This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – When the New York Times wants to, it can still be an excellent newspaper, capable of funding the kind of deep investigative reporting few other news organizations can match. It was exactly this reporting, which provided two highly noteworthy stories about Israel's conflict with Hezbollah over the last 48 hours or so.
One concerned the Mossad beeper operation, which was carried out with such seemingly spectacular success on Sept. 17 and 18, and how close it came to being rumbled, following suspicions a Hezbollah technician had about them. The other regarded the confidence former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah exuded that the IDF would not target him.
"As he hunkered inside a Hezbollah fortress 40 feet underground on Sept. 27, his aides urged him to go to a safer location. Mr Nasrallh brushed it off, according to intelligence collected by Israel and shared later with Western allies. In his view, Israel had no interest in a full-scale war," reported the Times.
This is a fascinating insight into the mind of one of the most feared leaders of either country or organization across the Middle East. The report goes on to say Nasrallah didn't realize Israeli spy agencies were tracking his every movement, and had been for years, although this almost seems secondary. The point, however, is the Hezbollah leader made a judgment call, based on a pre-Oct. 7 assessment, which was no longer accurate.
In hindsight, it also appears unnecessarily hubristic, given that Israel's response to the killing at the end of July of 12 Druze children playing soccer on a Majdal Shams court, was the elimination – in Hezbollah's Dahiyeh neighborhood stronghold – of the man who was effectively Nasrallah's number two and most trusted lieutenant, Fuad Shukr. It seems incredible this was not a clue as to what his future might be, and that Israel may have released the shackles from its intelligence services. He was thought to be a ghost, a person people spoke of but who was rarely seen in public – for that very reason. Having been identified and pinpointed, Israel's Air Force rammed a missile through his window.
What's even more extraordinary is the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran – in a compound run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – when he attended the inauguration of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, did not see Nasrallah taking visibly more robust security measures. Although Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz only recently admitted in the last few days the country's hand in Haniyeh's elimination – which was apparently nearly thwarted due to a faulty air conditioner – one could imagine the kinds of conversations taking place in bunkers and hideouts across swaths of the Middle East, with the logical assumption being that the Jewish state most probably had a hand in his demise.
Nasrallah seemed to think the old rules of engagement still held vis-a-vis his attitude toward Israel, but Oct. 7, which in itself was the result of a catastrophic failure of imagination and assumption-holding on the Jewish state's part, and the ensuing struggle for its survival had altered everything.
It's an important comparison point, because Israel's political and military leadership had been wary of engaging Hezbollah in an all-out war, with the almost incalculably catastrophic predictions of tens of thousands of civilian deaths just on Israel's side – let alone what would happen to civilians embedded next to Islamist fighters in southern Lebanon. A different article could be written on the miracle of how relatively few civilian casualties there have been on both sides of the border.
And this whole reordering of the entire Middle East can be traced back to the locus of the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel's political and military leadership had assumed Hamas was placated, awash as its leaders at least, were, in Qatari cash, even if precious little found its way to regular Gazans. Israel thought its more lethal enemies were Hezbollah in Beirut and the Islamic regime in Tehran, particularly its nuclear ambitions. Whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks there should be an official inquiry on the lines of the 1974 Agranat Commission following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, there will be a reckoning for those egregious failures. Israel's own hubris, assessing Hamas was becalmed, has cost more than 2,000 lives.
Hamas too, and in particular its now eliminated leader Yahya Sinwar also made assumptions. He thought the Iranian proxies he thought were his allies would come more muscularly to his aid when the inevitable Israeli ground incursion into Gaza came. He hoped Hezbollah would fire more even more rockets at Israel's civilians, particularly the north, which the government quickly emptied. Sinwar thought he'd get more support from Iran, and assessed Israel would get less back-up from the United States than it received.
Sinwar also calculated that international pressure on Israel, which has been intense and carried out through various governmental and non-governmental bodies, such as the United Nations, and the two courts; the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, would halt Israel's Gaza offensive. To some extent, the slow-walking of aid the Biden-Harris administration has been responsible for has been to hint at the success of Sinwar's strategy, but his own demise, as well as most of the top echelons of Hamas' leadership highlights the folly of his plan.
Iran too calculated its two ballistic missile attacks on Israel would not incur excessive blowback. Israel in return had assumed it would not be able to strike Iran with anything like the success it had – effectively taking out its entire anti-aircraft system – especially without the loss of a single aircraft.
Oct. 7 really did change the rules of the game in the Middle East. Nasrallah failed to understand this, and it cost him his life.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Is Iran's energy crisis a historic opportunity for President Trump?
"Fools" flocking to the "scent of kebab": That's how Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently described audiences abroad who sense an opportunity to support Iran's people against their clerical overlords in the face of his regime's myriad challenges, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writing in the New York Post.
But the joke's on Khamenei: When President Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the United States will have a chance to end Tehran's menace for good.
Iran is sunk in a months-long energy crisis that's rocking the regime to its foundations.
Over the past three years, the regime has managed to illicitly sell over $140 billion worth of oil.
Yet years of economic corruption and mismanagement, coupled with competing priorities over what to do with energy revenues – spend them on terror proxies abroad, or on the Iranian people at home? – has yielded gas shortages, hindering electricity generation and chilling millions of Iranians this winter.
The contradiction is so severe that even Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials have called the predicament "disgraceful."
Netanyahu to be hospitalized for several days for surgery
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be put under full anesthetic for his operation Sunday to remove his prostate and will remain in the hospital for "several days" following the surgery, his defense lawyer told the Jerusalem District Court, reported the Times of Israel.
The details were relayed to the court by Amit Hadad, an attorney representing the prime minister in his criminal trial, in a request to have the trial hearings in which Netanyahu was scheduled to give testimony this week canceled.
The court quickly acceded to the request, adding that the hearings are "expected to resume next week, on Monday, Jan. 6," and wished the prime minister a complete recovery.
"Last Wednesday the prime minister underwent a test at the Hadassah hospital that revealed an urinary tract infection stemming from a benign enlargement of the prostate," Hadad told the court, saying that Netanyahu would undergo an operation under full anesthetic to treat the problem.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister's Office announced that he would be having his prostate removed.
'Unfathomable acts of horror': Israel says hostages, including children, now getting branded with hot object
As WorldNetDaily indicates, Israel has submitted a report to the United Nations from the country's health ministry, which outlines the abuse Israeli hostages suffered at the hands of their Gazan captors – cataloging physical and mental torture – and the lasting effect it has had on them, including children.
The Health Ministry's report, which it submitted to Alice Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, is compiled from the testimonies of hostages who were released in the first – and to date, only – deal in November 2023.
It also includes accounts from hostages who were rescued in IDF operations. It details how they were burned and beaten, starved and humiliated, as well as how the abuse impacted their mental and physical health, even long after they were freed.
Azerbaijan Airlines says downed plane crashed due to 'external interference'
Azerbaijan Airlines said a preliminary probe found the plane crash that killed 38 people last week was "due to physical and technical external interference" as questions grew over Russia's potential involvement, according to Semafor.
The airplane was flying from Baku to Grozny in southern Russia on Wednesday when it changed course toward Kazakhstan to attempt an emergency landing, authorities said.
Baku government sources told Euronews early investigations showed the aircraft was struck by a Russian air-defense missile. Reuters reported a source as saying: "No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft."
Meanwhile, Russian officials posited it was a bird strike which caused the crash, and warned against "hypotheses."
Israel's Foreign Ministry budget for public diplomacy rises to $150 million
Israel's Foreign Ministry budget for public diplomacy is set to increase some 20-fold from before the start of the 2023 Iron Swords war in the 2025 budget to $150 million as the country counters an information war just as vicious as the one its military personnel are fighting against the enemies arrayed against it.
Dozens of "influencers and public opinion leaders," as the Foreign Ministry described them, attended a recent brain-storming session, ranging from people like former government spokesman Eylon Levy, former IDF English-language spokesman and current Foundation for Defense of Democracies fellow Jonathan Conricus, Institute for National Security Studies fellow Ophir Dayan and StandWithUs Jerusalem Executive Director Michael Dickson to makeup YouTuber-turned-hasbara influencer Ashley Waxman-Bakshi, Israeli model Nataly Dadon and comedian Yohay Sponder, reported Jewish Insider.
"We are in the middle of an effort to change the approach toward the whole topic that was once called hasbara, and that I call 'consciousness warfare,'" Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said. "The democratic world is influenced by public opinion… and when it is not good for us, then it influences the elected political level's space to maneuver in the international arena."
Nasrallah assumed he was safe from Israel's military until the end
Hezbollah's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah assessed he was safe from being killed by the IDF up until the moment his life ended in an IAF airstrike in Beirut in September, according to a report published by the New York Times Sunday on Israel's intelligence infiltration of the Lebanese terrorist organization.
Reported on Israel National News, the terrorist leader reportedly brushed off concerns from his aides amid requests he go to a safer location than the underground bunker in which his life ended on Sept. 27. Nasrallah assessed Israel was uninterested in full-scale war with Hezbollah, even after it detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the terrorist organization's operatives just two weeks earlier.
IDF detains more than 240 Gaza terrorists at Hamas hospital base
The Israel Defense Forces revealed on Sunday it had detained more than 240 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, even as some of the fighters posed as patients and attempted to flee in ambulances, reported the Jewish News Syndicate.
Approximately 15 terrorists who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre as well as Hamas engineering and anti-tank missile operatives were taken in for questioning.
The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative, was also taken in for questioning.
IDF special forces conducted precise activities inside the hospital locating and confiscating weapons in the area, including grenades, guns, munitions, and military equipment.
IAF downs two rockets fired from Gaza toward Jerusalem, military subsequently destroys launch site
At around 6 p.m. Saturday, Jerusalemites came under rocket attack from two projectiles fired out of the Gaza Strip, reported the Jewish News Syndicate.
"Urgent warning to all those who have not yet evacuated the area specified in the map, and the Beit Hanun area [in the Strip's northeast] in particular," Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman, posted to X.
Overnight, IAF fighter jets targeted the launchers involved in Saturday's rocket attack, supported by firepower from the 933rd "Nahal" Brigade operating in the Gaza Strip.
"The targeted launchers contained a rocket ready for launch toward Israel," the IDF said on Sunday morning.
10-year-old boy discovers pilgrim's cross medallion in Jerusalem neighborhood
A remarkable discovery was made in Jerusalem's Ein Karem neighborhood when a 10-year-old student stumbled upon a century-old cross medallion during a school excursion, Breaking Israel News reported.
Nehorai Nir, who attends the Argentina Experimental High School in Kiryat Hayovel, made the discovery while searching for edible plants with his classmates. Initially attracted by a pomegranate on the ground, his attention was subsequently drawn to a glinting object in the soil, which turned out to be the historic medallion.
Upon examination by Dr. Amit Re'em, Jerusalem District archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, the artifact was revealed to be an exquisite golden cross medallion crafted using micro-mosaic techniques.
Though not technically classified as an antiquity due to its relatively young age of 100-200 years, the piece showcases exceptional craftsmanship.
83-year-old Holocaust survivor murdered in stabbing attack in Herzliya
Holocaust survivor Ludmila Lipovsky, 83, was murdered in a terrorist stabbing attack outside her nursing home in Herzliya on Friday. Security guards neutralized the attacker before arresting him, reported the Jerusalem Post.
An initial investigation revealed the terrorist was a Palestinian resident of Tulkarm who had previously served a prison sentence in Israel. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) added that the suspect was a former Shin Bet informant who had helped thwart terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria.
The Shin Bet's initial investigation of the attack, which occurred on Herzliya's Kdoshei Hashoah Street (Holocaust Martyrs Street), indicated the terrorist committed the murder due to believing his life was in danger.
THAAD missile defense system shoots down ballistic missile over Israel for first time
For the first time since its deployment in Israel, the US made THAAD air defense system intercepted a missile launched by the Houthis from Yemen towards Israeli territory overnight, according to Israel Hayom.
During footage of the interception, an American soldier can be heard saying after the interceptor's launch, "I've waited 18 years for this moment."
The advanced system was positioned to bolster Israel's capabilities in intercepting ballistic missiles and defending against potential threats, such as attacks from Iran. For several years, a joint exercise known as Juniper Cobra has been conducted between the US and Israel.
Syria's de facto leader warns it'll take 4 years to organize elections, with draft constitution in 3
The de facto leader of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa (known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), stated in an interview with the Saudi news channel "Al-Hadath" on Sunday that organizing elections in Syria will require four years, reported Israel Hayom.
Al-Sharaa explained that preparations are currently underway for a "transitional government that will serve for an extended period." Additionally, he pledged to disband the headquarters of Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist coalition that played a significant role in toppling the Assad regime.
The new Syrian ruler outlined several political stages that will precede the election of a president, noting that a new census will be necessary before any voting process can take place. He also declared, "The liberation of Syria will bring security to the region and the Gulf for the next 50 years."
Watch: Former Australian news anchor Erin Molan calls out pope over positions on Israel-Gaza
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Archaeologists in Jerusalem revealed an exciting find Thursday, as the Israel Antiquities Authority published images of a dig on the Mount of Olives in which a 4th century A.D oil lamp with intricate decorations was found.
The images delicately "pressed into limestone moulds," according to IAA research archaeologist, Benjamin Storchan, include the Temple menorah, an incense shovel, as well as a lulav or palm frond, waved during the Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles holiday.
"This unique find, which, judging by the soot marks on its nozzle, was used for lighting about 1,700 years ago, provides a fascinating glimpse into Jewish cultural and religious life during this period," a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority read.
Michael Chernin, excavation director on behalf of the IAA, said the "exquisite artistic workmanship of the lamp, which was found complete, makes it an outstanding and extremely rare example. The menorah, incense shovel and lulav are symbols associated with the Jewish connection to the Temple. This finding is particularly surprising, since, we have very little evidence of the existence of a Jewish settlement in and around Jerusalem from this period. After the Roman emperor Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE, Jews were expelled from the city. The Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material traces of a Jewish presence around Jerusalem in the 3rd-5th centuries CE."
The Romans infamously destroyed the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., following a several-year rebellion during the first Jewish-Roman war. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem, which Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Aelia Capitolina, sparking the second Jewish revolt against the Romans. Therefore, "the Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material traces of a Jewish presence around Jerusalem in the 3rd-5th centuries CE," Chernin said.
"This unique oil lamp, which in an exciting manner bears the symbols of the Temple, connects the lights of the past with the Chanukah holiday of today, and expresses the deep and long-standing connection of the nation of Israel to its heritage and to the Temple's memory," Minister of Heritage Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu said in a statement.
For those familiar with the Hanukkah story, one of the best-known parts of it is the miracle of the olive oil used to light the menorah in the Temple lasting for eight days of use, when it appeared its volume was only enough for one.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There's free advice for Colorado's all-leftist state officials on how to save their taxpayers a million dollars. Or maybe more.
If they want.
It comes from Krista Kafer's Substack column and concerns the state's agenda to violate the U.S. Constitution – repeatedly – by mandating an official government message to which residents must subscribe.
It first showed up a decade back when state officials prosecuted baker Jack Phillips because, based on his Christian faith, he refused a customer's demand that he endorse same-sex marriage with his cake artistry.
State officials from the office of the Democrat governor, Jared Polis, on down to the state's civil rights commission, decided their "nondiscrimination" ideology trumped the Constitution, and such a Christian faith wasn't allowed in their state. They launched legal actions against Phillips, including an order that he undergo indoctrination into the beliefs of the state.
Of course, the U.S. Supreme Court not only handed Colorado a huge loss in that case, the justices publicly humiliated and scolded state officials for their intolerance of Christianity, their bigoted ideology. The state likely spent millions in staff salaries, legal expenses and more to lose the fight.
The state didn't learn, as its officials later took up virtually the same issue in their attacks on Lorie Smith's Christianity, ordering her to promote same-sex marriages with her web design business.
Again, the state lost at the Supreme Court and this time it came with a stinging bill of $1.5 million taxpayers are being forced to pay for the lawyers who brought Smith's successful case. And it had to pay its own expenses to lose again.
Now there's a third fight afoot, giving the state an opportunity to complete its strikeout.
The column points out that while the Constitution provides that the government neither can censor language with which it disagrees, or compel speech it likes, the state is still doing both.
The state law, adopted in 2019 "censors free speech between a mental health professional and his or her clients," the Substack explains.
"The law dictates that a therapist affirm a girl or boy's desire to transition to the opposite sex. The counselor cannot legally engage in conversation that will help the teen accept his or her body and biological gender identity. If she does, the therapist could be fined $5,000 per conversation or could even lose her license."
The lawmakers who adopted the ideological agenda, mostly have "no experience in the mental health field." But they insist that "gender confusion must be confirmed rather than challenged."
"For many mental health professionals, this is tantamount to treating anorexia by telling a patient she is right, she is too fat," the column explained.
The state has left mental health professions with the choice "no one in a free society ever should: they can do right by their patients and lose their license, speak only as the government demands against their professional judgement, or refuse to take clients with gender dysphoria who have come to them for help."
This fight now has been advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Colorado licensed counseling professional Kaley Chiles is challenging the state's speech censorship.
And she, the column explained, "is likely to prevail."
The column explained the state's choice:
"Gender identity is a contentious subject. Everyone cares about struggling teens but disagrees on how they can best be helped. Some people believe it is best to affirm the alternate identity through counseling and medical interventions; others contend the best choice is to help teens accept their bodies and gender identity. The debate over best practices shows no sign of abating. But the government cannot intervene and silence those with whom a bare majority of lawmakers disagree.
"Exit polling from the last election showed that many voters do not believe that human beings can change their sex or gender and they resent being shamed or silenced over their concerns about bathrooms, team sports, and treatment of teens with gender dysphoria. Democrats continue to push an aggressive trans agenda at its own political peril."
At the very least, Kafer said, Colorado lawmakers should repeal the law and "act in their best interest to save money and their political future."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Xaver Becerra, when he was pulled out of the position of attorney general for California to become Joe Biden's Health and Human Services chief, widely was known for one thing: his ardent advocacy for abortion for all.
Now the choice Biden made in appointing someone with the qualifications of Becerra is coming back to sting, as a congressional report is warning that billions of dollars of federal biomedical and public health research funding could be jeopardized because of his technical failure.
It seems that, the report said, 14 directors of some of the largest of the National Institutes of Healths' 27 individual organizations and centers needed to be reappointed to their positions by Dec. 12, 2021, under requirements of the law and the appointments clause of the Constitution.
Only they weren't.
The Washington Examiner explained the report said a two-year investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee found no evidence that Becerra signed the required paperwork by that deadline to "fulfill the legal requirements to legitimize the respective directors of the 14 institutes and centers."
Without a legitimacy in their positions, anything they adopted or voted for could be in jeopardy. Including programs they funded and grants they approved.
The report explained, "The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It is one of 13 subcabinet agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with an annual budget of more than $40 billion. As noted by the National Academies of Science (NAS), 'Founded in the late 1870s, NIH has produced extraordinary advances in the treatment of common and rare diseases and leads the world in biomedical research. It is a critical national resource that plays an important role in supporting national security.'"
The report continued, "No component of HHS 'is subject to greater statutory control with respect to its internal organization than the NIH.' The NIH was established by the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), which specifies the statutorily named national research institutes and national centers. Title IV of the PHSA sets forth in detail the mission, programs, and grant authority of each of the institutes and centers of NIH. It also provides that the director of the National Cancer Institute shall be appointed by the President (no advice and consent) and the directors of the remaining institutes shall be appointed by the HHS secretary, acting through the NIH director. Selecting and retaining the leadership of the NIH's institutes and centers is vital to the success of the NIH. Since at least 1985, the Secretary of HHS has had the statutory responsibility, in accordance with the Appointments Clause power, to appoint these leaders."
The report warned, "Based on various documents and responses produced in response to congressional inquiries, it is apparent that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra failed to re-appoint the Institute and Center Directors in a timely fashion and then engaged in a campaign of misinformation and obstruction in an attempt to cover it up."
The report noted that Republicans, during Becerra's confirmation, questioned whether he was, in fact, even qualified for the position.
"Skeptics were concerned about his lack of health care experience as well as his ability to manage a sprawling Department responding to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the report said.
In fact, the report said, "Secretary Becerra's first visit to the NIH, an agency prominent in the pandemic response, came eight months into the job. In light of these press reports, Republican leaders raised concerns in January 2022 about Secretary Becerra's visibility and availability during the administration's response to the COVID-19 response and requested that the secretary voluntarily provide his calendar and work schedule."
"Secretary Becerra, an attorney by trade, failed to sign the basic legal documents and follow the process required by the Constitution and federal law necessary to reappoint key NIH officials, putting their jobs, the decisions they've made, and the billions in funding they've approved in legal jeopardy," charged Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Subcommittee on Health Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Morgan Griffith, R-Va.
The report said improper reappointments "could expose the actions of the directors to substantial legal challenges, ranging from the administration of research funds to personnel changes or decisions. Some of the largest individual branches of the NIH, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, are in jeopardy."
The report said it wasn't until June 2023 when Becerra signed affidavits for the reappointments of institute and center directors, more than a year after the committee began the initial inquiry in March 2022.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Houthis fire ballistic missile toward central Israel, IDF teaches Yemen a lesson
Millions of Israelis were provided an unwelcome alarm call early Thursday morning as incoming rocket alert sirens sent citizens scurrying to safe rooms and protected areas.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Force, dozens of Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft participated in the strikes in Yemen, including fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from Israel, reported the Times of Israel. The Houthi targets were struck at the Hodeida port — which Israel has struck twice before — and for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana'a, the IDF said.
U.S. warns ISIS prison break in Syria could unleash terrorist army on Middle East
Millions of Israelis were provided an unwelcome alarm call early Thursday morning as incoming rocket alert sirens sent citizens scurrying to safe rooms and protected areas.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Force, dozens of Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft participated in the strikes in Yemen, including fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from Israel, reported the Times of Israel. The Houthi targets were struck at the Hodeida port — which Israel has struck twice before — and for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana'a, the IDF said.
U.S. warns ISIS prison break in Syria could unleash terrorist army on Middle East
Amid the fallout from the crumbling of the Assad regime in Syria, U.S. officials warned Wednesday that thousands of ISIS prisoners held in makeshift jails run by Kurdish forces with limited resources could overpower their captors and begin to flood out across the Middle East.
According to Daily Caller, which cited Politico, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) pushed hard into the territory of the U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who currently hold 9,000 ISIS soldiers and 50,000 others in shoddily secured detention centers. If the SNA attacks do not cease, an army-sized ISIS force might be let out of detention and cause a resurgence in the terrorist group.
"I usually hate this cliche, but this is the closest thing we have to a ticking time bomb," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. "If Turkey doesn't get these attacks on the [Syrian Democratic Forces] halted, we could have a massive jailbreak on our hands."
Human Rights Watch jumps on Amnesty bandwagon accuses Israel of 'genocide,' reanimates ancient blood libel
Not content to be outdone by Amnesty International's recent report on the so-called "genocide" taking place in Gaza due to allegedly deliberate starvation, another non-governmental organization – this time Human Rights Watch (HRW) – has reanimated an ancient blood libel and accused the IDF of intentionally dehydrating Gazans.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oren Marmorstein responded to a Human Rights Watch report with withering contempt. "Here are the facts," he said. "Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks from the Hamas terrorist organization. Israel has ensured water infrastructure, including the continued operation of four water pipelines and water pumping & desalination facilities, which remain operational," reported Israel National News.
Shin Bet sounds alarm over scale of Iranian espionage in Israel
Over the last several months, Israel's security services – the Shin Bet most prominently among them – have successfully busted a number of individuals and couples who have been co opted to spy on Iran's behalf, usually via some kind of social media.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, the 12 cases it has uncovered are unprecedented. Even during the Iron Curtain era, Soviet intelligence agencies did not operate such a large number of spies in Israel, and there were certainly no Israeli citizens who chose to betray their country and spy for the enemy.
The Shin Bet has also been troubled by the fact that the Iranians do not recruit spies based on a particular profile. "We see a variety of citizens being recruited for espionage tasks by Iran, ranging from ultra-Orthodox citizens, new immigrants, minorities, and citizens leading ordinary secular bourgeois lifestyles," said a security official.
HTS leader calls on international community to lift Syria sanctions
Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Al-Julani said Syria is exhausted by war and the rebels pose no threat to the West or any of Syria's neighbors, reported Israeli news outlet Ynet. Al-Sharaa, who led the rebel force that took down the regime of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive earlier this month said in an interview to the BBC that sanctions against Syria should be lifted.
"Now, after all that has happened, sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime. The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way," he said.
He also said that his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) should be taken off the list of terrorist organizations, claiming it did not target civilians or civilian areas and were themselves the victims of Assad's cruelty.
U.S. lawmakers threaten Turkey with sanctions if it invades Kurdish-held areas of northeastern Syria
Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are threatening sanctions against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unless Ankara forces Syrian opposition fighters into a ceasefire with U.S-backed Kurdish partners in the northeast of the country, according to The Hill.
The senators said they are prepared to introduce sanctions legislation this week against Turkey if Ankara does not immediately accept terms for a sustained ceasefire and demilitarized zone, as the country continues to roil from the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Israel democracy index shows waning public support in state institutions
Even in the midst of war, the Israel Democracy Institute index 2024 found most Israelis feel they can always count on their fellow citizens in times of trouble, and a majority think Israel is a good place to live.
The latest edition shows trust in institutions at a critical low, while over 50% of Israelis think that civil society organizations do a better job than the state. The public's perception of most issues remains divided between the political camps, with significant differences between Jewish and Arab Israelis on a variety of issues, including the greatest source of tension in society, and willingness to integrate.
The study showed that public trust in the government and the Knesset sank considerably in the wake of the catastrophic invasion and massacre perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, but has since rallied to a certain extent.
Iran pauses implementation of draconian hijab legislation
Iran's National Security Council on December 16 paused the implementation of a controversial "Hijab and Chastity" law that would harshen the penalties against women who fail to comply with the Islamic regime's draconian laws on wearing the hijab, or headscarf. The law, which Iran's parliament approved in Sept. 2023, would have carried an $800 fine for the first offense, $1,500 for the second offense, and up to 15 years in prison for a third offense.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian was critical of the law, saying, "There are ambiguities about this law, which would not be easy to enforce," and arguing as well that it "would undermine national solidarity," reported the BBC.
The non-implementation of this law shows the Islamic regime in Iran is feeling somewhat jittery. If it was in full control, it would likely enforce the law the parliament had drawn up. The fact it has not might be testament to how much pressure is being exerted upon it on a number of domestic and foreign fronts.
Oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sells for over $5m
The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments sold for more than $5 million at an auction on Wednesday, according to the Times of Israel.
Sotheby's said the 115-pound (52-kilogram) marble slab was acquired by an anonymous buyer who plans to donate it to an Israeli institution.
The New York-based auction house said the final price exceeded the presale estimate of $1 million to $2 million and followed more than 10 minutes of "intense bidding" during the global competition.
The tablet dates from 300 to 800 A.D.s and is inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script — the only complete example of its kind from antiquity, according to Sotheby's.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A federal appeals court has trashed the rules imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that required companies to have quotas from various population groups.
The decision found the SEC had no authority to impose its demands.
"We are grateful the court reached the right conclusion in this case," Stefan Padfield, of the Free Enterprise Project, told USA Today. "The SEC was reaching beyond its statutory authority to try and engage in progressive social engineering. The court's decision here is not only correct on the law, but also consistent with the will of the American people, who are sick and tired of seeing their government engage in divisive identity politics."
The New Civil Liberties Alliance had fought the case on behalf of the National Center for Public Policy Research's FEP and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment.
The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the SEC's adoption of quotas for boards.
That agenda was to impose race, sex and orientation quotas on corporate boards across the U.S.
But the SEC Act of 1934, "required companies listed on a registered stock exchange to comply with SEC disclosure regulations. … SEC may not approve even a disclosure rule unless it can establish the rule has some connection to an actual, enumerated purpose of the Act.'
The decision was written by Judge Andrew S. Oldham in National Center for Public Policy Research v. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The ruling determined the race, sex and orientation of board members had "no connection" to the purposes of the law.
"SEC has intruded into territory far outside its ordinary domain," the judge said. And he said Nasdaq "offered little support for its claim that there is an empirically established – even logical – link between the racial, gender, and sexual composition of a company's board and the quality of its governance."
In fact, the law "explicitly forbids SEC from approving Nasdaq rules that regulate matters unrelated to the Act's purposes. Gender, race, and sexual orientation fall outside the Act's purposes. Even SEC itself determined these demographic characteristics have no rational relationship to corporate performance and investor returns," the legal team said.
Peggy Little, NCLA counsel, said, "The en banc majority hewed closely to the plain text of the Exchange Act and its 1975 Amendments. It adopted NCLA's statutory construction analysis that not only did Congress fail to confer such extraordinary power on this financial regulator, but SEC is statutorily forbidden to approve rules unless they further the 'purposes' of the Act to ensure fair and open markets."
And NCLA chief Mark Chenoweth explained, "The en banc Fifth Circuit has now agreed with NCLA for the third time in the last three years. This time, the Court held that Congress did not authorize SEC to adopt disclosure rules willy-nilly. Today's decision should chasten SEC to stick to its knitting and stop trying to abuse its market-regulating power."
The ruling noted, "Nasdaq proposed rules that compel the companies listed on its exchange to disclose information about the racial, gender, and sexual characteristics of their directors, and to have (or explain why they do not have) at least two directors who meet Nasdaq's definition of 'diverse,' SEC approved those rules. We hold, however, that the diversity rules cannot be squared with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934."
It continued, "It is obviously unethical to violate the law or to disregard a contractual promise. It is not unethical for a company to decline to disclose information about the racial, gender, and LGTBQ+ characteristics of its directors. We are not aware of any established rule or custom of the securities trade that saddles companies with an obligation to explain why their boards of directors do not have as much racial, gender, or sexual orientation diversity as Nasdaq would prefer."
As part of President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to uproot "woke" ideology in the U.S. government, he's already nominated former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to be the next SEC chairman. Current SEC Chair Gary Gensler said last month he'll quit when Trump takes office in a few weeks.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – The fallout from the dramatic events over the last 48 hours or so in Syria continued Monday, as the future shape of the entire Middle East is still uncertain and lies hugely in the balance.
With so many questions on everyone's minds, one of the most pressing is whether Iran will now go all-out, release the shackles, and try to develop a nuclear bomb.
Alarm bells are already beginning to ring loudly among some in the international community. Indeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, the autonomous nuclear watchdog, which reports to the United Nations General Assembly and also U.N. Security Council, recently warned Iran is poised to "dramatically" increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium. Already noted as long in June, this was a process it was already undertaking.
However, due to the current situation in Syria and the break-up of its lengthy land bridge, which connected the Mediterranean Sea to Tehran, and afforded it access to an unparalleled weapons delivery highway – and has left it somewhat isolated – there are fears it will accelerate its drive for the bomb.
One element of the increased stockpile of the weapons-grade uranium, which many missed, but the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, or FDD, did not, is how it is tied to the Islamic Republic's space program.
Indeed, the FDD noted last week how "Iran claimed its space program successfully launched its heaviest payload yet into space on Dec. 6, including a device capable of repositioning other satellites. The launch utilized the domestically produced, two-stage, liquid-fueled Simorgh rocket carrying the payload into orbit with a high point of 255 miles above Earth."
The importance of this, which a U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence also noted with alarm, "would shorten the timeline to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) because of the shared technologies within space launch and ballistic missile capabilities."
If Assad's fall was a shock to Western intelligence officials – including Israel and U.S. – it must also have come as a surprise to his Iranian backers. Indeed, on Dec. 1, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was filmed having a fast-food dinner in Damascus, having just met with the now-deposed Syrian leader. He was also due to speak at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Sunday, but left early because of the pace of events in Syria.
The dismantling of the Assad regime also spells – for now at least – the end of a more than 20-year Iranian foreign policy goal of being able to join up Tehran-backed proxy groups – with the twin goal of annihilating the State of Israel, and furthering its hegemonic aims in the Mideast.
There are two other fairly obvious reasons for a potential dash for the bomb. As the failed Biden administration runs on the final fumes of its own incompetence, the Trump 2.0 team – no friend of the mullahs in Tehran – is waiting in the wings for only another 40 days or so.
Trump clearly has unfinished business with Iran, the highly credible reports of the Islamic Republic's attempts – or wishes at best – to suborn his assassination not being the least of them. Trump could point – with the backing of significant evidence – that his maximum pressure campaign was reaping dividends, in the way the Iranian economy was struggling and therefore left Tehran with less room to maneuver with regard to its destabilizing influence in the region. One can draw a direct causal link from the Biden-Harris administration releasing billions of dollars of cash, and the precipitous uptick in Iran's meddling.
The other pressing issue – which is not directly related to Trump's return to office, but could be – is the knowledge – both in Iran and outside – that Israel's late-October attack did indeed leave it almost completely vulnerable to attack, up to and including its nuclear sites.
Trump alluded to it in his Truth Social post, highlighting how Israel's lengthy and unprecedented strike has left Iran "vulnerable." They know it. Everyone else knows it too. And in about five weeks, the entire tenor of U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic will change dramatically.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A school district in Waterville, New York, has been delivered a five-page letter with instructions on how it should get rid of its "hostility" to the Bible, and comply with federal law.
The fight is over a decision by Waterville Central School District officials to refuse to recognize a student Bible club.
A student had followed all of the required processes and procedures for establishing that group, but according to the letter, the school refused to acknowledge the club "as it would any other club," because of its association with faith.
"By denying the same benefits to the Bible club that it provides to all non-curricular clubs, the school has missed the concept of 'equal' in the Equal Access Act," explained Keisha Russell, a lawyer for First Liberty Institute. "The school's actions are unconstitutional, and its justification is legally flawed. The Supreme Court has made clear that the Free Exercise Clause protects religious practices by both students and employees in public school settings."
At issue is an effort by Elijah Nelson, an eighth-grader, to establish an official Bible club.
The letter from the institute, along with C. Kevin Marshall and Michael Bradley of Jones Day, cited the school's explanation that "we cannot have a school-sponsored club associated with a religion meaning that we can't fund the club or provide an adviser."
Nelson has worked for two years already to start a Bible club.
School officials, relying on what the letter describes as incorrect advice from their layers, said the club could meet informally during lunch while a staff member supervised the students without participating in the group's activities; or the club could apply as an outside organization to use the school's facilities after hours.
The letter explains to the district that "rejecting Elijah's request because the school could not endorse a certain religion is 'anachronistic and misplaced.' The letter clarifies that while 'endorsement did once feature in the Supreme Court's Establishment Clause decisions,' it does not now. 'Today, the Establishment Clause never requires—and never allows—the government to discriminate against religious observers and organizations when granting benefits.'"
After explaining the requirements of equal access, fair treatment, and non-discrimination standards, the letter tells school officials they are violating two parts of the First Amendment, free speech and free exercise.
"The school is out of line. It has denied Elijah's request simply because of its religious nature, and it has thereby violated the Constitution, federal law, and its students' rights," the letter explains.
The letter asks for prompt notification when the Bible club is approved "on the same terms and conditions that govern official clubs."
Otherwise, the letter suggested, litigation will be coming
"Waterville needs to dispense with its 'hostility toward the religious viewpoint' and show Elijah and his fellow students some respect."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In France, part of the so-called civilized West, human rights and freedom have been protected for generations, but that nation has exited that group.
Because it now has censored speech to the point it is illegal to say that abortion, which causes the death of the unborn every single time the process fulfills its goal, is a "cause of death."
The analysis comes from free speech expert Jonathan Turley, who is a constitutional expert who has testified before Congress and represented members, on related issues.
He's also released a new book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage."
He points out that for generations, France's call to patriotism has been "liberté, égalité, fraternité," or Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
"However, in today's France, 'liberté' is no longer valued. Individual rights of religion and speech are routinely sacrificed in the name of 'equity' and 'fraternity," he warned.
"We have long discussed the collapse of free speech values in France as the left criminalizes an ever-widening scope of opposing viewpoints," he explained. "Conservative groups are denouncing a new such case targeting conservative media. CNEWS was fined and forced to apologize on air after a journalist referred to abortion as the world's leading cause of death."
He explained a presenter on CNEWS., which is owned by Catholic businessman Vincent Bolloré, recently broadcast a graphic on the causes of death that put abortion on top, with 73 million deaths worldwide each year.
Cancer was ranked second at 10 million and smoking followed at 6.2 million.
Turley pointed out that Arcom, the French media regulators, immediately "imposed a fine of 100,000 euros and compelled CNEWS to apologize on the air. It was the full monty of censorship, combining a penalty with compelled speech. Arcom found that the network had failed its 'obligation of honesty and rigor in the presentation and processing of information.' It declared that 'Abortion cannot be presented as a cause of death.'"
That, Turley noted, is despite the obvious, that "many people around the world view abortion as the death of a human being."
But leftists "went ballistic," and now in France "It is now a violation of law to call abortion a cause of death."
Turley said the attitude of banning the truth wasn't surprising.
"France has been a leader in the rollback on free speech in the West with ever-widening laws curtailing free speech. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to 'inciting' or 'intimidating' others based on race or religion," he said.
He cited the case of the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen who was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority "smelly" and the charge against a teenager who said Islam was a "religion of hate."
Turley said free speech is in a free fall across Europe.
"The desire to silence others has now become an insatiable appetite," he said.