News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

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Biden Unfit to Serve & DA Fani Willis Facing Serious Issues

Trump: If Biden ‘Too Mentally Incompetent to Convict,’ He’s Unfit to Serve

Trump made his argument at a packed afternoon rally in Conway, South Carolina, broadcasted by Right Side Broadcasting Network, ahead of the state’s Republican primary in two weeks, where polls indicate he will trounce former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC).

“The special counsel’s report tries to let Biden off by claiming that he is too mentally incompetent to convict at a trial,” Trump noted, implying that this demonstrates Biden is unfit to lead. “‘I’m not going to charge him with a crime, but it’s okay for him to become Commander in Chief’ – think of that one.”

After a brief disturbance, in which an anti-Trumper in attendance made an outburst and was quickly removed, Trump said, “But we know that Joe Biden has always been too mentally incompetent.”
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Trump, who has been charged on 40 counts in his own classified documents case by Special Counsel Jack Smith under Biden’s Department of Justice, also contended the decision not to prosecute Biden underscores “a weaponized two-tiered system of justice in this country.”

“Crooked Joe got off scot-free,” Trump said before quipping, “and I don’t know if you call it scot-free; they said he was a mental basket case.”

He went on to add, “Biden’s thugs are still trying to put me in jail on fake charges for crimes that they openly admit that Crooked Joe did. He actually did these crimes.”

Trump Co-defendant Says Nathan Wade Associate Will Refute Timeline of Fani Willis Relationship

Trump co-defendant Michael Roman filed a motion on Friday identifying a witness who could testify that Fulton County’s district attorney and a prosecutor she hired began a romantic relationship before they pursued the election case, refuting sworn testimony.

In the 122-page filing, Mr. Roman’s lawyer said a former associate of prosecutor Nathan Wade would refute the prosecutor’s timeline of his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis recently admitted under oath to having a “personal relationship,” which Mr. Wade said began after the election case began in 2022.

However, this timeline will be refuted by Terrence Bradley, a lawyer and member of the Georgia Bar who is a former associate of Mr. Wade, according to the filing.

Mr. Bradley, who the filing asserts has “non-privileged, personal knowledge,” will testify that the alleged relationship began in January 2021, before Ms. Willis was sworn in as Fulton County’s district attorney.

Adding a layer of complexity to the matter, Mr. Bradley at one time represented Mr. Wade in his divorce.

However, Mr. Roman’s lawyer argued that attorney-client privilege would not prevent the testimony. The motion argues that the information about Mr. Wade’s relationship was obtained “in a personal capacity” as friends before Mr. Wade sought legal advice from Mr. Bradley.

Furthermore, his testimony will not relate to any privileged attorney-client communications or work product, the filing states.

So who can take seriously a couple of liars that prosecute a public figure with dubious claims of crimes being committed during his tenure as US President?
Just asking here.

US Going Down, Some Scandalous Meeting & More

Rural Oregon Leaders Beg for State Help with Fentanyl Crisis

A recent Fox News report revealed the true feelings that many local leaders have espoused about Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek’s plans that do not appear to be doing enough:

Ramshackle RVs, nondescript sedans, shopping carts, bicycles, tents and tarps line a street on the edge of the city [of McMinnville], bordered by an open field and, beyond that, the Yamhill River. A lonely dumpster, lid thrown open, sits amid piles of trash.

Deputies recently responded to three overdoses at the camp in one day. Another overdose call sent them racing to a logging road in the Coast Range, a 35-minute drive from the sheriff’s office. Much too long for them to reach the person in time.

“There’s nothing out there,” Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott said. “They weren’t camping. They weren’t living up there. They just were up there specifically to smoke pills.”

“It’s like playing Whac-A-Mole… with the number of challenges that counties are facing,” Association of Oregon Counties President Danielle Bethell told the outlet, adding that rural communities have been “left out” of the action plan to improve the drug, crime, and poverty issues.

