03-16-2024, 02:18 AM
USA
LATIN AMERICA
MIDDLE EAST
Let's Punish Fani Willis... Just Don't Be Too Harsh on Her
Quote:Donald Trump’s allies have failed in their effort to get Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis removed from prosecuting her election subversion case against Trump and others.
But amid their concerted campaign to target prosecutors, they have succeeded in damaging her in a way that could reverberate — with a very significant assist from Willis herself.
And to some legal experts, the judge’s decision raises significant questions about the wisdom of Willis pressing forward, even though she can.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that either Willis (D) and her office or special prosecutor Nathan Wade must leave the case. The dispute centered on a previously undisclosed romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, whom she appointed in late 2021, and whether Willis improperly benefited from it.
McAfee found that the Trump-allied defendants hadn’t proved there was a conflict of interest but that the situation carried the “appearance of impropriety.”
The easy call, of course, is for Wade to step aside to allow Willis and her office to press forward. But that might not be the end of the matter, politically or otherwise.
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But he suggestively pointed to other forums that could shed more light, including the state bar, a state ethics commission and the Georgia General Assembly. (As it happens, the legislature passed a law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp ® this week, empowering a panel to investigate and potentially punish “rogue” local prosecutors. While the law is not explicitly targeted at Willis, the ruling could provide fodder for such a process.)
Quote:Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s ex-lover and fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned from the Trump case Friday afternoon, handing former President Donald Trump a political victory.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that Willis could remain on the Trump case if she removed Wade or if he voluntarily resigned.
In a letter addressed to Willis, Wade wrote he would resign from the case pursuant to McAfee’s ruling:
Although the court found that “the defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest,” I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and move this case forward as quickly as possible.
Willis accepted Wade’s resignation and thanked him for his alleged “professionalism and dignity you have shown over the last 865 days, as you have endured threats against you and your family, as well as unjustified attacks in the media and in court on your reputation as a lawyer.”
McAfee’s Friday ruling found that the former lovers’ relationship produced no “actual conflict” that would force Willis from the case. McAfee also wrote the two former lovers only engaged in an “appearance of impropriety,” which should result in Willis leaving her office if Wade is not removed from the case.
Never Trumper Pence
Quote:Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story” that he would not be endorsing former President Donald Trump for president.
Anchor Martha MacCallum said, “President Trump sewed up the nomination, which he did earlier this week. He has received endorsements from some of the people running against him. We have not heard from you. Will you be endorsing your former president, you were on the ticket with him last time around?”
Pence said, “Well, Martha, I appreciate the question. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. Look, I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world.”
He added, “That being said, during my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January 6. As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life.”
US Depends on China to Get... Syringes & Gloves!?
Quote:According to Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), in 2018, the U.S. imported only 15 percent of the 10 million needles and syringes used every day in America. However, that percentage is now 40 percent, the senators said in a recent op-ed.
Not only is that putting Americans’ lives at risk from faulty Chinese needles and syringes, but it has caused the shutdown of four out of six manufacturing sites in the U.S., the senators said.
Ricketts and Blumenthal wrote Wednesday in the RealClearPolitics op-ed:
As we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, relying on health care products produced outside the United States carries significant risks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently investigating reports of faulty syringes made in China. Leaking or broken syringes have serious medical consequences, such as delivering the wrong dose of a medication—a potentially fatal mistake.
The senators noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, American businesses and manufacturers ramped up production of “everything from respirators to hand sanitizers,” and urged for that to continue.
Ricketts and Blumenthal added:
Without a resilient domestic supply chain for medical supplies, we risk our nation’s crisis response, and the health of our citizens. The most effective way to ensure the quality of these products is to manufacture them in the U.S. If we don’t change course soon, we risk losing the last of our syringe manufacturing facilities, which would make the United States largely reliant on China — a mistake we can’t afford to make.
It is not just needles and syringes that are being imported in greater amounts from China in recent years — it is also other critical supplies such as rubber medical gloves.
Democrats Go After Veterans
Quote:More than 140 House Democrats are demanding that the ability to bar veterans from gun purchases/ownership under certain circumstances be added back to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
For decades, the VA has been required to report veterans to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for mental issues, and such issues include using a fiduciary to manage one’s VA benefits. But this year, the Clinton-area gun ban was rolled back in the Senate by an amendment put forward by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
Following the adoption of his amendment, Kennedy said, “Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t be able to strip veterans of their Second Amendment rights unilaterally. The Senate did the right thing for veterans and all freedom-loving Americans by passing my amendment today.”
Democrats in the House are crying foul and demanding the gun ban be added back into the appropriations bill.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), says, in part:
The Kennedy Amendment rolls back 30 years of common-sense precedent and practice which ensures that veterans who are deemed to be “mentally incompetent” are added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The current process used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make a competency determination as required by law, includes an opportunity for appeals, helps ensure that veterans who are a danger to themselves or others are flagged in the background check system if they try to purchase a firearm.
Cost of Free Healthcare for Immigrants
Quote:As millions of migrants pour through the U.S.-Mexico border, they’re taking up space in emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs), and racking up exorbitant amounts of debt while being uninsured and taking advantage of Medicaid.
A November 2023 report from the House Committee on Homeland Security revealed that out of an estimated $451 billion in yearly costs connected to the Biden administration’s immigration crisis, a significant chunk is going to healthcare for illegal aliens.
While the vast majority of illegals don’t have insurance, they’re free to rack up debt with long hospital stays. Many are also able to get government welfare, including Medicaid. All an illegal migrant would have to do is cross the southern border into California to receive taxpayer-funded insurance.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ushered in the first state program to offer free subsidized healthcare to illegal migrants under the Medi-Cal system in the beginning of 2024, Breitbart News reported.
An employee of a Southern California hospital who recently spoke with the Epoch Times on conditions of public anonymity said, “The entire health care system is just being bombarded” by the stream of migrants.
“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she added.
Just in the first five months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 902,000 migrants who illegally crossed into the U.S. between ports of entry, Breitbart News reported.
“Last year broke a new record high for illegal border crossings, surpassing more than 3.2 million apprehensions,” the Epoch Times noted.
California’s new program will cost taxpayers more than $4.8 billion, according to a fiscal burden analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), citing California Health and Human Services data.
Biden Against Israel
Quote:President Joe Biden’s endorsement Friday of a call by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Israel to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold new elections marks the worst crisis in the history of U.S.-Israel relations.
Israel is currently fighting to defeat Hamas, which murdered 1,200 people in the October 7 terror attack. It is also under attack from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has even faced missile attacks launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
All of these groups are funded and armed by Iran, which views the United States as its enemy. Instead of backing Israel fully, Biden is not only criticizing Israel in increasingly strident terms, but demanding it remove its democratic leader.
Biden is also slapping sanctions on Israelis who have not been convicted of any crime; this week, he also sanctioned two geographic areas under Israeli control in the West Bank. At the same time, he gave Iran a $10 billion sanctions waiver.
Meanwhile, the Senate — at Schumer’s direction — is refusing to pass billions of dollars in military aid for Israel. And there are reports that the Biden administration is “slow-walking” deliveries of ammunition already promised to Israel.
This is happening because Netanyahu — like most Israelis — rejects Biden’s plan to impose a Palestinian state after the war, which would reward Hamas for terror. Israelis also want to win the war — not to wait, and allow Hamas to survive.
Biden is furious, and wants Netanyahu out of the way. So he, and Schumer, have sent a message to Israel: if you do not replace Netanyahu, you will not be receiving more money and more weapons. You will be on your own against terror.
If Israel complies, and elects a new leader — should one be found who accepts Biden’s policies, which are rejected by the majority of Israelis — then Israel might receive aid and ammunition, but it would definitely fall short of its war goals. It would probably not be able to complete the defeat of Hamas in Rafah, and it would almost certainly be unable to secure northern Israel against Hezbollah. Israeli shipping through the Red Sea will remain impossible. Israel will lose the war.
This is a terrible dilemma, one that has no precedent in the history of U.S-Israel relations. Barack Obama triggered a crisis in 2015 by imposing the Iran nuclear deal on Israel, which Netanyahu opposed publicly because it allowed Iran to emerge as a nuclear power after a decade, and gave Iran money with which to fund terrorism. That was bad enough. What Biden is doing is far worse, involving active political interference in Israel in the midst of an existential conflict.
Biden & CAIR
Quote:The Biden White House was caught in a lie on Thursday as it tried to deny that it had tried to meet with the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Chicago as part of an outreach to Arab-, Muslim-, and Palestinian-Americans.
As Breitbart news has noted:
In 2007-8, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. That case, in turn, led the FBI to discontinue its work with the organization. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” the ties of CAIR with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. The United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014 (a decision that the Obama administration opposed).
CAIR executive director Nihad Awad declared that he was “happy” with the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, a claim that led the White House to distance itself from the group, with which it had consulted on its “antisemitism strategy.”
But the White House sought a meeting with CAIR on Thursday as part of its effort to appease anti-Israel voters who are unhappy with President Joe Biden’s support (however tepid) for Israel’s war effort against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Politico reported that CAIR was among several local leaders who boycotted the Biden meetings (original emphasis):
BREAKING: Illinois leaders in the Palestinian communities angry over how President Joe Biden has handled the Middle East war have turned down a request by the White House to meet in Chicago today.
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A big concern is that the White House is trying to improve optics at home instead of taking action abroad. “We believe a thousand percent in civic engagement. We preach it,” CAIR-Chicago Director Ahmed Rehab told Playbook about why he declined to attend.
“But this is an unusual moment and requires an unusual response. We have made clear that a ceasefire is needed,” Rehab said, adding, the “trickle of humanitarian aid” from the U.S., which is also sending weapons to Israel “is akin to offering band-aids with one hand while wielding an ax with the other.”
The White House denied ever having reached out to CAIR — but went further. White House Spokesman Andrew Bates claimed that CAIR is “never” invited to White House meetings, a claim that was easily and immediately refuted.
Bates has a history of misleading the press, including lying about a meeting between then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma board adviser Vadym Pozharskyi in 2015, which was proven by Hunter Biden’s laptop and later testimony.
Open Border
Quote:President Joe Biden and Democrats want an open border, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, laying out the evidence.
Host Mike Slater asked Johnson to respond to a conversation on The View featuring New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), which featured the governor asserting that the border is now squarely a Republican problem.
“President Biden and Democrats, they want an open border. It’s obvious this is what they want,” Johnson said, explaining that even with weakened authority due to court decisions, former President Donald Trump secured the border.
Johnson said Biden used executive authority — dozens of executive actions — to “reverse all those successful policies” of the Trump administration.
“And then for three years, he and his Secretary of Homeland Security denied that there was a crisis. They only admitted it once. Mayor Adams and Mayor Johnson, in Chicago in New York, started looking at their sanctuary city and realize this doesn’t work too good. We can’t handle this. … They started making noise and all sudden the mainstream media had to start covering it,” Johnson explained.
“That started putting pressure on the Democrats … all the Democrats were looking for was political cover. And unfortunately, Leader McConnell entered secret negotiations on a subject where the American people agree with us that were all we were looking for, in any kind of legislation was the enforcement mechanism to force President Biden to use the authority has to secure the border,” Johnson continued.
“We weren’t looking for an immigration bill. And that’s what McConnell apparently negotiated for us. I think the quote from Schumer in Politico was priceless. He said they were — referring to himself and Democrats — were playing chess. They were playing checkers. And we’re in a lot better position on the border than we were three weeks ago. I mean, that speaks volumes,” he said, adding that Leader Mitch McConnell “gave them the poker cover they’re looking for.”
Describing the immigration bill as “awful,” Johnson added that it only saw some support from Border Patrol because they are “drowning” and anything lower than 10,000 illegals a day would be a “win for them.”
Haitian in Massachusetts
Quote:A Haitian national, released into the United States, is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at a migrant shelter in the sanctuary state of Massachusetts.
Cory Alvarez, a 26-year-old migrant from Haiti, has been arrested and charged this week with aggravated rape of a child under 16-years-old. Alvarez has since pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to Plymouth County law enforcement, Alvarez was living at a migrant shelter in Rockland, Massachusetts when he invited the 15-year-old girl over to his room. The girl told police Alvarez promised to help her open apps on her tablet.
Instead, police allege, Alvarez raped the girl, even as she asked him to stop.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) told the media that Alvarez arrived in the state after being released into the U.S. “through a federal program,” — likely President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline which allows those arriving at the southern border to be released into the nation’s interior while their immigration cases are sorted out.
“His person was in the country under the federal program,” Healey said. “… again, we don’t know the specifics of this case, but we take all allegations of sexual assault most seriously. My heart goes out to the victim, the alleged victim in this case, and her family. We need to let the criminal justice system do its work.”
Alvarez has been forced to surrender his passport and is being held in custody in Plymouth County without bail.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has placed a detainer on Alvarez, although Massachusetts does not allow law enforcement to cooperate with turning criminal illegal aliens over to federal agents.
Haitians Planned to Invade US?
Quote:Florida law enforcement recently intercepted a vessel carrying Haitians armed with guns, drugs, and night vision gear, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday.
Speaking about the continued effort to keep the Sunshine State safe — particularly in the midst of the violent unrest in Haiti — DeSantis said Florida officers prevented 25 potential illegal immigrants hailing from Haiti from entering Florida.
“Just recently within the last couple of weeks — and this will be made public later today — our Florida Fish and Wildlife officers interdicted a vessel that had 25 illegal immigrants, potentially illegal immigrants, from Haiti,” the governor announced.
“In their boat, in their vessel, they had firearms. They had drugs. They had night vision gear and were boating very recklessly which would potentially endanger other folks,” he said, adding that the boat was “interdicted near the Sebastian inlet,” which is roughly 40 miles south of Port Canaveral.
“And those illegal aliens were turned over to the Coast Guard for deportation. So our folks have been doing this before we augmented this, and they’re gonna continue to do it,” DeSantis said, boasting of the “incredible amount of resources that are now on display.”
This is always a priority of officials, DeSantis said, but he explained that it is different now because there are more resources from the state, so it is an overall larger effort.
DeSantis went on to say that this issue — a matter of border security and illegal immigrants — should be the federal government’s responsibility, but the Biden administration has continued to shirk its duties and ultimately, the Coast Guard is “undermanned.”
“The Coast Guard does by and large a good job, but they’re undermanned. They’re under-resourced, so we’re filling those gaps,” he said. “I think one difference now is, and we see this with our folks that we have at the border, you have people coming across the southern border from all over the world,” DeSantis continued, explaining that at this point it would actually be easier for potential illegal immigrants from Haiti to fly to Mexico once flights resume and enter the United States on the southern border.
“I would anticipate if flights resume, that will likely be where a lot of those folks [go] who are trying to flee. If they want to come to the United States, they’re probably gonna go to Mexico and then come in through the border, knowing that Biden will just let everybody in,” he said.
LATIN AMERICA
Haiti
Quote:Haitian gang lord Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier on Thursday threatened violence against the families of anyone who joins the Biden administration-backed “transitional council” to select an interim prime minister.
“Don’t you have any shame? You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,” Cherizier said in an audio message posted to social media on Thursday morning, suggesting he views the proposed transitional council as merely an extension of the corrupt Haitian ruling elite.
“I’ll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti … if your husbands are in Haiti,” he said menacingly.
Cherizier diluted the threat slightly by suggesting he meant anyone who aspires to govern Haiti should live in the country. “If you’re gonna run the country all your family ought to be there,” he grumbled.
The gang boss applauded the announced, but not yet implemented, resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, but added that even Henry’s ouster would be only “a first step in the battle” for Haiti’s future.
After two days of relative calm, gang violence surged again on Thursday with an attack on a police academy and reports of a fire breaking out at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, which the gangs attacked and largely emptied of prisoners two weeks ago.
Heavily armed police officers entered the National Penitentiary on Thursday afternoon and were apparently able to extinguish the fire, the cause and extent of which have not been made public.
Quote:Unknown assailants believed to be affiliated with the nation’s out-of-control criminal gang network reportedly looted and burned down the home of the director-general of the Haitian National Police, Frantz Elbe, on Thursday.
Elbe’s home was reportedly one of several targets of terrorist assaults by the gangs on Thursday in a resurgence of gang violence after a modest period of calm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The gangs have largely taken over the country following the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry for a visit to Kenya at the beginning of the month, in which he asked the country to send police officers to help Haiti’s depleted law enforcement resources combat the threat of the gangs. Henry, unelected and with seemingly no public support, has, in effect, run the country since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in his home in 2021. Following his flight out of Haiti, the G9 and Family gang syndicate, led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, launched an assault in which it freed 4,000 prison inmates and surrounded the Port-au-Prince airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.
Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico at press time and announced plans to resign on Monday. Henry insisted that he would not formally vacate the position until his country established a “Transitional Presidential Council,” backed by the international community, tasked with choosing a new prime minister and organizing elections.
As of Thursday, the “Presidential Council” has chosen six of its seven prospective members. The Council plan is not especially popular in Haiti, however, and faces significant opposition – notably from Cherizier, who issued threats on Thursday against the families of anyone participating in the Council or materially supporting it. Another influential opponent of the Council is Guy Philippe, a gang-affiliated political leader precluded from joining the Council due to having been convicted on money laundering charges in the United States. President Joe Biden’s administration freed Philippe in September, allowing him to return to Haiti and vie for power.
Haiti remains unsafe for Henry to return and the few people in leadership positions left in the country are also under siege. On Thursday, “armed individuals” attacked the home of Elbe, the police chief, reportedly looting the premises before setting it on fire. Elbe and his family were reportedly not there, as they had long faced threats to their person.
Quote:The government of the Dominican Republic told one of the nation’s largest newspapers on Thursday that the United Nations had not consulted it to create a “humanitarian air bridge” to send supplies and relief workers into Haiti.
The apparent absence of communication between the U.N. and the Dominican Republic signals a growing rift in the global agency’s relationship with the Caribbean government following Santo Domingo dismissing requests from U.N. officials to cease mass deportations of Haitians illegally present in the country. In response to calls not to deport the illegal immigrants, Dominican officials insisted that not allowing them to remain was a “national security” issue for the country and suggested the U.N. demand more action from countries that do not share a land border with Haiti.
Haiti has been mired in gang-fueled violence for decades, but its government has been in a state of unprecedented disarray since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Haiti has not had a president since, leaving unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry with no identifiable public support and few resources to contain gang violence. Henry left the country in early March to travel to Kenya, where he asked President William Ruto to provide police officers for a U.N.-approved Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. Upon his departure, armed militias led by notorious gang boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier attacked prisons, freeing as many as 4,000 criminals, and surrounded Port-au-Prince’s airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.
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The U.N. announced a plan on Wednesday to address the ongoing lawlessness in Haiti by creating the “air bridge,” flying staffers, food, and medicine into the country and evacuating non-emergency personnel. The U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) issued a statement that made the plan appear to be a given fact, promising the “air corridor will enable the transport of aid and ensure the safe relocation of staff both in and out of the country.”
The statement read:
The UN [in Haiti] is establishing an airbridge between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The airbridge will ensure the seamless delivery of humanitarian aid and support services to Haiti, and facilitate the movement of our personnel in and out of the country.
“The air bridge announced on Wednesday between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to send humanitarian aid to the Haitian people, victims of a grave crisis, should be operative as soon as possible,” Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Thursday.
Upcoming Sham Elections in Venezuela
Quote:Venezuelan opposition frontrunner candidate María Corina Machado is facing increased pressure from her alleged allies to choose a replacement who can run against socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in the upcoming July sham presidential election, according to a report published by Reuters on Thursday.
Machado, who leads Venezuela’s only mainstream center-right party Vente Venezuela, was elected as the opposition’s candidate in October’s primary election, where she obtained more than 93 percent of the votes. Polls released in late 2023 showed that Machado would easily defeat Maduro with more than 70 percent of the votes. Without the frontrunner opposition candidate, dictator Nicolás Maduro is expected to “win” the fraudulent electoral event, securing a new six-year term for himself.
Venezuela is slated to hold a new sham presidential election on July 28. The Maduro regime, which controls all branches of Venezuela’s government, is refusing to allow Machado’s participation. The regime banned Machado from running for public office through 2030 as punishment for expressing support for international human rights sanctions.
Although the Maduro regime upheld her ban, Machado has refused to step down and designate a substitute person to run in her stead. She also continued her presidential campaign despite the arrests of several of her regional campaign leaders and violent assaults committed by pro-regime thugs.
Machado previously rejected the possibility of naming a replacement candidate, asserting that the one who needs to be replaced is Maduro.
Reuters’s report cited five unnamed sources “with knowledge on the matter.” The sources claimed that this week Venezuelan “opposition” party leaders asked Machado to define a strategy ahead of the upcoming July 28 sham presidential election, stressing that although “they have expressed their support for her candidacy, they want her to decide on an alternative candidate.”
A decision is expected to occur soon, as the socialist-controlled National Electoral Center provided a very limited electoral roadmap. Prospective candidates only have from March 21 to 25 to register their candidates with Venezuela’s top electoral authority.
MIDDLE EAST
Israeli-Hamas War
Quote:Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) managed to unite many Israelis — against him, and behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at least when it comes to the right of Israelis to choose their own leaders democratically.
Israeli opposition leaders joined Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party in denouncing Schumer for demanding Thursday that Israel hold new elections to oust Netanyahu from power.
Schumer claimed that Netanyahu was an “obstacle to peace.”
Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party, who serves in Israel’s emergency government of national unity, said: “The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate Chuck Schumer is a friend of Israel, who helps her a lot even these days, but he made a mistake in his statement. Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is incorrect and unacceptable.”
Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu aide-turned-rival who ousted him as prime minister in 2001, also added: “Regardless of our political opinion, we strongly oppose external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs. We are an independent nation, not a banana republic. With the threat of terrorism on its way to the West, it would be best if the international community would assist Israel in its just war, thereby also protecting their countries.”
Only opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party — which is viewed as close to the Democratic Party in the U.S. — used Schumer’s speech to criticize Netanyahu, saying that the prime minister was alienating Israel’s best friends.
Schumer added fuel to rumors that the Biden Administration wants to see Netanyahu ousted from office, because he opposes some of Biden’s policies for postwar Gaza, notably the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Quote:Israel believes that the Biden Administration is “slow-walking” military aid, including urgently needed ammunition, according to a report by ABC News on Thursday, putting the success of the war against Hamas terrorists in jeopardy.
ABC reported:
A senior Israeli official says the United States has begun slow-walking some military aid to Israel — an assertion senior U.S. officials denied was the case, in what’s perhaps more evidence that the relationship between the two allies is growing increasingly strained.
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According to a senior Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. military aid shipments at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war “were coming very fast,” but “we are now finding that it’s very slow,” which has put pressure on Israel as it attempts to destroy the terrorist Hamas organization in Gaza.
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According to the senior Israeli official, in increasingly short supply are 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells. The U.S. had been supplying similar munitions to Ukraine, which also reports specifically running low on 155 mm artillery shells.
The official told ABC that Israel feared “we might lose this war” due to the delays in ammunition.
Despite the Biden administration’s denials, the delay could be a way of preventing Israel from attacking the last Hamas stronghold in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. President Joe Biden has opposed such an attack, at least until there is a plan for evacuating Palestinian civilians.
The delay could also be a way of discouraging Israel from attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon, after the Iranian-backed terror group forced the evacuation of Israel’s northern towns by firing continuously on communities near the border in a show of solidarity with the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Quote:Israel rejected a reported counteroffer by Hamas for a potential hostage deal on Thursday, but sent negotiators to Qatar to continue negotiations, as hope increased for an agreement that could lead to a temporary ceasefire in the near future.
According to the Times of Israel, Hamas offered to release female Israeli hostages, of whom there are thought to be over a dozen, along with elderly and ill hostages. In return, it demanded the release of 100 convicted Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences for the murder of Israelis, and an agreement by Israel to end the war for a second hostage release.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s demands: “Hamas is continuing to hold to unrealistic demands,” he said in a statement Thursday. Israel has long said that it will not end the war until Hamas’s military and governing capacity have been destroyed, and Netanyahu has refused to release Palestinian terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands.
However, the Times of Israel reported, Netanyahu has sent negotiators back to Qatar to continue talks.
Earlier this week, meeting with families of Israeli hostages, Netanyahu said that Qatar had begun to pressure Hamas to offer reasonable demands, confirming media reports that Qatar had threatened to expel Hamas leaders if they did not.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet approved plans for an attack on the last Hamas stronghold, in the town of Rafah. The plans include efforts to evacuate Palestinian civilians to “humanitarian islands” near the city for their safety.
Quote:An Israeli Arab Muslim man whose relatives are among the 134 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza confronted the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, demanding to know why his family had been taken captive.
The Israeli man, Ali Ziadna, was dressed in Muslim attire and observing the fast of Ramadan as he joined other Israeli relatives of hostages at a session of the UN Security Council, where Israel demanded that the world pressure Hamas.
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour looked taken aback as Ziadna approached him and questioned him. In the video of their exchange, which went viral on Tuesday, Mansour looked uncomfortable as he faced Ziadna’s questions.
The left-wing Israeli daily Ha’aretz noted that Ziadna asked the ambassador to explain Hamas’s behavior: “They returned the Thai workers without a deal while the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry.”
The Jerusalem Post added:
The dialogue between the two is in Arabic, however, multiple accounts on X have posted the video with roughly similar translations of what was being said
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Ziadna told Mansour, “Why did they kidnap my family? What crime did they commit that Hamas kidnapped them? They have been in the tunnels for 5 months, and for what? On what basis? They returned the Thai workers without a deal and the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry, in pain, and naked…”.
The Palestinian ambassador replied to him: “Remember your Muslim brothers and sisters who died in Gaza, 30 thousand… and 75 thousand (wounded) and the destruction in Gaza. We are against harming any citizen, think of the civilians who have been harmed, and show solidarity with them. Don’t let [Israel] take advantage of you, those who kill the Palestinians will take advantage of you.”
The figure of 30,000 dead in Gaza is provided by Hamas, and cannot be verified; it also fails to distinguish between terrorists killed in combat and civilians killed in the crossfire (or dying from natural causes, for that matter).
Hamas murdered dozens of Israeli Arab Muslims, and took some to Gaza as hostages. Two Israeli Arab Muslim teenagers were among those released during a truce in November. One Arab hostage was accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers (along with two Jewish Israelis with whom he had escaped). Arab Muslim Israeli soldiers are also fighting in Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited with the family of a fallen Arab Muslim Israeli soldier.
Red Sea & South Africa
Quote:The leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah terrorist organization, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced on Thursday that his jihadists would expand their attacks on random commercial ships beyond the greater Red Sea region in an attempt to disrupt shipping routes around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
The Houthis, as Ansar Allah are commonly known, launched a terror campaign against ships attempting to transit around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait surrounding Yemen into the Red Sea after declaring war on Israel in October, a move meant to support fellow Iran-backed terror outfit Hamas following its gruesome massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians on October 7. The Houthis claim that their attacks are an attempt to stop Israel from continuing self-defense operations in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza meant to prevent a sequel to the atrocities committed in October.
The Houthis claim, falsely, to be the legitimate government of Yemen. They have controlled the nation’s capital, Sana’a, since a siege in 2014, which launched their ongoing civil war against the true government of the country, currently headquartered in the southern city of Aden.
Houthi leaders claimed that they intended to inhibit commerce with Israel and that they would only target ships attempting to travel to and from Israel, then expanded their attacks to ships affiliated with America and Britain, a response to coalition airstrikes on Houthi targets. The U.S. and U.K. militaries authorized airstrikes meant to deteriorate the Houthis’ ability to target commercial ships. President Joe Biden admitted in January, however, that the attacks were not working.
While insisting that global shipping is safe and only ships with ties to Israel, Britain, and America will face Houthi attacks, the Houthis have bombed ships with no overt relationship to those countries and even targeted ships affiliated with Houthi allies, such as Russia, China, and Iran. The unpredictable nature of the attacks has resulted in the world’s largest shipping companies rerouting away from the Red Sea region and sailing south around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. By January, the Financial Times reported that container ship traffic through the Suez Canal had fallen 90 percent year-on-year.
Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that the Houthis would soon begin bombing the ships rerouting to Africa.
...Houthi declared, according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV. “For this important, advanced, and significant step, we have begun to implement our operations related to it through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
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Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE