This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Colorado officials chose the route of exhibiting hostility to Christianity when they attacked baker Jack Phillips and tried to demand he produce messages on his products that violated his Christian faith.
The Supreme Court delivered a victory to Phillips in that fight, scolding the state.
Officials in that extreme leftist state then decided the Supreme Court wasn't really serious, and attacked a website designer over the same dispute. They tried to order her to promote projects and ideologies that violated her faith.
The state got scolded by the Supreme Court again. This time the scolding came with a $1.5 million bill that the state's taxpayers must pay because of the leftist agendas of the state's election and appointed officials.
But really, the Supreme Court didn't mean that, either.
At least that's the apparent perspective of officials in the state of California, who have tried to demand that a baker there make products with messages that violate her Christian faith.
According to a report from Becket, LiMandri & Jonna and the Thomas More Society, Cathy Miller's case will be heard by the state's 5th District Court of Appeal in a few days.
The legal teams explained, "A Christian baker will be in California state court next week to protect her ability to operate her bakery in accordance with her faith. In California Department of Civil Rights v. Tastries, Cathy Miller wants to continue serving her local Bakersfield community at her bakery, Tastries, a vision she brought to life over a decade ago."
Leftist state officials there investigated her after she told a same-sex duo that her faith did not allow her to promote their ideology and personally design their wedding cake.
"For over six years, California has repeatedly compared Miller's religious beliefs about marriage to racism and argued that Miller's beliefs harm 'the dignity of all Californians,'" the lawyers said.
A lower court, in line with the Supreme Court, said Miller cannot be required to express messages on her products that violate her faith.
But the state has insisted on taking its agenda to the appeals court.
"As a faithful Christian and owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California, Cathy Miller has custom-designed baked goods for over a decade. Miller believes that her bakery is 'God's business,' her bakery's mission statement is to 'honor God in all that we do,' and her Christian faith influences everything from the Bible verses she puts on her business cards to the music she plays in the shop," her legal counsel confirmed.
"Since 2017, however, the California Civil Rights Department has forced Miller into court because she will not personally design wedding cakes that go against her religious beliefs, including those that violate the Christian sacrament of marriage."
Earlier, a California Superior Court judge said Miller cannot be forced to personally design a wedding cake that violates her faith.
WND reported last year on the Supreme Court precedent, when a ruling blasted Colorado for its attack on 303 Creative and its owner.
The justices banned the state of Colorado from picking and choosing its own leftist ideology and requiring business owners from state that as their own.
The result, the second time in a row that the state of Colorado has been caught, and scolded, for its "hostility" to Christianity, now should be applied to other similar cases, according to ADF.
In 303 Creative, the justices said the right to free speech means Colorado's leftist governor, Jared Polis, and the state Democrat machine there, could not require Lorie Smith, a web designer, to promote same-sex weddings with her website business.
Earlier, the justice blasted Colorado for its actual "hostility" to Christian baker Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. That followed one state official actually likening Christians to Nazis.
Becket reports Miller also bans from her products "gory or pornographic images," celebrations of drug use or messages that demean others.
"My faith calls me to serve others with joy and compassion, and Tastries has been my way of answering that call since I opened its doors over a decade ago," she said in a statement released by her lawyers.
The lower court ruling was from Judge Eric Bradshaw who said creating a cake is protected as "pure speech" and considered artistic expression.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Almost two-thirds of America's abortion industry businesses are breaking federal law by handing out abortion pill chemicals for use after the Food and Drug Administration's deadline of 10 weeks, according to a new report.
It is the "2024 survey: American abortion facilities," done by Operation Rescue that provides the alarming details.
Dispensing those drugs for use beyond the FDA's limit increases "the chances mothers will experience harmful – and potentially deadly – side effects," the report confirms.
Chemical abortions, using mifepristone and misoprostol, accounted for about 56% of all abortions in 2022, and while the FDA originally wanted those drugs not to be used beyond seven weeks of pregnancy, Barack Obama unilaterally changed that limit to 10 weeks in 2016.
But the survey says a large majority of abortion businesses are violating even that.
"Sixty-four percent of abortion clinics have gestational cut-off limits set between 11 and 13 weeks for abortion pills. This range indicates a significant majority of clinics provide abortion pills to women beyond the FDA's limit of 10 weeks," confirms the Operation Rescue report.