Kotek declared a state of emergency for the city of Portland over the fentanyl crisis in early February, but critics believe that many other areas in the large state need drastic help as well.

“We have a crisis on our hands, and that’s easy to see,” said Oregon Rep. Lucetta Elmer ®, whose district spans areas in Polk and Yamhill counties about an hour south of Portland.

Biden Officials Meet, Court Pro-terror Arab-American Leader in Michigan

As Breitbart News reported, citing the New York Times, Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer was dispatched to Michigan to assuage concerns among Arab- and Muslim-American voters who are angry that President Joe Biden has been somewhat supportive of Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists following the October 7 terror attack.

The Times also noted that Biden officials met with a man named Osama A. Siblani:

Osama A. Siblani, the influential publisher of The Arab American News, a Dearborn newspaper, had meetings with both Ms. Chávez Rodríguez and Mr. Finer’s delegation. He said Arab American voters in Michigan felt betrayed after backing Mr. Biden in large numbers in 2020, arguing that they had “received nothing” since then “but lip service.”

“I’ve been involved in this community day in and day out every single day for 40 years,” Mr. Siblani said. “I can tell you right now, I cannot convince my community to vote for Biden if I kiss their feet. They will not do it.”

The Middle East Media Research Institute identified Siblani as the speaker who made a radically pro-terror speech in 2022:

“Peace be upon the pure blood that poured from Shireen Abu Akleh’s head. Peace be upon the blood that irrigates the land of Palestine, so that heroic martyrs like her and like others would emerge from it, and Palestine would be liberated and restored to the Arab nation.
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“Do you see what is happening in Palestine? They thought that 1948 is a demarcation line. They thought we forgot. Now, surprise, fedayeen are setting out from the land of 1948. They are striking them with knives and with their bare hands, and they are victorious.
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“They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets, others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say: ‘Free, free Palestine!'”

Feds: Democrat Former Lawmaker in Illinois Submitted False Insurance Policies for Nonexistent People

Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Annazette Collins of submitting the policies for individuals who did not request them or were not even real people, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, noting officials have so far not filed criminal charges against her regarding the allegations.

An image shows the woman in question:

“Those policies were tied to bank accounts controlled either by Collins or her daughter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Parthum told a judge,” the outlet said.

Collins recently said she would testify for allegedly evading almost $100,000 in taxes.

“Prosecutors had previously disclosed Collins was fired from her job at American Income Life Insurance, but they said they would not seek to disclose the reason unless she decided to take the stand,” the Sun-Times report said, noting she was later fired from her position as an insurance agent with the company for allegedly violating its policies.

Jurors were permitted to hear about the allegations if she decided to take the stand, but she apparently decided against it.

A verdict was not reached on Friday afternoon. Therefore, jurors plan to come back on Monday.

Acting ICE Director: ‘Sanctuary Jurisdictions Are Inherently More Unsafe’

During a portion that aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Lechleitner said, “The sanctuary jurisdictions are inherently more unsafe, because they’re letting these individuals out who have very serious convictions at times and are public safety threats, if not national security threats. It is a concern and I’m very baffled by it.”

In another portion of the interview that was aired on Friday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Special Report,” Lechleitner stated, “I want to work with any jurisdiction to put public safety and national security first, and I’m willing to talk to anyone to do it.”

NYPD Chief of Patrol: We’re Seeing ‘Uptick’ in Migrant Crime, Trends Getting ‘Bigger’

During a portion of an interview with NBC New York affiliate NBC4 host David Ushery set to air on Sunday’s broadcast of “The Debrief” that was released on Friday, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell stated that there is “an uptick” and “trends in migrant crime that [are] hurting our city a little bit” like robberies purse snatching committed on mopeds, pickpocketing on transit and streets, and “mob-like” behavior in some retail locations. And that “we’re seeing these trends start to get bigger and bigger, and it’s adding to our everyday New Yorkers’ crime, and we’re trying to put a lid on it.”

