[IsraelTimes] UN agency had suspended operations in August, and 365 staff will be laid off by March, sources report, citing terror group’s arrests of workers and funding shortages
Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... descended into a devastating civil war in 2014, when the Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s pushed from their northern stronghold of Saada province and seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government out and to the south, and eventually into exile.
The Houthis now control most of the country’s north, including Sanaa, while the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, rules the south. Most Yemenis live under Houthi rule.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted UN agencies as part of a crackdown on alleged Israeli espionage rings since the start 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... , which began with the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -led October 7, 2023, attack, forcibly entering and occupying UN premises in Sanaa and elsewhere. That war was halted in a ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.
Sixty-nine UN staff have been detained altogether, the official said, with the world body having strongly rejected allegations of spying.
Over the last few years, the Houthis have also detained workers for nongovernmental and civil society groups, and staff of diplomatic missions. They have claimed, without offering evidence, that detained UN staff and employees of other organizations and embassies are spies, which the UN has denied.
The crackdown severely restricted humanitarian operations in the Houthi-held areas, which account for around 70 percent of humanitarian needs in the country, according to the UN.
Ramesh Rajasingham, who directs humanitarian operations in Yemen, told the UN Security Council earlier this month that more than 18 million people in Yemen could face acute food insecurity in the coming month, with tens of thousands at risk of slipping into "catastrophic hunger" and facing famine-like conditions.
The global aid sector is grappling with a sharp drop in funding, with key donor countries, led by the United States, slashing their contributions.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said humanitarian operations in Yemen in 2025 were just 25% funded. The gap, OCHA said in a January 4 report, forced UN agencies and aid groups to scale back life-saving services across all sectors, particularly health and protection programs.
This left "millions of people without essential care and exposed to heightened risks," the agency said.
The Houthis are pushing a familiar message today. They claim the UK effort to support the Yemeni Coast Guard is really about building a new force to confront them in the Red Sea, funded by Saudi Arabia and aimed at the coastal areas. This argument was laid out in a @TvAlmasirah… https://t.co/0fG4T7ciU3
The Houthis are pushing a familiar message today. They claim the UK effort to support the Yemeni Coast Guard is really about building a new force to confront them in the Red Sea, funded by Saudi Arabia and aimed at the coastal areas. This argument was laid out in a @TvAlmasirah segment by senior Houthi anchor @Bandarhetar.
Their narrative ties the timing to this week’s @UN’s UNSC vote on the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement, known as #UNMHA @UN_Hudaydah. Russia and China did not vote, and the mandate was extended for only two months.
The Houthis are presenting this as a step toward shutting down the mission so it can be replaced by a foreign-backed security plan.
[IsraelTimes] Created to bypass perceived ‘shadow-banning’ of pro-Palestinian advocates, the platform recently reached 1 million users — many of whom praise its permissiveness toward antisemitic content.
[IsraelTimes] Ghali Amdouni, set to perform at opening ceremony, apparently said Gaza war a ‘new Holocaust’; right-wing party source says ‘Italy and the games deserve an artist, not a pro-Pal fanatic’
Italian rapper Ghali’s slated performance at the opening ceremony for this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan has drawn criticism from Italian leaders over his past activism against Israel.
Ghali Amdouni, a prominent Milan-born rapper of Tunisian parents, will be joined by a host of performers, including Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey, during the opening ceremony on February 6. This year, nine Israelis will compete, including the national bobsled team for the first time.
The selection of Ghali drew criticism from members of Italia’s right-wing League party.
"It is truly incredible to find a hater of Israel and the center-right, already the protagonist of embarrassing and vulgar scenes, at the opening ceremony," a source from the party told the Italian outlet La Presse. "Italia and the games deserve an artist, not a pro-Pal fanatic."
In early 2024, Ghali drew criticism from Italian Jewish leaders and Israel’s former ambassador to Italia, Alon Bar, after he called to "stop genocide" during his performance at the Sanremo Italian song festival. The spat later spurred protests outside the office of the Italian public broadcaster RAI.
On X, the rapper has also criticized other artists for not using their platforms for pro-Paleostinian activism and appeared to refer to 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... — which began after the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -led October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel — as a "new Holocaust."
Ghali’s selection comes as Italia has become an epicenter of pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel activism that has been sustained even as such activism has receded in other places. In October, over two million Italians took part in a one-day general strike in support of Paleostinians and the Global Sumud Flotilla. The previous month, a separate general strike was organized in response to a call from the country’s unions to "denounce the genocide in Gaza."
According to a study of global antisemitism published in April by Tel Aviv University, Italia was one of two countries that saw a spike in antisemitic incidents from 2023 to 2024. A September survey from the pollster SWG found that roughly 15 percent of Italians believe that physical attacks on Jewish people are "entirely or fairly justifiable."
Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi said he does not believe Ghali will make a political statement on stage.
I am shocked to find an Italian male pretending to naïveté.
"It doesn’t embarrass me at all to disagree with Ghali’s views and the messages he sent," said Abodi, according to the Italian outlet La Repubblica. "But I believe that a country should be able to withstand the impact of an artist expressing an opinion that we don’t share. And that opinion will not, in any case, be expressed on that stage."
Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of the Italian Jewish Community, told Italian media that she was hopeful Ghali would receive instructions ahead of his performance.
"It is clear that I hope Ghali has received instructions or guidelines on the ’role’ he is expected to play. So I hope he will understand what he needs to do in that context and at that moment," Di Segni told the Italian outlet La Milano. "I am confident that he will understand what he is called upon to do in that context and at that moment."
[10 News] Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles Thursday night while covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
Lemon told Scripps News last week he believed the Department of Justice would charge him in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church. Lemon has asserted that he was covering the protest as an independent journalist when a group of demonstrators confronted a pastor whom they accused of being an immigration enforcement agent.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2026 08:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1834 views]
Top|| File under: Antifa/BLM
#1
Now sentence him to a womens' prison. He's probably hot dreaming of a men's jail.
#2
Looks like DOJ either came up with more information for a revised arrest warrant or another judge overruled the judge who denied the first attempt at an arrest warrant. I'm curious as to which.
The first post at the above link suggests that a conviction is a possibility. An arrest w/o a conviction will make Lemon a hero. Sadly there will be some sort of gofundme that will cover the legal bills.
#5
He's desperate for attention. He had been forgotten already, now this. Unfortunately this gets him back in the spotlight again.
He started streaming and nobody watched. Should have learned how to play Hearts of Iron 3, then maybe he could have built a base of viewers.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2026 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Think he is more of a board game, hands on gamer, like bar stool sports.
Back in the light or not, had to happen, or else every time Olberman shows up at a kindergarten with a bunch of namblas, wearing his little black dress, and gets a pass because 'press'.
[IsraelTimes] New Task Force to Combat Antisemitism could serve as check on City Hall, ‘won’t just do photo ops,’ co-chair says; new proposed legislation would mandate 100-foot buffer around houses of worship.
Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican representing part of south Brooklyn, will lead the task force alongside Eric Dinowitz, a Jewish Democrat from the Bronx. Both are second-term members of the council.
Vernikov said the bipartisan group will "hold people accountable" for antisemitism and could serve as a check on City Hall.
Vernikov brought the idea for the task force to Menin, who is Jewish and set up the group. Menin has made combating antisemitism a priority since assuming leadership of the council earlier this month, and could act as a moderate counterweight to the city’s far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a longtime anti-Israel activist.
There will be seven council members on the task force, Jewish and non-Jewish, out of the 51 total members of the legislative body. The group will be run out of the council’s Jewish caucus.
The task force will hold hearings to look into antisemitic hate crimes and probe antisemitism in areas such as protests, schools, higher education and city agencies. Meniin will be able to use her position as council speaker to issue subpoenas to compel individuals to attend hearings. The group will also suggest legislation to combat antisemitism, Vernikov said.
The other members of the task force will be the council’s Mercedes Narcisse, Gale Brewer, Harvey Epstein, Virginia Maloney and Kamillah Hanks, Vernikov said. Epstein is Jewish.
The council’s antisemitism task force is not directly related to the mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, a separate body housed in City Hall, but "may be a check to that," Vernikov said.
"The individuals being interviewed to lead that task force are very questionable and could be problematic," she said. Mamdani is reportedly interviewing candidates who have been critical of some Orthodox communities, which are disproportionately targeted in hate crimes.
Menin, in a briefing at the council on Thursday, also announced the legislation to control protests at "sensitive locations" such as synagogues, churches, mosques and schools. The legislation would require the police to establish a 100-foot security perimeter around the entrances to places of worship.
The legislation comes after two caustic protests outside New York City synagogues in recent months. Those protests saw anti-Zionist activists harass Jewish passersby, shout antisemitic tropes and chant in support of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... , a US-designated terrorist group committed to killing Jews. The pro-Hamas protest also took place outside a Jewish school and a public school.
The "safe access bills" will have the NYPD implement a "safety plan and a safety risk assessment" that will "provide law enforcement and the public with a clear framework to maintain safe entry," Menin said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a similar statewide measure this month that would establish a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship.
The legislation has raised concerns about the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly and may face challenges claiming the measure is unconstitutional. Anti-Zionist activists have publicly opposed the proposals, calling them a threat to free speech.
Free speech is a Constitutional right. Assault and battery are not.
[PJMedia] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is now investigating the connection between multiple Texas schools and a literal Islamic terrorist organization.
