News of the World
10-19-2024, 12:48 AM
USA
CANADA
LATIN AMERICA
EUROPE
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
Judge Chutkan Unseals Redacted Documents
Quote:The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case made public Friday a heavily redacted trove of documents that provide a small glimpse into the evidence prosecutors will present if the case ever goes to trial.
The nearly 1,900 pages of documents collected by special counsel Jack Smith’s team were initially filed under seal to help U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan decide what allegations can proceed to trial following the Supreme Court opinion in July that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts they take in office.
The information that could be seen in the redacted version released Friday appeared to be material that for the most part had already been made public, including screenshots of Trump social media posts about the 2020 election and a transcript of the video statement he made on Jan. 6, 2021 in, which he told the rioters attacking the Capitol to go home, but added: “we love you” and “you’re very special.”
The overwhelming majority of the pages released Friday were whited-out. The redacted files are believed to include things like transcripts of grand jury testimony, which remain under wraps because of grand jury secrecy rules.
Other information visible to the public includes passages from former Vice President Mike Pence’s book, excerpts of testimony provided by several witnesses to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot and a transcript of Trump’s phone call pressuring Georgia election officials to “find” enough votes to reverse his election loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.
Other documents include fundraising emails from Trump’s 2020 campaign and Pence’s letter telling Congress on Jan. 6 that he could not claim “unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
The filing was submitted as a series of appendices to a 165-page brief unsealed this month in which prosecutors disclosed new evidence against Trump to support their argument that the former president is not entitled to immunity from prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers objected to the unsealing of the filing so close to next month’s presidential election, but Chutkan on Thursday rejected their bid to postpone the material from becoming public until after the election. She said it would be inappropriate to take the political calendar into account.
Freight Rail Delays
Quote:Freight is piling up at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, as freight rail delays hit a two-year high, owing to record levels of imports on the West Coast, as strikes and the Houthi threat have diverted East Coast shipping.
According to Seatrade Maritime News, traffic at the Port of Long Beach reached a record high in the third quarter of 2024: “The port credited the record volumes to holiday related goods demand as well as shippers diverting cargo to West Coast ports ahead of industrial action over a new labour contract at East Coast ports. The strike by dockworkers at East Coast only lasted three days from 1 October until tentative agreement was reached on wages.”
While the port has been running efficiently, however, the freight rail system has not. NBC News reported Friday:
Record imports over the last several months at West Coast ports, driven by the recent East Coast and Gulf Coast strike diversions and ongoing Red Sea issues, are leading to congestion on the rails, as holiday goods and everyday items pile up.
Almost half of the containers bound by freight rail out of the Port of Los Angeles are waiting nine-plus days to get out of the port and onto the rail.
Before the August and September container surges, the average rail dwell time, or how long a container sits at port, for the San Pedro Basin, which includes the Port of LA and Long Beach, was four days.
The delays could affect retail businesses and other industries, leading to supply chain problems.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg disappeared during the cargo crisis of 2021; he was on unannounced paternity leave.
Amnesty for 11,000 Lebanese Nationals
Quote:President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is providing a so-called “temporary” amnesty to about 11,000 Lebanese nationals living in the United States, ensuring they are not deported and can hold American jobs.
On Thursday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Lebanese nationals in the U.S. who would otherwise be eligible for deportation.
Lebanese nationals with TPS will be able to remain in the U.S. and hold American jobs through January 2026 as long as they claim that they were in the country as of Oct. 16 of this year.
In addition, Mayorkas has announced so-called “Special Student Relief” for Lebanese nationals who are in the U.S. on F-1 student visas, which will allow them to “request employment authorization, work an increased number of hours while school is in session, and reduce their course load while continuing to maintain F-1 status through the Deferred Enforced Departure designation period.”
About 1,740 Lebanese nationals on F-1 student visas are expected to secure Special Student Relief under the designation.
TPS was first created under the Immigration Act of 1990 and prevents federal immigration officials from deporting people from countries that are designated as experiencing famine, war, or natural disasters.
Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program, as the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and now Biden-Harris administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.
Today, nearly 900,000 foreign nationals in the U.S. are shielded from deportation after having secured TPS. The vast majority are from Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, and Ukraine.
Biden After Sinwar Has Been Confirmed Dead
Quote:President Joe Biden told reporters upon the arrival of Air Force One in Germany on Friday that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on the killing of Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar.
Biden added that it was time for the war in Gaza to end, and to achieve a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release.
He said (via White House transcript):
I called Bibi Netanyahu to congratulate him on getting Sinwar. He has a lot of blood on his hands — American blood, Israeli blood, and others.
And I told him that we were really pleased with his actions and, further, that now is the time to move on — move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we’re going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world.
It’s time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. And so, that’s what we’re ready to do. That’s what we’re going to be — and I’m sending Tony Blinken to Israel — I guess he’s going in five days — four days — four or five days. Anyway, he’s going. And I talked with Bibi about that.
Though Biden said he was “pleased,” the only reason Israel was able to kill Sinwar was because Netanyahu ignored every demand made by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris about Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.
Harris on Sinwar's Death
Quote:“The United States, Israel, and the entire world are better off as a result” of Israel killing the leader of Hamas on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris read from a statement.
The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar suggests the Hamas/Israel war might come to an end in the coming days. The Biden-Harris administration will likely try to take credit for any potential peace upon hostage releases.
Harris said last March, however, that Israel going into Rafah, Gaza, would be a “huge mistake.”
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The IDF killed Sinwar in Rafah on Thursday.
“The Biden-Harris Administration scolded Israel for going into Rafah. Today in Rafah, Israel eliminated the leader of Hamas who orchestrated the October 7 attacks,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said in a statement. “America must fully back Israel’s mission to bring the hostages home and destroy Hamas.”
“Justice has been served, and the United States, Israel, and the entire world are better off as a result,” Harris said:
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Pentagon Was Not Involved in Sinwar's Death
Quote:The Pentagon said on Thursday that U.S. forces played no role in the Israeli ground operation in Rafah that killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, architect of the October 7 atrocities.
“This was an Israeli operation. There were no U.S. forces directly involved,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said.
Ryder noted the United States has “helped contribute information and intelligence as it relates to hostage recovery and the tracking and locating of Hamas leaders who have been responsible for holding hostages,” but he indicated that was not the case with the operation that killed Sinwar.
“This was an Israeli operation. And I would refer you to them to talk about the details of how the operation went down,” he told reporters.
Ryder’s statement directly contradicted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s attempts to take partial credit for the elimination of Sinwar on Thursday.
Ryder took pains to cushion that blow by talking about how the United States has assisted Israeli counter-terrorism operations in the past, but he was clearly saying no American intelligence assets were involved in locating Sinwar. The Hamas leader was effectively a target of opportunity, killed after his entourage randomly encountered an Israeli patrol.
Biden’s statement on Sinwar’s death strongly implied U.S. forces helped to hunt him down on orders from the Biden White House:
Shortly after the October 7 massacres, I directed Special Operations personnel and our intelligence professionals to work side-by-side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Sinwar and other Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza.
With our intelligence help, the IDF relentlessly pursued Hamas’s leaders, flushing them out of their hiding places and forcing them onto the run. There has rarely been a military campaign like this, with Hamas leaders living and moving through hundreds of miles of tunnels, organized in multiple stories underground, determined to protect themselves with no care for the civilians suffering above ground. Today, however, proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes.
Mitzi Gaynor Has Left This World
Quote:Mitzi Gaynor, an actress known for South Pacific and her film roles alongside Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, has died. She was 93.
Her management team shared the news in a statement posted to social media Thursday morning.
The duo said Gaynor died of “natural causes.”
“For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on the stage,” the post reads. “She truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer.”
In South Pacific, Gaynor portrayed U.S. Navy nurse Nellie Forbush. She became well-known for her performance of the song “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair.”
Her other film credits included Anything Goes (1956) with Bing Crosby, Les Girls (1957) and The Joker is Wild (1957) with Frank Sinatra.
She starred alongside Zsa Zsa Gabor and Marilyn Monroe in We’re Not Married! (1952), and reunited with Monroe in There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954).
Gaynor also headlined several TV specials for CBS.
CANADA
Trudeau Has No Hard Evidence Against India
Quote:Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted on Wednesday that his government has no “hard evidence” to prove Indian agents were behind the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver in June 2023.
Trudeau made his comments before the Canadian Foreign Interference Commission, which was established in 2023 amid a wave of allegations that foreign governments such as China and Russia were interfering in Canadian politics.
In September 2023, Prime Minister Trudeau publicly accused the Indian government of masterminding the assassination of Nijjar, a leading figure in the Khalistan movement of Sikh separatists.
India, which regards the Khalistan movement as a terrorist organization, dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and said he offered no evidence to back them up. A major diplomatic feud erupted between India and Canada over the ensuing year. On Monday, each country expelled six of the others’ diplomats.
Trudeau has resisted calls to reveal his evidence of India’s involvement to the public. He told the Foreign Interference Commission on Wednesday that he does not have any “hard evidence,” only “intelligence” that suggests the order to kill Nijjar came from New Delhi.
“Over the course of summer, I was apprised by intelligence services that the [Indian] government was involved in the killing of Nijjar. There was not an obvious immediate international nexus,” he said.
Trudeau said that by August of 2023, “intelligence from Canada and the Five Eyes made it clear that India was involved.” The Five Eyes intelligence partnership includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Trudeau said he was convinced that “agents from India were involved” in Nijjar’s murder, and he duly expressed those concerns to the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“India undermined our government and governance,” he charged. “These were clear indications that India had violated our sovereignty.”
LATIN AMERICA
Cartel Gunmen Attack Newspaper's Office
Quote:A group of gunmen fired at least a dozen shots at the offices of one of the main newspapers in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The attack comes as Sinaloa is ground zero for a fierce turf war between rival cartel factions. Mexico’s government has largely avoided interfering despite deploying hundreds of soldiers to the region.
The attack took place on Thursday night in downtown Culiacan, Sinaloa, outside the offices of El Debate newspaper, where a group of gunmen in two vehicles pulled up. According to El Debate’s reporting, one gunman carrying a rifle got down from the convoy, walked up to the front of El Debate, and began shooting indiscriminately at the building.
The bullets struck the front of the building and three vehicles that had been parked outside. After the attack, the gunman walked back to his vehicle, and the convoy drove off.
Numerous international press freedom groups continue to label Mexico as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. As Breitbart Texas reported, these press freedom groups highlight the impunity with which cartels and government officials can target, attack, kidnap, and kill news workers.
The violence comes at a time when the entire state continues to feel the effects of a turf war between the Chapitos and Mayos factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. As the violence has begun to spread to other parts of the country, El Debate has been one of the news outlets that continues to report on it.
As Breitbart Texas has reported, the turf war was a direct result of the July 25 capture of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada at the hands of his Godson Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Under the guise of having a meeting with top politicians, Guzman lured El Mayo to a ranch where he and his gunmen captured him, tied him up, placed him in an airplane, and flew him to the waiting hands of U.S. agents in Texas. Since then, Guzman’s relatives from the faction Chapitos have fought against Zambada’s loyalists.
EUROPE
Putin Thinks Sinwar's Death Will Bring Disaster to Middle East
Quote:Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia has “deep concerns” about the “consequences” for the Middle East as a result of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
“The main thing for us is the consequences for the peaceful population that we see,” Peskov told reporters. “We have serious concerns about this.”
“The humanitarian disaster that is observed in both Gaza and Lebanon is the subject of our serious concern,” he added.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) members killed Sinwar in a chance encounter in the Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday. The Hamas leader planned and executed the jihadist group’s unprecedented October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, which left over 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage.