O.J. Simpson Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

Simpson, 76, is now undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Las Vegas, according to WPLG-TV in Miami.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been seen in Vegas in recent weeks looking frail and limping, the New York Post reported.

He also posted a video to social media last week knocking rumors that he was being placed in hospice and is on the verge of death.

“No, I’m not in any hospice; I don’t know who put that out there. Whoever put that out there, it’s like Donald [Trump] says: can’t trust the media. In any event, I’m hosting a ton of friends for the Super Bowl here in Las Vegas. All is well. Take care, have a good Super Bowl Weekend,” Simpson said.

Once known as “The Juice,” Simpson was famous for his expertise on the football field for the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s. But became infamous for beating a murder rap for the 1994 death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

While he was acquitted of murder, he was held civilly responsible in a 1997 trial and ordered to pay the families of the victims $8.5 million in compensatory damages.

I guess those that still hold OJ as being resposible for the murders of his wife and her lover might wind up calling it just another case of poetic justice.

California Gun Control Fail: Shots Fired on UC Berkeley Campus

A suspect is under arrest after nine gunshots rang out on the UC Berkeley campus Friday night at about 8:40 p.m. No injuries were reported.

ABC 7 noted the shots were fired outside Sproul Plaza, and the incident appeared to have occurred following some type of “altercation.”

Students were ordered to shelter in place after the shots rang out. An all-clear was issued at 9:45 p.m.

SF Gate observed that a suspect was arrested, but no details about the suspect were provided.

California is the number one state for gun law strength, according to Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety. The gun controls include universal background checks, a ten-day waiting period for gun purchases, gun registration, a red flag law, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, a ban on carrying a gun on a college campus for self-defense, a ban on being armed on K-12 campuses for self-defense, a background check for ammunition purchases, and limits on the number of guns law-abiding citizens can purchase each month.

EUROPE

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Boris Johnson Mad at Tucker Carlson, Russia Strikes Again & More

Boris Johnson Brands Tucker Carlson’s Putin Interview as ‘Straight Out of Hitler’s Playbook’ After Being Accused of Blocking Peace Deal

Responding to the interview with Putin, which he compared to interviews conducted with Adolph Hitler in 1940, Boris Johnson wrote in his column in the Daily Mail that the interview was “straight out of Hitler’s playbook” and that Tucker Carlson served as a “stooge of the tyrant, the dictaphone to the dictator and a traitor to journalism,” adding: “In his fawning, guffawing, slack-jawed happiness at having a ‘scoop’, he betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world.”

Johnson — who has been one of the most ardent backers of Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022, to such an extent that the former British leader has had streets renamed in his honour in Ukraine, and has been the subject of murals and paintings celebrating his devotion to the Ukrainian cause — compared Putin’s actions in Ukraine to Hitler in the Second World War and Carlson to those who opposed U.S. involvement in the war against the Nazis.

“I pray that the people of the U.S. are able to see through last night’s unholy charade of an interview. I know how many U.S. congress men and women have been fans of Tucker Carlson, and I say: remember Charles Lindbergh, remember the America Firsters, remember how many American legislators at first opposed involvement in the war with Hitler,” Johnson wrote.
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Johnson went on to beseech former President Donald Trump, who has consistently called for peace talks to end the war, to “turn his party around” on the issue and to continue to arm Ukraine as he did in 2018, with the approval of the sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Kyiv.

The heated response came as Putin used the interview to accuse Johnson of preventing a peace deal in the early days of the war in 2022. While Johnson did not expressly deny urging the Ukrainians to walk away from the table, he said: “As every member of the Ukrainian government will confirm, from Zelensky down, nothing and no one could have stopped those lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country — and nothing will.

Russian Drone Strike on Kharkiv Kills at Least Seven People

A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed at least seven people overnight, including three children, Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday.

