[IsraelTimes] Departure continues upheaval in military during Trump’s current term; Driscoll oversaw drone program that has now been rolled back, was an unlikely negotiator in Ukraine-Russia war
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during President Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... ’s administration.
No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of US Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval.
"Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army by providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, restoring an emphasis on readiness and lethality, assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and more," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
"The United States Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of War," she added.
A US Army official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Driscoll spoke with Trump on the current state of the Army and submitted his resignation. The official did not provide additional details. The Pentagon referred questions to the Army. Driscoll’s resignation was reported earlier Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
Exit follows other Army departures, rollback of drone program
Driscoll’s departure follows the ouster of one of his allies from the Army as well as the rollback of a drone program he had championed. Hegseth had suddenly ousted the service’s top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George, in April, while the Army’s commander in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue, unexpectedly stepped down in June.
Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who has made a meteoric rise under Hegseth, took George’s place as the Army’s acting chief of staff. Under LaNeve, the service is pulling the plug on a drone modernization program. An Army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before LaNeve directed it to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion, officials said in August.
Driscoll was a George ally and lamented his departure, along with both Republican and Democratic politicians. He told Congress in April that he and his family drove to George’s house following his resignation "and we all gave him a hug."
"That being said, the civilian leadership, the design of our system, is that they get to pick the leaders that they want," Driscoll added.
BOTH PARTIES RESPOND TO DEPARTURE WITH PRAISE FOR DRISCOLL
Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican who had served in the Army National Guard, said on X that Driscoll is "a transformative leader who brought common sense and discipline to the Department of the Army."
"I had the pleasure of working with him closely, and appreciated how engaged he was from mentoring cadets at West Point to leading the Army at the Pentagon," Womack wrote. "The Army is better equipped and prepared to tackle emerging threats because of his leadership that strengthened the force while putting our Soldiers first."
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger, told news hounds that he worked well with Driscoll despite their policy differences.
"It was actually nice, I will say, having somebody who was smart, that knew the policy, that wanted to do the work, that had a background in these issues," Crow said, adding that "it’s unfortunate that somebody like that can’t last in this administration."
Crow, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairs the House Army Caucus, said the "Pentagon right now is, in some cases, rudderless," with so many big shots gone. "So, I’m gravely concerned about it," he said.
DRISCOLL WAS AN UNLIKELY NEGOTIATOR IN UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR
Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to Vance, whom Driscoll met at Yale Law School. When nominating Driscoll in 2024, Trump called him "a disruptor and change agent."
As Army secretary, Driscoll was tapped for the unusual role of key negotiator to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. He was also a major force behind trying to cut the red tape for military contractors to quickly develop more drones and counter-drone capabilities as warfare rapidly changes around the world.
The Senate confirmed him in February 2025, voting 66-28, following an Armed Services Committee hearing that was largely unconfrontational and focused on how the Army could modernize its systems, improve recruiting and beef up the military industrial base.
Driscoll noted that his father and grandfather served in the Army, and he vowed to be a secretary focused on the needs of soldiers. According to the Army, Driscoll served as an armor officer from August 2007 to March 2011, deploying to Iraq from October 2009 to July 2010.
He also ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for a North Carolina congressional seat in 2020, getting about 8 percent of the vote in a crowded field of candidates.
His departure comes after Hegseth ousted several other generals and admirals, including the head of the Navy.
The Pentagon abruptly announced in April that Navy Secretary John Phelan was leaving the job, becoming the first head of a military service to depart during Trump’s second term. Hmmmm
EXCLUSIVE: Army Secretary Dan Driscoll's wife gave a max contribution to a member of the seditious six who frequently criticizes Hegseth and the Trump Admin.
#4
They wanted to downsize the senior officer levels. And part of that is getting rid of any who aren’t enthusiastic about Secretary Hegseth or President Trump. Being a friend of the VP might have gotten him the job, but it definitely wouldn’t be enough to keep him there, given tension with his boss.
[IsraelTimes] The Pentagon says it has secured seven-year agreements with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and Lockheed Martin to increase missile production.
The agreements are designed to “increase production quantities and accelerate delivery schedules for critical missile subcomponents supporting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) interceptor programs,” the Pentagon says.
Concern has spiked about depletion of US missile interceptor stocks amid the Iran war.
In an analysis published by @hariciyeorg (https://hariciye.org/en/articles/nijerde-genc-subaylar-isyani), A. Doğucan TAYFUR (@dogucantayfur) estimates that the attempted coup d’état on August 29 in Niamey would have been carried out by young officers, particularly those from units engaged in the fight against jihadists in Tillabéri and Dosso.
Usually it’s colonels, I believe, who are in the sweet spot of bright ideas and frustration with the political old generals who refuse to promote them fast enough. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was a colonel. Q.E.D.
