He added that among the nearly 88,000 Afghans brought to the United States following the collapse of Kabul, roughly 2,000 showed signs of possible associations with murderous Moslem groups. While noting that such indicators do not necessarily confirm operational ties, Kent said some of the individuals were believed to have links to groups including ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Kent argued that the administration had not only failed to block certain individuals from entering, but in some cases had unintentionally facilitated their arrival due to the chaotic nature of the evacuation. He referenced the shooting by Rahmanullah Lakanwal in Washington, D.C., which led to the death of a National Guard member and renewed public attention to resettlement vetting procedures. Following that incident, several arrests involving Afghan refugees gained increased media focus, with Republican politicians calling the cases signs of screening failures.
The discussion has since become a central political issue in Washington, especially as election debates intensify. U.S. counterterrorism officials say the pattern of threats has evolved, warning that contemporary risks are more likely to come from lone, isolated actors rather than large-scale coordinated attacks similar to those of September 11.
Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck slipped the habañero into the roasted jalapeño... congressional scrutiny of Afghan resettlement reflects broader national concerns over migration, security, and border management. Analysts caution, however, that isolated incidents should not overshadow the extensive screening process most evacuees passed through nor the generally successful integration of the vast majority who fled Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... rule.
Critics quoted by outlets including the Washington Post and NPR argue that these claims exaggerate isolated cases for political effect, noting that most Afghan evacuees passed rigorous multi-agency vetting and that broader allegations of systemic failure are not supported by verified security findings.
[IsraelTimes] 19 nations have expressed willingness to provide troops or logistical support, The Wall Street Journal reports, but deployment appears far off as details yet to be hammered out
The US State Department has sent formal requests to over 70 countries asking for troops or money for the emerging international security force it hopes will keep order 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... , an endeavour that has so far struggled to get off the ground, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Among those approached by the State Department on Monday were European powers La Belle France and Italia, as well as smaller countries including El Salvador and Malta, the report said.
The requests noted that Middle Eastern countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , were already working with the US to secure funding for the deployment of troops to Gaza.
A US official told the WSJ that 19 of the 70 countries approached have thus far responded with willingness to assist, including by providing troops, logistical support, or equipment.
But the outlet noted that the countries in talks with the US to send troops have stipulated that they will only do so if they are deployed only within Israeli-controlled areas — behind the so-called "Yellow Line" that marks the boundary of the roughly 53% of Gaza still controlled by the IDF.
But the US would appear to be dissatisfied with this, as the report alleged that it is still pushing them to agree to operate in the Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... -controlled "red zone" of the war-torn enclave.
The State Department’s formal request is the latest effort by the Trump administration to recruit troops for an ambitious peacekeeping force, dubbed the International Stabilization Force, to take over security responsibility for the Gaza Strip from Hamas.
Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of US President Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... ’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.
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.
It is still not clear, however, how Hamas will be made to disarm and hand over control to the ISF, given that many countries are said to be opposed to troops operating in areas controlled by the terror group.
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.
But the WSJ said that, contrary to its claims, Hamas has quietly informed Egypt that it is willing to decommission its heavy weapons under Cairo’s supervision.
Still, US officials told Rooters on Friday that international troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... , said the International Stabilization Force (ISF) would not fight Hamas. They claimed many 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.
DEPLOYMENT APPEARS DISTANT
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, and both nations have indicated that there is still more work to do in order to reach that point.
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 the 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.
As it currently stands, the US officials said the plan is for the ISF to deploy in areas held by Israel.
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."
The PA won’t even discuss the possibility of peace talks — knowing full well it would be death penalty offense. This is the consequence of that.
[IsraelTimes] Move unanimously approved, US was notified ahead of time, report says; PA slams ‘annexation, apartheid and complete Judaization of Palestinian land’
The cabinet voted Thursday to grant official status to 19 illegal outposts in the West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under the Disengagement Plan, according to media and settlement groups.
According to Ynet and Channel 14, the unanimous vote was based on a proposal by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of the Defense Ministry’s settlement directorate. Ynet reported that Washington was briefed on the move ahead of time.