Sinwar’s death marks the end of a year-long pursuit of the Hamas leader who, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) informed, remained hidden among the civilian population of Gaza. The IDF suspected that Israeli forces inadvertently killed Sinwar after a tank fired at a building where three terrorists had been spotted – finding, much to their surprise, Sinwar’s body inside the structure.
Drone footage released by the IDF on Thursday revealed Sinwar’s final moments. The footage shows Sinwar throwing an object at the drone that military reports described as a “wooden stick.” Sinwar failed to hit the drone with the thrown object.
In addition to Peskov’s comments, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, answering questions from reporters, said that while Sinwar’s death was “jarring,” he does not consider it to be a “turning point” that prompts a new escalation wave in the Middle East.
“This is not the first time such dramatic events have happened. There is always someone waiting in the wings. Such a person has already been found. As far as I understand, it is Khaled Mashal, who once served as Head of the Hamas political bureau. Now, he will do so again,” Bogdanov said.
Vladimir Fitin, adviser to the director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, told Tass on Friday that the death of the Hamas leader may push the group’s remaining officers to start negotiations with the Israeli government.
UK "Interfering" in US Elections 2024
Quote:Around 100 British left-wing activists are being funded to campaign for Kamala Harris in swing states, leading to allegations of election interference and even American electoral law being broken.
A social media post by the Director of Operations of the UK’s governing party, Labour, recruiting “Labour Party staff” for campaigning in North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia has caused concern. The message from Labour’s Sofia Patel promised paid-for accommodation for those taking up the offer. She wrote, in the now-deleted post:
I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina – we will sort your housing. Email me on labourforkamala@gmail.com if you’re interested. Thanks!
NBC15 News notes Patel has previously campaigned in the U.S. for the Hillary Clinton 2016 effort.
Some have expressed concern the group may have been breaking U.S. law, including Elon Musk and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recommended UK politicians would probably be better off back in Britain, fixing the country’s many problems rather than trying to interfere abroad. She stated: “You are breaking [Federal Election Commission] laws. Foreign nationals are not allowed to be involved in anyway in U.S. elections. Please go back to the UK and fix your own mass immigration problems that are ruining your country.”
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As it is, under U.S. Federal Election Commission rules foreign nationals are allowed to volunteer on political campaigns but can’t be paid a salary, donate money, spend money on the campaign’s behalf, or take leadership (“decision-making”) roles. So whether these laws have been obeyed will have to be determined by the FEC, but influential Westminster gossip blog Guido Fawkes states its understanding that the trips to America for Labour staffers being paid for by the Democrat Party and they are campaigning “in their own time”, which would be legal.
ASIA
Xi Jinping Near Taiwan
Quote:Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping visited the coastal province of Fujian, state media reported Wednesday, and stopped on a local island facing Taiwan just days after ordering intimidating war games in the wars surrounding the island nation.
Communist China has escalated its antagonistic rhetoric against Taiwan, which it falsely claims as a renegade province, since October 10, Taiwan’s National Day. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te delivered a speech to mark the occasion in which he suggested his country could in the future collaborate on issues such as climate change with Beijing. He also, however, affirmed his nation’s sovereignty and noted that Taiwan, formally the Republic of China, was founded before the Communist People’s Republic of China, outraging Beijing.
Following the speech, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held massive war games near Taiwan, which it regularly coordinates to intimidate Taiwan and as a show of force to third party nations to deter support for Taipei. Xi’s visit to Fujian occurred some days later and state media did not overly highlight the potential connection to Taiwan.
According to the government’s Xinhua News Agency, Xi traveled to Fujian to discuss improving China’s disastrous economy and developing the province’s rural countryside.
“Fujian, a forerunner in the country’s reform and opening up drive, is an economic powerhouse with a robust private economy,” Xinhua claimed. “Facing Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, the province is building itself into a demonstration zone for cross-Strait integrated development.”
Xi reportedly did discuss attempting to eradicate Taiwanese identity from Fujian, however, describing it as “enhancing the sense of the Chinese national and cultural identity among Taiwan compatriots.” For part of his visit, the state-run Global Times propaganda newspaper reported, Xi “learned about local efforts in strengthening the protection of cultural heritage and promoting cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.”
The vast majority, 67 percent, of Taiwanese nationals identify as primarily Taiwanese; that number goes up to 83 percent among Taiwanese aged 18 to 34, according to a Pew Research Center poll published in January. Only three percent of respondents said they felt primarily. Chinese.
Furthermore, a survey published last week by Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research found that over half, 64 percent, of Taiwanese considered China a “serious threat” and nearly 68 percent said they would personally fight to defend Taiwan from China.
UK Foreign Minister Visits China
Quote:Britain’s foreign secretary has called engagement with China “pragmatic and necessary” as he makes he makes the first visit by a Cabinet minister since the Labor government took control in July.
David Lammy met Friday with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and was to hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi later the same day.
His two-day trip is an attempt to reset ties with Beijing after relations turned frosty in recent years over spying allegations, China´s support for Russia in the Ukraine war and a crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony now part of China.
“From stopping Russia´s illegal invasion of Ukraine, to supporting a global green transition, we must speak often and candidly across both areas of contention as well as areas for cooperation in the U.K.´s national interest,” Lammy was quoted as saying in a Foreign Office news release.
The release said that Lammy would urge China to stop its political and economic support of the Russian war effort.
The U.S. sanctioned two Chinese companies on Thursday for allegedly helping Russia build long-range attack drones used in the war in Ukraine. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the allegations were false.
Lammy will also visit Shanghai, where he will meet with British business leaders, the Foreign Office release said. China including Hong Kong is the U.K.´s fourth largest trading partner.
Human rights groups demanded that Lammy press the Chinese government over its crackdowns on dissent in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet.
The spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that securing the release of British citizen Jimmy Lai is a priority. The Hong Kong media publisher has been in custoday since December 2020 and will testify next month in his defense at a landmark national security trial.
Taliban Denounces Iran for Killing Dozens of Afghans
Quote:Taliban terror leaders announced on Thursday that they have opened an investigation into multiple reports of Iranian border guards opening fire on a crowd of hundreds of Afghans who had entered the country illegally.
The Iranian government has denied that its guards had committed any such mass killing, but insisted in a statement on the situation that Tehran would resolutely act against the large influx of Afghan migrants into the border that began when the Taliban regained control of the country from the former U.S.-backed government in 2021.
Iran and the Taliban’s Afghanistan maintain formal diplomatic ties, a rarity for the rogue Islamist regime in Kabul. The relationship is not without significant tension over their mutual border, however, typically as a result of disputes over access to water. The Helmand River straddles their border and both sides often complain that the other is hoarding the limited water supply.
Following the fall of the Kabul government in 2021, the dramatic influx of illegal Afghan migrants into Iran also became a significant point of content. The Taliban is a repressive, fundamentalist terrorist entity that has, among other actions, made it illegal for women to show their faces or use their voices in public and severely punishes men who do not abide by their strict facial hair standards. Its return to power prompted thousands to scramble for a way out of the impoverished, war-torn country, an exodus that continues three years later.
Reports initially surfaced on Wednesday in Afghan media and among the Iranian human rights community that Iranian border patrol had identified a group of between 200 and 300 Afghans in Sistan and Baluchestan province, trying to flee Afghanistan. According to the Iranian human rights group Haalvsh, border patrol intercepted the group and opened fire on the men, women, and children among them. Graphic videos allegedly showing the aftermath of the shooting began surfacing on social media and Afghan outlets estimated that as many as 200 civilians had been killed in the affair.
Amu TV, an independent Afghan outlet, claimed to find a family of the survivors of the massacre, who confirmed that a “large group” of Afghans had left western Afghanistan, in the direction of Iran a week ago. The family shared photos of their relatives and said they had no updates on their loved ones’ journey.
Several international organizations have condemned the reported attack and demanded more respect on the part of the Iranian regime for would-be refugees. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has struggled to operate under the Taliban, issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” about reports of a massacre and demanding the Iranian government clarify the situation.
Amnesty International issued a statement recalling that the reports followed “two years of documented illegal use of force by Iran against Afghans seeking refuge after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.”
MIDDLE EAST
Hamas Confirms Sinwar's Death
Quote:The Iran-backed terrorist Hamas organization confirmed on Friday the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza, celebrating the “fallen martyr” and vowing not to release the dozens of Israeli hostages the group has kept for over a year.
Sinwar, once the head of Hamas in Gaza, took over the entire organization in August after the death of “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh in a bombing in Tehran. He is widely believed to have planned and orchestrated the massacre of 1,200 people and widespread atrocities committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and stood out even among the genocidal jihadists of Hamas for pressuring the group to embrace more gruesome violence against Israelis and Jews generally. Reports out of Hamas in the past month indicated that Sinwar’s major policy change upon taking control of Hamas was to call for more suicide bombings against Israel.
Khalil Hayya, who took over for Sinwar as the Hamas Gaza chief, confirmed the latter’s death on Friday, celebrating Sinwar as a “martyr” and insisting that Hamas would not free the hostages taken on October 7, approximately 100 people.
“[Sinwar] has lived his whole life as a holy fighter. Since his early days, he was engaged in his struggle as a resistant fighter,” Hayya claimed, according to a translation by the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera. “He stood defiant behind Israeli bars and after his release in a swapped deal, he continued with his struggle and his dedication to the cause.”
Hayya said that Sinwar’s absence would “strengthen” Hamas and vowed to not free the hostages.
“The occupation [Israeli] prisoners will not return unless the aggression on Gaza stops, there is a complete withdrawal from [Gaza], and our prisoners are released from the prisons,” Hayya said. “Hamas will continue until the establishment of the Palestinian state on all Palestinian soil with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Hamas advocates for the complete destruction of the state of Israel and elimination of its population – an explicitly genocidal goal – and the replacement of Israel with an Islamist state of “Palestine.”
PressTV, an Iranian state propaganda outlet, quoted another alleged “senior Hamas official,” Basem Naim, issuing similarly defiant remarks on Friday.
“Hamas is a liberation movement led by people looking for freedom and dignity, and this cannot be eliminated,” Naim claimed. “We believe that our destiny is one of two good things, either victory or martyrdom.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed they had eliminated Sinwar in Gaza on Thursday. IDF ground forces reportedly identified suspicious Hamas activity in the southern city of Rafah and engaged terrorists on the move. The engagement resulted in the elimination of the terrorists, a contingent that included Sinwar and his bodyguards. Sinwar himself was reportedly killed by a shell from an Israeli tank. The operation was not targeting Sinwar personally, and the Israeli soldiers did not initially know who they were engaging.
Sinwar Had an UNRWA Teacher's Passport
Quote:A passport belonging to a U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) teacher was found on the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli ground forces in the Gaza city of Rafah on Thursday.
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According to Nurit Yohanan, Palestinian affairs correspondent for Israeli public radio’s KAN News, the passport carried by Sinwar belongs to a UNRWA teacher and Rafah native named Hani Zourob who left for Egypt in April.
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It was not immediately clear if the passport carried by Sinwar was a copy or a fake document.
Early reports in the chaotic moments after Sinwar’s death suggested the passport was carried by one of his bodyguards, and the bodyguard actually was Hani Zourob.
Yohana said she contacted Zourob and determined he is alive and well in Egypt. Sinwar’s bodyguards are neither alive nor well.
UNRWA is the United Nations relief and development agency for Palestinians. The organization has been criticized for employing Palestinian terrorists, including members of Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have discovered Hamas operatives using UNRWA facilities to store munitions and plan their attacks. Hamas weapons depots have been found beneath UNRWA hospitals and schools.
A major scandal erupted in January when Israel accused at least a dozen UNRWA employees of actually participating in the October 7 atrocities, which saw 1,200 Israeli civilians murdered as well as hundreds raped, kidnapped, or otherwise brutalized. Israel provided hard evidence for its accusations, including audio recordings of UNRWA employees gloating about kidnapping and raping Israeli women.
The United States, and several other countries, halted funding for UNRWA after these allegations.
The U.N. conducted an investigation and found that nine UNRWA employees “may have” been involved in the October 7 attack. All of those employees were reportedly fired, a remedy that did not come close to satisfying the Israeli government.
Sinwar's Bodyguard an UN Employee
Quote:One of the two bodyguards found dead alongside Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday was an employee of the United Nations, according to a report Thursday.
Update: A passport found on Sinwar’s body was confirmed to have been that of a United Nations employee. According to the Times of Israel, Sinwar appeared to have been carrying the fake passport in an attempt to flee Gaza.)
As Breitbart News reported, Sinwar’s death was confirmed Thursday after infantry and armored troops engaged three terrorists hiding in a building in southern Gaza, in Rafah, near the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
He was found with two other terrorists. One of them was a senior commander of Hamas terrorists in the Khan Yunis area. The other, according to Israeli news website Ynet, was a teacher employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Ynet reported:
IDF forces discovered large amounts of Israeli cash and identifying documents on the terrorists’ bodies. Due to the presence of explosives and grenades, drones were initially used to examine the bodies.
One of the terrorists bore a strong resemblance to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, leading troops to believe they may have killed him unintentionally, without prior intelligence. The exact location of the raid remains undisclosed for security reasons.
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Further evidence suggesting Sinwar’s death included the presence of a senior Hamas commander known to frequently accompany him. Reports from Gaza indicated the other two terrorists killed were Sinwar’s bodyguards, one of whom worked as a teacher for UNRWA and the other a high-ranking official in Hamas’ National Security Office.
UNRWA has been implicated in ideological support for terror, and several of its employees participated in the October 7 terror attacks. President Donald Trump canceled U.S. funding for UNRWA, but President Joe Biden restored it, before suspending it in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urged Israel to continue working with UNRWA in the Gaza Strip in a letter threatening an arms embargo if Israel did not comply within 30 days with that demand, among others, dictated by the Biden-Harris administration.
Iran on Sinwar's Elimination
Quote:Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the “spirit of resistance” in Gaza will only be “strengthened” by the death of Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on Thursday by Israeli ground forces as he attempted to flee into Egypt.
The Iranian mission wrote a post on social media platform X that sought to contrast Sinwar’s end with the supposedly more humiliating demise of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein:
When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed.
However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield—in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy—the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine.
As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.
Iran’s enthusiasm for fighting to the last dead Palestinian may not be enough to maintain the morale of Tehran’s terrorist proxies, who have suffered an astonishing string of leadership losses over the past few months.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has killed hundreds of Hamas leaders and fighters in Gaza during a year of warfare. The political chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by a bomb in July while hiding in Tehran.
When Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah entered the battle, it promptly lost many of its leaders to exploding pagers and portable radios. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, once thought untouchable, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on his bunker in late September.
Hezbollah Enters a New Phase?
Quote:Eager to demonstrate that it is capable of fighting after losing many of its top leaders, the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah on Friday announced it will begin “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy.”
The Hezbollah statement said the decision to enter this nebulous new phase was made “based on the directives of the Resistance Command.”
The terrorists promised that their new strategy “will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days.”
Hezbollah also claimed it has killed ten Israeli soldiers and wounded 150 others in skirmishes over the past few days, and destroyed nine of Israel’s Merkava tanks and four of its militarized bulldozers.
Much of this destruction was purportedly inflicted with drones and precision-guided missiles, which are new additions to the Hezbollah armory. On the defensive side, the “Hezbollah Operations Room” claimed its forces were able to shoot down two Israeli Hermes 450 spy drones.