According to him, their motivations would be linked to the failures of General Tiani’s junta against the ISSP, the ISWAP, and the JNIM, as well as its recent openness to prisoner exchanges with armed groups.
The analysis also highlights the decisive role of the Presidential Guard and Russian support in the failure of the attempt. It warns that new contestations within the Sahel armies could further weaken the juntas and provide additional space for jihadist groups.
Tayfur particularly advocates for strengthening dialogue with local organizations in the Sahel, including the #FLA, and for abandoning military policies targeting #Touareg and #Fulani populations
#1
That's how coup d’états work. Generally Colonels and Majors get a rash, and they sent Captains and Lieutenants out to do the job. It ain't 6 Days in May.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/01/2026 15:59 Comments ||
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[BB] The frontrunning presidential candidate confirmed on Monday that, to enforce the ban on Islamic veils in public, she would seek to hold a referendum to impose fines on those who flout the 2010 law, which is currently rarely enforced.
Marine Le Pen said this would come amid a broader ballot measure in which her government would seek public consent to enact a series of laws to “combat Islamist ideologies”.
Good.
“How could France defend its values with politicians who lack so much courage that they allow an ideology to claim the inferiority of women?” she questioned.
“Fighting against Islamist ideology and defending equality require courage and determination. Like the French people, I believe I have that courage and that determination,” the National Rally leader proclaimed.
In addition to the planned referendum on pushing back against Islamism, the populist party has also vowed to give the French public an opportunity to vote directly on national immigration policy.
Such a ballot measure would include whether the state should abolish birthright citizenship, limit welfare to French citizens, and order the “systematic expulsion of foreign offenders and criminals”.
It all sounds exactly what France has long needed. You go, grrrrl!
[IsraelTimes] ‘Achilles Shield’ to see Israel build Greece a multi-tiered air defense array; separate deal will provide drone protection; Finland said to secretly extend defense MOU with Israel.
Israel-Turkey relations have run hot and cold under Turkey’s jihadist “president for life” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and right now they’re enjoying another cold spell. Turkey said it wanted an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel stopping another stupid “Gaza Flotilla” (which, like previous incarnations, were designed to deliver headlines and weapons rather than aid). Israel hit an airbase in Syria where Turkey was building up supplies to station troops. But Israel also found a non-kinetic way to hit back at Turkey as well: Selling air defense systems to Greece.
Achilles’ Shield, named after the mythological Greek hero, will be jointly built by Israeli and Greek defense manufacturers. According to the newspaper, “the new anti-aircraft, anti-ballistic and counter-drone system will be operational within 35 months.”
“It will comprise a range of weapons systems creating overlapping “domes” over the entire Greek territory, supported by an integrated command-and-control system and involving the participation of Greece’s defense industry,” the daily added.
The project is already in an advanced stage. Israel has tested the components of the new system on its Iron Dome platform. “The system is designed to combine existing Greek assets, including Patriot air defense systems and drones already deployed at military facilities on islands and the mainland, with Israeli-made air defense platforms,” the English edition of Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported Friday. “Officials say the systems incorporated into Achilles’ Shield have already been integrated into Israel’s Iron Dome architecture and tested against aerial attacks.”
#3
^
I doubt much actual hardware has been purchased yet. The general design (many thousand satellite anti missiles with AI) is agreed upon. But there are many alternative configurations to be studied as well as staging alternatives and system integration). I suspect there are a few prototype parts that are in hand.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/01/2026 18:16 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez alleged that Russia and Israel are involved in the migrant crisis in Ceuta. Seriously? As if Russia would ever combine forces with Israel! He must be polling really badly to be so desperate as to add Russia to the list of blame that started with President Trump and Israel.
According to him, Russian and Israeli social media allegedly spread disinformation about the Spanish Supreme Court's decision to ban the deportation of migrants, which contributed to the massive influx of Africans to Ceuta.
Sanchez claims the messages were spread through fake accounts.
He linked the disinformation to Russia, Israel and "an international far-right organization that always uses migration not only to attack Spain, but also Europe."
Oh, doze eeeeebil jooooooooz!
"Russian and Israeli networks spread these fakes and attacked the Spanish government and Europeans on the sensitive issue of illegal immigration, which divides and polarizes many European societies," he said in an interview with Cadena SER.
A serious migrant crisis in Ceuta, an autonomous city in Spain on the northern coast of Africa, began on the night of July 31. Up to 60,000 migrants, mostly from Morocco, but also from Algeria and sub-Saharan Africa, attempted to enter the exclave. A crush ensued, and people began drowning. Spanish authorities deployed ground troops to Ceuta and installed a floating barrier approximately 500 meters long in the sea. A mass deportation began: most were returned to Morocco, either voluntarily or under the supervision of security forces.
More than 100 people have died in the city due to the migrant crisis, Ceuta Mayor Juan Jesus Vivas said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko noted that the situation in Ceuta demonstrated the problems in the EU's migration policy amid the ongoing demonization of Russia.