Mu’ayyan Sa’ban, head of the Paleostinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance® Commission, said the decision was a "dangerous escalation" and accused Israel of seeking to "entrench annexation, apartheid and complete Judaization of Paleostinian land."
"The decision by the so-called ’Israeli occupation cabinet’ to establish and settle 19 new colonies across the West Bank constitutes the latest step in a race to annihilate Paleostinian geography for the sake of settler colonialism," said Sha’aban, who holds the rank of minister in the PA.
The move came after the Interior Ministry on Sunday announced the final legalization of eight other outposts, with Smotrich, himself a settler, hailing the move for "promoting de facto illusory sovereignty in Judea and Samaria" — the biblical name for the West Bank — and preventing the establishment of a Paleostinian state there.
Ynet and Channel 14 said the outposts legalized by the cabinet late Thursday were Kida, Esh Kodesh, Givat Harel, Mishol, Kochav Hashachar-north, Ganim, Kadim, Shalem, Har Bezek, Reihanit, Rosh Ha’ayin-east, Tammun, Pnei Kedem, Yatziv, Ya’ar El Keren, Allenby, Yitav-west and Nahal Doron.
About half of the outposts are located deep inside the West Bank, while the others are dispersed more or less evenly along the Green Line that separates the area from Israel, according to a map published by Channel 14.
if they’re martyred while missing bits, that’s how they’ll be forever in Paradise, poor darlings (which is why some jacketwallahs put on their best date night outfit for the occasion and the recent knife attacker stripped to his skivvies while waiting to be killed by the police). If only they hadn’t started that war against Israel…
[IsraelTimes] Slow rollout of ceasefire and limited medical evacuations leave many amputees waiting for care; they describe lives frozen by injury and grief.
[IsraelTimes] After Israel issues evacuation warning, Lebanese Armed Forces request via ceasefire mechanism to access building in south Lebanon, leading to rare pausing of declared strike
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday issued a warning to residents of the southern Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... town of Yanouh ahead of planned Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against Hezbollah infrastructure, but postponed the strike after Lebanese troops went to search the site.
For Israel to postpone such a strike after a public warning is rare, though it has on many occasions alerted the ceasefire monitors and then postponed a strike, before ever issuing such a warning.
"The IDF will attack military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization in response to its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area," Col. Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic-language front man, had warned on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces published a map showing the location of a site that was set to be targeted.
"You are located near buildings used by Hezbollah, and for your own safety you must evacuate them immediately and move at least 300 meters away," Adraee said.
More than three hours after the warning was issued, however, the target had yet to be hit.
In a statement, Adraee said that after the IDF issued the evacuation warning, the Lebanese army requested, via the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, to "access the site that had been implicated and to address the violation of the agreement."
"The IDF decided to allow this, and accordingly, the strike was postponed," Adraee said, adding: "The IDF is continuously monitoring the target and remains in contact with the mechanism."
Lebanese media reported that United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces were also present at the site.
The strikes would have marked the second Israeli attack within days, after Israel hit what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Attacks against the terror group have been a frequent occurrence since a ceasefire was reached in November 2024, which called on both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and allowed Israel to respond to immediate threats.
On Friday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji told Al Jazeera that Lebanon has received warnings from Arab and international parties that Israel is preparing for a wide-scale military operation against Hezbollah.
Rajji said the Lebanese government is engaged in intensive talks through diplomatic channels aimed at preventing such an operation and ensuring that state personnel and facilities are not targeted.
[IsraelTimes] Israel sent a message today to Lebanon through US mediators that “cooperation between Hezbollah and Lebanon is unacceptable,” a security official tells Channel 12. The message came after Israel received evidence that the terror group was coordinating with the Lebanese army, says the official.
Despite the evidence, Israel postponed a strike in the southern Lebanon town of Yanouh against Hezbollah infrastructure after issuing warnings to residents, giving Lebanese troops a chance to clear the site of weapons.
[IsraelTimes] As its currency tanks amid global sanctions, the Islamic Republic moves to rein in massive energy subsidies, but is hesitant to provoke war-wary public
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... introduced a new pricing tier Saturday for its nationally subsidized gasoline, attempting to rein in spiraling costs for the first time since a price hike in 2019 that sparked nationwide protests and a crackdown that reportedly killed over 300 people.
