This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – The foreign ministers of five Arab states, as well as a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging the Trump administration to back a two-state solution to the more-than-a-century old Israel-Palestinian conflict, while strongly rejecting President Donald Trump's suggestion Gaza's population should be resettled – either temporarily or permanently – elsewhere in the Middle East ahead of the Strip's reconstruction.
"Palestinians do not want to leave their land. We support their position unequivocally," wrote the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, as well as Palestinian Authority presidential adviser Hussein al-Sheikh.
Trump lit the touch paper after recent several recent pronouncements indicated his favoring resettlement of some 1.5 million Gazans, with Jordan and Egypt appearing most prominently in his thinking. On the question of whether this would be a temporary or permanent solution, the president prevaricated somewhat, merely answering journalists with a "could be either."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared Palestinian displacement "can never be tolerated or allowed," citing national security concerns. Jordan, where Palestinians already make up over 70% of the population under Hashemite royal rule, took an equally firm stance.
"Jordan's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians is firm and unwavering," stated Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. "Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians." The fact this seems a distinction without much of a difference would not be lost on the foreign minister, or the Hashemite royal family, whose grip on power seems increasingly fragile.
The five Arab nations, plus the Palestinian authority officials, emphasized Palestinians themselves must lead Gaza's reconstruction with international support. The United Nations joined the opposition, with its spokesperson warning against forced displacement. Several European nations, including Germany, France, and Spain, have also criticized the proposal.
This point is worth dwelling on for a moment. Gaza has had tens of billions of dollars poured into it so Hamas could effectively do one of three things; purchase weapons, create the labyrinthine underground city in which Israeli hostages have been held, and siphon off huge amounts of the money to enrich themselves.
It seems clear President Trump would prefer not to see a repeat of the last 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel, but if this is to be avoided the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group cannot – as some U.S. officials have intimated – be allowed to run the Gaza Strip.
Similarly, Trump's request for Arab states to take in displaced Palestinians almost seems humane if the alternative is nearly 2 million people living in squalor until the purported decade-and-a-half reconstruction can be undertaken. For nearly 80 years, Arab states have deliberately tried to make the Palestinians Israel's problem. Perhaps it's time to hold them to account and make sure they have some skin in the game.
The regime they've propped up – especially Qatar – perpetrated an unforgivable slaughter on the communities of southern Israel and now they expect them to be rewarded with a state because none of these countries actually want the Palestinians on their soil. And the 22 member state Arab League warned it could "trigger instability and derail peace prospects." This is the epitome of chutzpah.
The diplomats urged the U.S. to oppose any "unilateral measures that undermine the viability of the two-state solution," continuing, "it is imperative Israel does not annex any Palestinian land."
On Monday, Trump made further headlines when speaking from the Oval Office he deflected a question about Israel's annexation of Judea and Samaria. He said he wasn't going to talk about it, but did note Israel was a "pretty small piece of land," when compared to the rest of the Middle East.
Trying to guess what is in the mind of President Trump is an exercise in futility; and given his previously fractious relationship with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there is no guarantee of what he will do next. He has a precarious balancing act to manage.
It seems likely he wants to reanimate the Saudi-Israel normalization deal, which seemed so tantalizingly close at the end of his first term, but having viewed the raw footage of the Oct. 7 massacre, he might baulk at rewarding the Palestinians with a state of their own.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A little-known rule of the Food and Drug Administration allows the government, pharmaceutical companies and universities to bypass "informed consent" requirements when involving individuals in certain clinical research or trials for new drug approval.
WorldNetDaily spoke to Brian Ward, the creator of CovidPenalty.com, a consultant and expert in regulations governing the $600 billion biomedical research industry. Ward reached out to WND to express concern that universities, for example, have been authorized to conduct trials using investigational compounds without the explicit consent of participants.
As Ward explained, in February 2024 Democrats finalized a new rule that fundamentally amended how clinical trials can be conducted in the United States. "Before the new rule was enacted," he told WND, "if a person's identifiable private information was known, the clinical trial's sponsor was lawfully bound to obtain the individual's legally effective informed consent before involving them."
Identifiable private information, or IPI, refers to data that can be used to trace an individual's identity or, when combined with other data, can identify the individual.
For example, suppose an individual undergoes surgery. After the patient is removed, college students arrive to study the efficacy of a new antibacterial cleaning agent. The students do not look at medical charts or obtain data relating to the surgery. In that case, the students do not need to obtain the individual's consent to research because no data is involved that can be traced back to the individual.
However, if the students were to examine the patient's medical chart or obtain the date, time and patient's code, they are legally required to obtain that individual's legally effective informed consent, because that data directly identifies the individual or can be used to trace his or her identity.
The IPI requirement has always served as a buffer between the researcher and the individual, ensuring the individual participates only after having granted legally effective informed consent.
Legally effective informed consent means the sponsor must ensure that the individual is not pressured to participate in the research activity when the opportunity to participate arises.
Research is broadly defined as any activity for which a person's IPI is known, and data obtained from their interaction with the activity adds to the generalizable knowledge of the product. For example, hospitals routinely administer investigational drugs to patients undergoing cancer treatment. In every instance, the hospital must obtain the individual's legally effective informed consent because the individual's IPI is known, and how he or she responds to the drug's treatment is added to the drug's generalizable knowledge.
"However," Ward pointed out, "the new rule allows governments and private entities to involve Americans in clinical trials even if their identifiable private information is known, which means the researcher is not required to ask for permission or inform the individual before involuntarily subjecting them to the research activity."
The FDA, says Ward, has not allowed sponsors of research to involve individuals in clinical trials without their informed consent since Congress enacted the National Research Act. "The trigger mechanism for obtaining consent always occurred when an individual's identifiable private information was known for the protection of human subjects," he added.
"Under this new rule, a college student, medical patient, school child or employee can be subjected to biomedical research, including invasive research, daily without their knowledge," Ward emphasized.
"The FDA was warned that the rule violates an individual's constitutional protections," he said, adding, "the constitutional protections against unwanted investigational medical treatments are well-settled" under Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Botsford (1891), Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990), Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) and Albright v. Oliver (1994).
"The Supreme Court could not be clearer," Ward argues. "In Cruzan, it held that it is considered 'assault' to involve humans with unwanted medical treatments," he explained.
"Suppose the clinical trial injures an individual but [he or she] is not informed that their injury results from the trial," Ward questioned. "How can one effectively exercise their fundamental due process rights to seek judicial remedy from the injury?"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The White House chore of calling out legacy media organizations for their misrepresentations of the administration of President Donald Trump seems to be a daily routine now.
Trump, who described those media outlets during his first term as president as "fake news," and often clashed verbally with activist reporters who took advantage of their postings at the White House to badger him, has exhibited little patience with inaccurate claims.
For example, in a report issued on Tuesday, it was AP, PBS, NBC and NPR who all claimed "operatives" from the Department of Government Efficiency "attempted to gain access to secure (government) spaces." The claims implied that classified information was "somehow at risk and being accessed without proper clearance," the White House explained.
"FACT: White House Communications Director Steven Cheung confirmed the reports were 'FAKE NEWS. Not even remotely true at all,' while top DOGE advisor Katie Miller noted 'no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.'"
Then there was the false claim from Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who has been one of his party's key attack dogs against Trump.
He claimed, "Until today you could file your taxes FOR FREE. Trump just took that away from you."
Explained the White House, "That's an easily debunked lie – the official IRS Direct File website remains online and is accepting tax returns. It's such an egregious lie, even the Associated Press admits 'the free filing program is still available.'"
The White House noted, "The onslaught of Fake News is coming at record speed as legacy media finds itself unable to process the speed at which President Donald J. Trump is working for the American people."
Then was the claim by a "random wannabe journalist," that the administration "Illegally installed a commercial server to control federal HR databases that contain sensitive personal information."
"FACT: Top DOGE advisor Katie Miller declared there is 'nothing illegal and no server, just more made up tall tales from uninformed career bureaucrats who probably telework.'"
Then there was the claim from Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., that said the Trump administration is "what the beginning of a dictatorship looks like."
She was inserting herself into what has become a massive scandal, the spending of U.S. tax dollars by USAID on "transgender comic books … DEI in Serbia, and transgender operas (whatever those are) in Colombia."