He said the Iranian-made Shahed drone hit civilian infrastructure in the Nemyshlyan district on the city, causing a massive fire that burned down 15 private houses.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said more than 50 people had been evacuated and that emergency workers had contained the blaze by Saturday morning.

The Ukrainian air force said air defense systems destroyed 23 out of 31 Iranian Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight. The drones primarily targeted the northeastern Kharkiv region and the southern province of Odesa, the statement said.

Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said four people were injured there by the overnight drone attacks.
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Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday that Russia carried out overnight drone attacks on Ukraine’s river ports of Ismail and Reni, near the border with Romania.

The ministry said that an F-16 jet of the Turkish Air Force was deployed from a Romanian airbase around 1:15 a.m. to carry out “reconnaissance missions” in national airspace to monitor the situation. Text alerts were also issued to residents in two counties adjacent to the attacks.

NATO member Romania has discovered drone debris on its territory several times before, following sustained attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure as Moscow attempted to disrupt Kyiv’s ability to export grain and other produce to world markets.

Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland Protest EU’s Green Agenda and Trade Policies

Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland demonstrated Friday as part of ongoing protests against European Union farming policies and to demand measures to combat production cost hikes, reduced profits and unfair competition from non-EU countries.
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The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has made some concessions over the last few weeks, including shelving plans to halve the use of pesticides and other dangerous substances. Nonetheless, the protests have spread.

In Poland, where imports of cheap grain, milk and other produce from Ukraine have caused particular anger, farmers drove tractors across the country to slow down traffic and block major roads, some displaying signs that read “EU Policy is Ruining Polish Farmers.”

Access roads to border crossings with Ukraine in Hrebenne and Dorohusk, in the east, were temporarily blocked.
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The organizers, the Solidarity Union of Individual Farmers, said EU policies triggered the protest.

They said storage warehouses were filled with Ukraine grain, causing prices to fall 40% in 2023. Demand for Polish sugar, milk and meat has fallen: as a result, farmers are holding off on investments.
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In Italy, a small convoy of tractors moved across Rome’s historical center to the Colosseum on Friday morning, escorted by police patrols.

Farmers have been peacefully protesting outside of Rome and across the country for days to express their discontent.

Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly said that her right-wing government has already addressed some of the farmers´ key requests, but many of them feel neglected.

Meloni stressed that her government has already earmarked an extra 3 billion euros from the Italian chunk of EU´s post-pandemic recovery funds, raising total resources dedicated to the agricultural sector to 8 billion euros.
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Farmers in Spain staged similar actions in their fourth straight day of protests.

Besides EU policies, Spanish farmers maintain that a law aimed at guaranteeing that wholesale major supermarket buyers pay fair prices for their goods isn’t being enforced while consumer prices soar.

Friday’s protests centered around the northern cities of Oviedo, Pamplona and Zaragoza, with tractors clogging several city streets and commuter roads. In many places, farmers kept their protests going overnight.

A group not affiliated with Spain’s three main farming organizations has called for farmers to move on Madrid at midnight for a Saturday protest near the headquarters of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party.

Hungarian President Resigns over Pardon of Child Sex Abuse Accomplice

Katalin Novák, 46, announced in a televised message on Saturday that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022.

Her decision came after more than a week of public outrage after it was revealed that she issued a presidential pardon in April 2023 to a man convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home.

“I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novák said on Saturday. “I made a mistake.”

Two Spanish Police Officers Die After Being Crashed Into by Suspected Drug Boat

Two Spanish police officers have been killed when a speedboat suspected of belonging to drug smugglers smashed into their patrol craft, Spain’s Civil Guard said Saturday.

The incident occurred late on Friday, police said, when the Civil Guard craft was tasked with identifying speedboats spotted in the southern port of Barbate. Video footage showed how one speedboat slammed into the patrol craft in the port’s waters.

The Civil Guard said Saturday that it had arrested eight suspects.