Hezbollah’s patrons in Iran stated, through their mission to the United Nations, that “the spirit of resistance will be strengthened” despite Israel’s successful operations against terrorist leadership.
Some of the militaristic language in Hezbollah’s statement was merely grandiose theater, intended to make both supporters and opponents believe the group remains well-organized and combat-effective. However, Reuters reported last week that Hezbollah did manage to cobble together a new “operations room” within 72 hours of the old one getting blown to bits along with group leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
The longtime Hezbollah dictator died along with several of his top commanders and some Iranian military officers when an Israeli airstrike took out his bunker. A week before that, hundreds of Hezbollah leaders were killed or disabled when their pagers and portable radios exploded.
The first statement from the new “operations room of the Islamic Resistance” claimed its fighters were “watching and listening” to Israeli forces, and were prepared to strike when the enemy least expected it.
IDF Has Killed 1,500 Terrorists in Lebanon
Quote:Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited southern Lebanon to review Israel’s progress there, revealing that Israeli soldiers had killed an estimated 1,500 Hezbollah terrorists there, the IDF said Friday.
In a statement, the IDF said:
The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, conducted a field tour this week with soldiers of the Golani Brigade and the 188th Brigade operating in southern Lebanon, and held a situational assessment with the Commanding Officer of the Northern Command, the Commanding Officer of the Northern Corps, the Commanding Officer of the 36th Division, and other commanders.
…
Attached are the full remarks of the Chief of the General Staff: “We are very determined to strike Hezbollah as hard as possible, and look, we’ve taken out their entire senior command level. You are taking out their entire local command level here, the command is also working on what’s in between, and this whole thing is shrinking, shrinking. There are very significant damages here, a whole chain of command is being wiped out. Hezbollah is hiding casualties, they are hiding dead commanders. We estimate that there are around 1,500 eliminated Hezbollah operatives, and we are making reserved estimates, I assume there are more, and we don’t know, from many strikes. These are very important achievements. The fact that they are surrendering says something about the moral situation, it says something about the level of combat, about their self-confidence, it says something about the quality you brought with you. They understand that this is it, there’s nothing left to do – back to the wall, and that’s the next stage. And that’s why I think the combat is very, very correct, it also sends the right message. I’ll tell you something broader, I think even Iran doesn’t understand what’s happening to Hezbollah here. This is its main arm that it built up, and this is a very important thing now. And we are making sure that every day there is a very tough surprise for Hezbollah, and you will bring your surprises – surprises are both about bringing achievements and preventing the enemy’s achievements.”
Separately, the IDF announced Friday that it had killed Mahmoud Hamdan (Tom), commander of Hamas’ Tel al-Sultan Battalion who “was responsible for guarding Yahya Sinwar and overseeing the six hostages who were murdered in the area.” He was previously — and erroneously — thought dead, and was killed in Gaza “by the IDF during an encounter with IDF troops, approximately 200 meters from the spot where Sinwar was eliminated.”
IDF Killed Palestinian Terrorists Pretending to be Jordanian Soldiers
Quote:Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers killed two Palestinian terrorists who infiltrated into the country on Friday across the eastern border, wearing Jordanian military uniforms. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in the exchange.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
An IDF soldier and reservist were lightly and moderately wounded following an exchange of fire with terrorists who crossed into Israel from Jordan near Neot Kikar in the Dead Sea area, the military said on Friday.
…
The military said IDF troops killed two terrorists who infiltrated Israeli territory near the Jordanian border while ground and aerial searches were underway for an additional terrorist who had probably fled the scene.
The Times of Israel added (original emphasis):
An observation soldier saw the terrorists cutting the fence with a wirecutter and declared a “Parash Turki,” a codeword meaning infiltration through the fence.
…
The terrorists opened fire with Glock pistols as the IDF force charged at them. They hit one soldier in the leg and one in the buttocks.
One terrorist was killed about 30 yards from the jeep, the other managed to make it to the jeep and died on its hood.
Social media accounts of the incident indicated that the terrorists had been wearing Jordanian military uniforms.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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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
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
