Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa Horn

Former PM Hamdok dismisses Sudanese army''s new government as ''fake'' - Sudan Tribune

2025-06-06

[SUDANTRIBUNE] Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
's former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Wednesday dismissed the military's recent moves to form a new government as ''fake,'' saying battlefield gains would not end the country's two-year civil war.

In a rare interview with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, Hamdok, who now leads a civilian coalition from exile, said no military victory, in Khartoum or elsewhere, could end the conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

''Whether Khartoum is captured or not captured, it's irrelevant,'' Hamdok told AP on the sidelines of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's governance conference in Morocco. ''There is no military solution to this. No side will be able to have outright victory.''

Hamdok became Sudan's first civilian prime minister in 2019, following decades of military rule, and attempted to lead a democratic transition. He resigned in January 2022 following a turbulent period that included his ouster in a coup and brief reinstatement. The following year, warring generals plunged the country into civil war, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left at least 24,000 people dead, though many believe the true toll is far higher. Both factions are accused of war crimes, with the RSF, which has roots in Darfur's Janjaweed militia, accused of carrying out genocide. The army is accused of using chemical weapons

...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented...
and targeting civilians.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

An elephant in the dock. How Poroshenko hid billions from Zelensky with his wife

2025-06-06

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

by Taisiya Svetlichnaya
In Ukraine, there is a new round of dispossession of Zelensky's iconic political rivals. This time, it is Petro Poroshenko, who was crushed by an elephant. And this is no joke.

Having fallen under personal sanctions, one of the richest people in the country and its former president decided to save his property from arrest and confiscation by formalizing it by dividing everything the family owns. At the end of March of this year, the ex-president's wife Marina filed a lawsuit in the Kryzhopolsky Court of the Vinnytsia Region demanding that all the property acquired with Petro be divided and that she be given what she claims.

And the claims were estimated at 17 billion hryvnia.

Here are shares of enterprises, cash, and real estate. First of all, a controlling stake in an investment fund that lays golden eggs in the form of dividends: 1.6 billion hryvnia for 2024 alone.

According to the wording of the lawsuit, the husband was supposed to be left with a 2021 Honda motorcycle, a semi-trailer, a four-year-old Volvo, a share in a company that has been in a state of cessation of operations since 2016, 3.19 billion hryvnia in cash for a simple, modest life, as well as several paintings and an elephant sculpture by Salvador Dali, purchased in 2012 at a Sotheby's auction for $338.5 thousand.

And of the nearly fifty works of art listed in her husband’s declaration, Marina Poroshenko wanted to keep 32 for herself, including works by Russian artists Korovin, Polenov, Levitan and Bryullov – despite the proclaimed policy of “decolonization” and separation from the terrible past associated with Russia.

As of the date of the claim, the value of the art objects was estimated at more than 100 million euros. A trifle compared to Marina's property, but still nice.

Although in this family there are no trifles when it comes to money. Therefore, the oligarch's wife demanded and returned from the state 15 thousand hryvnia (about 28 thousand rubles), spent on filing a lawsuit against her husband.

"The lawsuit on division of property is a general tactic of protecting the Poroshenko family from Zelensky's attempts to block Petro Poroshenko's ability to finance assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and political activities. Since Zelensky, with his decree on sanctions, prohibited Petro Poroshenko from making any transactions, even paying taxes, the financing of the Poroshenko Charitable Foundation can only be unblocked through a corresponding court decision," this is how the press service of Poroshenko's European Solidarity party explained what is happening, but is in no hurry to explain anything about the 15 thousand hryvnias taken from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

And it seems that the idea of a fictitious division of everything “acquired through backbreaking labor” could result in new accusations of fraud.

The court closed the proceedings because there was no subject of dispute between the spouses, but only an oral agreement on the division of property. And against the backdrop of the lawsuit, the couple exchanged touching photos on social networks, demonstrating love and mutual respect, which confirmed the business basis of the divorce.

In addition, the above-mentioned private collection of paintings was recognized by the State Bureau of Investigation in 2020 as material evidence in a criminal case on smuggling, tax evasion, laundering of property obtained by criminal means, and forgery of security documents. So the attempt to rescue the property "to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine" is not counted.

And the former president of Ukraine came under the sights of Ukrainian security forces literally immediately after he lost power.

Let us recall that in 2019 he lost the next presidential elections with a bang. At first, the motive of the new "green" government to persecute Poroshenko was justified by the fact that Zelensky, during the election campaign in the style of "stadium - so stadium" promised a lot and thickly to deal with the corruption of his predecessor.

In some remote places in Ukraine, remnants of election posters are still hanging around: “Spring will come - we will plant!”

Then the grip of the new government, dizzy with success, permissiveness and impunity, weakened, and Poroshenko was left alone for a while. But after visiting the British intelligence office in October 2020, Zelensky made a 180-degree turn in ideological terms. And the ex-president turned out to be his direct competitor in cultivating the nationalist electorate.

They took on him with renewed vigor.

They dug up dirt on him - cooperation with the main pro-Russian politician and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, secret trade with the DPR-LPR, indirect financing of the Russian army through paying taxes to his candy factory in Lipetsk, illegal appropriation of state oil pipeline networks and much more.

All these criminal cases, and there are more than a dozen of them, threaten Poroshenko with the complete confiscation of the enormous fortune that he has accumulated over the years in power - he stole, caroled, robbed, took away, and raided.

And then personal sanctions arrived, under which a simple Ukrainian oligarch could lose everything. As a result, the family went for a fictitious division of property and money.

Although the persecution of the ex-president is not the fight against corruption that Zelensky promised his supporters at the dawn of his political career.

Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky knelt during debates in 2019
Suitcases of cash confiscated during searches at medical commissions, TCCs and military commissars, huge shortages of foreign aid money, constant scandals with purchases of everything and anything for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at inflated prices, holes in the budget, wild news about the number of the most expensive cars in the world imported to Ukraine and even the country's constantly growing corruption rating - all this testifies to the fact that no one is fighting corruption. Moreover, it has simply been successfully led.

The sanctions against Poroshenko are just a primitive and banal competitive struggle for the electorate. Here is what one of the leading Ukrainian media resources, Novoye Vremya, which is in the orbit of the "Sorosites", wrote:

"Amid the uncertainty of the war in Ukraine, the "shaping operations" continue. The goal is clear - to create a political landscape that, if elections are held, will allow Volodymyr Zelensky to have an opponent who is easy to defeat..."

Poroshenko, who has a whole network of opinion leaders, "talking heads", experts of all stripes, is quite good at snapping back. The publication Eadaily broadcast the sedition that "Poroshenko's people organized a powerful campaign called "President Zelensky's powers have ended", and there are no grounds like "martial law" that allow him to rule in violation of the term allotted by the constitution.

Also, having a long experience of political intrigue, the “gray-haired hetman” is trying to attract famous people to his political team, for example, making plans to put the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny into politics.

And since Poroshenko has pretty good connections with the European political establishment, he continued to go to all sorts of political events in the EU. And now he has enough strength to shake up Europe if prison looms over him.

It will be quite problematic for Zelensky to imprison an unloved opponent. And is it necessary? It is easier to pluck Petro Oleksiyovych like a chicken, depriving him of money, TV channels, blocking his pocket speakers from speaking on central channels. And the experience of the confrontation between Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko shows that imprisoning an opponent who lost the election battle will not benefit, but harm the winner: a sitting political competitor instantly turns into an electorally resourceful leader of the "opposition".

Therefore, we predict that the matter will end with just a small fright, everyday problems and banking difficulties.

The political landscape of Ukraine will not change from these fights of spiders in a jar. Only the owner of certain wealth, resources and opportunities can change. After all, Zelensky and his entourage use the topic of fighting corruption as a screen for dispossession of the rich, emptying other people's money bags, degreasing all those who have at least something stuck to their hands, and robbing ordinary rank-and-file entrepreneurs.

For this purpose, a rather effective, albeit primitive, scheme was devised: personal sanctions against one’s own citizens.

The businessmen Boguslaevs, politicians Novinsky, Medvedchuk, Zhevago, Shufrich, Boyko, various owners of very profitable businesses - casinos, rich smugglers and thieves in law - were caught in the crossfire.

Some of them said that they were offered a bribe to remove their name from the sanctions list. In particular, influential businessman and smuggler Seyar Kurshutov, according to whom "security officials trade places on the sanctions list, even if a person had no chance of getting there. They call businessmen... instill fear, and then offer to remove you from the list."

The Ukrainian publication “Strana UA”, citing Kurshutov, also cites the “anti-sanction price” – from 100,000 to 3 million dollars.

In general, Zelensky's time is passing under the motto "rob the loot". Young boys in beautiful suits, girls with a dubious reputation, stand-up comedians from "95th quarter", who went to parliament, the government and the presidential office in 2019, turned out to be no better than the post-Maidan power of Poroshenko. And considering their role in bringing a huge 40-million country to suicide, they cannot be compared with the power of a huckster, a profiteer and a thief.

The elephant Dali may be confiscated from Poroshenko. But the country will not be saved.

Link

Home Front: WoT

The Gift that Keeps on Giving - Nearly One-Quarter Of U.S. Public School Enrollment Could Be Anchor Babies

2025-06-06

[Federalist] Returning noncitizen children and noncitizen parents to their countries could save taxpayers hundreds of billions, especially in state budgets.

A few simple calculations indicate that as much as one-quarter of U.S. public school enrollment could be anchor babies, meaning children with at least one parent illegally present in the United States. This alone amounts to at least $145.6 billion in public resources diverted from U.S. citizens every year.

Here’s the math. In April, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that 17 percent of school-age children, or nine million kids, in the United States are children of at least one illegal alien. The New York Times has reported on the estimate. Some of these children are also foreign citizens, while some were born in the United States. Under a longstanding court misinterpretation, being born in the United States currently confers U.S. citizenship. Almost no other developed countries confer citizenship solely by birth location.

That’s already one in six kids in the United States who are legally subject to deportation to continue living with their parents. If you also assume that all of this population attends public schools, the percentage is more than 17. That’s because only 80 percent of U.S. kids attend a traditional public school, according to 2024 figures from EdChoice.

There were 50 million school-age kids in the United States in 2024, according to ChildStats.gov (adding in the five-year-olds to match the anchor baby age range and assuming there were 4 million of them, an equal age distribution among the 0-5 figure). Eighty percent of 50 is 40, so 40 million of the total 50 million U.S. kids went to public schools in 2024. Nine million anchor babies out of that total 40 million public-school attendees suggests 22.5 percent of U.S. public school enrollment could be anchor babies.

WHY THIS IS A REASONABLE FIGURE
Yes, these are estimates, and some very broad math. If anything, however, official estimates tend underestimate illegal migration, given its, well, illegal and illicit nature. So it’s absolutely within a reasonable range to assume somewhere around a quarter of U.S, public school enrollment is anchor babies.

It’s also fair to assume just about all anchor babies attend assigned public schools, for multiple reasons. First, public benefits are a key motivation for many foreign trespassers, as virtually all come from countries that spend far less on public services, including education. Even Kaiser says, “about three in four (77%) immigrant adults say they moved to the U.S. for a better future for their children.”

Plus, as even Kaiser and the NYT acknowledge, illegal immigrant households on average have significantly less income than the average American household. If the average U.S. household would prefer to enroll their children in private schools but doesn’t because of tuition, as EdChoice surveys have shown for years, illegally present foreigners are hardly likely to do so in any noticeable number.

HUGE IMPLICATIONS
Now for some more math related to the taxpayer costs just of educating these nine million kids who would not be in the United States without lawbreaking. Federal statistics estimate U.S. taxpayers spent an average of $16,280 per student in school year 2020-21, the latest data available.

Nine million anchor babies times $16,280 each is $145.6 billion. Per year. Again, this is probably a lowball figure, for several reasons. First, taxpayer spending per pupil is higher today than in 2020, given the vast “Covid” money shoveled out and the resulting inflation pressuring legislatures to raise education spending for “teachers’ salaries” since then.

Second, the illegal immigrant population disproportionately hides in higher-spending blue states such as California, Illinois, and New York. New York taxpayers will shell out approximately $35,012 per student in the coming school year. In 2023, California public schools spent nearly $19,000 per student per year. In 2024, Illinois schools spent nearly $24,000 per student. This is another reason U.S. taxpayer spending on students who shouldn’t be in the United States is likely far higher than our $145.6 billion per year estimate.