"Twenty-six percent administer or mail pills from 7 to 10 weeks, and the remaining 10% that limit the pills to 6 weeks or less are located in states with heartbeat protection laws in place. … The latest gestational age at which pills are administered at clinics nationwide is 13 weeks — three weeks beyond the FDA approved limit."
The complications from that pro-abortion agenda already is evident, explained a report in the Washington Stand.
"Complications of the abortion pill, and doctors' refusal to administer legally sanctioned miscarriage care, claimed the lives of at least two mothers in Georgia: 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman and 41-year-old Candi Miller," the report said.
Operation Rescue confirmed, "We know women are dying from these dangerous abortion pills, especially when taken with little or no medical oversight. If the pro-life movement stands united in holding drug companies and abortion pill suppliers accountable for these egregious deaths, we have the opportunity to win back some ground — which will save preborn lives as well as the lives of their mothers."
It maintains an archive of maternal deaths.
"A 16-year-old black girl underwent a chemical abortion at New York City's Choices Women's Medical Center in 2018, which left her 'sick, sore, lame and disabled.' Her child survived the abortion and was born with 'severe brain injuries' and other 'profound birth defects,'" according to various court records.
The report explained from 2000 to 2021, the FDA confirmed 4,207 "adverse events" from the abortion drug use, "including 26 deaths" and 1,045 hospitalizations.
The flagrant violations are just part of the record of the industry, OR said.
"Abortionists continue to exist as a privileged class of 'physicians' who cannot be touched. Their barbaric work of child-killing is too sacred to ever be lessened by disciplinary actions, meanwhile preborn children and their mothers pay the cost," explained OR chief Troy Newman.
Also revealed was that more than one in four (28%) — or 189 of 674 abortion facilities — hand out the chemicals without the mother actually seeing a doctor.
"Concerning abortion pills, it is deeply concerning to consider the appalling lack of oversight and accountability and the disturbing consequences we are already witnessing," Newman told the Washington Stand. "How many life-altering injuries and unnecessary deaths will be needed to establish standing for a lawsuit that ultimately addresses the dangerously under-regulated drugs?"
The report also noted that after the fall of the faulty Roe v. Wade precedent that fabricated a federal right to abortion, 14 states remain abortion free in 2024: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
And Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina have heartbeat protection laws that typically protect unborn babies after six weeks gestation.
Other states, like Colorado, are turning their pro-abortion ideology into an industry, drawing women from surrounding states for abortions.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Events in the Middle East are moving so fast it's almost impossible to keep on top of them.
This could not be more true of the country formerly known as Syria, which stands at the precipice of potential Balkanization, as competing forces try to take stock of the political landscape following the massive power vacuum created by President Bashar al-Assad's rapid demise.
Initially, the most obvious "winner" from Assad's fall seemed to be Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, its increasingly Islamist long-standing leader. However, events in the last day or so, have highlighted how a more nuanced approach is called for in determining where each piece might fit on this highly charged Middle Eastern chessboard.
The bald facts seemed to be these: Turkey's Erdogan viewed Syria's Assad, once a friend and ally, as an enemy to be gotten rid of (fighting a civil war in which millions of refugees are externally displaced across your border will do that); and he thought he possessed the means to do so. Step forward Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, a Turkish-armed jihadist group whose stronghold was in the Idlib area of northwestern Syria, abutting the border with Turkey, and the so-called rebel Syrian National Army, or SNA.
Erdogan's government is reported to have made overtures to the Assad regime as recently as late November, suggesting it should make some concessions to the opposition or risk the somewhat dormant 13-year civil war erupting again. Assad did not heed the warning, and now he is a stateless guest of Russian President Vladiimr Putin in Moscow. For how long this is the case remains to be seen.
To be sure, Turkey does not back all the groups that have caused Assad's fall, some are also supported by another destabilizing influence in the Middle East, namely Qatar. It's a somewhat bitter irony Turkey is a full NATO ally and Qatar, which is by no means averse to playing both sides of the ball (as it were), has special ally status with the United States. For now, at least.
The presence of the SNA in particular has allowed Turkey to continue its war of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds, who have been fighting for an independent Kurdistan for generations. Greater Kurdistan encompasses northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and northwestern Iran. In fact, Turkey has been fighting the Kurds and attempting to prevent the establishment of an independent state across this region for more than 100 years – barely a year after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922.
Both HTS and SNA have problematic histories, especially where atrocities are considered. HTS is an off-shoot of Islamic State, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani commanded the Al-Nusra Front. He broke with now-deceased ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi over a dispute regarding subsuming Al-Nusra into the wider Islamic State tent, and not because of divergent ideology. Al-Jolani, whose wanted poster with a bounty of $10 million and shows him wearing a turban, did not want his autonomy curtailed, and struck out with his own organization.
He now stands as a potentially powerful nemesis against the machinations of a politician who British journalist and polemicist Douglas Murray terms, "Caliph" Erdogan. While Al-Jolani might be able to gull many in the West, who want to believe his message of toleration of religious differences and a smoothing of his formerly very rough edges – in much the same way the unreformed Taliban did in Afghanistan – it is doubtful Erdogan will fall for the same trick. Indeed, Anakara already designates HTS as a terrorist organization.
At the time of writing, reports are already appearing of Yazidi, Kurdish, and Christian women being abducted to presumably be used as sex slaves. There are other reports of fighters enforcing modesty laws for women, much like the Taliban in Afghanistan or those of the Islamic regime in Iran.
Did Erdogan overplay his hand with Russia?
Erdogan will also have to answer for what some in Russia consider his betrayal of them. The respective presidents of Russia and Turkey seem to have a solid working relationship. Both are Eurasian countries, and both were formerly possessors of mighty empires. They also share a wariness of the West, despite Turkey's membership of NATO. On Dec. 8, Erdogan said, "There are only two leaders left in the world: Putin and me."
Despite his warm words to his Russian ally, Putin adviser Alexander Dugin, reportedly called Syria "a trap for Turkey."
"He has made a strategic mistake. He has betrayed Russia. He had betrayed Iran. He is doomed. Now the end of Kemal's Turkey has begun; we have supported you until now, from now on you'll repent."
Dugin's use of Kemal is an interesting historical nod, for it was Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's father-figure who preached a maxim of: "Peace at home; peace in the world."
While Erdogan has made little secret of his wish to return the Ottoman Empire to its former glory, it is an open question if Turkey has the clout – economic and military – to make that dream a reality. Was aiding the rebels to take over Syria the first step on that road? Or will it instead lead to destabilization and downfall?
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
(AP) — After African countries struggled to get testing kits during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials vowed to make the continent less dependent on imported medical supplies. Now, in a first for Africa, a Moroccan company is filling orders for mpox tests as an outbreak continues.
Moroccan startup Molding began developing mpox tests after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global emergency in August. Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 59,000 mpox cases and 1,164 deaths in 20 countries this year.
The WHO has also announced a plan to provide mpox tests, vaccines and treatments to the most vulnerable people in the world's poorest countries, after facing criticism for moving too slowly on vaccines. It recommends all suspected mpox cases be tested.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
David Hogg, a student-turned-antigun-activist following a shooting at his school, has begun promoting himself to a leadership post in the Democrat party, and the online trolling erupted immediately.
"This the guy who stood on the bodies of his dead classmates to be famous, right?"
"I cannot tell you how much I want this to happen."
"Please, keep filling Democrat leadership with extremists. It helps."
And, "HAHAHAHA. I hope he does run, this guy is a moron," were among the responses as soon as Hogg said on television he would like to be DNC vice chairman.
The Washington Examiner cited how Hogg "got trolled" across social media after stating he would consider a run to become part of the Democratic National Committee.
"I'm considering it because I think that, one, obviously, I think we need a new generation in the DNC. If this election has taught us nothing else, I think we need an intergenerational coalition as a party."
His comments came during an interview with leftist CNN.
"This is what happens when everyone gets a participation trophy!" one commenter said.
Hogg continued, "I think what the party needs to do is open its eyes and take its fingers out of its ears. We can just surround ourselves with people that agree with us a lot of the time, in terms of the party leadership and also within the party itself, and think that's just who we need to be talking to constantly instead of listening to people who don't agree with us."
He said Democrats' "condescending tone" is causing voters to see them as "out of touch" elitists.
In fact, during the 2024 presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump increased support for the Republican party in just about every demographic category, as the GOP now is considered the party of the "working man."
Hogg has made his reputation as a gun control extremist following a shooting at his school, Stoneman Douglas High. He's helped lead a bunch of protests, marches, and boycotts.