🚨 TURKEY’S FOREIGN MINISTER IS THREATENED BY NETANYAHU
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan launched another fierce attack on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that “Netanyahu and the ideology he represents pose a threat not only to Turkey, but to global security as a… pic.twitter.com/ypocJanuqI
🚨 TURKEY’S FOREIGN MINISTER IS THREATENED BY NETANYAHU
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan launched another fierce attack on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that “Netanyahu and the ideology he represents pose a threat not only to Turkey, but to global security as a whole.”
Fidan called Netanyahu a “genocidal murderer” and accused him of causing damage to the region, Israel, the Jewish people and the wider world.
He further claimed Netanyahu “delights in the shedding of Palestinian and Muslim blood” and “must be stopped immediately.”
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
09/01/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[176 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Into the fray: How Bibi ruined Israel The impressive post-October 7th achievements of the current government are often overlooked and undervalued. If you are have RLB (anyone but Bibi) virus, they are likely to be denied.
Once again Mr. Emanuel uses Israel as the backdrop for his American political journey — still trying to buy off the left wing socialists of the Democratic Party with anti-Israel posturing to offset his Israeli heritage.
[IsraelTimes] Democratic politician dubs initiative ‘healthcare diplomacy,’ weeks after Tel Aviv speech warning Israel will become a pariah if it maintains Netanyahu’s policies
Likely Democratic presidential hopeful Rahm Emanuel and his brothers Ari and Ezekiel announced on Monday a $550,000 donation to fund the training of 11 pediatric doctors and 36 pediatric nurses from An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
The donation is aimed at opening the first pediatric healthcare facility in the northern West Bank.
Emanuel — a former congressman, chief of staff to former US president Barack Obama, Chicago mayor and US ambassador to Japan — bills the initiative as “healthcare diplomacy.”
“Kids and families get great care and doctors and nurses train together learning from each other, building hopefully a lifetime of trust,” he told Politico.
Last month, Emanuel gave a speech at Tel Aviv University that drew widespread coverage, during which he warned that Israel will risk becoming a “territorial pariah” if it continues its current path under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Responding to news of the Emanuel’s donation, Otzma Yehudit lawmaker and Knesset Health Committee chair Limor Son Har-Melech said she will work to block the initiative.
“The Israeli health system is intended first and foremost for Israeli citizens. I will not allow its resources to be used to build the enemy’s healthcare system,” she wrote on X.
It’s unclear whether the far-right MK has the authority to shut down the collaborative program organized by Project Rozana, but she said that she has written to Health Minister Haim Katz and the CEO of Sourasky Medical Center, demanding that they do so.
More anti-Zionist capering in today’s Democratic Party.
“They believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon," former Barack Obama advisor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Fox News Sunday, denouncing his party's Democratic Socialist rivals.
Emanuel continues testing the waters for a presumed 2028 presidential run.
"There is no way you’re going to [win the White House] turning a blue district to midnight blue," he added. "You got to do it by flipping red districts to blue, winning red states and turning them blue. That is how it happens."
Sunday's appearance was hardly the first time Emanuel addressed the threat to — from? — his party's left flank.
The Wall Street Journal's John McCormick wrote in September of 2025 that while Emanuel's "centrist message clashes with an insurgent progressive base mesmerized by figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani," and other Democratic Socialists, "the seriousness of Emanuel’s ambitions was obvious throughout his two-day visit" to — you guessed it — Des Moines, Iowa.
The default positions for mainstream Democrat officeholders (aside from Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman) seem to be either ignoring the DSA threat or embracing the least unpalatable parts of the DSA platform. That's why the last few weeks you've seen plea after plea by more centrist Democrats to reject the DSA.
A small sample:
There’s Nothing Democratic About These Socialists —Jonathan Chait
No more appeasement. Democrats need to fight the DSA —Jon Cowan and Matt Bennett
The left-wing faction is hijacking the Democratic Party —James Kirchick
DSA: Progressive or REGRESSIVE? —Van Jones
Cowan and Bennett are "third way" centrist Dems, but the other three represent the party's left wing... or at least they used to before the emergence of the DSA in recent years. Mark Penn, who's advised the Clintons for about ever, warned on X in July about Mamdani's New York: "Welcome to Socialism."
It's been pretty much the Summer of Dire DSA warnings. Meanwhile, actual high-ranking officeholders do stuff like this: Schumer backs El-Sayed, vows Democratic ‘big tent’ will win Senate.
That's why when Emanuel insisted on Fox News Sunday that "The Democratic Party is not open to be taken over," all I could do was laugh.
It was bitter laughter, but still.
By some measures, the party either has been co-opted or is well on its way.
"We’re using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals," DSA New York City cochair Gustavo Gordillo boldly stated in June. "We build our own organization, get elected under the Democratic label, caucus with Democrats when it’s useful, and push our own agenda from the inside."
"We see the Democratic establishment as an obstacle, not a home."
#2
Second City Cop refers to Rahm as "9.5 Digit Midget" ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/01/2026 7:45 Comments ||
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#3
amusing
like the D/DSA party would ever nominate someone whose middle name is Israel
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/01/2026 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
So he's funding people who fix people that profess to k*lling him?
Wonders never cease.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/01/2026 10:56 Comments ||
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#5
Agreed, Mullah Richard. But on the other hand, each patient taken care of by the Palestinians themselves is one less bright-eyed, wannabe jihadi planning how to blow up his Israeli surgeons or knife attack the entire Israeli waiting room.
#8
^ "We Jooos owe it to the world to sacrifice ourselves for the bigger 'good'. I, of course, will go last."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/01/2026 13:04 Comments ||
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#9
Rahm is a fool. An out-of-touch fool. Who, in his holier-than-ALL-of-thou hubris ... seems to believe that Israel should ignore October 7th. And everything that preceded October 7th. And everything that's happened since October 7th, until today. What a colossal fool.
He is the living embodiment of the Kevin Bacon character at the end of the movie ANIMAL HOUSE.
[ZERO] A number of US military top generals have taken the rare step of formally registering warnings to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth over potential plans for a new phase of strikes against a non-compliant Iran.
The warnings reportedly emerged through the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, which enumerates the availability of US military resources and force posture around the world - with direct input from American regional commanders.
The book is typically published twice a month, but this time it was reportedly filled with pushback by those overseeing operations in Latin America, Europe and Asia - who have seen training missions canceled, and ships and aircraft diverted to the Middle East for counter-Iran operations.
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that a chief complaint by the top officers was that the Iran conflict "has degraded their ability to fulfill homeland-defense obligations."
“Anything I do is much more important than anyone else’s job — there is no bigger picture than that.”
Amid fresh troop movements based on new orders reportedly issued in mid-August, commanders made clear they do not agree with the new force trajectory, but are ready to carry out the Commander-in-Chief's orders regardless.
Still, the leaking of this information, and such a rare public airing of grievances, has Hegseth and the Trump administration furious. The Washington Post reports:
#4
@1 It's their job to raise concerns to Hegseth. If they fail to comply with orders than they should be fired.
I'll mention that year long deployments, like that planned for elements of the 82nd Airborne currently in the Middle East, is hard on those in the services and could very well affect recruitment for both the active duty military as well as the Reserves and National Guard who are also getting deployed.
The leaker's should face a court martial, but just firing them will be enough.
[IsraelTimes] After reconciliation between Abbas and Dahlan fails to bear fruit, dominant PA party works to heal more bridgeable divisions, such as one between Hussein al-Sheikh and Jibril Rajoub
A meeting was held over the weekend between feuding senior Fatah officials Hussein al-Sheikh and Jibril Rajoub, as the West Bank’s dominant Paleostinian political party seeks to limit internal divisions ahead of November 28 legislative elections, two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Monday.
Rajoub has been boycotting Fatah meetings since June, when the party’s chief — Paleostinian Authority 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....> — named Sheikh as his deputy — despite the fact that Rajoub received more votes than Sheikh during internal Fatah elections in May.
Sheikh was already serving as vice president of the PA, and the decision to name him deputy Fatah chief appeared to be part of an effort by the 90-year-old Abbas to consolidate power ahead of what is certain to be a grueling succession battle.
Sheikh has offered Rajoub the ability to maintain the more junior role of Fatah secretary-general, but the veteran Paleostinian official has thus far refrained from taking the offer, the two sources said.
Progress was made in bridging rifts during the meeting, and the pair are planning to appear in public in the coming days, one of the sources said.
NO PROGRESS ON BRIDGING ABBAS-DAHLAN RIFT
The meeting between Rajoub and Sheikh came roughly one week after the former held a meeting in Egypt with members of a breakaway Fatah faction headed by former PA 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... security chief Mohammad Dahlan.
Dahlan had a falling out with Abbas over 15 years ago, leading him to live in exile in the United Arab Emirates. He serves as a top adviser to Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed and has become a key power broker that the US-controlled Board of Peace has used to mediate between the various regional players involved in the postwar management of Gaza.
Dahlan’s Fatah faction has been seeking to return to the party, but Abbas has largely resisted efforts to reconcile with him unless stringent terms are met, and the meeting in Egypt did not lead to any progress toward that end, the sources said.
THE HAMAS MEETING THAT NEVER MATERIALIZED
Sheikh was also slated to meet with a delegation of Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... representatives while in Egypt to discuss the upcoming elections for the Paleostinian Legislative Council (PLC) and the umbrella Paleostine Liberation Organization’s separate parliamentary body, but the sit-down never materialized, a Paleostinian official said.