Some might dismiss this astronomical figure as a rounding error in at least the federal budget. (Please, donate such “rounding errors” to my retirement fund!) But every dollar spent on a child who is rightly another country’s responsibility is a dollar not available for an American citizen. Further, this figure extended just seven years — about half of a child’s K-12 experience — totals $1 trillion. That’s half the current federal deficit.

A HUGE CHUNK OF STATE BUDGETS
The fiscal distortions of just this one cost of illegal immigration are enormous, perhaps especially at the state level. States spend about half of their budgets on K-12, meaning 22.5 percent of fraudulent public school enrollment deprives legislatures of approximately one-tenth their annual revenue. That’s a ton of money not spent on other things taxpayers might prefer instead, including a pretty good tax cut.

To take an example: This year Indiana faced a $2.4 billion shortfall out of its $44 billion two-year budget. Indiana still managed to increase K-12 spending by 2 percent to $19 billion over the next two years. Indiana has approximately 1 million K-12 students, so that means it is spending $9,500 per student per year at solely the state level, meaning not including local and federal tax dollars.

If the average 22.5 percent of Indiana’s public school students are illegal aliens or their children, sending them to their home countries would alone have nearly solved Indiana’s $2 billion budget shortfall. That would be 225,000 students, at an annual state cost of $2.14 billion. Again, that doesn’t include the local and federal tax costs, which together are about the same amount as state expenditures, meaning it would have saved local taxpayers across Indiana another approximately $2 billion, not to mention all the downstream potential savings in smaller school buildings, less curriculum and supplies, and so on.

This means Indiana’s entire 2025 budget shortfall could have been due to the presence of illegal aliens, and solved by sending them where they belong. At the very least, illegal migration was a significant factor in the shortfall the legislature solved mostly with cuts to services and a dramatic cigarette tax increase.

Other spending on illegals — Medicaid, housing and food aid, etc. discussed at the link.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

As Gazans clamor for aid, looting and shootings underscore new dangers

2025-06-05

[IsraelTimesJ Resumption of assistance brings a truckload of deadly issues, as competing actors struggle to safely feed Gazans amid mix of soldiers, armed gangs and terrorists clinging to power

Hundreds of trucks of food and other assistance have entered the Strip since Jerusalem began allowing aid into the Strip last month following an 11-week hiatus, Israeli officials say.

Some of the aid has gone to the US- and Israel-backed 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...
Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial new organization that operates four designated aid distribution centers where boxes of assistance are handed to individuals.
"controversial"

“Not one of us, darling” is always distateful.

At the same time, assistance has continued to flow via the previous mechanism coordinated by the UN and other humanitarian organizations, which handle logistics and distribution to warehouses and facilities across the Strip. While it enjoys international legitimacy, Israel says the method leaves the aid supplies vulnerable to being taken by the Hamas
Hamas

..always the voice of sweet reason...
terror group, against which it is waging war.

After a blockade from March 2 to May 19, footage now shows humanitarian warehouses being restocked and aid being distributed. But the past two weeks have also seen a sharp rise in reports of looting, both spontaneous and organized, as well as ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful confrontations involving both Hamas operatives and Israeli forces near aid sites.

While Hamas and others have accused Israel of shooting and killing Paleostinians seeking aid, some have fingered Hamas and local gangs in Gaza as responsible for violence surrounding the aid.

According to Michael Milshtein, who heads the Paleostinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, a Hamas unit known as Sahm appears to be taking brutal action against suspected looters.

"Everyone I speak with in Gaza talks about them. They are executing people left and right," Milshtein told the Times of Israel of Sahm. He said the unit was tasked with "enforcing all order" in Gaza.

A Telegram channel linked to the unit regularly publishes reports and footage of operations against alleged criminals and collaborators. Daily updates show individuals in Gaza being "handled" by Hamas mechanisms, meaning beaten or killed, reportedly for involvement in aid theft.

On Tuesday, the channel reported that Sahm had executed seven Gazooks accused of theft and collaboration with Israel.

Despite over a year and a half of war, with thousands of its fighters estimated to have been killed, Milshtein said Hamas remains "the one dominant actor in Gaza that continues to enforce order."

"It is battered, it is limited, a pale shadow of what it was on October 7, 2023 — but let’s not be mistaken, it hasn’t disappeared or vanished, not even from people’s hearts," he said. "I don’t see the classic Middle Eastern signs of a regime collapse. There is no mass surrender of Hamas, no white flags, no Hamas members being hunted down in the streets. There are protests, there are gangs, but every time I check, I don’t see indications that something fundamentally different is about to happen."

LOOTINGS SPREAD
Numerous incidents of large-scale looting have been documented across the Strip since the renewal of humanitarian aid

deliveries to Gaza. In some cases, looters appear to be desperate Gazook individuals, though Gaza-based social media has also documented organized raids throughout the war, often carried out by gangs, some with criminal records.

On May 25, dozens of Gazooks were filmed approaching a truck carrying humanitarian aid in central Gaza City. Gunfire was heard, and the crowd dispersed, though it remains unclear whether looting ultimately took place.

The shots are believed to have been fired by Hamas or another local security force; the IDF does not protect aid convoys inside Gaza, only maintaining a presence near the designated distribution zones managed by GHF.

Days later, footage from the overnight hours between May 27 and May 28 showed dozens of Gazooks looting a humanitarian aid truck that had arrived in the market area of Nuseirat in central Gaza. Reports indicated the truck was initially intended to deliver supplies to the north, where humanitarian organizations were to oversee an orderly distribution.

On May 28, videos circulated on social media showing hundreds of people looting a large warehouse containing what appeared to be humanitarian supplies, including sacks of flour.

Though anti-Hamas media outlets claimed the warehouse belonged to the terror group, portraying it as evidence of popular anger against Gaza’s rulers, the World Food Program — a UN organization — eventually clarified that the footage showed its Deir al-Balah warehouse. It confirmed that two people were killed during the looting, but did not disclose the circumstances of their deaths.

Hamas, which some reports accused of opening fire on the looters, denied firing on civilians.

It remains unclear whether Hamas had any role in the looting or whether it was responsible for securing the looted warehouses.

On June 1, the Israel Defense Forces released drone footage showing armed Gazook operatives firing at people attempting to pick up aid supplies in Khan Younis, accusing Hamas of trying to block aid from reaching Gazooks.

"Hamas is a brutal and murderous terrorist organization that is starving Gaza’s population. It is doing everything it can to sabotage successful food distribution in Gaza," the IDF said.

According to COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry unit responsible for coordinating aid into Gaza, over 1,100 truckloads of food, medicine, and medical equipment have entered the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing since May 19, including 157 trucks on Tuesday.

However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
the UN says it has been unable to pick up most of the trucks destined for humanitarian warehouses it supports due to unsafe roads and access issues, with only 200 truckloads retrieved from the crossing as of May 27.

Jonathan Whittall, who heads the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Paleostinian territories, accused Israel of attempting to impede aid deliveries.

"We face challenges in collecting goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing due to insecurity, long delays in receiving the necessary permits, being given inappropriate transport routes, and facing crowd desperation and looting — all a result of restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities," he told news hounds. "There is no logistical solution to a political decision designed to obstruct aid."

A UN official told The Times of Israel that it avoids using armed security to guard shipments, instead relying on coordination with local community representatives to reduce looting by Gazooks. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
the tactic becomes less effective as desperation rises.

GANGING UP
Humanitarian officials have in the past spoken of working with local clan leaders to secure shipments through areas under their nominal control, and reports have indicated that Israel has also mulled similar moves.

While details are murky, some arrangements can apparently involve protection rackets in which armed gangs of looters are paid off with a cut of the aid to keep other looters away.

In recent weeks, reports have proliferated of an gang known as Abu Shabaab, composed of members of a single family, operating near Kerem Shalom in a zone under Israeli military control. Footage published online, including by clan leader Yasser Abu Shabaab, show the gang wearing military-style uniforms with the Paleostinian flag and the words "Counter-Terrorism Mechanism" emblazoned on them.

"The Abu Shabaab story frightens me the most," said Milshtein. "It’s blatantly clear that Israel is either backing or tolerating this gang, and this reflects the worst patterns of past Israeli behavior in the Arab world — making deals with shady criminals, just like in the 1980s when Israel supported the Christian Phalangists in Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
against the [Paleostine Liberation Organization]."

"Everyone I speak to in Gaza says the Abu Shabaab clan are drug pushers and thieves," he added. "Before becoming a proxy for Israel, they were looting aid convoys."

Israel has refused to answer questions about any alleged relationship with Abu Shabaab, though the two appear to share an enemy in Hamas.

On May 30, Hamas released an official video showing a group of armed, masked men operating outside a building before being blown up. Hamas claimed the group in the video were working with the IDF to inspect buildings before Israeli troops move in, without specifying whether they were Israeli or Paleostinian.

However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
online comparisons to previous images of Abu Shabaab’s gang suggested it was the same group, indicating that Hamas views the gang as a threat.

According to Milshtein, Hamas had previously killed 20 members of the clan as part of its crackdown on looters.

"Hamas will destroy them, even if it’s difficult," he said.

’DEATH TRAP’
Seeking to keep aid out the hands of Hamas, Israel and the US have backed a new aid mechanism in which assistance is distributed to Gazook individuals at sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund.

The UN and other humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF mechanism, saying it does not comply with humanitarian principles by turning aid into a tool of Israel’s military campaign and forcing Gazooks to travel long distances through IDF lines to reach the assistance, exposing them to danger.

In recent days, those concerns have been animated by a series of deadly shootings outside a GHF distribution site in Rafah, after the IDF apparently opened fire toward Paleostinians who had approached troops after straying off a pre-approved path for reaching a Rafah distribution site.

Hamas health authorities have claimed 61 people were killed and hundreds more maimed in shootings on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The figures have not been verified and the IDF has accused the terror group of inflating them.

GHF, which has been beset by controversy, has described the reports of shootings and other violence at aid distribution sites as part of a Hamas propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting the operation, in messaging echoed by Israel and the US.

Nonetheless, GHF shut down its sites for a day on Wednesday to work out measures with the IDF to enhance security and keep future shootings from taking place.

"There are many troubling aspects to this new aid mechanism," Milshtein said. "Everything is opaque — we don’t know how much is being distributed, or what percentage of the total aid that is."

Taken together, the looting of aid trucks and issues with GHF highlight the complexities and dangers surrounding aid delivery in war-torn Gaza, as overlapping claims from the IDF, Hamas, humanitarian groups, and international organizations like the UN create a murky picture of responsibility and reality on the ground.

Milshtein argued that Hamas had managed to take advantage of that fog to create a prevailing picture of Gazooks having to risk their lives just to receive food, with Israel to blame, regardless of whether it reflects reality.

"Since Sunday, Hamas’s narrative of an ’aid massacre’ has become the dominant one globally, not just among Paleostinians," he lamented. "The UNRWA commissioner-general even called the aid distribution centers a ’death trap.’ That ultimately affects the situation on the ground — it impacts Gazooks’ motivation to come to the distribution sites."

The Times of Israel has more on the subject here.
and elsewhere on the Internet:

BREAKING: Hamas has openly announced “field executions” of Palestinians who went to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for food.

They’re publicly murdering their own people for seeking aid—and the media somehow keeps “missing” the story. pic.twitter.com/km627Fc3jx
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) June 3, 2025

Link

Home Front: WoT

Federal money trail leads to Chinese scientists charged in shocking pathogen plot, memos show

2025-06-05

[JustTheNews] The pair indicted this week worked with a University of Michigan laboratory helmed and the FBI is calling the federal funding a possible bioterrorism security risk.

Two Chinese scientists charged in a shocking plot to smuggle a toxic pathogen into the United States worked at an American laboratory led by more senior Chinese scientists funded by the U.S. government, according to federal spending records and the researchers' own disclosures.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged Tuesday with smuggling a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States in 2024. The fungus is classified in the scientific literature as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” because it affects wheat, barley, maize, and rice by causing “head blight,” according to the Justice Department.

The incident is again raising concerns about the tendrils of Chinese Communist Party influence inside U.S. research institutions and broader society, just five years after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed federal funding to a lab in Wuhan, China where the virus is believed to have escaped and where dangerous gain of function research was being conducted.

The Justice Department noted Yunqing Jian’s electronics contained evidence describing “her membership in and loyalty” to the Chinese Communist Party. The Trump administration, especially the FBI, have doubled down on efforts to root out Chinese Communist Party influence, especially in higher education, by revoking visas for Chinese students at American schools.

FUNDING FROM U.S. TAXPAYERS
Records reviewed by Just the News show that both China-born scientists charged this week were affiliated with a University of Michigan research laboratory led by two senior researchers who are also Chinese citizens and are receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health for studying plant immunity.

Ping He and Libo Shan, both of whom completed their undergraduate studies in China and doctoral and postdoctoral studies in the United States, are the senior faculty members at the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Working Groups housed at the University of Michigan’s Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. The laboratory conducts research on plant immunity, according to its website.

According to NIH records, Libo Shan and Ping He received more than $7.6 million in total funding between two sponsored projects, awarded one to each scientist. Both NIH projects (R35GM144275 and R35GM149197) were cited in at least two research papers involving both Jian and Liu, the indicted Chinese nationals.

Other research papers on which both Jian and Liu were authors cite awards from the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The FBI told Just the News Wednesday night that it is aware of the federal funding trail and believes the entire case exposes a serious national security risk with U.S. scientific research relying on foreign scientists, particularly from commust China.

"The CCP’s quiet infiltration of our research ecosystem is a direct threat to our national security, biosecurity, and economic independence," Erica Knight, an adviser to FBI Director Kash Patel, told Just the News. "The Director understands these threats better than anyone, and under his leadership, we will aggressively root out every trace of corrupt foreign influence."

Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said the incident shows that the threat of Chinese involvement in dangerous research funded by the U.S. government, first exposed during investigations into COVID-19, is still ongoing.

“It has been obvious for years that Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins not only funded dangerous research, but directed funding to scientists loyal to China, not America,” Johnson told Just the News. “My hope is that we can uncover and expose the extent to which their blatant actions harmed our nation and the world.”

Both Jian and Liu worked with the University of Michigan laboratory led by Shan and He, according to current and archived versions of the laboratory’s webpage.

Niether Dr. Shan nor Dr. He immediately responded to requests for comment from Just the News.

The provided biography shows Yunqing Jian joined the laboratory in August 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow. She is originally from Sichuan, China and completed her doctoral studies at Zhejiang University in China in 2020 where she “studied the mechanisms of how fungi combat with plant-derived stresses,” the web page reads.

The indictment shows that Jian also received funding through China’s "Postdoctoral International Exchange Program and the Second Class of Grants from the 69th Batch of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation” from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024.

CHANGED HIS STORY AFTER QUESTIONING BY CBP
Zunyong Liu, who is reportedly in a relationship with Jian, was also affiliated with the laboratory before he returned to China in July 2024 after trying and failing to enter the United States with a red plant material in his backpack, according to the Justice Department indictment. Liu changed his story under interrogation about the biological material, prompting authorities to turn him back.

Liu was listed as a postdoctoral fellow at the Michigan laboratory until shortly before he was turned away at customs, according to an archived version of the website. He is also listed as an author on at least four scientific studies produced under the NIH grants associated with the University's laboratory, the records show.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

GHF says Gaza aid sites won’t reopen Thursday morning as planned, after one-day shutdown

2025-06-05

[IsraelTimes] Body distributing aid indicates it will resume operations later in the day, but does not say when.

The Israel-backed body leading aid distribution 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 said Wednesday its distribution sites would not be opening Thursday morning, due to maintenance and repair work.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation indicated the sites would resume operations later in the day, but did not say when.

The GHF post said the organization would share information on opening times as soon as the work is complete.

A GHF spokesperson told The Times of Israel that the organization was actively engaged in talks with the IDF to enhance the army’s security measures beyond the immediate perimeter of GHF sites.

To support civilian safety outside distribution sites, the spokesperson said GHF had asked the IDF to introduce measures that guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks near the IDF-operated perimeter around the sites; develop clearer IDF-issued guidelines to help Paleostinians safely reach the distribution sites; and boost IDF training and refine internal procedures to ensure the safety of Paleostinians.

GHF did not open its sites on Wednesday, after eight consecutive days of operation. The shutdown was implemented in order to carry out logistical work in order to more safely accommodate more Paleostinians at distribution sites.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the IDF said it fired warning shots toward Paleostinians outside an aid distribution site after they approached troops while straying off a pre-approved path. Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
officials and the Red Thingy claimed dozens were killed and hundreds maimed from gunfire. The IDF asserted that those figures were exaggerated, while saying it was investigating the allegations.

A GHF spokesperson said Tuesday that the shutdown would only last a day, but the delay in reopening indicated that its logistical work was running behind schedule.

"GHF is working to make the distribution of food boxes as safe as possible, despite the difficult circumstances. We strongly urge all those heading to our locations to follow the routes set by the IDF to ensure safe passage," the foundation said.

While much of Gaza’s population of about two million is located in southern Gaza, their tent encampments are not adjacent to GHF distribution sites, and those in northern and central Gaza have reported having to walk dozens of kilometers, sometimes while dodging IDF fire, in order to pick up a box of food. GHF has said that it is working to open new distribution sites, including in northern Gaza, but it has not given a timetable, while the tens of thousands of Paleostinians amassing at distribution sites indicate that the need for food in Gaza remains dire.

For its part, GHF has reported distributing over seven million meals from over 100,000 boxes distributed over nine days. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
the boxes contain mostly dry food products that require cooking equipment and community kitchens, which are very limited in the Strip, as fuel remains very short.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, a triangular dorsal fin appeared in the water. Then another...
the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced Wednesday that 88 humanitarian aid

trucks carrying flour and food entered the Gaza Strip throughout the day.

Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2. Since then, 1,197 trucks have entered the Strip. Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites run by the GHF. The contents of many of the trucks that entered Gaza in recent weeks are still awaiting collection on the Gazook side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF published a video it said shows a dronezap on two Paleostinian button men who were carrying bombs meant to be used in an attack on troops in the Strip.

The video appeared to show secondary blasts, indicating that the pair were carrying explosives. The strike was carried out during operations of the Nahal Brigade in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, the military said.

On Tuesday evening a reservist was killed and four soldiers were maimed in separate incidents fighting against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip. The fighting came as troops continued to advance in Gaza, in a new IDF offensive aimed at capturing 75 percent of the Strip’s territory.

The slain soldier was named as Master Sgt. (res.) Alon Farkas, 27, of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 6646th Battalion, from Kabri.

According to an initial IDF probe, a Paleostinian gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire on the paratroopers who were operating in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood. The gunman ambushed the troops from an alley and managed to flee following the attack, which seriously maimed another reservist, according to the military.

In a separate incident in the nearby town of Jabalia on Tuesday evening, Hamas used a drone to drop an explosive or a grenade on troops, according to the military. The explosion moderately maimed two soldiers of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and lightly injured a Shin Bet officer.

A day earlier, three troops were killed in Jabalia when they were hit by a roadside kaboom.

Farkas’s death on Tuesday brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 425. The toll includes two coppers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

Israel on March 18 resumed its attacks against Hamas with a wave of ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s, ending a two-month ceasefire. The IDF has since deployed five divisions to the Strip, amounting to tens of thousands of troops, and has been carrying out a wide-scale ground offensive aimed at defeating Hamas’s military wing and ending its civil rule in Gaza.

Report: Israel contributed NIS 700m to Gaza aid mechanism it claims not to fund

[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister’s Office denies Kan’s assertion that funds were transfered quietly to prevent public from knowing

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel says 157 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday

2025-06-04

[IsraelTimes] The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 157 humanitarian aid trucks carrying flour and food entered the Gaza Strip yesterday.

Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2.

Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Those sites are closed today in order to give time for the US- and Israeli-backed organization to carry out logistical work needed to safely accommodate larger crowds.

The contents of many of the trucks that entered Gaza in recent weeks are still awaiting picking up on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The aid underwent an inspection by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the crossing.

The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Key US consulting firm withdraws from American- and Israeli-backed Gaza aid agency

2025-06-04

This is the third CEO — the group has a seriously deep bench at the C-Suite level.

[IsraelTimes] Boston Consulting Group’s termination of contract with Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will make agency’s job harder, sources say; GHF names interfaith leader Johnnie Moore as new CEO

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a US management consulting firm that helped establish the new American- and Israeli-backed aid distribution mechanism 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...
, has abandoned the project, a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said Monday.

Confirming a report by The Washington Post, the spokesperson said BCG had called back its team from Tel Aviv on Friday.

The report came as GHF announced it would appoint US evangelical interfaith leader Rev. Johnnie Moore as its new executive chairman, following the departure of CEO Jack Wood last month.

According to the report, BCG had been responsible for setting the payment and procurement rates for a network of contractors tasked with constructing four GHF aid centers in southern Gaza, one of which is not yet active. GHF began handing out food boxes in Gaza last week in a scheme supported by Washington and Jerusalem to circumvent Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
in the distribution of aid.

A BCG spokesperson cited by the Post said the consultancy had ended its contract with GHF and placed a senior partner overseeing the project on leave pending an internal review.

BCG had offered its services to the humanitarian effort on a pro bono basis and did not receive any compensation for its work, said the BCG spokesperson. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
another person familiar with the project disputed the spokesperson’s account and said BCG had submitted invoices for more than $1 million each month, according to the Post.

The newspaper cited "three people closely connected" to both BCG and GHF as saying the consultancy’s withdrawal would make it more difficult for the new aid distribution to continue operating.

The BCG withdrawal adds to the challenges faced by the GHF since it began operations, including the rejection of the new distribution scheme by the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
and other humanitarian groups; the departure of Wood, who left before any of the distribution sites opened, citing concern that the agency could not adhere to humanitarian principles; and reports, denied by GHF, that Israeli troops have killed dozens of Paleostinian aid seekers.

After nearly three months in which it had halted aid to Gaza, Israel announced last week the start of the new distribution system, meant to keep supplies from reaching Hamas members.

Israel has accused the terror group of hoarding humanitarian supplies that the country began letting into the Strip. The ongoing war was sparked by Hamas’s terror onslaught of October 7, 2023.

The new system has come under harsh condemnation from the United Nations, rights groups and foreign countries that say it does not sufficiently address the Strip’s humanitarian needs.

Humanitarian agencies have said the GHF system requires aid seekers to walk long distances in dangerous areas, and risks overcrowding the distribution sites. The UN has also said the Strip needs some 500-600 truckloads of aid a day, while GHF has reported distributing a few dozen truckloads each day.

According to GHF, the agency has to date distributed 7 million meals at three distribution sites. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
the number is based on boxes of dry food products that require cooking equipment or community kitchens, which are limited throughout the war-torn Strip.

Moore, the agency’s new CEO, said shortly before his appointment that he has had "several really encouraging meetings" in recent weeks with the Red Thingy, which has refused to participate in the GHF.

"We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we have always found ways to collaborate meaningfully together," he said. "We trust one another."

Commenting on his new job, Moore added, "GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority."

"We welcome others to join us and urge extreme caution against sharing unverified information from sources that have repeatedly issued demonstrably false reports," said Moore, referring to the dozens of Paleostinians reported killed near the GHF sites.

"False reporting of violence at our sites has a chilling effect on the local population and we can think of no greater disservice to a community in dire need."

Moore has served as a liaison between evangelical Christians and US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
and is a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is outspoken on religious freedom and toleration, and meets regularly with Middle Eastern heads of state.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Seeking to bolster security after repeated shootings, GHF says sites closed Wednesday

2025-06-04

[IsraelTimes] Aid group says it’s working to accommodate larger crowds and has made a series of requests to IDF aimed at boosting safety measures after three straight days of mass-casualty incidents
"Thursday is Soylent Orange Day!"
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...
Humanitarian Foundation announced that its aid distribution sites would not operate on Wednesday in order to give time for the US- and Israeli-backed organization to carry out logistical work needed to accommodate larger crowds.

The extra day will also give the IDF time to prepare safer access routes to distribution sites before operations resume on Thursday, a GHF spokesperson said, after a third consecutive day saw a mass-casualty incident targeting Paleostinians seeking to pick up boxes of food.

The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson also issued a statement warning Paleostinians that travel on roads leading to the aid sites would be prohibited in the interim, as they are considered combat zones.

Another GHF spokesperson told The Times of Israel that the organization is actively engaged in talks with the IDF to enhance the army’s security measures beyond the immediate perimeter of GHF sites.

To support civilian safety outside distribution sites, the spokesperson said GHF has asked the IDF to introduce measures that guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks near the IDF-operated perimeter around the sites; develop clearer IDF-issued guidelines to help Paleostinians safely reach the distribution sites; and boost IDF training and refine internal procedures to ensure the safety of Paleostinians.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the IDF opened fire toward Paleostinians who had approached troops after straying off a pre-approved path for reaching a Rafah distribution site.

Hamas
Hamas

..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
health authorities claimed 31 people were killed and 170 others were maimed in the Sunday incident; three people were killed and 35 were maimed in the Monday incident; and 27 were killed and 90 were maimed in the Tuesday incident.

The figures were not verified, and the IDF asserted on Tuesday that Hamas was inflating them.

A senior IDF official told the Axios news site Tuesday that initial findings from a probe into the shootings near indicated that Paleostinians mistakenly approached soldiers after getting lost on their way to the aid center.

The UN and aid organizations warned for weeks that such incidents would result from forcing Gaza’s entire population of two million people to travel long distances and pass through IDF lines in order to reach the GHF’s distribution sites.

Israel and the US have promoted the GHF model, arguing that it can effectively box Hamas out of the aid distribution process after the terror group managed to divert much of the aid that was coming in through the UN and other international organizations — charges that those groups have denied.

GHF has been operating between one and three sites each day since beginning operations on May 26. Two of the sites are located in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, while a third is located adjacent to the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza.

While much of Gaza’s population of about two million is located in southern Gaza, their tent encampments are not adjacent to GHF distribution sites, and those in northern and central Gaza have reported having to walk dozens of kilometers, sometimes while dodging IDF fire, in order to pick up a box of food.

GHF has said that it is working to open new distribution sites, including in northern Gaza, but it has not given any timetable, as the tens of thousands of Paleostinians amassing at distribution sites indicate that the need for food in Gaza remains dire.

Israel blocked any aid from entering the Strip for almost all of March, April and May in an effort to squeeze Hamas in the ongoing hostage negotiations, but IDF officials privately acknowledged that the blockade brought the Strip to the brink of starvation.

For its part, GHF has boasted being able to distribute over 7 million meals from over 100,000 boxes distributed over nine days. The boxes contain mostly dry food products, though, that require cooking equipment and community kitchens, which are very limited in the Strip, as fuel remains very limited.

Separately on Tuesday, UN diplomats told Rooters that 10 Security Council members have asked the 15-member body to hold a Wednesday vote on a draft resolution that demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties."

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britannia or La Belle France — to pass. This one is likely to be vetoed by the US, though, which has ardently defended Israel at the UN, while placing sole blame for the conflict on Hamas.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

IDF rejects ‘exaggerated’ Hamas claims of people killed by troops near Gaza aid site

2025-06-04

See the Washington Post’s apology here.

[IsraelTimes] Spokesman says army probing 3rd incident in as many days, acknowledges troops fired warning shots but insists they ‘didn’t hit that many people as far as we understand’

The Israel Defense Forces’ Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin on Tuesday accused Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
of making "exaggerated" claims about deadly incidents over the past three days near US- and Israel-backed aid distribution sites in southern 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 IDF front man’s televised presser also featured the presentation of a map of military positions in the Strip and new details on the deaths of three troops Monday.

"This week, it was claimed that the IDF fired on civilians at the aid distribution site. This is a totally false report, it echoes Hamas propaganda," said Defrin at his presser, referring to reports of 31 people killed near a site in Rafah early Sunday.

"This did not happen," he said of those reports.

"Hamas disseminates false information, which is unfortunately taken by some international media without verification," said Defrin, even as The News Agency that Dare Not be Named released a statement standing by its coverage of Sunday’s incident.

The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots at Paleostinians about a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site before it opened for distribution on Sunday. However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
it denied that any gunfire took place "within" the aid site during opening hours, and GHF said the aid distribution went on without incident.

On Tuesday morning, Hamas again reported dozens of people killed and injured at the aid site in Rafah, but GHF denied the reports. Asked about those reports, Defrin reiterated the military’s response that troops had fired warning shots, but said troops "didn’t hit that many people as far as we understand [and] we will continue to investigate."

"The numbers given by Hamas were the same. It reported 29 on Sunday and today — exaggerated. We are investigating," he said.

"We fired warning shots toward a group of people who posed a threat to our forces, far from where they were supposed to be. Warning shots were fired, not to hit anyone," said Defrin, referring to Tuesday’s reports. "According to the claims, people were hit, so we are investigating, but it will take time."

Defrin added that he was aware of criticism that the IDF takes too long to investigate such claims. "We will not report information or details that are not true," he said. "Reliability is critical, even if it takes time."

He said, "Hamas is losing control of the population" in Gaza because GHF prevented the terror group from controlling humanitarian aid

in the Strip.

"Alongside the continuous military pressure against Hamas, its rule is cracking and is being undermined," said Defrin. "Each day, tens of thousands of food packages are handed out, directly to residents."

During the presser, Defrin said three troops who were killed in action on Monday in northern Gaza’s Jabalia were hit by roadside kabooms planted by button men who had set out from a tunnel hidden inside a partially demolished building.

"The holy warriors set out from a tunnel shaft in a building and planted the bombs. This is an active tunnel that is used for terror," he said.

"The entrance to the tunnel is located inside a destroyed building, close to a route. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that this building is a military target, like tens of thousands of other buildings in Gaza that are used for terror," Defrin said.

"Nearly every other building is booby-trapped and contains a tunnel entrance. We are demolishing these homes, not for the sake of destruction. Every building that is destroyed poses an operational threat and could harm our forces," he said.

The IDF has accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques and hospitals, throughout the war sparked on October 7, 2023, when the terror group invaded Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

Defrin also presented for the first time a map showing troop deployment in the IDF’s renewed ground offensive in Gaza, which the military said last month would seek to seize 75 percent of the Strip.

According to the map, the Gaza Division is operating in the Rafah area, the 36th and 98th divisions are pushing into Khan Younis from the south and east, the 252nd is operating in Gaza City and the Netzarim Corridor area, and the 162nd is fighting Hamas in the Strip’s north.

AP STANDS BY REPORTING AS ISRAEL, US SLAM MEDIA GAZA COVERAGE

…unlike the Washington Post, which shows relative level of professional ethics.

In an online briefing for international media, a government front man reiterated the military’s response to Gaza casualties reported Tuesday, saying troops had "diligently" fired warning shots at suspects who approached them roughly half a kilometer (0.3 miles) away from the Rafah aid site.

"Let’s be clear: Israel is not preventing Gazooks from accessing humanitarian aid, and the IDF did not fire at civilians in or near aid distribution zones," said David Mencer. "The IDF is doing everything in its power to allow Gazooks to get to the humanitarian aid."

Referring to the casualties reported on Sunday, Mencer said, "The IDF’s initial investigation confirms that serious accusations made on Sunday in so much of the media... were based on Hamas propaganda."

He said the IDF had already "put out materials proving them to be false and baseless."

In fact, the IDF has not issued any materials from the incident in Rafah to prove its account of what happened there. The IDF did release a video from an unrelated event later Sunday, which the military explicitly said was from Khan Younis and not Rafah.

Mencer said it was "clear that Hamas is trying their hardest to keep its own people, Gazooks, away from the GHF distribution sites."

"We urge the media — do not amplify Hamas disinformation. Verify before reporting," Mercer said. "It’s a battle of the narrative, and too many global newsrooms have become foot soldiers for Hamas."

The statement came after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday accused foreign outlets of fomenting antisemitism with their coverage, leading to an attack on pro-Israel protesters in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, and the killing of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington last month.

Responding to Huckabee’s statement, The News Agency that Dare Not be Named said it stood by its reporting, which the news agency said included multiple eyewitness accounts, interviews with health and hospital officials and the Red Thingy, as well as statements from the IDF and GHF.

"The Israeli military later released a video of what it said were masked men firing at civilians trying to collect aid, which the AP included in its coverage. That video was shot in daylight from the city of Khan Younis, miles from the incident in Rafah that witnesses described," the AP statement said.

"The Rafah incident occurred in an Israeli military zone that international journalists have been barred from entering except on approved military embeds. AP and other news organizations have repeatedly called for international journalists to be allowed into Gaza to report on the war," the statement added.

Huckabee had cited "drone video and first-hand accounts" as showing that the reports by AP and other major outlets had been false.

It was unclear what drone footage and first-hand accounts Huckabee was referring to. A US embassy spokesperson cited IDF drone footage when pressed by The Times of Israel, but the footage released by the military was not shot at the time or place of the Rafah incident.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Washington Post admits to faulty reporting on claim that Israel killed dozens of Gazan civilians at aide site

2025-06-04

See what the IDF reports happened here, which includes the AyPee’s refusal to apologize for getting the story wrong, WaPo-style..

[FoxNews] Post admits initial article didn't meet newspaper's fairness standards, issues correction.

“Yeah, guess we are lying Jew-haters who gladly fall for the truthy instead of doing the due diligence required by ethical journalists and editors. But really, who can blame us, given what those Nazi-Jews are like. *shrug* Ya caught us — our bad.”

The Washington Post admitted Tuesday that a claim in its recent report that Israeli soldiers killed dozens of civilians in Gaza could not be verified.

The outlet shared a post on X stating it had updated its Sunday article to reflect that it could not verify that Israeli troops killed around 30 civilians near a U.S. aid site in Gaza. The previous version of the piece reported that the Israeli military had committed the killings.

"The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question," the outlet’s social media post read.

At least 26 Palestinians were reportedly killed and some 175 were wounded over the weekend as they made their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to officials from the Hamas-run health ministry and witnesses.

Witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds around 1,000 yards away from an aid site run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A Palestinian journalist told the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near the aid site near Gaza's southern city of Rafah when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd.

However, the IDF has disputed these allegations, saying they are "currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution site," adding that "the matter is still under review."

There is video of men in civilian clothes shooting from within the crowd at a distribution site neither guarded by the IDF nor connected to GHF, suggesting it was either Hamas or other Gazans who dunnit, whatever it was. And yes, Hama Health Ministry numbers can end up very far from anything close to reality — it’s all grist for the Holy Propaganda Mill.

"It is false and fabricated. All aid was distributed today without incident," the GHF said. "No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated."

However, as an editor’s note in the updated Washington Post piece said, The Post had reported on Sunday that "Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site, with the headline attributing the action to ‘health officials.’"

"The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post," the note read.

The body of the updated piece reported the casualties, but this time, did not blame the IDF. It said, "At least 31 people were killed and another 170 wounded, most of them with gunshot wounds to the extremities and upper body, according to local health officials and medics who treated the victims."

"While three witnesses said the gunfire came from Israeli military positions, the Israel Defense Forces denied the allegations, saying in a statement that an initial inquiry indicated that its soldiers did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the distribution site," the new piece added.

The editor’s note confirmed that "The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening and for the print edition on Monday making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shooting and that there was a dispute over that question."

It added, "The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings. The early versions fell short of Washington Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form."

Reps for The Washington Post did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for additional comment.

Link

Africa Horn

US airstrikes in Somalia killed up to 174 people in 2025, monitoring group says

2025-06-03

[Garowe] At least 109 to 174 people have been killed in 34 U.S. airstrikes conducted in Somalia so far in 2025, according to a report released by the New America Foundation, a Washington-based policy institute that monitors American drone and airstrike campaigns worldwide.

The organization did not specify the exact number of non-combatants killed. During Trump's first term, AFRICOM carried out 219 airstrikes in Somalia that left 6-31 civilians dead, according to the report.

The rise in airstrikes coincides with an escalation in U.S. military operations against extremist groups operating in Somalia, including al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has intensified its efforts to support the Somali government in counterterrorism operations across the country.

General Michael Langley, commander of AFRICOM, recently acknowledged the uptick in strikes, saying the U.S. remains committed to “disrupting and degrading” extremist networks that pose a threat to regional and international stability.

Somalia has seen a surge in violence in recent months, with U.S. airpower playing an increasingly visible role in operations aimed at dismantling insurgent strongholds in remote regions.

Human rights groups have repeatedly called for more transparency and accountability around U.S. military actions in Somalia, particularly in cases where civilian casualties are alleged.

Link

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