He helped start, then left, a pillow company, and founded a political action network.
On Feb. 14, 2018, when a former student went to the school and started shooting people, Hogg hid in a closet.
After the shooting, he made himself a point person for demands for gun control.
He has claimed people have no right to have a gun under the Second Amendment, in stark opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion on that issue.
He charges that the Second Amendment is about states having a national guard.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – The United Nations, which has found ways – almost daily – to cover itself in ignominy, succeeded yet again when it passed three recent non-binding resolutions related to Israel, highlighting again it has an unhealthy obsession with the Jewish state.
On December 3, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution for Israel to unilaterally withdraw from Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. In doing so, it perfectly mirrored maximalist Palestinian demands… short of getting rid of the whole of the State of Israel entirely. The resolution also implemented the establishment of a June 2025 conference, whose sole purpose is to "urgently chart an irreversible path toward" a Palestinian state.
Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, Israel's U.N. political coordinator, called the measures a "reckless disregard for the truth" and declared that "the U.N.'s entrenched anti-Israeli bias has been laid bare for all to see," according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
In addition to this resolution, the UNGA also decreed Israel has no business being on the Golan Heights and passed a motion saying it should withdraw. There is much about this resolution that is truly astonishing. The U.N. estimates Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is currently fighting a rearguard action – along with his Russian and Iranian backers – to repel the advance of Sunni Muslim jihadists – has killed some 300,000 people in the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. Other estimates put the more likely figure at double that; it is interesting to note the U.N. will accept inflated casualty figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, i.e. Hamas, about allegedly entirely non-combatants "indiscriminately killed by a genocidal army," but will massively underplay the number of deaths when Israel is not involved. Additionally, the war has displaced – both internally and externally – approximately half of Syria's pre-war population of 20 million people.
Furthermore, this ignores returning U.S. President Donald Trump's unilateral acknowledgement of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in March 2019, which the country seized in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which it annexed in 1981, and which was won at an extremely high cost in terms of men and materiel. Israel only has control of about seven percent of the Golan Heights' area; Syria still controls the vast majority – although not the part where they would be able to more easily fire directly into Israel's Galilee, including the fertile Jezreel Valley. Considering the instability sweeping throughout Syria, the UNGA's decision seems irrational at best, unless one takes the view it would like to either a) prop up the Assad regime and/or b) allow jihadists easier access to Israeli targets.
WATCH: Trump formally recognizes Israel's annexation of Golan Heights
The third and final piece of this puzzle was the move to fund a division dedicated to pushing the Palestinian agenda. The division oversees the International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People, which has featured speakers at U.N. events calling for the elimination of Israel, and UNISPAL, a body dedicated to disseminating pro-Palestinian information.
There is also a deep irony that on Wednesday, the United Nations unveiled a new photographic exhibit that includes entries from so-called journalists who embedded themselves with Hamas fighters who broke into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and witnessed some of the worst of the massacres. It would be one thing if they were merely recording events for posterity, however, one has to question a tweet, which crowed, "We have sex slaves," followed by a laughing emoji.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Not just in America, but in many nations around the world, business operators can choose the products they wish to offer consumers. If they assess the market correctly, they'll succeed. If not, they close down.
But California.
That's not what is happening in California, where authorities now are demanding consumers file reports on retailers if they don't have an adequate "gender-neutral" selection of children's toys.
A report in PJMedia accused the state of going "full Stasi," a reference to the East German ministry for state security during the decades after World War II.
The report explains, in a section dripping with sarcasm, "There's a great feeling you get when reporting on your fellow citizens to the state. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing you've done the state a valuable service. There's a rush of pride when you realize that it was your action that resulted in a citizen or business being punished for a transgression."
The report explains, "Why does California Attorney General Rob Bonta want citizens to report on retail stores that aren't carrying 'enough' toys and clothes that are 'gender neutral'? A law passed in California in 2022 requires stores to carry a 'reasonable' number of gender-neutral toys and children's products in their aisles. The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times said the legislation 'represents nannyish overreach' at the time. Bonta disagrees."
Bonta's officer recently explained, "Does your department store have a gender-neutral children section? As of January 1, 2024, large retail department stores that sell childcare items or toys must maintain a gender-neutral section for these items."
The law actually states, "Retail department stores that have physical locations in California and 500 or more employees across all California locations must maintain a gender-neutral section, where a reasonable selection of the childcare items and toys for children that they sell must be displayed, regardless of whether these products are traditionally marketed for boys or girls."
Then Bonta provides "painfully explicit instructions" to snitchers.
"If you do not see an adequate gender-neutral product section in a large retail department store in California that you believe is covered by this law, you may take pictures, document, and file a complaint with our office."
A link is provided to report offenders.
The fine for a first-time violation is $250, which goes to $500 for a second offense.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Fani Willis, a local prosecutor in Atlanta, Georgia, who assembled her claims of an organized crime scheme against now President-elect Donald Trump and other defendants with the help of a paramour she put on a taxpayer-funded salary, now is in more trouble.
Her case, hanging on by a threat at an appeals court, is essentially the only case remaining against Trump after he was elected last month and multiple other lawfare cases were dismissed.
But now, Judicial Watch confirms that she's been found by a court in default after refusing to comply with the Georgia Open Records Act.
Judicial Watch had sought, through the state's legal process regarding records, to obtain information about Willis' coordination with "special counsel" Jack Smith, appointed by the Department of Justice to carry that part of the Democrat Party's lawfare against Trump, cases that now have been dismissed.
Also, records were sought about Willis' coordination with ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan January 6 investigating committee, which concealed exculpatory information about President Trump's involvement that day, and tried to portray the events as an actual insurrection against the U.S., when in fact it was a protest that turned into a minor riot with most of the aftermath involve repairs of vandalism.
Judge Robert C.K. McBurney in Fulton County Superior Court said Willis had a number of options in responding to the records case, but did "none of that."
"Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(a). Here, this means Plaintiff has established that Defendant violated the ORA by failing to either turn over responsive records or else notify Plaintiff of her decision to withhold some or all such records. In its complaint, Plaintiff sought the following relief: 1) a declaration that Defendant has violated the ORA; 2) an order for Defendant to search for all records responsive to Plaintiff's request without further delay; 3) an injunction ordering Defendant to cease withholding non-exempt public records responsive to the request; 4) an award of attorney's fees and costs pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-73(b); 5) a writ of mandamus, ordering Defendant to provide the requested records; and 6) any other relief the Court deems proper."
The judge wrote, "By finding Defendant in default, the Court has in effect declared that she has violated the ORA. The Court also hereby ORDERS Defendant to conduct a diligent search of her records for responsive materials within five business days of the entry of this Order. Within that same five day period, Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure. If Defendant is required or decides to withhold all or part of a requested record, she should follow the procedures set forth in the ORA (see O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(d)). If the records are stored electronically, they may be produced electronically in a commonly used format such as PDF. The Court expects that such production will include the correspondence identified by Plaintiff in its complaint. If it does not, Defendant is further ORDERED to provide an explanation why such correspondence does not exist in Defendant's records (or why it is being withheld)."
Judicial Watch's request for fees and costs will be addressed during a Dec. 20 hearing.
Judicial Watch said its lawsuit, dating back to last March, came after Willis denied having any records responsive to the request for communications with Jack Smith and more.
The New York Post reported only days ago Willis' case against Trump isn't likely to survive much longer.
It noted her claims against Trump, accusing him alleged election interference in Georgia, likely will vanish soon.
The report said Willis "has remained defiant and ignored a subpoena in September from a special senate committee looking into the case, refusing to show up for a hearing when was supposed to testify. Last week, a Georgia appeals court abruptly canceled oral arguments scheduled for next month in the case and Trump's lawyers are likely cite the federal end to the election interference charges against him to get the Georgia case thrown out."
One Post source said, 'I would be shocked if it wasn't (dismissed) but Fani has an ego bigger than the entire state so who knows."
Willis appointed her then-paramour Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor in her case against Trump – and paid him hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.
He was ordered to leave the case earlier when a judge cited the appearance of impropriety in Willis' workings.
"Fani Willis is something else. We've been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit.," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
"Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi's Congress on her unprecedented and compromised 'get-Trump' prosecution."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Amsterdam mayor nixes Christians for Israel rally because city 'cannot guarantee safety'
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema announced in a meeting with pro-Israel groups in the Netherlands who asked to hold a rally against anti-Semitism in the country scheduled for Thursday that it could not take place in Dam Square since the city couldn't "guarantee the safety of attendees at that location."