Actually, that's just "holding unelected bureaucrats accountable for their spending decisions," the White House said.
Further, it released a list of some of the most egregious USAID spending offenses found … so far.
Those would include $1.5 million to "advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces, " $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland and $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam.
There also were expenditures for a transgender opera and a transgender comic book and sex changes in Guatemala.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Just as President Donald Trump's agenda includes wiping out the government-tech conspiracies that launched and executed millions of censorship moves during the administration of Joe Biden, one already-leftist online source is beginning its own campaign to censor anything conservative.
It is Wikipedia, which has been busy embedding feminism and racial justice in its databanks, labeling Zionism as "colonialism," distorting the history of the Holocaust, concealing details about Hunter Biden's scandals, and has been slammed as "thought police" by one of its own founders, that is taking censorship to its own new level.
A report at Newsbusters said the website platform now has a "protocol that directly and unerringly produces the worst descriptions about conservatives and Republicans by virtually guaranteeing that right-leaning media sources cannot be cited."
Already, its previous CEO, Katherine Maher, pushed it into left field by making sure not a single right-leaning outlet was deemed "reliable."
That's while more than eight of 10 leftist publications are.
The report said a study by the Media Research Center Free Speech America discovered the organization "has effectively blacklisted all right-leaning media from being used as source material, exclusively relying on leftist, legacy media notoriously known to spread misinformation and attack opponents of the left."
Blackballed are Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Newsmax, OANN, and the MRC. But leftists including Mother Jones, Pro-Publica and even National Public Radio are approved sources.
"This blatant misinformation means that Wikipedia is purposely feeding Americans information exclusively through the lens of one side of the political spectrum—the left," the report said.
A direct result of the ban on "blacklisted" organizations is that "Conservatives, Republicans, and Trump appointees are smeared, maligned and slandered by the most popular online source for information about people."
MRC spokesman Dan Schneider said the effect is that Wikipedia now is "only reliable for pushing a radical narrative."
"The leadership as well as the rank and file editors are in constant overdrive to tear down their political opponents. From the policy issues, Wikipedia highlights to the tone their editors use to castigate Trump and his appointees. Wikipedia is obviously designed to indoctrinate Americans into despising anything good and decent about mainstream conservatives," he said.
The report said even now, as Trump's cabinet members are being confirmed by the Senate, "Wikipedia is marring its pages with derogatory misinformation due to the dominance of leftist media sources, poisoning the Senate confirmation process because it exclusively gives fodder to one political faction attempting to discredit Trump's appointments and nominees."
The report said a Media Bias Chart, from AllSides, a media ratings company, lists 29 sites as "lean right" or "right," and Wikipedia disallows everyone, by not deeming them "generally reliable." In fact, 22 are "blacklisted."
Those "generally unreliable" include the Washington Free Beacon, New York Post, Federalist, and more.
Meanwhile, virtually all of the media sources widely recognized as "left" or such, were considered "generally reliable."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. President Trump is set to cut funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – which has extensively reported ties to the Hamas terror group – and withdraw the U.S. from the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council, according to the New York Post.
Trump will sign an executive order implementing the changes Tuesday, the same day he is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Bibi Netanyahu's coming on Tuesday, and I think we have some very big meetings scheduled," the president told reporters on Sunday after returning to Washington from his Palm Beach, Fla. residence.
Both organizations have a lengthy track record of vexing Israel and Trump had pursued those same actions in his first term. Former President Biden restored funding for UNRWA and returned the U.S. to the HRC in his term.
Trump urges congressional leaders to OK $1 billion in arms sales to Israel
The Trump White House has asked congressional leaders to approve about $1 billion in weapons sales to Israel, according to U.S. officials.
The sales would include more than $700 million in 1,000-pound bombs (4,700 in total), along with armored bulldozers worth more than $300 million, the officials said.
According to JNS, the 1,000-pound bombs, referred to as "general purpose bombs," consist of 4,500 BLU-110s and 200 Mk-83s.
Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers also are part of the sale. Although they are used to defend Israeli soldiers clearing explosives, and to protect infantry camps, their sale has faced scrutiny from anti-Israel progressives in Congress because of Israel's past use of them to demolish terrorists' homes.