Cypress-Fairbanks and Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School Districts (ISDs) are tied to the Islamic Games of North America. The Council on American-Islamic Relations ... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ... (CAIR), which is a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), sponsors the Islamic Games, according to Paxton’s Jan. 28 blurb. Don’t be fooled by CAIR’s name — the jihad-loving group is much more interested in principle in killing non-Moslems than in establishing amicable relations with them.
Weirdly enough, when the Islamic Games of North America announced in November that Bridgeland High School would host its event in October 2026, the New Jersey chapter of CAIR was the sponsor. It is not clear why the pro-terrorist organization’s New Jersey chapter would be sponsoring an event in Texas, but I think Paxton is right to be very suspicious, both on account of CAIR’s avowed ideology and on account of the sponsorship from across the country.
Colleyville Heritage High School also planned to host the Dallas Islamic Games in May, according to Paxton’s blurb.
Both of the events are now either canceled or rescheduled, but Paxton is still determined to investigate the connection between CAIR and the Texas schools via the Islamic Games.
"The spread of radical Islam in Texas must be stopped, and if school districts are continuing to promote or partner with organizations tied to an FTO, that ends now," Paxton stated. "I will ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are not materially supporting activities by Islamist faceless myrmidons in violation of Texas law."
His blurb contained the following background:
On November 18, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott designated CAIR as a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization under Texas law. On January 21, 2026, Governor Abbott notified school officials that Texas law prohibits this illegal activity from taking place on public school property. As Texas’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer, Attorney General Paxton will ensure that state law is enforced and that taxpayer funds are not used to materially support terrorist organizations or their affiliates.
Hence, Paxton is calling on the ISDs to hand over communications, contracts, and any other relevant documents regarding the Islamic Games-CAIR connection.
Paxton already had to put a kibosh on the East Plano Islamic Center (“EPIC”) project, which would have destroyed hundreds of acres in Texas and formed a hub for Islamism in the state. While Texas is run by Republicans, under the Biden administration, it was a hotspot of the open borders crisis, and its status as a border state has long made it a destination for illegal aliens — including many radical Muslims.
JihadWatch explained that CAIR will not denounce genocidal slogans or Islamic verses calling for the murder of non-Muslims. CAIR is linked to Hamas, too. No wonder Texas leaders want CAIR out of their schools.
Or it’s not worth fighting the world about it anymore.
[IsraelTimes] Figure, acknowledged by senior military official, doesn’t include those under rubble, who Hamas says make up 10K more; Israel largely rejected Hamas tolls during war
The Israel Defense Forces believes that the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -run health ministry’s corpse count from the war 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 has been largely accurate, a senior Israeli military official acknowledged on Thursday.
Briefing news hounds on condition of anonymity, the official said that the IDF believes the Gaza death count from the two-plus-year war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, is around 70,000. The Gaza health ministry’s current corpse count is 71,667, including over 450 killed since the October 2025 ceasefire.
The senior military official said the actual breakdown of the Gaza corpse count is still under review, and it is unknown exactly how many of the dead are members of terror groups and how many people died directly as a result of the fighting.
Israel largely rejected corpse counts claimed by Hamas’s health ministry during the war, especially following specific incidents in which the terror group announced what Israeli officials called "exaggerated tolls."
According to the military official, the toll does not include bodies believed to be buried under the rubble in Gaza, which Hamas estimates at around 10,000.
The Gaza ministry also claims that at least 440 Paleostinians died of malnutrition and starvation in the Strip during the war. Israel denies this, with the military official claiming that these statistics are manipulated by Hamas to include individuals with underlying severe health issues.
The Gaza health ministry’s records include the names and IDs of over 90 percent of the bodies found. They do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel never refuted the Hamas health ministry’s data with its own exact figures, instead periodically offering rough ratios of civilians to combatants killed, insisting that the ratio was far lower than in other urban warfare conflicts.
During previous wars, however, Israeli security agencies found the Hamas-run health ministry’s total death counts to be reliable.
Before the October 2025 ceasefire, the IDF said it had killed at least 22,000 combatants, as well as another 1,600 bully boyz inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
IDF officials also previously said that the combatant-to-civilian death ratio remained relatively the same throughout the war, with two to three civilians killed for every dead terror operative.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] PA president Mahmoud Abbas said his government would no longer pay terrorists and their families as part of an agreement with the Biden administration
The State Department formally determined this month that the Paleostinian Authority paid more than $200 million to snuffies and their families in 2025, the same year PA president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> claimed he ended the "pay-to-slay" program, according to a nonpublic notice provided to Congress and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.
Rather than ending these payments, the PA shifted to a new system that it hoped to hide from international donors at a time when the Ramallah-based government is jockeying for a role in postwar 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 State Department disclosed for the first time. Israeli intelligence assessed that the PA funneled $144 million to snuffies and their families in 2024 and committed at least $214 million through 2025,
”Inflation donchaknow, old boy.”
while the State Department determined that the payments continued from March to August 2025 under a purportedly reformed welfare system.
"The old Paleostinian system of compensation for Paleostinian snuffies and the families of snuffies killed in the course of committing such acts of terrorism gradually transferred responsibility for compensation to the Paleostinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment (PNEEI) under the guise of social welfare," the State Department determined. "Despite changing the mechanism for doing so, the PA continued the payments to Paleostinian snuffies and their families during the reporting period."
The findings are likely to further erode the PA’s standing with the Trump administration as it works to implement phase 2 of the Gaza peace plan, which bars Abbas’s government from participating in postwar programs until it undergoes a series of reforms that include ending pay-to-slay. Though the PA has no formal role on paper, the head of the newly created National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, civil engineer Ali Shaath, has held senior roles in the PA, suggesting Abbas’s government could wield behind-the-scenes influence.
The Trump administration collected evidence that the PA used post offices, social media platforms, and encrypted messaging services like Telegram to alert aid recipients that cash was available under the newly branded pay-to-slay program, "indicating clearly that compensation in support of terrorism has continued," according to the State Department notice.
Abbas drew international headlines in February 2025 when he ordered an end to the pay-to-slay program, saying that welfare will be provided to Paleostinians based solely on need, rather than the number of years their relatives have been imprisoned in Israel for terrorism. But Abbas cast doubt on that decree just weeks later, when he promised the Fatah Revolutionary Council that "even if we only have one cent left, it will be for the prisoners and deaders."
While the new system implemented by a government agency Abbas controls was portrayed as a major welfare reform project, the State Department determined that it essentially functions in the same manner as the old system by rewarding snuffies and their families for violence.
"A shift to a potential welfare system without ending specific payments and benefits for Paleostinian snuffies and their families is not compliant with the provisions under the Taylor Force Act," the State Department wrote, referring to a 2018 law that froze American aid to the PA until it ended pay-to-slay. "The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through a new mechanism under a different name."
The State Department additionally determined that the PA is still enacting laws that require snuffies and their families to be compensated every month. One of those statutes, known as Law No. 14, stipulates that the PA "has a duty to support snuffies while they are incarcerated in Israeli jails by paying them the equivalent of their most recent monthly salaries prior to imprisonment," according to the notice.
Paleostinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli nonprofit group, reported on Monday that the PA doled out a fresh tranche of "terror stipends" to recipients living in Jordan. The watchdog group compiled firsthand accounts and bank notifications that show "the sums transferred were identical to those received previously, suggesting that the payment scale remains unchanged."
The PA historically paid incarcerated snuffies on a sliding scale, with those serving longer prison terms receiving upwards of $3,000 a month. The Free Beacon reported in October that nearly $70 million went to the 250 Paleostinian prisoners released that month as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel.
"The payments now appear to be continuing in areas believed to be beyond direct donor oversight, including Jordan and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... ," PMW wrote. "While the PA has clearly not yet determined how to do so in the PA areas without attracting international scrutiny, an official from Fatah, the PA's ruling party, revealed earlier this month that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has indicated his intent to maintain payments to all recipients."
Abbas’s 2025 vow to end the program was the outcome of intensive diplomacy by the Biden-Harris administration's Paleostinian Affairs representative Hady Amr, according to Axios, which reported that the two parties negotiated the agreement over a two-year period before announcing it in February of last year.
Evidence that pay-to-slay continues under a new name is likely to serve as a wake-up call for the Trump administration as it pressures the PA to eradicate extremism before assuming a role in postwar Gaza.
"Abbas and the Paleostinians are more committed to terrorism than fulfilling their promises to President Trump, even while the administration is asking them to help rebuild and govern Gaza," a Republican congressional staffer who works on Gaza issues told the Free Beacon. "They're still paying terrorists, inciting violence, and refusing to disarm Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Real curiosities sometimes emerge during Israel's attempts to deal with the consequences of the "October 7 War" with Hamas.
The Israelis, among other things, are looking for "agents of influence" within their ranks who are responsible for critical miscalculations in organizing the initial stage of the defensive campaign. And sometimes they find people like the "Southern Spy," Asaf Shmuelovich, a retired Israeli officer who professed to be an impostor.
Inexplicably, he managed to penetrate one of the closed headquarters of the Southern Command and subsequently disrupted an important and highly secret operation.
True, as the case continues, more questions arise. At the very least, the investigation still doesn't know whose interests this "agent of influence" was acting in. And here's what happened.
SPECIALLY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE
On the morning of October 7, 2023—a few hours after the start of Hamas's operation against Israel—a middle-aged Israeli officer showed up at one of the Southern Command's secret headquarters.
Posing as Captain Shmuelovich, a "specially authorized" operational intelligence officer, he joined the command center as a "reinforcement." The energetic captain worked in this capacity for about a week, managing to visit several headquarters and military bases in the Southern Military District with the army personnel, as well as participate in staff meetings with then-Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
However, as the turmoil of the early days of the war with Hamas began to subside, the wisdom of Shmuelovich's presence at headquarters began to be questioned.
The "specially authorized captain" had a vague understanding of how to work with classified information, and had difficulty carrying out even the simplest assignments, but was always eager to attend even the most minor meetings.
When it came time to fully register for rations, Shmuelovich provided the personnel department with an appointment letter signed by his superior commander. However, minor discrepancies were discovered—such as misalignment of numbers, supporting orders, and spelling errors in the supervising agency.
This, coupled with the failure to provide the precise identification details of the officer who had authorized him to conduct operational work at the Southern Headquarters, raised even greater suspicions.
The army, trying to keep a low profile, brought in their counterintelligence colleagues. They studied the "captain's" background and returned a few days later with a shocking report: the man who had worked side by side with the staff officers from the first days of the war turned out to be nothing like what he claimed to be.
The very next day after the exposure, on October 15, 2023, the man was arrested on charges of espionage, and a month later his indictment was supplemented with several more serious charges, including treason.
SOUTHERN SPY
After Shmuelovich’s arrest, the army men dubbed him among themselves “the Southern spy” (referring to his assignment to the Southern District, where the events took place).
The investigation established that the man claiming to be a captain in operational intelligence was, in fact, a former army officer. However, he only rose to the rank of lieutenant in the ground forces,
…it’s my understanding — and those who actually know please correct me if I’m wrong — that the best of the draftees are promoted to lieutenant during their three year term of full time service before they move to the Reserves…
after which he was discharged for medical reasons and worked for several years as a hired hand—first as a loader in the port of Eilat, then as a delivery driver in Ashdod.
However, judging by everything, the suspect did not stay in any of the positions for long.
What exactly motivated Shmuelovich to appear at the Southern Command headquarters in October 2023, and even introduce himself as an officer two levels higher, remains a mystery.
The accused himself claims he was summoned to duty by a "superior officer," who promoted him to a new rank and ordered him to defend the country from an invasion by Palestinian forces. However, he could not recall his name or how he met him.
At the same time, the General Staff was conducting its own investigation: Shmuelovich, a civilian at the time, did not have permission to visit the command center and, in wartime, even theoretically, should not have gone beyond the neutral zone.
However, after the general alarm was sounded, he somehow got inside without any problems.
Moreover, his position did not require participation in closed meetings to assess the operational situation, chaired by the Minister of Defense and other heads of the national security services. However, the suspect attended them all, and even managed to bring a mobile phone to one. This went unnoticed at the time.
And while the intrusion of an outsider into the military facility could still be attributed to the chaos that followed the unexpected Hamas invasion, the systematic violation of security regulations during the organization of secret meetings provoked rumors about the presence of double agents in the headquarters.
However, the army command preferred to quickly hush up this version, so as not to provoke the government into indiscriminate personnel purges.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
For more than two years, the Shmuelovich case was investigated behind closed doors: neither counterintelligence nor the military could believe that such a cunning and sophisticated scheme to penetrate a secret facility, as well as the systematic collection of sensitive data, was carried out by an unconscious suspect.
Considering that the Southern District is home to many highly protected and critical facilities—for example, the Nevatim Air Base, where Air Force One "Wings of Zion" is permanently based, and the Shimon Peres Nuclear Research Center (said to be the heart of Israel's nuclear program)—the "captain's" interest in the headquarters' secret data was hardly accidental.
Moreover, during his short staff service, the suspect carefully and systematically recorded data on the forces of the Southern Command, the morale of the local contingent, the "weak" points of defense, and plans for upcoming offensive operations.
During a search of his home, several notebooks filled with notes were seized. The notes were so detailed that even someone who had never been to the area could use them to delve into the affairs of the Southern District.
Counterintelligence was then once again scratching its head: had Shmuelovich managed to pass on this information? And if so, to whom?
The detainee refused to answer this question, stating that he kept the recordings solely for operational reasons and did not show them to third parties.
The uncertainty played a cruel joke on the Israeli security forces: military intelligence was forced to cancel a planned operation to free the hostages, jointly with army special forces, at the last minute, out of fear that the plan had been compromised and that the details of the landing were already known to Hamas and its allies.
This later became one of the reasons why the then head of military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, resigned in August 2024.
It is this episode in the Shmuelovich case that the prosecution is now emphasizing most, hinting that, due to the "spy games," the hostage recovery campaign took a protracted course, and many Israeli citizens subsequently died in captivity or suffered serious health and mental harm.
And that it is not the authorities who are to blame for the failure of work in this area, but enemy “moles” like the “Southern Spy”.
In any case, it was never possible to prove Shmuelovich's direct connection with any intelligence agencies, although they tried at various times to "fit" him first into the ranks of pro-Iranian agents, then into the Qatari network of influence that supported Hamas.
None of the versions stood up to objective criticism.
There were also attempts to explain the detainee's actions as being motivated by local criminal interests. The investigation argued that the gangster underground in the south of the country, composed primarily of Arab Bedouins, planned to use the information obtained by Shmuelovich to more effectively organize smuggling routes. However, this hypothesis also proved unfounded.
The investigation into the case continues, and the main charges remain “espionage” and “treason.”
At the same time, the prosecution, albeit reluctantly, acknowledges that the suspect may well have had "certain clouding of consciousness"—the authorities recently gave the go-ahead for an in-depth psychiatric examination.
If the medical commission determines that Shmuelovich's spy adventure was merely a figment of his imagination and that the classified information did not fall into the hands of third parties, the authorities will be left with an unpleasant case that will deal a far greater blow to their reputation.
At the time it was reported that the gentleman in question, spelt Assaf Shmuelevitz in the Rantburg archives, turned out to be a lawyer associated with Achim L’neshek (Brothers in Arms), the anti-Bibi veterans group, which had held weekly protests against the Bibi government’s judicial reform effort before 10/7. You may recall, dear Reader, that they had led the effort to get IDF Reservists to pledge not to fight in case that government went to war, and some number of them followed through after 10/7 and were discharged from the military. As background, Mr. Schmuelevitz started his career as an assistant in the Deputy Attorney General’s office, the equivalent of our Department of Justice, and had been involved in Lev Kachol, a charity collecting funds for Ukraine, money which mysteriously never reached its intended recipients.
But Ynet reported a week ago that the prosecution contends he was not connected to Brothers in Arms, was not a spy and, despite his protests to the contrary, they believe he is not responsible for his actions by reason of insanity.
[IsraelTimes] A batch of 1,000 drones was received by the various branches of the Iranian army, semi-official Tasnim news agency reports, amid growing tensions, with US President Donald Trump warning of an attack if Tehran refuses a nuclear deal.
“In accordance with the threats ahead, the army maintains and enhances its strategic advantages for rapid combat and imposing a crushing response against any aggressor,” the army’s Commander-in-Chief Amir Hatami says.
[IsraelTimes] The US Navy has sent an additional warship to the Middle East, a US official tells Reuters, amid a large military buildup in the region and soaring tensions.
The official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, says the USS Delbert D. Black has entered the region in the past 48 hours. This brings the number of destroyers in the Middle East to six, along with an aircraft carrier and three other littoral combat ships. The additional warship in the region was first reported by CBS News.
[IsraelTimes] Unnamed operative tells Israeli TV that he led a team that used smuggled weapons to carry out preemptive strike; PM’s office: Fordo attack plans were drawn up but shelved because of Oct. 7
An Iranian Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... agent, who was among those on the ground in 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... carrying out preemptive attacks as Israel launched strikes to destroy Iranian nuclear sites last year, described his actions and how he came to work for the spy agency in an interview with Israeli television.
The man, whose name was kept secret, spoke to Channel 12’s investigative show "Uvda" for a report aired Thursday evening.
He spoke of his motivation in volunteering to become a Mossad agent, visits to Israel, and what happened on June 13, 2025, when Israel hit out at what it said was an immediate, existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear development program.
In the early hours of June 13, as Israeli warplanes were sent to strike Iran, a wave of rocket and drone attacks, launched from within Iran, destroyed key air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, and targeted senior Iranian military figures, as well as nuclear scientists.
The attacks paved the way for the Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that followed, and hampered Iran’s ability to immediately launch a missile and drone counterattack, though those would come in the following days.
The agent, identified in the show by the alias "Arash," was heavily disguised to prevent any possibility of being recognized. Uvda did not specify where the interview was held, saying only that it was filmed before the recent internal anti-regime protests in Iran starting in late December.
Arash, who Uvda reported is around 40-years-old, said he first became uncomfortable with the Iranian regime when he started school and was immediately indoctrinated with hatred for Israel and the US. One night, when he was 11, his seventeen-year-old sister was arrested and beaten for not wearing a hijab. His father paid for her release, but the incident was enough to make the family leave Iran for an unidentified Western country.
But Arash was left with a deep desire, he said, to act against the regime in Iran and help his friends who were still there. When he was 30, on a whim, he looked up the Mossad on Google and found the agency’s website. He sent them a message, unsure what would happen, but within days, he was contacted by an agent. In 2015, he began working for the Mossad and received training abroad. Though the show did not go into details, it was clear that Arash visited Israel and speaks some Hebrew.
Ahead of the June assault, Arash was sent to Iran, where he was the leader of one of the teams that carried out the internal attacks. He and his team were instructed to take a missile and launcher by car to a specific location.
Arash described driving through the streets of Tehran, stopping at a red light, and a police car pulling up alongside.
"If I make a mistake, everything is gone," he recalled, speaking of his fear at that moment, but the squad car drove away.
The team was to assemble the weapon and wait for instructions. Arash said he was in direct contact with Mossad in Israel at the time, but did not explain how. The team did not know what their target was, having only been given coordinates to aim the weapon at.
For two hours, the team waited in the dark for an order.
"I was scared, scared about everything," he said.
Then, at 3 a.m., the order came through, and Arash pressed the launch button. The missile was fitted with a camera, he said, enabling him to eventually see the target in the moments before it scored a direct hit.
The target, he said, was revealed as a ballistic missile ready to be fired at Israel.
He told his Mossad handlers, "I did the job," to which they immediately responded, "Yes, you did."
The team immediately retreated to an apartment where they hid. He said the next day he saw people happy in Tehran because the regime had been dealt a blow.
Eventually, the team was pulled out of Iran, and Asrah was brought to Israel, where, he said, he had a toast with his handlers.
’WOULD HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST OPERATION’
The 12-day war that followed saw Israel conduct multiple attacks on Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile sites, while Iran retaliated with missile barrages at Israeli military sites and cities.
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... one key site remained out of reach of Israel: the Fordo uranium enrichment plant, which is buried under a mountain, safe from Israeli airstrikes.
And it was exactly that difficulty that prompted the Mossad to spend years developing a complex plan to smuggle a large amount of explosives into Fordo and blow it up from the inside.
Several former Mossad and defense officials spoke to Uvda about the plan, among them former Mossad chiefs Yossi Cohen and Tamir Pardo, who led the spy agency from 2016-2021, and 2011-2016, respectively.
They said that Israel first became aware of what was going on at Fordo in 2010. The Mossad began putting together a grandiose operation that Cohen said, had it been carried out, "would have been the greatest operation in the history of the country."
The plan reportedly faced doubts owing to the enormous resources required, its dizzying complexity, the need to mesh delicately synchronized activities, the number of agents required, as well as figuring how to get them out of Iran after the attack went ahead. The Mossad favored using its own home-grown operatives rather than agents enlisted abroad, complicating the mission, which Cohen indicated required at least dozens of people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also the premier at the time, was said to have been very keen on the plan and pushed to move ahead with preparations.
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... by the time Cohen became Mossad chief in 2016, the B.O. regime had signed a nuclear pact with Iran. Cohen said that by then, he had lost his own previously strong faith that the operation could be carried out, and so it was shelved, with the focus instead put on the Israel Defense Forces to prepare a strike on Iran.
Then, in 2018, the first Trump administration pulled out of the Iran deal, opening the way again for Israel to plan for an attack on Iran. After the current Mossad director, David Barnea, took over the agency, he revived work on the Mossad plan, officials said.
But when Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... led its devastating invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering 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, it became clear that the IDF, which was needed to carry out the Mossad plan, would instead be tied up with fighting in the Gaza Strip, leading Barnea to put off the plan again.
When Israel eventually went ahead with its strikes in 2025, there was no solution to the Fordo problem, officials said. The hope was that the US, which does have the military hardware needed to attack a deeply buried target, would join the fight. Though at first the US was reluctant, fretting over the danger to US military personnel in the Middle East from an Iranian response, on June 22, Washington ordered strikes on some Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordo. The US subsequently arranged a ceasefire, ending the war.
Responding to the report, Netanyahu’s office — which has direct authority over the Mossad — stated that "in contrast to what has been claimed, the prime minister led the preparation of a variety of plans for striking all elements of the program." Regarding Fordo, the Prime Minister’s Office acknowledged that "attack plans were developed, some of which were not possible because of October 7," but touted the cooperation between the US and Israel during the war.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Gevorg Mirzayan
Sure — let Russia spend their money and manpower riding herd on the jihadis in their caliphate for a while. It’s statistically possible that in their cynical sophistication they’ll so a better job, despite being just as much despised unbelievers from the perspective of the local branch of Al Qaeda in Syria.
[REGNUM] On January 28, Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, visited Russia for the second time in four months. And, as before, he held talks with Vladimir Putin.
In total, over the course of the calendar year, according to him, 13 Syrian delegations visited Moscow, including those headed by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense.
For some, this pace may seem surprising.
Just two years ago, al-Sharaa was considered Russia's enemy and fought against the Moscow-recognized Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Accordingly, many expected that after the capture of Damascus, he would continue to be listed as Moscow's adversary—and, in the words of some Syrian activists, would "take revenge for the suffering inflicted on the Syrian people."
In simple terms, for supporting Assad.
However, Syria's new leader has proven to be a much more pragmatic man. He understands that his country is currently in no position to squander potential partners, especially partners on the level of Russia.
" Now, in this new reality, thanks in part and above all to your efforts, relations between Syria and Russia are developing," the Russian leader stated.
In fact, Damascus needs several things from Moscow.
First, political support and recognition of Ahmed al-Sharaa as the sole government of a united Syria. The president is currently working to reassemble the country and restore its territorial integrity.
The latest success – and a rather resounding one – was the displacement of Kurdish forces (who had seized a significant part of the eastern part of the country, including oil-bearing lands on the eastern bank of the Euphrates) to their historical territory and forcing them to recognize the central authority of Damascus.
And Moscow appreciated these efforts, as they also demonstrated the resilience of the current Syrian government.
"We have always advocated for the restoration of Syria's territorial integrity, as you know, and we support all your efforts in this direction. I hope that the integration of the Euphrates region is undoubtedly a crucial step in this direction," Vladimir Putin said.
However, these are not the last territories that are expected to be returned.
"Russia can play a role in accelerating the integration of not only northeastern Syria but also the south. For example, the Druze-populated province of Suwayda," political scientist and RIAC expert Kirill Semenov explained to Regnum News Agency.
Moreover, he said, Moscow could also work with Israel. During the civil war, Tel Aviv, in addition to the previously occupied Golan Heights, took control of other lands in southern Syria. It began creating a kind of security belt in the event of a conflict with the new Syrian authorities.
And now he needs to be somehow convinced to return what belongs to someone else.
Secondly, al-Sharaa needs help in rebuilding the country.
Nearly 15 years of civil war have brought Syria, already impoverished, to a state of complete and utter devastation. Assistance is needed to restore the power system (which, even under Assad, was on the brink of self-destruction, to the point where people were removing power lines and selling them for scrap metal) and the railways.
In general, a lot of things.
And since a significant portion of Syria's infrastructure was created first by Soviet and then Russian specialists, Russia now has the necessary expertise for restoration work.
Therefore, Moscow has already indicated its readiness to engage in the process. According to Putin, Russia's authorized economic operators, including those in the construction sector, "are ready for this joint work."
Third, assistance in rebuilding the Syrian army. Fighters in carts and jeeps are certainly good and even somewhat beautiful, but a fully-fledged Middle Eastern state requires a different level of armed forces.
"Syria is interested in restoring military-technical cooperation. Its army has a lot of Soviet-made equipment, and much of it is in disrepair," explains Semenov.
Accordingly, Moscow is required to provide repair bases and spare parts supplies, as well as, where necessary, equipment modernization.
And Russia is ready to help with this—for an appropriate fee. This could come not only in the form of cash or barter (for example, food), but also through mutual settlements. This could include payment for Russian military facilities remaining in Syria.
Moscow is very interested in the future of its bases in Latakia and Tartus. Not only do they allow Russia to maintain a military and political presence in the Middle East, but they also serve as a vital logistical hub for supporting military and economic operations in Africa.
And now they are in limbo.
The Syrian authorities aren't expelling Russian troops, and they're talking about the possibility of them staying—but in the year since the current government came to power, no documents have been signed on this matter. "We need to move on to a concrete phase, to signing agreements on the status of the Russian military presence and its future," the expert concluded in an interview with Regnum News Agency.
Of course, there are those who, in theory, are not entirely happy with the way relations between Damascus and Moscow are developing. For example, Iran, a former key partner of Bashar al-Assad, is being treated extremely harshly by the new Syrian authorities.
However, the Iranians have no time for Syria now - they would rather deal with their own problems and the American fleet.
Moreover, if, with Moscow's mediation, it is possible to somehow restore the logistics of supporting Iranian proxies from Hezbollah (which previously went through Syrian territory), then Tehran will be quite satisfied with this.
In theory, this cooperation might also be unpopular with Turkey, a key partner of the current Syrian government. According to Semenov, if relations between the new Syrian government and Moscow go too far, Turkey will begin to see Russia as a competitor and put a spoke in its wheel.
However, this is not happening yet.
Partly because Moscow and Damascus could be years away from deepening bilateral relations to a level dangerous for Ankara. And partly because the Turks have decided not to play the "dog in the manger" role.
They understand that Syria is unable to resolve all of its problems (economic, infrastructural, and military) on its own. And the failure to resolve these issues, in turn, worsens the position of Turkey's allies in Damascus, including in the eyes of the Syrian population, who do not want to live without electricity, an economy, and an army.
Posted by: badanov ||
01/30/2026 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