Another two officers from the six-member crew were hurt, the Civil Guard said.

Putin Claims Russia Won’t Invade Poland to Start WW3, Says NATO Using Him to ‘Extort’ Taxpayers

A war between Moscow and NATO, a subject of frequent speculation among NATO leaders in recent months, would bring “all humanity to the brink of destruction” and consequently the Russian Federation is not interested in invading Poland, President Putin has claimed.

Broadcaster Tucker Carlton reflected on months of discussion about the possibility of a coming war between Russia and the NATO alliance with one of his questions to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin this week when he asked: “Do you think NATO is worried about this becoming a global war or a nuclear conflict… Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?”.

Putin was apparently dismissive of the idea, asking rhetorically: “Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest”. In all, Putin claimed, the only circumstance in which he would attack Poland was if Poland invaded Russia first.

How important these remarks are is difficult to judge for, as ever, taking the words of Vladimir Putin at face value is fraught with difficulty. Indeed, Carlson challenged Putin’s initial denial on these lines, remarking that to outsiders it would appear that Russia does clearly have territorial ambitions beyond its own borders, hence the war in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Putin insisted Poland — a NATO member — is a whole other matter for Russia in contrast to Ukraine, as attacking it would start a world war. He told Carlson: “It is absolutely out of the question. You just don’t have to be any kind of analyst. It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of a global war and a global war will bring all humanity to the brink of destruction. It’s obvious.”

Putin asserted NATO had been using him as a convenient “imaginary Russian threat” to “intimidate their own population”, asserting his alleged belief that “thinking people” in the West understood this was in fact fake, but a convenient political expediency to “extort additional money from U.S. taxpayers and European taxpayers”.

 Thus, whenever Putin or his successor sets foot in Poland or any other EU country, don't even think it's anything but a "special operation" to get rid of a bunch of Nazis in that country.  It's difficult to stomach it even as a sad joke, guys. Anyway, you've been warned now.

ASIA

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China Becoming More And More Aggressive By the Day

Xi Jinping Touts Hong Kong ‘Integration,’ Threatens Taiwan in Lunar New Year Speech

“We have actively supported the better integration of Hong Kong and Macau into the overall development of the country,” Xi declared.

In Hong Kong’s case, that “integration” required shocking and horrifying human rights defenders around the world by imposing a tyrannical “national security law” that effectively criminalized all dissent against the Chinese Communist Party.

The Beijing-controlled puppet government of Hong Kong has ignored international calls to repeal the national security law, including from the United Nations.

As the international community realized Hong Kong was no longer a haven for free enterprise, a plush front lobby from which the outside world could do business with China, billions of dollars in Hong Kong’s wealth evaporated. In January 2024, the Hong Kong stock market slipped below its volume on the day China took control of the island in 1997.

Xi said that over the past year, his regime “strongly opposed separatist acts of Taiwan independence and interference by foreign forces, and resolutely defended the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”

As the South China Morning Post (SCMP) truculently noted, Xi has always loathed Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as an alleged “separatist,” waged a relentless diplomatic campaign to isolate the island as punishment for electing her, and used everything from propaganda to threats to knock her party out of power in Taiwan’s January election — but Tsai’s vice president and chosen successor William Lai Ching-te won a landslide victory anyway.

Xi claimed China’s diplomacy “brought certainty and positive energy to a world of change and chaos” in 2023 — a rather difficult boast to back up, given the state of the world at the end of the lunar year, but he probably wanted his audience to think of something like the China-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. China has been tirelessly promoting that agreement as evidence it has arrived as a major force on the geopolitical stage.

China Produces Lunar New Year Music Video of Warships Surrounding Taiwan

Outgoing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen released a polite statement for the Lunar New Year, thanking the free world for its support, but the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China decided to commemorate the holiday with a music video of its warships surrounding and invading Taiwan.