Cooperation from Hamas will likely be required for PLC elections to be held in Gaza. While Hamas has agreed to cede governing powers in the Strip to a Board of Peace-overseen technocratic panel called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, that handover has been stalled amid Israel’s rejection of the Board of Peace’s disarmament plan; and the terror group is still seen as maintaining significant political sway in the coastal enclave.
Earlier this month, the PA submitted an official request to Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to allow election materials into Gaza so balloting can be held there in November for the first time in over 20 years. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Ramallah never received any response, the Paleostinian official said. COGAT referred The Times of Israel to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which did not reply to requests for comment.
Israeli approval will also be needed to hold elections in East Jerusalem, though a Paleostinian official said this obstacle can be overcome through mail-in or online voting.
The official acknowledged, though, that Israel still has the ability to block Paleostinian elections if it wants to, and a lot will depend on the results of the October 27 Knesset election.
While Hamas representatives did not meet with Sheikh in Egypt, they have been holding talks with Dahlan’s deputy Samir Masharawi about collaborating in the Paleostinian legislative elections, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Hamas would not be allowed to field candidates on the Dahlan-backed list, but would avoid coming out against it, the sources explained. Dahlan’s Fatah faction, known as the Democratic Reform Current, is also seeking similar collaboration with other Paleostinian factions, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... (DFLP).
FATAH DIVISIONS AMASS
Given that its rifts with the Dahlan faction and Hamas appear insurmountable for the time being, Abbas’s circle is seeking to mend more manageable rifts, such as the one between Sheikh and Rajoub, one of the sources familiar with the weekend meeting between the pair said.
Fatah is already dealing with potential breakaways led by former PA ministers Nasser al-Qidwa and Qadura Fares.
Some supporters of former Fatah secretary general Marwan Barghouti — who is serving five life terms in Israeli prison for planning terror attacks that killed five people — want him to lead a separate breakaway faction. Barghouti’s condition is largely unknown, though, and he hadn’t been seen in years, until National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video berating the frail-looking prominent Paleostinian prisoner in his cell. An international campaign of influencers is advocating for his release, but Israel is not likely to.
Barghouti sought to run from behind bars the last time a Paleostinian presidential election was called by Abbas in 2021. That vote was canceled, with Abbas blaming Israeli restrictions on balloting in East Jerusalem, while critics said the real motivating factor behind the PA president’s decision was polling predicting significant Fatah losses.
Abbas in June announced that presidential elections would be held in 2027, but a date has not yet been set, and the various Fatah divisions have led to poor polling for the PA president and his party, as well as an increase in speculation that the November parliamentary elections will also be delayed.
Pledges to hold elections were essential in securing financial support from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , so Abbas may have a hard time canceling the vote completely, as he did in 2021.
But while Brussels has taken an interest in Paleostinian political reform, Washington’s attention has been elsewhere, which may give Abbas the ability to push off the legislative elections for a short period of time with limited consequences in the international arena.
[IsraelTimes] Adi Rotem says resort to direct channel initiated because mediator Qatar was clearly acting in bad faith, talks were going in circles; Hamas captors killing 6 hostages in August 2024 was ‘the last straw’
Retired Shin Bet officer Adi Rotem revealed Saturday that he was the negotiator who held direct talks with senior Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... official Ghazi Hamad in 2024, and stressed that the secret channel was approved by "the political echelon."
The talks, first revealed on Thursday, reportedly helped enable the deal with Hamas in January 2025, during which dozens of both living and slain hostages were freed in small batches in return for boosted humanitarian aid to 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... and over 1,000 Paleostinian security prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
As part of the January 2025 truce deal, the sides also agreed to hold talks on a second and third phase that would include the return of all hostages, end the war, and ensure a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but the truce collapsed after the first stage. Last October, another US-backed agreement was reached to end the war that saw Paleostinian faceless myrmidons release all the remaining hostages.
Rotem told Channel 12 in an interview that it was his idea to approach Hamad, who he noted had played a role in the Shalit deal, the 2011 agreement under which Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu freed 1,027 Paleostinian security prisoners, including October 7 criminal mastermind Yahya Sinwar, in return for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive by Hamas for over five years.
"I understood that if there was an address, he was the right address. Ghazi Hamad was somebody known to us from the past... He was sufficiently senior and shrewd, [and] had access to the entire [Hamas] leadership. I was certainly not naive about him, but there was something about him that said it might be possible to have this discussion with him."
Rotem said he suggested approaching Hamad to then Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who obtained the necessary approvals from the politicianship.
The direct contacts were approved by Netanyahu, the war cabinet and security cabinet, according to Thursday’s report. At the time, an official Israeli negotiating team was publicly known to be holding indirect mediated talks with Hamas via the United States, Egypt and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... Bar was booted from the negotiating team by Netanyahu in February 2025. Rotem, a veteran Shin Bet official, apparently retired from the Shin Bet at around this time.
Netanyahu has not commented on the 2024 Hamas talks, but denied a report No, no! Certainly not! , published earlier on Thursday, that he oversaw secret talks with Hamas in 2014 via his business associate Shlomi Fogel. "A total lie. The prime minister refused to hold negotiations with Hamas, which were solely led by mediators," the prime minister’s office said of the report regarding 2014.
Asked about Netanyahu’s role in the direct negotiations he held in 2024, Rotem said the political echelon "sets the boundaries, within which the negotiating team has to formulate the strategy — the mandate. And then the forward team has to put that into practice. We worked according to the instructions — and if we thought we needed more room for maneuver, we would go to the political echelon, sometimes even within the ongoing rounds of talks, and seek permission for this or that — and it was sometimes given and sometimes not."
Hamad left Gaza some two months before the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, massacre and abductions, and declared from Beirut on October 23 that there would be "a second, a third, a fourth" such onslaught, with the goal of the annihilation of Israel.
Rotem said the decision to attempt direct talks with Hamas followed the August 2024 murders by their Hamas captors of six hostages — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat.
He recalled that through the summer of 2024, "after we had completed the deal for the release of women and kiddies hostages at the end of 2023," efforts to negotiate a further deal with Hamas were going around in circles.
A key obstacle, he said, was that ostensible mediator Qatar "had the same interests as Hamas." Qatar adopted Hamas’s positions as the December 2023 deal collapsed, Rotem said, "which as you recall were full of lies — about women who were soldiers, women they couldn’t find, and so on."
"The last straw" was the murders of the six hostages. "Everybody took that very hard, and it was clear that we had to try a different approach," he said.
Rotem said Qatar "creates strategic damage to the State of Israel." Ultimately, "it is a Moslem Brüderbund state," he noted, adding that anybody who believed Qatar could or would play a useful role was misguided. He said he was often in a minority when making this assessment clear to the wider negotiating team.
Asked whether he felt the impact of Qatargate at the time — the allegations that senior aides to the prime minister were working for Qatar — Rotem said that, "in retrospect, I could join some dots, but I prefer not to go into that story."
’NEGOTIATING WITH THE ENEMY, IN ORDER TO EXTRICATE SOMEBODY’
Rotem said his negotiations with Hamad often took place in phone calls he made from home, and they would often speak late into the night, in what were "very emotional, hard, complex talks."
Discussing the essence of the negotiations, Rotem said, "One of the first priorities was to create trust, and that does not mean that we are not enemies. We knew, we said, and we talked about [the fact] that we are enemies at a time of war."
Asked specifically what he had said to Hamad, he replied, "Really, those exact words: We are enemies at a time of war. We will continue to fight. At the same time, we have a functional role. We are right now solving the negotiating problem. And we will continue to be bitter enemies a minute before and a minute after."
After each telephone conversation, "I updated a very short list of those who were in on the secret — including Bar," Rotem said.
Asked whether Hamad requested that Israel not assassinate him, Rotem said, "It was clear that [this subject] was in the air," and noted that the talks were in progress when Sinwar, the prime Hamas architect of October 7, was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces on October 16, 2024. Rotem said he always insisted that their talks "stick to [the matters] that we can deal with. We defined from the beginning: We are enemies. And I know that this sounds like an unimaginable, very complex situation, and it is complex. These were very, very, very long discussions."
Rotem said they negotiated at length about who would be included from the Paleostinian side in the deals, where hostages were exchanged for Paleostinian faceless myrmidons and security prisoners.
The talks were only with Hamad, he stressed, and nobody else was on the line, as agreed between them.
"Looking at it solely from the clean, professional point of view, I think [negotiating with Hamas] was the right thing to do, and it was good that the political echelon approved it, because the fact that you are talking with the enemy does not mean that you are giving him legitimacy," Rotem said. "You are having to negotiate with the terrorist, with the enemy, in order to extricate somebody."
He said he was "very, very, very" surprised that word of his secret talks with Hamas emerged this week, when the military censor approved the story for publication after censoring it for months, "but a lot of surprising things are happening in the State of Israel. Not all of them positive."
[IsraelTimes] A day before deadline, Discount Bank agrees to push off plan to stop correspondent banking services to Palestinian counterparts, which tethers West Bank to global economy
A Paleostinian banking crisis has been averted for the time being, after Israel’s Discount Bank — facing international pressure — agreed to push off its plan to stop providing correspondent banking services to Paleostinian financial institutions, an Israeli and a Paleostinian official told The Times of Israel on Monday.
Discount had informed Paleostinian banks earlier this summer that on September 1 it would cease the service, which is essential to the import and export of goods to and from the West Bank.
Following intensive negotiations with the Bank of Israel — and amid significant pressure from the US and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... — Discount agreed to put off that decision until December 31, the officials said.
Discount and Hapoalim are the only Israeli banks that provide correspondent banking services, tethering the West Bank to the global economy.
Hapoalim had initially informed Paleostinian banks of a decision to cease providing the service on October 1.
Hapoalim is also expected to push off that move until the end of 2026, though a final decision has not yet been made, the Israeli and Paleostinian officials said.
The banks confirmed progress in their talks with the Bank of Israel on August 21, but Discount didn’t agree to put off its deadline until a day before it was set to kick in.
The two banks had blamed the Israeli government for their decision to cease correspondent banking services, explaining that they had been assured roughly a decade ago that a new financial entity would be established to assume the task.
But successive governments dragged their feet on the matter, with finance ministers instead signing indemnity waivers meant to shield Discount and Hapoalim from possible legal liability.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich began reassessing that policy as part of a host of steps aimed at weakening the Paleostinian Authority. Over the past year, he signed waivers that only lasted for two weeks at a time, extracting significant measures to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank in exchange for each letter.
Following pressure from the Trump administration, Smotrich agreed late last month to sign indemnity waivers for Discount and Hapoalim that are in effect until the end of the year, when a government less hostile to the PA could take charge after the October 27 Knesset elections.
But by that point, the Israeli banks had already lost patience and informed their Paleostinian counterparts that they would nevertheless stop providing correspondent banking services in the coming weeks.
The notification sparked panic in Ramallah, prompting officials from the US and European Union to intervene on the PA’s behalf, the officials said.
Israeli officials have subsequently held talks with Discount and Hapoalim to resolve the issue and are nearing a solution that would see the banks postpone their plans in exchange for improvements to the indemnity waiver terms, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
A source from each of the two banks confirmed progress was made in those talks, while clarifying that they had yet to make final decisions on delaying the cessation of cooperation with Paleostinian banks.
The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Paleostinians in the 1990s established the Israeli shekel as the dominant currency in the West Bank and 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... , but did not give Paleostinian banks the ability to clear shekel transactions from outside the West Bank. Accordingly, the Israeli government tasked Discount and Hapoalim with providing correspondent banking services to Paleostinian banks.
The service has allowed Paleostinian banks to process cross-border payments for commercial activity, though the two Israeli banks have long expressed concern they could be exposed to lawsuits for alleged Paleostinian money laundering and terror financing.
To mitigate the risk to the banks, a previous government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set up the Company for Correspondence Services in 2019, though Knesset legislation must be passed for it to begin operating. While a bill has been drawn up, successive coalitions have deferred the legislation due to the perception that it would benefit the Paleostinians, and it became an afterthought amid other domestic debates and regional tensions.
After issuing their threat to halt correspondent banking services, Discount and Hapoalim hoped the government would respond by finally moving to pass the legislation creating the Company for Correspondence Services, but the prospect fizzled out when the Knesset dissolved ahead of the October 27 election.
Given that the banks’ deadline has only been pushed off until the end of the year, the next government will have to make passing the law allowing the Company for Correspondence Services to begin operating an immediate priority.
The correspondent banking issue is not the only one pushing the PA to the brink of collapse.
For over a year, Smotrich has been withholding the transfer of over $6 billion in clearance revenues, which make up the bulk of the PA’s budget.
The far-right minister has taken other steps to severely hobble the Paleostinian banking sector, which in turn has been unable to make use of billions of additional shekels languishing in West Bank vaults.
Additionally, Israel’s revocation of work permits for over 100,000 Paleostinians due to security concerns after Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... ’s October 7, 2023, onslaught has caused unemployment to skyrocket to 35 percent in the West Bank.
The territory has also seen a massive rise in unchecked settler violence as well as the establishment of over 100 new outposts and settlements that have led to significant curbs on Paleostinian movement, which has further hampered businesses’ ability to operate.
The Israel Defense Forces has also launched raids in West Bank refugee camps that have led to a major decline in terror attacks while rendering tens of thousands of Paleostinians homeless.
An important point: the polls are going to change a 100 times between now and Oct 27th
Because Jews don’t need someone else in order to have a very satisfying argument? ;-)
[Jpost] As the October 27 election nears, Israel’s already fast-paced political scene appears to be speeding up even more, with an ever-revolving mix of old and new faces making an appearance, some who have shuffled around and others making a comeback.
This election will be the first to take place since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, with the political landscape and the issues at the forefront of voters’ minds having shifted significantly since the previous vote in 2022.
Some of the central issues include the IDF’s severe manpower crisis after three years of war, contentious haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription legislation, and calls for a state commission of inquiry into the government’s failures surrounding the attack.
Meanwhile, traditional election issues, such as the establishment of a Palestinian state, have moved further to the background as Israel’s security outlook has changed.
Another major issue is the fate of long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led Israel for a total of 19 years. In Israel there are no Left & Right: just anti-Bibi and the rest.
Prof. Ofer Kenig, a political expert and research fellow with the Israel Democracy Institute’s Political Reform Program, told The Jerusalem Report that the upcoming election will "mark the direction in which Israel’s democracy is heading."
Kenig, who is also a lecturer at Ashkelon Academic College, said that the outgoing coalition differed from previous Netanyahu-led governments in that it was "full Right," a change that was felt by Israeli society due to stark policy changes over the past four years.
"Most Israelis do want some kind of broad government — without the extremists. Without the haredim and without the Arabs, for that matter," Kenig noted.
Among the major issues will be the haredi draft laws and a state commission of inquiry, along with key domestic policies such as the rise in the cost of living.
Additionally, he said it will be interesting to see what happens with the political alliances between the parties hovering on the electoral threshold, what is becoming known as "the third bloc," a new batch of parties offering an alternative to the current right-wing parties.
Kenig said it was important to also keep watch on the Arab parties, noting that the formation of a new Joint List could weaken Netanyahu’s bloc, but, it could also complicate the formation of a government for the opposition bloc.
He said that Netanyahu’s recent calls to form a "broad national government," suggest that the Prime Minister is facing a "less than optimal situation" as his own party, Likud, continues to slip in the polls.
"If [Netanyahu] were in a much better position in the polls, I’m quite convinced we wouldn’t hear that this was the Likud’s main election slogan," Kenig noted, adding that there appears to be a shift in Netanyahu’s strategy away from attempting to win to "just trying not to lose."
Netanyahu may be aware that he "doesn’t have the cards in his hands to win," and could instead be focusing on not losing, Kenig said.
The question might no longer be whether Likud can remain the largest party, but whether Netanyahu can assemble a coalition with himself at the helm.
In that case, Kenig theorized, Netanyahu could seek an election result in which the opposition bloc falls short of a majority, allowing him to remain in power as head of a transitional government until another election."
So, even as Israelis cast their vote at the ballot box, the real fight might come afterwards with coalition haggling deciding the outcome of this fateful election. Dramatis Personae long at the link
…the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel…
chief: We need to create partnerships and ‘see the other as a human being, not as an enemy’; Segalovitz: ‘The assertion that after October 7 it is impossible to maintain a political partnership with Arab parties is false’.
I am a Muslim convert to Christianity. I lived for 15 years as a Christian believer in Morocco, much of that time in what we called the underground church.
Listen carefully, because this is what “moderate Islam” looked like for…
— Brother Rachid الأخ رشيد (@BrotherRasheed) August 27, 2026
…looked like for us:
Morocco is considered one of the most moderate Muslim countries. That is true compared with Mauritania and Libya, where converts from Islam face the death penalty, or Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Pakistan, where converts face imprisonment, torture, intimidation, or severe persecution.
But here is the reality of “moderate” Morocco.
We gathered secretly in homes every Sunday because churches were for foreign Christians, not Moroccan converts. We sang in low voices so the neighbors would not hear us. We arrived two at a time to avoid suspicion. If anyone asked, we pretended it was simply a gathering of family and friends.
We baptized converts in bathtubs.
I was baptized in a bathtub myself. A missionary and a few Moroccan Christians were the only people present.
We kept our house churches small, usually fewer than twenty people. When they became too large, we split them. Christmas and a few special occasions were exceptions.
Police raided Christian gatherings, confiscated Christian materials, dragged believers to police stations, interrogated them, threatened them, and humiliated them with vulgar language.
Our children had to go to school and study Islam and memorize the Quran even though their parents were Christians.
We could not freely give our children Christian names. The government did not need to write “Christian names are forbidden” in bold letters. The authorities simply refused to register them.
Our marriages were treated as Islamic marriages under Sharia because the Moroccan state refused to recognize us for what we actually were: Moroccan Christians.
A Moroccan Christian woman could not simply marry a foreign Christian man as a Christian. He had to establish before the authorities that he was Muslim because, according to the government, she was still a Muslim.
The state decided our religion for us.
Even death did not end it.
When a Moroccan Christian died, he was buried in a Muslim cemetery under Islamic rituals because the government still considered him Muslim. I remember one Moroccan Christian who died in Tangier. We had to do the impossible to get his body to Ceuta so he could receive a Christian funeral.
Imagine having to smuggle your religious identity across a border just to be buried according to your own faith.
We could not establish our own legal Moroccan churches. We could not get permission to build even one church for Moroccan converts. Our house churches were illegal gatherings. We lived at the mercy of the police. Any meeting could be raided. Any neighbor could report us.
Foreign Christians had churches.
Moroccan Christians had secrecy, whispers, living rooms, bathtubs, police interrogations, and fear.
And then Muslims lecture the West about “Islamophobia.”
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.
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