Frank van Oordt, director of Christians for Israel in the Netherlands, said the rally must take place. "We believe the rally must proceed, even if at a different location. We considered legal action but determined there wasn't enough time to pursue it effectively," he said.
A ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon came into effect at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, bringing an end to almost 14 months of Hezbollah-initiated fighting across the northern border, which began the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel.
Ted Cruz 'deeply disturbed' by Obama-Biden officials' pressure on Israel to accept ceasefire
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement Tuesday, in which he criticized the Biden administration for being "pathologically obsessed" with undermining Israel. Further, he wrote he was "deeply disturbed both by reports that Obama-Biden officials exerted enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this ceasefire and by how those officials are characterizing Israel's obligations."
Biden takes credit for Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, says 'peace is possible'
"I applaud the courageous decision made by the leaders of Lebanon and Israel to end the violence. It reminds us that peace is possible," Biden said in a hopeful speech from the White House Rose Garden in which he announced that the deal would come into effect at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.
Hamas intimates willingness to talk truce deal after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
A high-ranking Hamas official has told French news agency AFP Wednesday that the terror group is prepared to enter into a ceasefire arrangement mirroring the recent agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Though the source did not specify ceasefire terms, Hamas has maintained its demands for a permanent cessation of hostilities, backed by international guarantees and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
IDF fires warning shots at suspected Hezbollah operatives encroaching on border
IDF forces on Wednesday morning responded to a ceasefire violation by the Hezbollah terrorist group.
During the incident, Hezbollah terrorists neared the Lebanese village of Kfarkela, which overlooks the northern Israeli town of Metula. Spotting the terrorists, the Israeli forces fired warning shots.
Reports emerged Wednesday that the three Uzbek nationals wanted for their alleged perpetration of the murder of Moldovan-Israeli Chabad emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Abu Dhabi last week, were apprehended in Turkey and promptly extradited to the United Arab Emirates.
Former N.Y. Gov. Cuomo joins Dershowitz's legal 'dream team' to fight ICC arrest warrants
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – who is potentially eyeing up a run for New York City mayor – has joined forces with Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz on a so-called legal dream team to challenge the recently issued International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Former Justice Minister: ICC decision breaches own foundational principles
Prominent human-rights lawyer and former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler, about whom it was recently revealed he has an Iranian bounty on his head requiring a 24/7 security detail, said in an interview the International Criminal Court's issuance of warrants for the arrest of Israel's Prime Minister and former defense minister Yoav Gallant went against the body's own foundational principles. "To me, that was a breach of his own principle of cooperation, let alone also the principle of complementarity," he said.
Netanyahu agrees to ceasefire after quid pro quo with France over ICC arrest warrants
France indicated that it may ignore the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials, a statement from the Élysée Palace said on Wednesday.
The statement reiterated that France would respect its international obligations and understood that the Rome Statute requires full cooperation with the ICC. However, it noted, "A State cannot be required to act in a manner inconsistent with its obligations under international law concerning the immunities of the States not party to the ICC."
IDF names Druze soldier killed in northern Gaza fighting
The Israel Defense Force released the name of the 13th Druze soldier to be killed in the Swords of Iron War – Sgt. Tamer Othman. He fell in a clash between Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya during a raid in the area and became the 806th Israeli military fatality since Oct. 7, 2023.
UNRWA announces closure of its East Jerusalem HQ
UNRWA has announced the closure of its East Jerusalem headquarters, following recent Israeli legislation severing ties with the organization. Palestinian employees have been notified that their positions at the Sheikh Jarrah (Shimon HaTzadik) facility will be terminated.
UNRWA's presidential office in Sheikh Jarrah houses the organization's legal department, which oversees the agency's legal matters across all areas of operation. The facility also includes the agency's spokesperson's office and its central communications department.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Thousands of Jews flock to Hebron to the tomb of biblical patriarchs and matriarchs
This past weekend, Jews around the world read the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah – the fifth portion of the Book of Genesis. As is customary, thousands of Jews – organizers estimated some 20,000 (which was a restricted number this year because of the security situation) flocked to the Judean town of Hebron to pay their respects to the tomb of the patriarchs and matriarchs, in particular Sarah, Abraham's wife.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, will be forced to open its books and reveal its sources of funding after a defamation suit it filed against a former employee completely backfired.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled Monday that CAIR's donors, funding sources – including potentially foreign ones – and any assets owned by the group are all within the "scope of permissible discovery" as part of former chapter leader Lori Saroya's lawsuit against the controversial Muslim rights group.
Northern Israeli officials, hostage families unhappy over proposed ceasefire
"A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that does not include an arrangement to ensure the security of the communities along Israel's northern border would be a disaster," Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said on Tuesday.
"If a ceasefire agreement is signed between Lebanon and Israel and it does not include a significant arrangement to restore the security of the residents of the front-line communities before they return home — including a buffer zone near the border with a strong international force and the removal of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River — it will be a disaster for generations," he stated.
Defense Ministry advances plan to build border fence along entirety of border with Jordan
The Defense Ministry says it has begun "detailed engineering planning" to establish a fence along the entire border with Jordan to prevent infiltrations into the country — an expensive undertaking that has made little progress in the past.
Gorka: 'No such thing as Palestine'
Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump's pick as his senior director for counter-terrorism, has made several statements in favor of Israel recently, including that "Palestine" doesn't exist and that IDF generals should forget about diplomacy and focus on defeating terrorists militarily.
U.N. fires special advisor on Prevention of Genocide for refusal to label Israel's actions in Gaza as 'genocide'
"Can anyone with integrity survive at the U.N.?" the Wall Street Journal's editorial asked on Tuesday, arguing that the U.N. was refusing to renew the contract of Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu due to her determination that Israel's actions in Gaza could not be defined as "genocide."
Israel approves multi-billion shekel defense procurement package
Under the agreement, the Defense Ministry will purchase five advanced Reshef corvettes from Israel Shipyards to replace the aging Nirit-class corvettes, which will be taken out of service after four decades. Production of the ships in Israel will provide jobs to hundreds of workers in the north.
"The Zionists have crossed the red lines of the Islamic Republic. Iran will never tolerate aggression against its territory and will not leave it unanswered," Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri said on Tuesday.
Islamic Republic's work on pharmaceutical based agents
Multiple Iranian security complexes have been preparing production of fentanyl and medetomidine based incapacitating and lethal agents. These complexes have been working on pillars of producing those weapons: large-scale cost-efficient synthesis of the compounds with maximum potency, evaluating a stable chemical mixture based on those agents that can be aerosolized using a propellant, and developing the delivery of the agents through grenades, bullets, or drones.
Three suspected Uzbek murderers of Chabad rabbi in UAE could face death penalty
The Emirati Ministry of Interior confirmed on Monday that the three suspects arrested for the murder of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan are Uzbek nationals.
Security authorities identified the suspects as Olimpi Toirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, also 28, and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33. The ministry circulated pictures of the three men in custody.
Additionally, the ministry announced the initiation of legal proceedings against the suspects, with reports indicating the defendants could face the death penalty.
IDF soldier gravely injured in Oct. 7 battles, succumbs to his wounds
Sergeant First Class Yona Betzalel Brief, aged 23, from Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, died Tuesday morning after being severely injured in combat on Oct. 7, 2023.
Brief served as a combat medic in the Duvdevan Unit, Commando Brigade, and was severely injured during combat in the communities near the Gaza Strip. He becomes the 805th IDF soldier to be killed since Oct. 7.
Israel Police thwarts huge ammo transfer to Samaria terrorists
Officers of the Israel Police's Northern District over the weekend seized a shipment of more than 20,000 bullets intended for "terrorist elements in Judea and Samaria," the police announced in a statement on Sunday.
Two residents of Ma'ale Iron, a local council that consists of five Arab Israeli villages near Megiddo, were arrested.
IDF troops reach banks of Litani river for first time since 2000>
The IDF's 91st Division has reached the Litani River in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, as well as the Wadi Saluki area, and the military says troops located dozens of Hezbollah weapons and sites in both areas.
It is the first time since 2000 – when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon – that IDF troops have reached the Litani River.
Israel's gov't rubber-stamps Leiter appointment as Israel's ambassador to U.S.>
Israel's government on Sunday unanimously approved the appointment of Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the United States.
Leiter will replace Michael Herzog – the outgoing ambassador and older brother of the Israeli president – on Jan. 24, four days after the Trump administration takes office.