“I believe that as long as we continue to support each other, we can overcome difficulties; as long as we continue to unite, we can protect the country,” Tsai told the world in her Lunar New Year message...
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Tsai will leave office on May 20, completing her second four-year term — a period marked by increasing hostility from Beijing.
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The PLA’s Lunar New Year message to Taiwan vividly restated the campaign propaganda theme that only “coming home” — submitting to “reunification” under Beijing’s tyrannical rule — can guarantee a happy ending for the Taiwanese people. The alternative is war and annihilation:

The video is titled “You Only Win by Coming Home,” and its lyrics include a lament that “it’s hard not to feel regret for a family which has not gotten back together.”

The imagery in the video makes it clear this is a threat, not a wistful salute to brotherly love. Mixed in with some scenes of Taiwan is copious footage of the PLA practicing a ground invasion, launching advanced jet fighters, and hammering Taiwan with missiles.

PLA stands for People's Liberation Army, a branch of the Chinese military forces.

China Has Rapidly Increased Market Share of U.S. Medical Glove Imports During Biden Presidency

Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) shows that since Biden took the White House in early 2021, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has rapidly seized market share for U.S. imports of nitrile medical gloves. In 2019, during former President Donald Trump’s administration and before the coronavirus pandemic, USITC import data shows that the U.S. relied upon China for about 14.2 percent of such medical gloves. Domestic manufacturing accounted for zero percent, but other countries, like Malaysia, Thailand, and more—far more friendly nations to the United States than China—made up 85.7 percent of imports.

But this picture drastically changed when Biden took office, and not for the better. In 2021, Biden’s first year in the White House, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 26.8 percent, while the other countries dropped to 73.1 percent. Two years later, in 2023, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 44.15 percent—while the other countries dropped to just 53.6 percent. In 2023, thanks to a program started during the pandemic under Trump but stymied under Biden, the U.S. made around 2.22 percent of medical gloves used domestically.

At this pace, if nothing changes, the U.S. will be dependent on China for approximately 60 percent of medical gloves used domestically in 2024.

Blue Star, a company that was set to manufacture these gloves domestically but whose efforts the Biden administration’s failures have held up, complied charts showcasing this shocking government data. These charts are being shared with congressional investigators and with Breitbart News.
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More charts from USITC data show that when it comes specifically to medical grade nitrile gloves, China is, as of late 2023, the single-biggest importer of such gloves into the United States, surpassing Malaysia for the first time. When it comes to non-medical nitrile gloves, Malaysia and Thailand are still the number one and two countries, but China has similarly increased its percentages during the Biden presidency.

 What a good job Biden is doing by keeping US dependence on Chinese production at bay...

MIDDLE EAST

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Is the War in Gaza Nearing its End?

Hamas and Islamist Allies Rage at Javier Milei for Moving Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem

The genocidal terrorist organization Hamas and allies in the Arab League and other regional organizations condemned libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei this week for moving his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and issuing a full-throated defense of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Arab Parliament, the legislature of the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) joined Hamas in lamenting the move out of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as an insult to “Palestinians,” without specifying a governing Palestinian entity. Multiple Muslim states in the region, most prominently Saudi Arabia, have responded to Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza by demanding that Israel cede control of East Jerusalem to a hypothetical Palestinian state. Others, such as top Hamas funder Iran, have repeated longstanding calls for the complete destruction of the state of Israel.
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Milei spent much of this week in Israel, his first official state visit since being inaugurated president in December, to honor the victims of the October 7 attacks, denounce Hamas, and pray before the Western Wall. Milei has publicly expressed interest in converting to Judaism and studying the Torah. Prior to his inauguration, he promised that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel and that he would realign Argentine geopolitics – for decades tilted towards China, Russia, and other rogue states by leftist leaders – to make the countries closest allies America and Israel.