Cheap gasoline has been viewed for generations as a birthright in Iran, sparking mass demonstrations as far back as 1964 when a price increase forced the shah to put military vehicles on the streets to replace those of striking taxi drivers.
But Iran’s theocracy faces a growing squeeze from the country’s rapidly depreciating rial currency and economic sanctions imposed due to Tehran’s nuclear program.
That has made the cost of having some of the world’s cheapest gasoline at a few pennies per gallon that much more expensive. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the government’s hesitant move toward increasing prices likely signals it wants to avoid any confrontation with the exhausted Iranian public following the 12-day war with Israel in June.
"Our discontent has no result," fumed Saeed Mohammadi, a teacher who works as a taxi driver in his spare time to make ends meet. "The government does whatever it likes. They don’t ask people if they agree or not."
NEW RATE IS STILL PENNIES PER GALLON
At four gas stations in northern Tehran on Saturday morning, drivers seemed relaxed as they refueled in clear, cold weather. Single police vehicles were stationed nearby at times, but there were no long lines at the pumps or other visible problems.
The new pricing system implemented Saturday adds a third pricing level to the country’s long-running subsidy system. The revised structure allows motorists to continue receiving 60 liters (15 gallons) per month at the subsidized rate of 15,000 rials per liter, or 1.25 US cents, and the next 100 liters (26 gallons) will remain at 30,000 rials a liter, or 2.5 cents.
Anything purchased beyond that falls under the new pricing scheme of 50,000 rials per liter, or about 4 cents. Iran introduced fuel rationing back in 2007, but that has yet to ease demand for the ultra-cheap gasoline.
Even at that new rate, Iranian gasoline prices remain among the lowest in the world.
The difference between the cost of production and delivering the fuel and the price at the pump is the subsidy paid by Iran’s government. The Gay Paree-based International Energy Agency ranked Iran as paying the world’s second-highest energy subsidy costs in 2022, behind only Russia. The IEA put Iran’s oil subsidies at $52 billion that year, with Iranian officials acknowledging tens of billions of dollars a year go toward artificially keeping energy prices low.
Tehran-based economist Hossein Raghfar said that since 2009, the price of gasoline has grown 15-fold, offering a pessimistic view of the government’s subsidies.
"Not only did it fail in lessening the budget deficit, but it also trapped the country’s economy in a negative loop of inflation and budget deficit," he said.
Hamid Rezapour, a 35-year-old bank teller, said he believed Iran’s government had "no choice except to increase the price to manage the country’s economy."
"It needs more money to pay for public needs," he said. "To me, it is an indirect tax, though in a messy economy it barely works."
FIRST HIKE SINCE 2019 PROTESTS
The move is the most significant change to Iran’s fuel-subsidy system since 2019, when a sudden 50% jump in subsidized prices and a 300% increase in the rate for purchases beyond quota sparked nationwide protests.
Security forces cracked down on demonstrations across 100 cities and towns, with some protesters burning down gas stations and banks. The crackdown that followed killed at least 321 people, according to Amnesty International. Thousands were detained.
Critics say every single 10,000-rial increase in gasoline prices will lead to as much as a 5% increase in inflation. Currently, the nation is struggling with an annual inflation rate of some 40%.
But cheap gas provides an opportunity for employment for the country. There are 25 million vehicles, including 3 million public and government-affiliated cars, as well as 6 million cycle of violences, in the Islamic Theocratic Republic. Reportedly, more than 8 million Iranians work as taxi drivers through online platforms, nearly 10% of the population. Uber, meanwhile, has 8.8 million drivers and couriers worldwide.
"It is a start for amending the trend of fuel consumption," Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad earlier told journalists.
Officials’ comments suggest Iran may seek steeper price increases in the future, as the government reviews prices every three months.
Mohammad Reza Assadi, a 60-year-old taxi driver, offered skepticism that any further protest would make a change.
People have poured into the streets over hikes in the gasoline price in the past, he said, "but they returned home tired and hopeless later at dusk."
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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