#10
AI egesta on scumbag Gerstein: "A graduate of Harvard College with a degree in government, he is not a lawyer but is recognized for his expertise on the Freedom of Information Act and legal reporting."
Wow! He's recognized for his "expertise" on FOIA & legal shtuff.
Elon Musk estimates $1.5 Trillion government money spent on Somali fraud. Will we still have a federal deficit when we reach the end?
[ZH] The "Nick Shirley Effect" has begun, with Muckraker founder Anthony Rubin on the ground in Columbus, Ohio, home to the second-largest Somali community in the U.S., investigating daycare centers. This development comes less than a day after Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke said federal investigators are examining allegations that elements within Ohio's Somali community defrauded millions of dollars from the state's Medicaid system. Somali daycare
"The first Somali-affiliated daycare facility that we knocked on after landing in Columbus, Ohio, today did not answer," Rubin wrote on X, alongside a video showing the daycare center, Great Minds Learning Academy.
Rubin continued, "A neighbor across the street told us, 'I've never seen anybody come out of the building or go into the building.'"
FIRST SIGNS OF MASSIVE POTENTIAL SOMALI FRAUD IN COLUMBUS, OHIO
The first Somali-affiliated daycare facility that we knocked after landing in Columbus, Ohio today did not answer.
A neighbor across the street told us, “I’ve never seen nobody come out the building or go in the… pic.twitter.com/zywy9lPDMw
Follow
@realmuckraker
as we figure out what the hell is going on in Columbus, Ohio.
Shout out to
@nickshirleyy
for blowing this story wide open.
Go read the entire Twitter thread — lots of useful information in the responses.
Update at 12:30 pm ET: Two citizen journalists:
After the fraud scandal in Minnesota, a TikToker decided to investigate daycare centers in Ohio, which has the country’s second-largest Somali population.
By plugging the addresses into Google Maps, he discovered that many of the buildings didn’t look like typical childcare… pic.twitter.com/geubb1DwiC
[ZH] The Democratic Party entered Monday morning facing a massive firestorm following the viral spread of citizen journalist Nick Shirley's on-the-ground bombshell investigation into alleged Somali-linked daycare centers siphoning taxpayer funds and operating as apparent front companies.
Shirley's exposé earned 111 million views on X within three days, significantly increasing public awareness of what appears to be large-scale welfare fraud in Minnesota. The magnitude of the alleged welfare fraud suggests systemic failures in Democrat-run government oversight, with a high probability that irregularities occurred at the local, county, and potentially state levels.
The Democratic Party's propaganda machine would usually be firing on all cylinders in corporate media outlets at about now to counter the welfare fraud narrative, labeling anyone who investigated or even questioned the suspiciously run Somali-linked child daycare, adult and autism care, home health care, and non-emergency medical transportation industries raking in taxpayer funds as "racists" and "fascists."
Something like American First Legal, to provide a structure to ensure legal review, protect the youngsters. They are the ones who do this risky work. Also, spot "genius grants" to outlets like AlphaMN, which laid up a lot of this Minnesota fraud.
With all the reporting on scammed funds from Minnesota flowing to Somalia and Al Shabaab, I wonder how much of that has been making its way into Turkey’s bank accounts. Also, given that the previous generation of Saudi rulers thought to use Al Qaeda and ISIS as a tool to spread their “austere form of Islam” in the same way that Pakistan uses its pet jihadi groups against India, I do wonder if President Erdogan thinks to make use of Al Shabaab to spread influence, at least, of his neo-Ottoman sultanate — no evidence, that I’m aware of, but just some things to ponder.
[IsraelTimes] Somalia’s president is set to visit close ally Turkey tomorrow following Israel’s recognition of the breakaway territory of Somaliland, Turkey’s presidency says.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will hold talks “on the current situation in Somalia in the fight against terrorism, measures taken by the federal Somali government towards national unity and regional developments,” Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate, says on X.
Turkey on Friday denounced Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic, calling it “overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs.”
Ankara, a close ally of Somalia, provides military and economic assistance to the country that has been devastated by civil war since the early 1990s. Turkey is helping to rebuild its army and infrastructure while ensuring its presence in East Africa, including at sea.
Somaliland declared independence in 1991, as Somalia was plunged into chaos following the fall of dictator Siad Barre.
The recognition is the latest move by Israel, which has angered Turkey, with relations souring between the two countries in recent years.
Ankara has strongly condemned Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has opposed Turkey’s participation in a future stabilization force in the territory.
It would be lovely if they happened to drive the Turks off their stolen half of Cyprus
[IsraelTimes] IDF says plan will bolster regional ‘stability, security and peace’; Greek official: Deal includes transfer of intel from Israel to address ‘asymmetrical’ and ‘symmetrical’ threats
Greece, Israel and Cyprus will step up joint air and naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean in 2026, deepening their defense cooperation, Greek military officials and a senior source said Monday.
The three eastern Mediterranean nations have drawn closer over the past decade through joint military drills, defense procurement and energy cooperation, developments closely watched by regional rival The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... member, but not the most reliable... Greece’s armed forces general staff (GEETHA) said senior military officials from the three countries signed a joint action plan for defense cooperation last week in Cyprus. It gave no further details.
The IDF on Sunday announced the trilateral deal, saying it would include bilateral work plans between the IDF, Greece’s Hellenic Armed Forces, and the Cypriot National Guard, as well as joint exercises and training, working groups across a range of fields and strategic military dialogue on shared security challenges.
Israel’s military said Sunday that the newly signed plans were intended to bolster "stability, security and peace in the Eastern Mediterranean region."
The deal follows a meeting in Jerusalem last week between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at which they signed an agreement to strengthen maritime security cooperation and advance energy interconnection projects.
A senior Greek official familiar with the matter said the military deal would encompass joint naval and air exercises and the transfer of know-how from Israel to Greece and Cyprus to address both "asymmetrical" and "symmetrical" threats.
"Greece and Israel will intensify joint exercises after the ceasefire 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... , with Cyprus participating," the official said, adding that Greece plans to join Israel’s Noble Dina naval exercise in the coming months in the eastern Mediterranean.
There was no immediate comment from the Cypriot government, but a key opposition party, the Communist AKEL, expressed misgivings: "Mr Christodoulides proceeds to deepen military-political cooperation with Israel without considering the risks and consequences of this choice," it said in a statement.
Greece and Cyprus have already purchased missile systems from Israel worth billions of euros. Athens is also in talks to buy from Israel medium- and long-range anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile systems for a planned multi-layer air and drone defense system known as the "Achilles Shield," estimated to cost about 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion).
This month, the Greek parliament approved the purchase of 36 PULS rocket artillery systems from Israel to bolster defenses along Greece’s northeastern border with Turkey and on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
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#1
Been reading "The Hieronymus Papers". Some things never change.
[IsraelTimes] Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Tammy Bruce defends Israel’s recognition of Somaliland at the UN Security Council’s emergency meeting on the matter.
“Israel has the same right to conduct diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state,” Bruce says.
“Earlier this year, several countries, including members of this Council, made the unilateral decision to recognize a nonexistent Palestinian state. And yet, no emergency meeting was called to express this Council’s outrage,” she says.
“This Council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining international peace and security.
“On the matter of Somaliland, we have no announcement to make regarding US recognition of Somaliland. And there has been no change in American policy,” she adds.
Israel announced the move days before Somalia was slated to take over the presidency of the Security Council.
[IsraelTimes] US president insists he and Netanyahu are almost completely aligned as gaps emerge on Syria, Turkey and West Bank; also says he would back IDF strike if Iran advances its missile and nuclear programs
US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... on Monday threatened Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... with "hell to pay" if it does not disarm within a "very short period," in remarks delivered alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after their meeting at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Hamas "will be given a very short period of time to disarm," the US president said during a presser. "If they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do... then there will be hell to pay for them."
The warning was part of a series of remarks on key regional issues that Trump made to the press before and after the lunchtime meeting with Netanyahu and his team, including an assertion that the US would back an Israeli attack on 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... if the latter continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He also made comments praising the leaders of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and Syria, both of which Israel has sparred with in recent months.
Trump said he intends to move to the second phase of 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... plan "as quickly as we can" but stopped short of offering a firm timeline for the process, which has stalled as both Israel and Hamas have chafed at implementing various portions of the 20-point proposal presented in September, the last time Netanyahu was in the US.
During that visit, Netanyahu embraced Trump’s plan, which included the potential for a pathway to a future Paleostinian state — something he and his coalition partners have long rejected. Ultimately, though, Israel and Hamas signed on to a separate document that only pertained to the first phase of the ceasefire: Israel’s initial pullback from the Gaza Strip to a newly established Yellow Line, a hostage-prisoner swap and a surge in humanitarian aid.
While US officials have claimed that Hamas also agreed to disarm during an 11th-hour meeting before the phase one deal was signed on September 9, Hamas has repeatedly denied this and insists it will only give up its weapons through talks resulting in the establishment of a Paleostinian state.
The US has reportedly held discussions with the Gaza ceasefire’s Mideast mediators — Egypt, 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 Turkey — about coaxing Hamas to agree to a gradual decommissioning of weapons in a process that would first see the terror group give up its heavy arms, but Israel has chafed at the idea.
Lack of progress on this issue has marred efforts to transition to phase two of the ceasefire, which is supposed to include the creation of a transitional government of Paleostinian technocrats that will manage day-to-day affairs in the Strip until the Paleostinian Authority has implemented reforms necessary to take over. The government would be assisted by an International Stabilization Force that would help stabilize Gaza and advance the demilitarization of the Strip. Each of these bodies would be overseen by a Board of Peace made up of various world leaders and headed by Trump.
The US was hoping to announce a transition to phase two last month, but it is now unclear whether enough consensus has been reached to even do so in January.
The lack of Israeli buy-in to Trump’s Gaza plan is said to have angered his aides, who have been working to convince Netanyahu to show more restraint in Gaza, where over 400 people have been reported killed in Israeli military operations since the ceasefire commenced. Jerusalem says the vast majority of those strikes were in response to Hamas violations of the ceasefire.
There was no indication on Monday however that those frustrations had extended to Trump himself, as he repeatedly praised Netanyahu and insisted that they are aligned on almost all issues.
In a presser after their meeting, Trump said that the two sides "came to a lot of conclusions" and that there was "very little difference" regarding "where we want to go."
Trump said his relationship with the premier "has been extraordinary." He has met with Netanyahu six times this year, more than any other world leader.
"He can be very difficult on occasion, but you need a strong man. If you had a weak man, you wouldn’t have Israel. With most other leaders, [Israel] would not exist today. Now they’re stronger than ever," Trump said.
#1
This is meaningless bluster.
As long as Iran and Qatar exist the problem will continue.
If Trump had any guts he'd attack or unleash the CIA in regime change operations, their specialty.
But no, we have to bomb Venezuelan boats. Fentanyl comes from Mexico via precursor chemicals from China.
#3
However meaningless the bluster, Israel continues to kill Hamasniks and destroy their tunnels and war matériel. Ditto for Hezbollah, and heaven only knows what Mossad is cooking up for the Mad Mullahs and the IRGC.
[IsraelTimes] Boeing was given an $8.6 billion contract for the F-15 Israel Program, the Pentagon says, after US President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.
“This contract provides for the design, integration, instrumentation, test, production, and delivery of 25 new F-15IA aircraft for the Israeli Air Force with an option for an additional 25 F-15IA aircraft,” the Pentagon says.
#6
That’s on ly $344million each, including all the upgrades the Israelis have been devising.
It sounds like they anticipate future targets won’t have sophisticated defenses against future bombing runs… or at least that they won’t after Israel’s F-35s do a first pass.
#7
...Boeing owns the F-15, as it's the result of a merger between Boeing and the old McDonnell-Douglas. They own the old McAir facilities in St. Louis.
#8
TW the Israelis are seeming to adopt the US doctrine when it comes to 4th and 5th generation fighters. The F-35s come in and degrade the air defense (SEAD missions) and the F-15s stay farther back as missile trucks and level the site after.
#9
Thank you for explaining, DarthVader. As you know, they don’t come any more civilian than me, so it really helps me keep up — my learning for today! :-)
[IsraelTimes] In a harrowing interview, Bohbot also reveals details of early attempt to escape his Hamas captors and describes surviving terrorist ‘hunting trip’ at Nova festival massacre.
[IsraelTimes] ‘My picture of victory,’ mother Einav writes as she posts a photo of the couple celebrating in Florida, less than 3 months after Matan’s release
[IsraelTimes] Total aliya fell by a third as Russian immigration halved; French immigration rose 45% while that from North America jumped 13% amid skyrocketing antisemitism
Some 21,900 new immigrants colonists moved to Israel in 2025, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry said Monday, a steep drop of about one third from last year’s numbers as arrivals from Russia dried up.
However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... aliya (Hebrew for immigration to Israel) from the United States, La Belle France, the UK and other Western countries rose sharply, amid skyrocketing antisemitism affecting Jewish communities around the world, including high-profile deadly terror attacks against Jewish targets like the Yom Kippur attack on a Manchester synagogue and this month’s massacre at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia.
Some 13,600 non-Russian immigrants colonists arrived in 2025, a 23.6% increase from about 11,000 in 2024 and an 81% increase from the 7,500 new immigrants colonists in 2023, according to an analysis of ministry data.
As every year since the 1990s, the largest number of immigrants colonists came from Russia, with about 8,300 arriving in 2025. That was a 57% decline from 19,500 in 2024, and a fraction of the 74,000 who arrived in 2022 following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Most of Israel’s dramatic rise in immigration and subsequent decline since 2022 is attributable to the surge at the start of that war, demographers have noted.
About 3,500 immigrants colonists came from the US, an increase of 5% from the previous year and up 30% from 2023. French immigration rose 45% to 3,300, compared to 2,200 in 2024. Immigration from the UK rose 19% to 840, reflecting an ongoing upward trend.
Some 420 immigrated from Canada, 220 from South Africa, and 180 from Australia, ministry data showed.
About a third of all new immigrants colonists during the year were aged 18—35, the ministry said.
According to data provided by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that facilitates immigration to Israel, overall North American immigration rose about 12% in 2025 to 4,150, one of the largest numbers in the organization’s 23-year history.
"These new Olim are already helping to address Israel’s national needs and strengthen its future, and we recognize the significance of their decision to establish their lives in the State of Israel at this pivotal moment in the country’s history," Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh Rabbi Yehoshua Fass said in a statement.
Despite the strong numbers, Israel still has a net migration deficit, with more people leaving the country than coming. In 2024, a whopping 82,700 Israelis left the country, about 50,000 more than immigrated to Israel, and that trend is expected to continue in 2025, demographers have noted.
The exodus has largely been driven by the war that erupted following the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... massacre on October 7, 2023, and disillusionment with the government that has pushed a judicial overhaul policy that critics say undermines democracy in the country.
PREPARING FOR LARGER IMMIGRATION
With antisemitism a mounting concern for Jewish communities, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry has been working to improve the country’s ability to attract and absorb rising numbers of new arrivals. It even held a drill testing the country’s readiness for a massive wave of emergency immigration last month.
According to Jewish Agency data, about 30,000 Jews around the world opened files to start the immigration process in 2025, with large increases noted in the UK and Australia. The immigration process can typically take about 18 months from start to finish, immigration officials have noted.
More than 20,000 people around the world participated in immigration fairs organized by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry, the Jewish Agency, the Israeli Ofek Organization, and the World Zionist Organization throughout the year. More than 13,000 attended in La Belle France alone, alongside fairs in the US, Australia, UK, Ukraine, Georgia, Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , Mexico and South Africa, where attendees received information and access to government offices.
Thousands more participated in immigration fairs held by Nefesh B’Nefesh in North America, the ministry noted.
"With the support of the prime minister, we are promoting a broad government decision to encourage immigration from countries where antisemitism is increasing," Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer said in a statement. "This, along with many programs to integrate immigrants colonists in the fields of employment, housing, higher education and the community, is expected to encourage further immigration and strengthen the State of Israel."
In recent months, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry has launched a number of new initiatives to promote successful immigration, including a new plan to work with Israeli companies to provide employment for immigrants colonists as soon as they arrive in the country.
Last month, it also unveiled a new 0 percent income tax rate for immigrants colonists arriving in 2026.
In February, the ministry announced a NIS 170 million ($46.4 million) program to improve integration, along with a reform designed to speed up the licensing process for new immigrants colonists to work in their professional fields. More recently, it launched a new government program offering incentives to attract successful Jewish candidates with in-demand skills to immigrate to Israel.
Other initiatives, including expanding tax exemptions for immigrants colonists who own businesses and offering personal assistance to potential olim throughout Europe, are also underway.
"In most countries, people leave during a war, but in Israel, people come to help," Sofer has frequently said as he touts strong immigration figures, even if the reality is somewhat more complicated.
Approximately 1,200 members of India’s Bnei Menashe community are expected to immigrate to Israel in 2026, the ministry noted.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas’s armed wing reiterates that the Palestinian terror group will not surrender its weapons, a key issue expected to feature in talks later today between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains,” the new spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who has adopted the name of his late predecessor Abu Obeida, says in a video statement.
[IsraelTimes] Israel’s liaison to the Palestinians, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), publishes an end-of-year recap detailing what it says is Israel’s facilitation of humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip throughout 2025.
According to the year-end summary, the IDF, through COGAT, coordinated the entry of aid in cooperation with the United Nations, international humanitarian groups and donor countries, alongside the opening of additional crossings and routes to increase aid delivery volumes.
COGAT says that over the course of the year, more than one million tons of food entered Gaza, along with tens of thousands of tons of medical equipment, enabling hospitals to continue operating and allowing the establishment of additional field hospitals. The military body also says that more than 1.2 million family tents and tarpaulins were brought into the Strip, including ahead of the winter season, as well as fuel and gas to operate essential humanitarian systems, coordinated with the international community.
The recap comes as World Food Programme officials say food security in Gaza has improved since a ceasefire came into force two months ago, even as other humanitarian needs remain acute.
Speaking to The Times of Israel earlier this month, WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau said the food situation had stabilized but warned that progress in other sectors has lagged, citing continued Israeli restrictions on dual-use items – which Israel says could be diverted by Hamas – contributing to shortages of shelter materials as winter peaks.
Aid Wrapped | 2025 Just like Spotify Wrapped, we’re looking back at a year of humanitarian efforts. Here’s a snapshot of the aid that entered Gaza in 2025 in partnership with the UN, countries, approved NGOs and the private sector. pic.twitter.com/u9O10tqEwU
[IsraelTimes] Israel has alleged that more than 10 percent of the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s staff in Gaza have ties to terror groups
A law prohibiting the provision of electricity or water to facilities owned by or operated on behalf of UNRWA, the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees and their descendants, passed its third and final reading 59-7 in the Knesset on Monday.
The government-backed legislation requires electricity and water providers to withhold or disconnect service from UNRWA facilities, as well as block the provision of communications and banking or financial services to the agency.
UNRWA — the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Relief and Works Agency for Paleostine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Paleostinians in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the West Bank, Jordan, Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... and Syria.
The measure is an amendment to two bills passed by politicians in October 2024, barring the agency from operating in Israeli territory and curtailing its activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by banning state authorities from having any contact with it.
The law clarifies that the provision of electrical and water services should be considered "contact" under the law.
The legislation also allows the government to seize properties in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem, which had been leased to UNRWA by the state and used as the agency’s offices, "without the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings."
The agency continued to operate for some time after the original bills’ passage, but its schools in East Jerusalem were eventually shuttered. Israeli police raided UNRWA’s offices in the capital earlier this month, lowering the United Nations flag and raising an Israeli flag in its place.
Addressing the Knesset, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) declared that "UNRWA employees were full partners in the brutal massacre they committed against us on October 7. They assisted, murdered and kidnapped. In practice, UNRWA is an arm of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... . Terrorists in disguise under the auspices of the UN."
Israel has alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terror groups, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
In February 2024, the IDF revealed the existence of a subterranean Hamas data center directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza Strip headquarters. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and button men hiding out in UNRWA schools.
A number of freed hostages have also testified after returning to Israel that they were held in captivity in UNRWA schools and facilities.
At the same time, some Israeli politicians and officials saw the relief that the agency provided as a means of keeping the Gaza Strip, and parts of the West Bank, from deeper poverty and thus greater violence and terrorism.
Rejecting Israeli allegations, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in October asserting that Israel is legally obligated to allow the agency to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, and stating that the provision of aid to the Strip during the war there has been inadequate.
The court dismissed Israel’s main argument for its legislation blocking UNRWA’s operations — that the organization is no longer impartial or neutral due to its "infiltration" by the Hamas terror group — stating that there was no evidence UNRWA breached the impartiality requirements under Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which it said related to discrimination in the provision of humanitarian aid and services.
The advisory opinion, which is not legally binding, was issued by 10 votes to one, with court Vice President Julia Sebutinde dissenting and writing that the court did not "sufficiently consider" Hamas’s infiltration of UNRWA, and stating that there is "no obligation to assist UN agencies acting contrary to the Charter’s principles," or work with any specific organization.
The UN General Assembly endorsed the court’s view earlier this month.
[IsraelTimes] IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has approved a wide-ranging set of internal directives aimed at strengthening the army’s core readiness and embedding lessons from Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, as the military moves from initial probes of the failures surrounding the invasion itself toward a broader war-wide investigation process following a senior command conference held earlier today, the Times of Israel has learned.
The guidelines were finalized after the IDF completed its internal probes into the October 7 failures and are intended to shift the focus toward systemic implementation. They address readiness and alert levels, training and exercises, operational planning, manpower, safety oversight and support for wounded soldiers and bereaved families, following more than two years of sustained fighting across multiple fronts.
The Times of Israel has further learned that the military is preparing to launch an in-depth, General Staff-level investigation into the war in the coming weeks, expected to span roughly a year, confirming earlier reports. The process will involve relevant commanders alongside oversight and integration teams and will examine key phases of the fighting in Gaza, southern Lebanon and the northern West Bank, as well as the conduct of the war as a whole and lessons for future conflicts.
Among the measures approved are adjustments to alert postures and on-call force levels across all arenas, the definition of readiness “red lines,” expanded training programs for regular and reserve forces, efforts to restore the fitness of weapons and equipment after prolonged wartime use and tighter safety oversight. The directives are to be disseminated to commanders in an orderly manner as the IDF transitions from investigation to implementation.
[IsraelTimes] Terror group also confirms death of Muhammad Sinwar for the first time, seven months after the commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza
Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ’s armed wing officially confirmed on Monday the deaths of its longtime front man and a number of other bigwigs, months after they were killed in Israeli operations 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.
Making his public debut, the new front man of the al-Qassam Brigades, said he would also go by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — like his predecessor.
Abu Obeida, Jr.? Cute. How many will there be before the final surrender, dear Reader — three? Six? Will we see Abu Obeida XVI to the Great Beyond, like the House of Bourbon?
He also announced that the terror group’s commander, Muhammad Sinwar, and Rafah brigade chief Muhammad Shabana had been killed in May, that senior Qassam officer Hakem al-Issa had been killed in June, and that Hudhaifa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout — the former Abu Obeida — was killed in August.
And now we have his name for our records, too.
The deaths of all four had already been confirmed by Israel.
"We have inherited the title ’Abu Obeida’ from the commander Hudhaifa al-Kahlout, and we pledge to continue the journey," said the front man in his first public speech, without revealing his own identity.
He also paid tribute to Qassam’s slain second-in-command Raed Saad, who was killed by Israel earlier this month, and whose death Hamas had already officially acknowledged.
Monday’s statement was the first time Hamas referred to Kahlout by his real name or showed his face in public. The IDF had publicly revealed Kahlout’s name and image early in the war.
The IDF found Hamas’s personnel office in the tunnels early in the war, and no doubt ran the contents against Shin Bet’s already extensive files to reveal all sorts of interesting connections.
Like the previous Abu Obeida, the new front man delivered his statement with a keffiyeh over his face and wearing military fatigues with a nametag that read "military front man."
Ooooooh. Impressive.
In August, Israel announced that al-Kahlout, the previous Abu Obeida, was killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in Gaza City in the northern Strip.
And the IDF announced in May that it had killed Sinwar two weeks earlier while he was in a tunnel underneath a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. In August, Hamas described him as a "martyr," confirming his death, without issuing an official statement.
The IDF said the strike that killed Sinwar had also killed Shabana, commander of the terror group’s Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of the South Khan Younis Battalion.
Kahlout, the former Abu Obeida, had been the front man of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, since 2004. He rose to prominence in 2006 when he announced the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The always-masked Abu Obeida had since been the voice of the terror group’s higher-profile statements and its psychological warfare.
Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, in July 2024. He was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the terror group, who co-criminal masterminded the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. After Israel killed Yahya Sinwar in October 2024, Muhammad Sinwar became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials described Sinwar at the time of his death as obstinate concerning negotiations for the release of hostages and as an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.
[IsraelTimes] Soldiers deployed to remote site revealed by Reuters report detailing years-long effort by ousted dictator to mask atrocities by hiding thousands of bodies in the desert
Syria’s government has ordered soldiers to guard a mass grave created under the fallen regime of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... to conceal atrocities and has opened a criminal investigation, following a Rooters report that revealed a years-long conspiracy by the ousted dictatorship to hide thousands of bodies on the remote desert site.
The site, in the Dhumair desert east of Damascus, was used during Assad’s rule as a military weapons depot, according to a former Syrian army officer with knowledge of the operation. It was later emptied of personnel in 2018 to ensure secrecy for a scheme that involved unearthing the bodies of thousands of victims of the dictatorship buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus and trucking them an hour’s drive away to Dhumair.
The plot, orchestrated by the dictator’s inner circle, was called "Operation Move Earth." Soldiers are stationed at the Dhumair site again, this time by the government that overthrew Assad.
The Dhumair military installation was also reactivated as a barracks and arms depot in November, after seven years of disuse, according to an army officer posted there in early December, a military official, and Sheikh Abu Omar Tawwaq, who is the security chief of Dhumair.
The Dhumair site was completely unprotected over the summer, when Rooters journalists made repeated visits after discovering the existence of a mass grave there.
Within weeks of the report in October, the new government created a checkpoint at the entrance to the military installation where the site lies, according to a soldier stationed there who spoke to Rooters in mid-December. Visitors to the site now need access permits from the Syrian Defense Ministry.
Satellite images reviewed by Rooters since late November show new vehicle activity around the main base area.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reactivation of the base is part of efforts to "secure control over the country and prevent hostile parties from exploiting this open strategic area." The road through the desert connects one of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terror group’s remaining Syrian strongholds with Damascus.
In November, police opened an investigation into the grave, photographing it, carrying out land surveys and interviewing witnesses, according to Jalal Tabash, head of the al-Dhumair cop shoppe. Among those interviewed by police was Ahmed Ghazal, a key source for the Rooters investigation that exposed the mass grave.
"I told them all the details I told you about the operation and what I witnessed during those years," said Ghazal, a mechanic who repaired trucks carrying bodies that broke down at the Dhumair grave site. Ghazal confirmed that during the time of "Operation Move Earth," the military installation appeared vacant except for the soldiers involved in accompanying the convoys.
Syria’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the reactivation of the base or the investigation into the mass grave.
The National Commission for Missing Persons, which was established after Assad’s December 2024 ouster to investigate the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians who vanished under his rule, told Rooters it is in the process of training personnel and creating laboratories in order to meet international standards for mass grave exhumations. Exhumations at Syria’s many Assad-era mass graves, including the site at Dhumair, are scheduled for 2027, the commission told Rooters.
The police have referred their report on Dhumair to the Adra district attorney, Judge Zaman al-Abdullah. al-Abdullah told Rooters that information about Assad-era suspects involved in the Dhumair operation, both inside and outside Syria, is being cross-referenced with documents obtained by security branches after the dictator’s fall. He would not describe the suspects, citing the ongoing investigation.
According to military documents reviewed by Rooters and testimony from civilian and military sources, logistics for "Operation Move Earth" were handled by a key man, Col. Mazen Ismander. Contacted through an intermediary, Ismander declined to comment on the initial Rooters report or the new investigation into the mass grave.
When the conspiracy was hatched in 2018, Assad was verging on victory in the civil war, which began in 2011, and hoped to reclaim legitimacy in the international community after years of sanctions and allegations of brutality. He had been accused of detaining and killing Syrians by the thousands, and the location of a mass grave in the town of Qutayfah, outside Damascus, had been reported by local human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... activists.
So an order came from the presidential palace: Excavate Qutayfah and hide the bodies on the military installation in the Dhumair desert.
Four nights a week for nearly two years, from 2019 to 2021, Ismander oversaw the operation, Rooters found. Trucks hauled corpses and dirt from the exposed mass grave to the vacated military installation in the desert, where trenches were filled with bodies as the Qutayfah site was excavated.
In revealing the conspiracy, Rooters spoke to 13 people with direct knowledge of the two-year effort and analyzed more than 500 satellite images of both mass graves.
Under the guidance of forensic geologists, Rooters used aerial drone photography to create high-resolution composite images that helped corroborate the transfer of bodies by showing color changes in the disturbed soil around Dhumair’s burial trenches.
[Rudaw] A planned visit to Damascus by Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), scheduled for Monday, has been postponed due to "technical reasons" until further notice, the SDF said in a statement.
The visit, which was to include a "negotiating delegation" for talks with the Syrian government, was delayed due to "technical reasons," according to the statement.
"A new date will be determined at a later time through mutual agreement among the concerned parties," it added.
The SDF emphasized that the postponement is related to logistical and technical arrangements and "does not reflect any change in the course of communication or the objectives under discussion."
The high-profile delegation was expected to discuss the integration of the SDF and the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) into state institutions, within the framework of a landmark agreement reached in March.
On Thursday, Abdi said the SDF had "reached a mutual understanding" with Syria’s transitional government regarding the future of the SDF and the Kurdish administration. He stressed that any new Syrian state should adopt a decentralized system of governance.
Despite these remarks, Syria’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the dialogue had not yielded "tangible results," adding that "it appears this discourse is being used for media purposes and to absorb political pressures, amid actual stagnation."
Yasser Sulaiman, a member of the Rojava committee involved in the integration talks with Damascus, supported Abdi’s optimistic assessment of the process.
Negotiations to implement the March agreement remain ongoing, but key differences persist. Kurdish negotiators favor integrating the SDF as a unified force, while the Syrian government prefers absorbing SDF fighters individually into regular army units.
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 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