Trump set to reimpose 'maximum pressure' on Islamic regime in Tehran
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign a presidential memorandum on Tuesday which restores his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran and aims to deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, a U.S. official said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The move brings back the tough U.S. policy on Iran which Trump implemented throughout his first term. The president has accused his Democratic predecessor, former president Joe Biden, of weakening U.S. resolve toward Iran.
The official told Reuters, Trump's directive orders the U.S. Treasury secretary to impose "maximum economic pressure" on Iran, including sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing sanctions.
New intelligence obtained by the U.S. indicates Iran is exploring faster ways to develop a nuclear weapon, according to the New York Times, and reported in Israel Hayom.
This development comes as Iran's relatively new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has conveyed messages indicating his interest in engaging in dialogue with the new U.S. administration.
In addition, the Times reported this intelligence was gathered in the final months of the Biden administration, and was transferred to Trump's team during the transition of power.
Officials who spoke with the Times stated intelligence assessments warned Iranian weapons engineers and scientists have been searching for a shortcut, which would allow them to convert Iran's growing stockpile of enriched uranium into a functional atomic weapon within months, should Iran ultimately decide to produce a nuclear bomb.
IDF report highlights air-defense failures on Oct. 7
Israel's air-defense system failed to intercept half of the rockets fired by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Hebrew media.
The finding is based on an Israel Defense Forces investigation whose findings were presented to the military's chief of staff.
According to the Jewish News Syndicate, it is unclear how many rockets impacted Israeli cities and towns, but
the Gaza-based terrorist organization launched a total of 3,700 rockets in the first four hours of the attack. Fourteen people were killed by Hamas rockets, seven of them in unprotected Bedouin communities.
The relatively low number of casualties was attributed to sirens warning residents of incoming rockets. The sirens were activated on time and enabled civilians to enter protected areas, according to the report.
It further noted a number of Iron Dome air defense batteries in the Gaza Envelope suffered unspecified failures in the initial minutes of the assault, resulting in a total lack of interceptions from these batteries.
In the first 20 minutes of the attack, Hamas fired an unprecedented 1,400 rockets into Israel. Many Iron Dome batteries were depleted in the face of the massive barrage, according to Israel's Channel 12.
IDF widens Jenin operation as it uses lessons learned in Gaza
Israeli security forces operated throughout Judea and Samaria in January, working to thwart terror activities.
Over the course of the month, the forces eliminated around 55 terrorists, including those involved in terrorist attacks in which Israeli civilians were killed, as well as terrorists who were on their way to carry out an attack. The forces also arrested 380 wanted suspects, according to Israel National News.
The aim is to destroy terrorist infrastructure, clear explosive devices on main routes and kill or arrest terrorists. An explosive and weapon-production lab was found and destroyed in Tulkarm and five suspects were detained. At the same time, forces detained terrorism suspects in Jenin and prepared the surrounding for an extensive stay in the refugee camp.
The operations now focus on three key points: Jenin, Tulkarm, and a concentration of five towns where the forces are working with tanks.
Over the past few days, the forces located significant weapons caches, including pistols, rifles, and many explosives.
Wave of intra-Arab violence erupts in Israel with 6 dead
A doctor was shot dead inside a clinic in Kafr Yasif on Monday evening, hours after a teenage boy was killed in Lod – the fifth and sixth homicide victims within the Arab community since midnight, the Times of Israel reported.
Police said the suspects fled the scene after opening fire on their victim, Dr. Abdallah Qasem Awad, a pediatrician from Mazra'a who had been filling in for another doctor at the time.
Paramedics who arrived shortly after the shooting declared Awad dead on the spot. Officers opened an investigation into the incident, but did not immediately arrest any suspects.
Earlier the same day, a teenage boy was fatally shot in Lod.
The 14-year-old Ramle resident was critically injured alongside two others in Pardes Snir neighborhood. All three were taken to the hospital, where doctors pronounced his death.
Arab League secretary-general: Trump's Gaza relocation plan 'existential threat to Palestinian cause'
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated in Cairo on Sunday that Israel aims to render the Gaza Strip uninhabitable, WAFA, the official PA news agency, reported. Aboul Gheit made this remark during a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim, Sigrid Kaag.
"Israel's objective is to make the Gaza Strip unlivable, creating a situation that is both unacceptable and a clear violation of international law," Aboul Gheit said, suggesting that "the forced displacement of Palestinians is an existential threat," the Jewish Press reported.
He stressed that without concrete efforts to establish a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, the region would remain perpetually at risk of spiraling into further cycles of violence.
Majority of Israelis back Trump's Gaza relocation plan
A poll conducted for the JPPI shows a large majority of Israeli Jews in favor of President Donald Trump's plan to relocate the displaced population of Gaza – some 2.4 million people – from the Strip to Egypt and Jordan, JFeed reported.
According to the JPPI's statement:
Survey respondents were asked about their stance on President Trump's proposal to relocate Gaza Arabs to another country.
43% of all Israelis believe the Trump plan is "practical" and should be pursued. A small majority of 52% of Jews in Israel think similarly. An additional 30% of Jews responded the plan is "not practical, but hopefully" – meaning they support it but don't believe it has a real chance of being realized. In total, more than eight out of ten Jews in Israel support the plan.
Overall, about 14% of all Israelis (13% of Jews) consider the plan a "distraction" – a response that doesn't express explicit opposition but shows reluctance to engage with it.
The percentage of Israelis who believe the president's proposal is "immoral" because it involves a "transfer that cannot be accepted" is 13%, with almost all of these being Arabs (a majority of 54% of Arabs responded this way). Among Jews, only 3% believe the proposal is "immoral."
Two IDF reservists killed in Samaria terrorist attack
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and eight more were wounded when a terrorist opened fire at a military post near the village of Tayasir in northern Samaria on Tuesday morning, reported the Jewish news Syndicate.
The slain troops were identified by the military as IDF Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ofer Yung, 39, a squad commander in the Ephraim Regional Brigade's 8211th Reserve Battalion, from Tel Aviv, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Avraham Tzvi Tzivka Friedman, 43, a soldier in the battalion, from Ein Hanatziv.
According to an initial IDF probe, the terrorist managed to take up a position near the entrance of the military post and fired on troops as they exited. The terrorist was said to have exchanged fire with troops inside the post for several minutes before being killed.
Dept. of Education launches investigations into five universities over anti-Semitic harassment
The Department of Education is taking its first major action under the new administration to combat anti-Semitism, launching investigations into alleged anti-Semitic discrimination at Columbia University; the University of California, Berkeley; Portland State University; Northwestern University and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
The Department of Education under the Biden administration pursued anti-Semitism cases after complaints had been filed by students and organizations representing them. These new cases, however, are being launched proactively, giving the Department of Education broader investigative latitude.
"Too many universities have tolerated widespread anti-Semitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralyzed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground," Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said in a statement. "The Biden Administration's toothless resolution agreements did shamefully little to hold those institutions accountable."
Trainor said the announcements serve to put "universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses, nor will it stand by idly if universities fail to combat Jew hatred and the unlawful harassment and violence it animates."
Netanyahu meets Elon Musk in Washington, D.C.
After landing in Washington on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of social media site X, who also recently began his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration, Israel National News reported.
According to a report in Channel 14 News, also taking part in the meeting was David Sacks, who was appointed by Trump as the White House AI and Crypto czar. During the lengthy meeting, the report said, the prime minister requested and secured cooperation from both Musk and Sacks on all matters related to artificial intelligence, for a full partnership between the U.S. and Israel in this field.
Additionally, it was reported at the conclusion of the meeting, the trio formulated a working plan for the near future and the longer term for integrating Israeli forces into American programs. The meeting is expected to benefit Israel's cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence industries for years to come.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, two possible venues for likely Trump-Putin summit
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions said.
Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible and said he is ready to meet with Putin. Putin congratulated Trump on his election and stated he is ready to meet the president to discuss Ukraine and energy, according to the Algemeiner.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied any direct contacts with the U.S. about preparations for a phone call between Trump and Putin, which would precede an eventual meeting later this year.
However, senior Russian officials have visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, according to the Russian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
One source said there was still some opposition to the idea in Russia as some diplomats and intelligence officials were pointing to the close military and security links both the Kingdom and the UAE have with the United States.
U.S. DOJ forms anti-Semitism task force
The U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday the launch of a task force to combat anti-Semitism in schools and college campuses.
The force is set to include representatives from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Service, with efforts being coordinated via the Department's Civil Rights Division, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Leo Terrell, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, who is also set to lead the task force, noted, "Anti-Semitism in any environment is repugnant to this nation's ideals."
He added, "The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
Biden quietly funneled $3 million to Palestinian Authority for 'security training' after its members carried out attacks on Israelis
The Biden administration, weeks before leaving power, funneled more than $3 million in taxpayer cash to the Palestinian Authority Security Forces, according to a nonpublic notice transmitted to Congress that was reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Jan. 3 funding notice outlined more than $20 million in funding for regional security projects, including those in Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Jordan. Just over $3 million of these funds were earmarked for the PASF, which the United States is training to handle security operations in the war-torn Gaza Strip. As it does so, the PASF is reportedly seeking more than $680 million from the American government over the next four years.
Jerusalem Old City store owner arrested for selling books by Sinwar, Nasrallah
Israeli security forces arrested the owner of a bookstore in the Old City of Jerusalem over the weekend on suspicion of selling pro-terror inciting material, including works by slain senior Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, the Israel Police announced on Monday.
The bookstore was discovered after police officers searched the bag of a female suspect in the Old City and found the pro-terrorism content, according to the statement. During questioning, she claimed to have purchased the materials from a nearby bookshop a short time earlier, JNS reported.
Officers of the Israel Police's David Precinct, which is situated close to the Old City's Jaffa Gate, subsequently discovered the store was selling numerous books containing "inciting and terrorist content, the sale and distribution of which is prohibited."
In addition to the publications by Nasrallah and Sinwar, the bookstore also sold writings of Abdullah Barghouti – a Palestinian bombmaker responsible for multiple attacks, which claimed the lives of 66 people.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Already, some 20,000 federal workers have accepted President Donald Trump's buyout offer for them to be paid through September, but leave their federal positions now and look for other work.
That's despite alarm from federal employee unions and even some state officials.
Axios reported that an official in the Trump administration said the 20,000 workers are the ones who have accepted the offer … so far.
The deadline was set for Thursday for takers to line up to participate.
Axios pointed out, "It's a significant number of people – about 1% of the federal workforce."
The report noted the White House targeted 5% to 10% of the employees participating, but the deadline hasn't been reached, and Trump very well could extend it, as he's negotiated deadlines for multiple other projects he's launched.
Employee unions have been raising alarms against the plan, as Trump is unlikely to allow the departing workers to be replaced, which could mean a lower number of workers in the unions, and paying union dues.
The administration official who spoke with Axios pointed out it's just one piece of the puzzle, with Trump plans already for massive reductions in the USAID program, in the Office of Personnel Management, and many more.
"The buyout offer entitles federal employees to stop working more or less immediately and continue to be paid through Sept. 30," the report said. The benefit comes from a short-term payout for a reduction in salary obligations for the federal government for years to come.
Critics claim there's no guarantee of payment, and they assume Congress would need to approve the plan, but Trump and his advisers say they are just following through on their commitment to restructure the government in ways that benefit taxpayers.
Some of those accepting the offer might have been intending to retire, or leave, anyway, the report noted.
Part of the program is that those workers who remain will be working in office, no longer being allowed to work from home.
Some on social media expressed their personal doubts.
And Consumer Affairs said 11 leftist attorneys general, led by New York's Letitia James, who orchestrated one of the Democrats' lawfare assaults on Trump, now on appeal, said, "President Trump's so-called buyout offers are nothing more than the latest attack on federal workers and the services they provide. These supposed offers are not guaranteed. Federal employees should be cautious and follow the guidance of their unions to protect their rights."
She claimed, "Attacking our federal workforce will only cause more chaos and confusion for Americans, and will diminish the quality of services our government provides."
Actually, millions of federal workers were offered the buyout program, as part of Trump's plan to remove waste, fraud and inefficiency from the federal government.
The federal employees also were told that those who did not take the offer were not guaranteed to keep their jobs.
"The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employees union, released information for its members warning them that employees who accepted the offer were not guaranteed its benefits. The National Federation of Federal Employees similarly warned its members against accepting the offer," the report said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Just as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting campaign is reaching its stride, members of Congress are developing their own suggestions for saving taxpayers' money, including from the tax-supported Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, which benefit by hundreds of millions of dollars.
In fact, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the chair of the new Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee, has summoned NPR chief Katherine Maher and PBS chief Paula Kerger to answer questions.
Reports call the strategy a "direct challenge to what conservatives have long criticized as taxpayer-funded propaganda for the left."
For instance, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in 2020.
Officials there explained, "We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners' and readers' time on stories that are just pure distractions."
Actually, the laptop evidence revealed much about scandals involving the Biden family, including information about its years-long influence peddling operations that appeared to involve Joe Biden himself. The family, according to a later report from Congress, took in tens of millions of dollars – in return essentially for giving people access to Joe Biden as vice president, then president.
Joe Biden himself once openly bragged about threatening Ukraine with the loss of American support if they didn't fire a prosecutor looking into a company that was paying Hunter Biden a million dollars a year to be on its board.
The publicly funded operations more recently claimed that Elon Musk, a key adviser to Trump and tasked with cutting government waste, fraud and abuse, gave a "fascist salute" at a rally.
Greene said, "PBS and NPR receive the tax dollars of hard-working Americans to stay on the air. Their coverage should serve every single American, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups. Notably, NPR refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in an attempt to protect then-candidate Joe Biden leading up to the 2020 presidential election. Just hours after President Trump was sworn in for the second time, PBS falsely implied that @elonmusk made a fascist salute at the President's inaugural rally.
"This kind of one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests, doesn't deserve a single cent of American taxpayers' money. I look forward to bringing the president of each of these so-called 'media' outlets before my brand-new DOGE Subcommittee to explain to me—and to the American people—why they deserve to continue receiving public funding. To me, it looks like a great place for @DOGE to save some extra $."
Musk said it was an excellent idea.
NPR gets about one-quarter of its budget from taxes; PBS about 40%, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The decision by NPR, too, to essentially cast aside "truth" in its priorities also has earned criticism.
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley pointed out that even "respected editor, Uri Berliner," wrote a scathing condemnation of political bias at NPR, but the outlet still "doubled down on its one-sided coverage."
And, he noted, "What is striking is how NPR's shrinking audience righteously opposes any effort to withdraw public subsidies. While dismissing the values or views of half the country, they expect those citizens to support its programming. What would the reaction be if Congress ordered the same subsidy for more popular competitors like Fox Radio?"
He explained outlets "have every right to offer their own slanted viewpoints or coverage. They do not have a right to a federal subsidy to insulate them from the response of consumers."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Trump's agenda long has included making America's education system better, with one component being a plan to shut down the federal Department of Education and turn those responsibilities back to the states.
Now an order to begin that process is in the works, according to a report from NBC News, which cited sources "familiar with the plans."
Trump was on video during his campaign explaining, "One other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states. In total American society pours more than $1 trillion a year into public education systems but instead of being at the top of the list, we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom."
Trump already has moved on the nation's education industry, issuing an order to expand school choice and directing the federal bureaucrats to issue guidance to states about how they can use federal funds to promote that.
While Trump cannot unilaterally close down a federal agency, his orders can move the education industry that direction.
Last summer, Trump also said then nation would be helped by cutting federal funding for schools pushing the racist "critical race theory" and opening civil rights reviews of schools that discriminate against Asian Americans.
He's also suggested a credentialing system for teachers who "embrace patriotic values."
The Gateway Pundit explained Trump said while campaigning that his idea of a federal Education Department would be to have "one person plus a secretary."
"And all the person has to do is, 'Are you teaching English? Are you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? Reading, writing and arithmetic, and are you not teaching woke?' Not teaching woke is a very big factor, but we'll have a very small staff," he had explained.
Trump's pick to lead the federal agency, replacing "Biden-appointed Marxist Miguel Cardona," is Linda McMahon, who earned his praise.
"For the past four years, as the chair of the board at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Linda has been a fierce advocate for parents' rights, working hard at both AFPI and America First Works (AFW) to achieve universal school choice in 12 States, giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent education, regardless of zip code or income. As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand 'choice' to every state in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families," Trump said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – U.S. President Donald Trump is set to return to the policy of maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran as he attempts to dissuade the mullahs in Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons, as the regime itself puts out conflicting – and often deliberately misleading – information about whether it is even actively attempting to create the bomb.
Reports have circulated the president will sign an executive order Tuesday, which is supposedly aimed at denying the Iranian regime all paths to a nuclear weapon, as well as attempting to counter the Islamic Republic's malign regional influence, exemplified but not limited to the so-called ring of fire made up of Iranian proxies surrounding Israel.
One of the key aspects of the order is to direct U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to impose maximum economic pressure, including via sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing measures.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to work with Bessent to modify or rescind existing sanction waivers in an attempt to drive Iranian oil exports to zero.
Trump's decision should not come as a surprise, not least because it was his favored strategy to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat during his first term, and prior to assuming office on Jan. 20, he strongly hinted he would pick up the cudgel once more. He's kept many – if not all – his campaign promises, so it would have been phantasy to expect anything different.
The maximum pressure campaign had its critics, although the president has had four (long) years to witness former President Joe Biden's catastrophic policies toward the Islamic Republic, and not incoherently conclude they were an unmitigated dumpster fire.
Biden and his minions took their foot off the ayatollah's throat, and look at what he did with that largesse. While Iran's economy is still showing signs of serious strain, it would have been even more beggared if the Biden hadn't allowed the regime to open the oil spigots again.
With the extra billions of dollars its coffers received – whether through the unfreezing of assets as occurred in South Korea in 2023 or from the sale of oil. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, by the end of 2023, Iran accounted for 24% of oil reserves in the Middle East and 12% in the world, although it did not benefit from this as much as it might because some sanctions were still in place under Biden, although it is not clear how vigorously they were enforced.
One of the pillars of the Trump policy is to attempt to reduce Iran's immediate influence around the Middle East; and one of the ways it utilized its spare cash was to continue funding Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. It also used those funds to continue developing ballistic missiles, as well as progressing its nuclear weapons program, despite the drip-drip of information, which has suggested the ayatollah has still to decide if they are kosher or not.
Despite this apparent haziness, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January said Iran was "pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade.
Additionally, Western intelligence agencies say Iran had an organized military nuclear program until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Indeed, a New York Times report on Monday, highlighted American intelligence assessed Iranian scientists were exploring ways to create a short-cut to a nuclear weapon.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
By Matt Bailey, WorldNetDaily Washington correspondent
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, a "shadow government" at a Monday news conference on Capitol Hill.
Schumer and others from the Democratic caucus had gathered the media to discuss the Elon Musk-helmed agency gaining access to the Treasury Department's payment system.
The five gathered Democrats – Sens. Schumer, Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, and Brian Schatz – argued DOGE had no authority to access the payment system. They claimed Musk had "illegally" accessed the system.
At one point, Sen. Warren claimed that DOGE had "raided" the Treasury to gain access to the system. As of this reporting, that is not accurate, and it appears Treasury Secretary Scott Bissent has cooperated with DOGE's efforts to access the Treasury.
The Democrats also argued President Donald Trump has no authority to interfere with congressionally approved funding.
Unfortunately for the senators, this is incorrect. In fact, the DOGE office is a reworking of an Obama-era agency known as the United States Digital Service. Just as with DOGE, the Digital Service was created unilaterally by the president.
What was on display today was a reaction to Trump doing exactly what he said he would do: cut the government down to size and get it to work for the American people. Elon Musk claims to have already found what he's calling "fraudulent" payments that Treasury officials were directed to hand out, no questions asked.
Donald Trump has created an agency whose sole job it is to look under the hood of government institutions. This has establishment bureaucrats on both sides of the aisle terrified, and for good reason.
The questions about DOGE stalling payments already authorized by congress is at this point a hypothetical. But it is a net positive that the executive branch, as part of the checks and balances that make our government work, now has the ability to audit the fund that congress is approving.