Netanyahu Orders Plan to Evacuate Rafah, Destroy Last Hamas Battalions

Israel has said for days that it intends to attack Hamas in Rafah, the last area of the Gaza Strip that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not struck. The town is crucial to Israeli victory: it is used by Hamas to smuggle weapons, and people in and out.

However, it is also the place to which many Palestinian civilians displaced by fighting elsewhere in Gaza have fled. Egypt has publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Rafah because of the possibility that it would encourage Palestinians to cross the border.

On Thursday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that an Israeli attack on Rafah would be a “disaster” under present conditions, and that the U.S. would not support it. He claimed, bizarrely, that Israel was not preparing such an attack — despite numerous public statements by Israeli spokespeople and by Netanyahu himself that an attack on Rafah was both imminent and necessary to win the war, after Israel had destroyed almost all of Hamas’s terrorist Battalions in Gaza.

Also on Thursday, President Joe Biden shocked Israelis by saying that Israel’s conduct in Gaza against Hamas had been “over the top,” suggesting the U.S. wanted to stop the war.

On Friday, just before sundown and the onset of the Jewish Sabbath, Netanyahu delivered the following statement (translated from Hebrew by the Government Press Organization):

It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah.

On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat.

Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.

Guys, you have to understand that any other army or air force or combined forces in the world would simply hit the targets and ask questions later. At least some old reports of US military activity in countries like Afghanistan mention the US forces throwing leaflets to warn civilians about upcoming attacks.

Yet, this is a very uncommon practice anywhere else. Just take a look at Nigeria's forces who a couple of months ago almost razed a town completely by launching a missile while trying to hit some gangs. Both Israel and the US have been ridiculously considerate in the past so there's no way to justify any criticism against such operations during any war.

Israel Strikes Senior Hamas Officials in Rafah Before Offensive

In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said on Saturday:

Earlier today, following IDF and ISA intelligence, aircraft struck and eliminated Ahmed Eliakubi, a senior Hamas operative in the area of Rafah. Eliakubi was responsible for the security provisions for senior Hamas leaders and served as a senior commander in the Rafah district. During the strike, Iman Rantisi, a Hamas senior military operative was eliminated, and an additional operative was killed.

The Hamas leaders may have been lulled into a false sense of security due to the public opposition of the U.S. and other countries to an Israeli military operation in Rafah, given the large number of Palestinian civilians who have taken refuge there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate the civilians and then destroy what remains of Hamas.

Meanwhile, the IDF is said to be dropping leaflets in Gaza, featuring a photograph of the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh enjoying a soccer match in the Qatari capital of Doha recently:

The Times of Israel reported Saturday that Netanyahu is said to believe Israel has one month in which to destroy Hamas in Rafah before global pressure becomes too great to resist.

Israel Reveals Hamas Intel Tunnel Underneath UNRWA HQ in Gaza

In a joint statement Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said:

Over the last two weeks, IDF and ISA forces have been conducting a division-level targeted raid on terror targets in northern and central Gaza.

The forces operated in the areas of Shati and Tel al-Hawa in northern Gaza. Approximately 120 Hamas terrorists were killed and 20 terrorist infrastructure sites were destroyed as part of the operation.

Following ISA intelligence, the forces arrived at a tunnel shaft near an UNRWA school. The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’ military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.

The tunnel was 700 meters long and 18 meters deep and contained several blast doors. A wide variety of intelligence assets were seized during the operation. The newly-found intelligence will allow the forces to operate against additional Hamas targets. The dismantling of the tunnel weakens Hamas’ intelligence capabilities.

The forces located electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel connected to UNRWA’s main headquarters, under which the underground tunnel was located, indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity.

Following these findings and based on preliminary ISA intelligence, the forces conducted a targeted raid on UNRWA’s central headquarters, which contains offices for various humanitarian and international organizations. Large quantities of weapons were found inside the rooms of the building, including rifles, ammunition, grenades and explosives. Intelligence and documents discovered in the offices of UNRWA officials confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists.