JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
WAR WITH IRAN - DAY 205 SUN SEPTEMBER 20,26 - NKOREA FIRES 2 MISSLES.
THE NEXT US-ISRAEL HIT ON IRAN SHOULD BE VERSE 37. ALL OFFENSIVE NUKE SITES MISSLES,DRONES,AND OF COURSE KHEMENI AND THE IRGC GUARDS.THEN AFTER IRANS REGIME CHANGE. MUSLIMS COME TO JESUS BY THE MILLIONS.
JEREMEIAH 49:32-39 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITES AND ALL OFENSIVE WEAPONS DESTROYED IN IRAN)
Jeremiah 49:32-39
32 Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Yahweh.
33 Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.(Location & Size: It was strategically located along the Via Maris (Way of the Sea), a major trade route connecting Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia.)
34 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(IRAN) in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) the chief of their might.(MISSLES AND NUKE SITES)
36 On Elam (IRAN) will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(SINCE 1979 IRANIANS HAVE GOTTIN OUT OF IRAN BECAUSE OF KHEMENI AND HIS APOCOPOLIPTIC DEATH CULT BELIEF-BLACK HATER 12ERS)
37 I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life;(ISRAEL THE LITTLE SATAN AND THE U.S THE BIG SATAN) and I will bring evil on them, (MISSLES) even my fierce anger,(FIRE) says Yahweh; and I will send the sword after them,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) until I have consumed them; (DESTROYED THEM ALL NUKE SITES,MISSLES ETC)
38 and I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION) and will destroy from there king (KHEMENI CLAN) and princes, says Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY GUARDS)
39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) says Yahweh.(WERE IN THE LATTER DAYS NOW)
WHEN ARE THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL IN THE SPRING TIME.(GET READY ISLAM TO BE BIRD SEED FOR THESE BIRDS)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m0bXU5Xqc5M
The 500 million migratory birds in Israel during the spring arrive from Africa and head toward Europe and Asia, with the peak migration occurring in March and April. While migration starts in late February, the most intense movements, particularly of birds of prey, storks, and pelicans, occur during the third week of March and continue into April.
Key Details on the Spring Migration
Peak Period: Mid-March through April.
Main Migration Route: The birds use the Great Rift Valley, which includes the Hula Valley and Eilat, acting as a "bottleneck" where millions of birds fly through the narrow land bridge.
Best Spots: The Hula Lake Park (Northern Israel) and the Eilat Birding Center (Southern Israel) are primary locations for observing the migration.
Key Species: Hundreds of thousands of white storks, along with black kites, raptors, and pelicans, pass through over these months.
uration: The spring migration runs from late February and continues into June, though the heaviest traffic is in March/April.
The 500 million migratory birds fly over Israel in the fall between late August and mid-December. The peak migration period for the autumn, when the highest volume of bird traffic occurs, is typically October and November.
Key Fall Migration Details
Location: The Hula Valley (Agamon Hula Park) in northern Israel is the premier spot to witness this phenomenon.
Timing: Migration starts as early as late June with some waders, but intensifies from mid-August through November.
Peak Festival: The "Annual Hula Valley Bird Festival" is usually held in November to align with the peak migration traffic.
Key Species: Many birds of prey (raptors), including honey buzzards and steppe eagles, cross during this time, along with massive flocks of storks and cranes.
While roughly 500 million birds pass through in the autumn on their way to Africa, the same number crosses again in the spring (mid-February to May) on their way back to Europe and Asia.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
Trump weighs return to large-scale Iran strikes: ‘I have a big decision coming up’President says will meet with Gulf leaders at UNGA next week before determining next steps; State Dept. confirms Iranian delegation will attend; Iranian crypto exchange hit with sanctions-By Stav Levaton and Agencies 17 September 2026, 11:29 pm-SEP 19,26
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was approaching a major decision on whether to resume large-scale attacks on Iran, as Washington weighs how to bring the months-long war to an end, according to a report published by Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 12 and US news outlet Axios.“I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not?” Trump told Ravid in a phone interview. “It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me.”The comments come days before Trump was set to meet the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, with the future of the Iran war expected to be a central focus.Trump said he intends to use the meeting to gauge the Gulf states’ positions before determining his next steps against Iran.“I want to find out where they are and how they are doing,” Trump said. “We have been very protective of them.”The Gulf states have been repeatedly targeted by Iran since Israel and the US launched the war against the Islamic Republic on February 28.According to Ravid, Trump has not said whether he will make a decision on what steps to take before the US midterm elections in November or whether he will wait until after.US officials warned that the current military posture is difficult to sustain indefinitely, with one telling Ravid, “At some point you have to decide what is the endgame.”The US and Israel launched the war on February 28 with the stated goals of eliminating Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats, destabilizing the regime, and weakening its network of regional proxies.Iran retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed — a move that has sent oil prices soaring and caused global economic fallout.Hostilities between Israel and Iran have been halted since early April — with one exception in June — but violence has periodically flared between the US and the Islamic Republic, with the Gulf states bearing the brunt of Iran’s anger.With the military offensive largely halted, the US has instead turned to economic pressure and sanctions to try to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — which it has not yet done.Iranian crypto exchange hit with Hormuz-related sanctions-The US has, however, continued to target the Iranian economy.On Thursday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, accusing it of processing payments for ships to transit safely through the Strait of Hormuz.The Treasury said BitBank has routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and described the exchange as a key component in Iran’s digital assets-based sanctions-evasion infrastructure. The exchange was used to transfer funds paid to Iran’s newly established Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, the Treasury says in a statement.Zanjani has long been a key figure in Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement. His sentence was commuted in 2024. The following year, he re-emerged as a backer of Iranian government economic projects.The designation is part of the Treasury’s “Operation Economic Outcast” intended to isolate Iran economically and disrupt Iran’s global financial, commercial, and logistical networks, according to the statement. The strategy has targeted Iran’s illicit oil trade, financial intermediaries, exchange houses and shipping, aviation and front companies.The US also sanctioned Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software developer behind BitBank, and three close associates of Zanjani, Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari.Reduced Iran delegation to attend UN General Assembly-But despite the seven-month-old war and the ongoing US pressure campaign, a State Department spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that Washington would still allow an Iranian delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week,” the spokesman said.A source familiar with the matter confirms that this will also cover the Iranian president.The delegation will still face restrictions, however.“The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy. The delegation is smaller than last year,” a State Department spokesperson said.Despite allowing Iran’s entry, the US blocked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a number of Palestinian officials from attending the General Assembly, forcing him to address the assembly remotely for the second year running.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rally in government-organized demonstration-State broadcaster says 300,000 gather in Tehran, pledging to take up arms for Islamic Republic; some trample US, Israeli flags, chant ‘Death to America’ and “Death to Israel’By Nasser Karimi, Cara Anna and Lee Keath 18 September 2026, 2:30 pm
CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered for a government-organized rally on Friday, pledging their readiness to take up arms in the biggest such demonstration since the United States and Israel launched the war with the Islamic Republic in February.Iran’s government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and new US sanctions meant to increase Tehran’s economic pain.Estimates varied of the number of people volunteering to receive limited military training and defend the country in an effort described as “Janfaday-e Iran,” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives for Iran.” They marched through downtown Tehran in combat uniform, carrying flags, as onlookers cheered.For days, state media have encouraged Iranians to join the campaign, saying training with assault rifles would begin soon. The volunteers would be an additional layer of security in addition to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary and its all-volunteer arm, the Basij.Tehran’s IRGC chief, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, told the state broadcaster that over 600,000 people had registered to participate, with over 1 million expected to take part in the training. On Friday morning, the broadcaster estimated over 300,000 people were on the streets.The new head of the Basij, Hossein Taeb, declared in a speech as the rally began that the volunteers will be ready for “full-fledged defense” and similar rallies will take place in other cities soon.The new trainees will make a “nightmare” for Iran’s enemies, Taeb added, as President Masoud Pezeshkian, military commanders and other senior officials watched the march.Some participants trampled flags of the US and Israel. Others chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”“I am here to tell [US President Donald] Trump that we Iranians have no fear about his threats against our homeland,” said Marzieh Afaghi, 24, who attended the rally with her toddler and husband. ‘No one in history could invade Iran and remain there.’The rally was also a chance for Iran to show off military hardware. Anti-aircraft batteries were on display, while female Guard members in black headscarves sat with truck-mounted machine guns.The Guard displayed drones that have been widely used against ships in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has asserted control since the war began, severely affecting the Gulf region’s shipments of oil and natural gas to the rest of the world.Friday’s events also suggested that hardliners like Taeb among Iran’s leadership will be more prepared to suppress any future demonstration against the theocracy.In January, shortly before the war, Iran saw some of its largest nationwide protests in history, which began over the struggling economy and turned to wider grievances. Activists have said a crackdown killed over 7,000 people and saw tens of thousands detained.In May, government officials said more than 30 million people in Iran — home to a population of some 90 million — had volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for the theocracy. The Associated Press could not independently confirm that.
Trump cuts vacation short, returns to White House day early-Iran’s military command says it’s been informed US plans to resume strikes-Tehran vows Hormuz will stay closed, regime won’t negotiate until Trump accepts its conditions — including ending war, unfreezing Iranian funds and removing naval blockade By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 4:43 pm-SEP 20,26
Iran’s central military command said in a statement on Sunday that it had received information that the United States, with the backing of some regional countries, was preparing to resume military actions against it, state media reported.The statement said that any US attack would trigger sustained strikes on US bases and interests in the region, warning that regional countries supporting US aggression against Iran would be considered parties to the conflict.On Saturday, Al Jazeera cited Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei as saying in an interview that Iran had conveyed to mediators its conditions for re-engaging in negotiations aimed at ending the war with the US.The conditions included ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian funds and ending the naval blockade, Rezaei said, adding that consultations were continuing with Qatari and Pakistani mediators and that Tehran was awaiting a response from US President Donald Trump.Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said his country would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until its conditions were met and US commitments implemented.Iran must both fight and negotiate, Ghalibaf said, adding that Tehran would use military force to push back its enemies and diplomacy to consolidate battlefield gains when the time is right.Saturday saw Trump return to the White House from Camp David after cutting his vacation there short, having originally been scheduled to return on Sunday night.The White House did not offer an explanation for the change to his schedule, but it came after the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said that the Iran-backed group had fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh, and a fire was reported near the Saudi capital’s international airport.The Riyadh-led coalition said Saturday evening on X that a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the capital was “successfully intercepted and destroyed.”The coalition added that the pro-Iranian fighters had tried to target “civilians and civilian infrastructure” in several cities in the west of the kingdom, including the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, an important export hub for Saudi oil.It said these attacks were “thwarted by the Gulf monarchy’s air defenses.”This was the first time since Yemen’s civil war resumed that strikes have threatened the Saudi capital, piling further pressure on a global economy already rocked by seven months of war between the US and Iran.The Houthis’ lightning offensive seizing swaths of Yemeni territory in recent weeks has left hundreds dead and, according to the UN, displaced more than 110,000 people.Saudi Arabia has responded with scores of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas but failed to stop the advance.The flare-up in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia also prompted the US embassy in Israel to issue a security alert late Saturday, instructing American citizens in the Middle East to “exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions.”It noted that the Houthis have targeted civilian airports in their fight against Saudi Arabia and said that “the military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly.”“Americans traveling to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations,” the alert added.On Sunday, US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in a rare visit to Cairo.Sissi stressed “the paramount importance of settling regional crises through political and diplomatic tracks,” according to a presidency statement.The visit came days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was also in the Egyptian capital, where he and Sissi urged safe and secure navigation through Bab el-Mandeb, after the Houthis seized the Yemeni coast.The Bab el-Mandeb strait is a Red Sea waterway that is crucial to energy flows and global shipping and which has become even more strategic since Iran imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
Analysis 'It's a catastrophe'As Iran and Houthis tighten the screws on Saudi Arabia, a potential role emerges for Israel-Saudi leader’s old and new military alliances are offering little protection, and his previous engagement with Tehran didn’t help either; blocked in Hormuz and Red Sea, Riyadh needs new security partners-By Lazar Berman Today, 1:22 am-SEP 20,26
Sirens blared in Mecca on Tuesday as the Houthis fired a drone from Yemen toward Islam’s holiest city, at least according to the Saudis.Only a month before, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman hosted the leaders of Turkey and Pakistan to sign a joint defense agreement with great fanfare in the same city.The Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia were the first test of that pact, the Mecca Agreement, and it doesn’t seem to have translated to improved security for the Gulf kingdom. Its cities, ships, and infrastructure are coming under daily attack, and Turkey and Pakistan have not mobilized to defend their beleaguered ally — despite Saudi Arabia hosting at least 8,000 Pakistani troops.Officials from Turkey and Pakistan told The Associated Press they have not received a Saudi request for support in response to the Houthis’ escalation. If they are telling the truth, and the new alliance doesn’t warrant even a request for assistance in the moment of truth, the crown prince is already admitting that it doesn’t actually make his kingdom any safer.The manifest worthlessness of the Mecca pact is only one element of an increasingly dire situation for Saudi Arabia.The emerging reality — Iran’s allies firing on the kingdom across multiple borders while closing crucial shipping lanes — “puts the Saudis in serious danger,” said Yoel Guzansky, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. “This is their biggest challenge since 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi oilfields.”“It’s a catastrophe.”Failed approaches-Bin Salman, widely referred to as MBS, dreams of transforming the kingdom from one based on massive oil reserves to a modern financial capital and tourist destination.That goal has proven harder to achieve than he expected.MBS’s megaprojects are looking like colossal wastes of money. His flagship futuristic city NEOM is foundering, and he is facing difficulties in positioning Saudi Arabia as an AI powerhouse.To transform the Saudi economy, MBS needed to ensure that his kingdom was secure from his archenemy Iran and its axis.Initially, he saw the over 70 years of defense agreements and weapons deals with the US as evidence that Washington would come to Saudi Arabia’s aid if the Islamic Republic attacked. But when Iran and the Houthis struck Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil refinery in 2019 — cutting the kingdom’s production in half — and Trump decided not to respond militarily, MBS realized he couldn’t rely on a US shield.Instead, he pursued diplomatic engagement with Tehran, hoping to avoid being targeted in a future war between the US and Iran.“They have long since stopped speaking in the language of defeating Iran, but rather activating it, appeasing it, dealing with it, reaching agreements with it,” said Michal Yaari, Gulf expert at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.But that didn’t work either. After the US and Israel attacked Iran earlier this year, Tehran put its plan for such a scenario into action — targeting Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, across the region, raising the cost for everyone to pressure Washington into halting the campaign.While Iran’s strategy has achieved the results it was designed to, the Islamic Republic’s new leaders now see an opportunity to cement their control over the Strait of Hormuz and the region’s economy, and they aren’t showing any signs of backing down.Iranian threats to Hormuz have already harmed the Saudi economy, making it far more difficult to export oil, which still makes up about 40 percent of Riyadh’s GDP and 60% of its revenues.In response, Riyadh leaned on its East-West Pipeline to funnel oil away from the Persian Gulf and toward the Red Sea, where it could then ship it out to buyers. It diverted more than 70% of its normal daily crude exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.But the Houthis are working to shut off that option as well. The capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha in Yemen and a strategic island by the Houthi rebels last week gave them further control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait leading out of the Red Sea.Even worse for the Saudis, the 1,200-kilometer pipeline itself came under attack last Friday, not from the Houthis, but from Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The key pipeline, which can carry up to 7 million barrels a day, will be out of service for weeks.MBS tried to enlist foreign help. With Turkey and Pakistan either sitting on the sidelines or seen as irrelevant dealing with to actual threats, he reportedly called US President Trump twice to ask him to launch strikes against the Houthis.Trump denied his request.On top of that, both Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced that the White House was actually talking to the Houthis directly.And Trump seemed to downplay the gravity of Houthi attacks on Saudi ships: “They would much prefer not having us involved, and they’re letting most ships go through. There’s just one country that they’re not too happy with, and we’ll get that straightened out.”A senior Trump administration official told The Washington Post that Washington is “focused on protecting core national security interests,” including freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, while also “empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges.”The official added, not especially helpfully, that the White House is in “continuous dialogue” with Riyadh and the internationally recognized Yemeni government “regarding regional stability.”Saudi Arabia is also showing the limitations of its own well-funded military. It spends about twice as much on defense as Israel, and doesn’t have anything in the way of military achievements to point to as it tries to stop Houthi fighters in flip-flops riding Toyotas and dusty motorcycles from taking and holding large swaths of strategically important territory from the Yemeni government it props up.“It’s a military defeat,” said Guzansky, “and a great humiliation for the Saudis.”Meanwhile, Iran understands that Houthi successes only improve its bargaining position, increasing the economic pain around the world that Tehran says can only be relieved by capitulating to Iranian demands on Hormuz.“That leaves Riyadh unable to separate Yemen from its broader confrontation with Iran and leaning harder on Washington,” said Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.The Saudis are facing the realization that “all their basic assumptions are actually not valid, but there is no alternative reality that is better,” said Yaari.Quiet opportunity for Israel-With Saudi Arabia caught in a bind that is only growing tighter — and its treaty allies and superpower backer staying out of the fray — there is an opening for Israel to show the benefits of cooperation with the Jewish state.The interests of the two countries overlap entirely here. They both see the Islamic Republic as their bitter enemy, and both have had their ships and territory targeted by the Houthis.There is already some cooperation. US Central Command has reportedly been overseeing contacts between the two countries and hosted their military chiefs last week along with those of other regional allies.That doesn’t mean Israel will send its air force back to Yemen to bomb Houthi positions. Doing so would not end the threat, but would expose the Saudi regime to accusations of being Zionist collaborators and embarrass the kingdom by highlighting its fecklessness and reliance on the Jewish state.Instead, there is ample opportunity for Israel to quietly share intelligence and defensive technologies with Riyadh.There’s no question that Israel’s intelligence has penetrated the Houthi organization. In August 2025, Israeli jets struck a meeting of the Houthi leadership, killing its prime minister and other cabinet members.Israeli assistance won’t be enough in the short term to get the Saudis to agree to normalization with the Jewish state, as Riyadh continues to condition such a deal on Jerusalem allowing for the establishment of an irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state.But such help would emphasize that Israel has much to offer in Saudi Arabia’s increasingly dire struggle against the Iranian axis, especially while Riyadh’s formal allies continue to let it down.
ITS GREAT THAT TRUMP IS BANNING FAKE NEWS SITES FROM THE WHITEHOUSE. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS BEEN BANNED FOR A WHILE NOW. NOW TRUMPS GOING AFTER CNN (COMMUNIST NEWS NETWORK), MS NOW (MY STUPID NEWS OF WORTHLESSNESS) AND POLITICO.
CNN, MS NOW Reporters Denied Access to White House as Trump Follows Through on Threat to Ban Outlets-Trump said Friday that CNN and Politico would also be denied access to the grounds.By Alex Weprin-September 19, 2026 6:20am
President Donald Trump has followed through on his Friday threat to ban disfavored outlets from the White House.MS NOW says that its journalists were denied entry to the White House Saturday morning, and had their press badges taken away from them. Correspondent Akayla Gardner told the channel that when she was entering the facility through the security office, her badge did not work, and the channel’s photographer’s badge did not work (though her producer’s badge did work, sparking some confusion).“When I was inside where we have magnetometers, I attempted to scan my badge, which we have to do to get into the White House grounds. It did not work,” she said. “There was a red beeping light, and so the officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled. I asked why I could not get inside; he said it was above him.”The ban came without rhyme or reason, aside from Trump expressing consternation over coverage and threatening further bans against other networks.“Earlier this morning, MS NOW journalists were denied access to the White House grounds,” an MS NOW spokesperson says. “The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars. MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy. We stand firmly behind our anchors, our reporters, and our newsroom. We will continue to report on the President, the administration, and the issues that impact the American people.”CNN was also denied entry.“Early today, CNN journalists were denied access to the White House grounds. CNN’s mission to report on the U.S. government will continue regardless of any attempts to restrict physical access to the White House and other government buildings, or any other attempts to impede our journalism. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right,” says a CNN spokesperson. “We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor. CNN stands fully behind our White House team.”Credentialed journalists have long been afforded access to the White House complex, including “Pebble Beach,” located beyond the main security building, where TV networks broadcast their live reports, as well as the press facilities in the West Wing, including the Brady Briefing Room.
Google says its Gemini AI broke out and hacked three companies during testing-Incident in which program guessed credentials to access three websites comes amid a wave of similar incidents of artificial intelligence agents going rogue-By Reuters Today, 1:47 pm-SEP 20,26
Google’s Gemini model accessed the internet and hacked other companies during a test of its cybersecurity capabilities, the first known example of the company’s AI systems autonomously committing such an act, the company said Friday.The hacks occurred in May during a cybersecurity test conducted by Irregular, an independent company that conducts cybersecurity evaluations.During a standard testing evaluation, Gemini found public information online and guessed credentials to access three websites it thought were within the scope of its test, Heather Adkins, Google’s vice president of security engineering, said in a statement.“We ensured the three entities were made aware, and we worked with our training partner on the changes they’ve now made to their testing processes,” Adkins said. “These events highlight the importance of training powerful AI models to act responsibly.”An Irregular spokesperson said the incident involved the same issue that affected other AI labs and that all relevant labs were notified in late July. “All known issues on our end were remedied and resolved weeks ago,” the spokesperson said.Similar incidents linked to Irregular were disclosed by Meta, Anthropic and OpenAI. Meta said in August the incident did not involve a sandbox escape or sophisticated cyberattack, while Irregular said it was working on best practices for securely conducting AI cybersecurity evaluations.The incidents have raised questions about the safeguards needed as AI agents gain greater autonomy and access to the internet and computer systems.In one of the cases, the Gemini model guessed passwords until it gained access to a protected system. In the other two cases, the model found credentials in a public repository that allowed it to then access protected systems, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.Adkins said that in all three instances, the model ceased its hacking.
A year after Western recognition, Palestinians see little progress toward statehood-Diplomatic push has brought little change on the ground; Palestinians point to rising settler violence and a weakened PA, while Israel says statehood would reward terrorism-By AFP Today, 12:54 pm-SEP 20,26
When France, Britain and other Western powers last year recognized a Palestinian state, entrepreneur Adam Bader felt a sense of hope.“I was happy when I heard about it,” said Bader, 27, who lives in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, which has seen repeated Israeli military raids in recent years.“Now a year on, we’re not seeing any improvement. On the contrary,” he said. “The situation is getting worse by the day, and no one can do anything.”A year later, the diplomatic recognition has brought little tangible change on the ground, as settler violence has soared, restrictions on Palestinian movement have increased, and the Palestinian Authority has only been weakened.French President Emmanuel Macron, vowing to find a new path forward amid global outrage over the Gaza war, on September 22, 2025, led a special UN summit to recognize a Palestinian state.Ten countries, also including Britain, Canada and Australia, recognized Palestinian statehood, bringing the number of UN member-states doing so to around 157, more than four-fifths of the UN membership.Israel and the United States opposed the recognition drive and boycotted the summit. Both argued that recognizing a Palestinian state in the wake of the October 7 massacre that sparked the Gaza war amounted to rewarding Hamas and could undermine efforts to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government adamantly rejects Palestinian statehood, and has stepped up efforts to isolate the Palestinian Authority-While Netanyahu stopped short last year of formally annexing the West Bank, observers say unofficial annexation is creeping as his right-wing government approves an unprecedented number of settlements.“Recognition makes the two-state solution a reality politically and diplomatically, but unfortunately on the ground it still depends on the illegal behavior of Israel, which is not implementing international resolutions,” Omar Awadallah, deputy foreign affairs minister of the PA, told AFP.Ines Abdel Razek, a Palestinian political analyst, said that recognition of a state of Palestine amounted to little without measures to support its existence and counter Israeli actions.“The two-state solution’s become a diplomatic refrain to avoid looking at reality in the face,” she said.‘No future’Across the West Bank’s limestone hills, thousands of Israeli flags line roads used by Israeli settlers, with the occasional graffiti “No future in Palestine” stenciled on walls, as a call for Palestinians to leave.Netanyahu has argued that establishing a Palestinian state would amount to a “reward for terrorism” after Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.“As long as I am prime minister, an Iranian-controlled Palestinian state will not be established — neither in Gaza nor in Judea and Samaria. Period,” Netanyahu said last month, using the biblical name for the West Bank.Iran, which the United States and Israel attacked on February 28, backs Hamas in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority, centered in the West Bank, is led by Fatah, Hamas’s archrival.Ahead of the anniversary, Israel ordered the closure of the UK consulate serving Palestinians from Jerusalem, angered after Britain led France and Canada in sanctions over rising attacks by settlers.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, explaining the move, said Britain’s Labour government was attempting to “force upon Israel” a Palestinian state but the attempt was “doomed to fail.”Rising attacks-The Palestinian Authority, established in the 1990s under the Oslo Accords with Israel, has faced a severe fiscal crisis, in part due to Israel’s decision not to give it customs revenue it collects on its behalf, and struggles to pay its civil servants.Israel has objected to the Palestinian Authority’s historic payments to families of imprisoned or slain Palestinians, including those who carried out terror attacks against Israelis, a policy Israel brands as “pay to slay.”In early 2025, Israel built nearly 1,000 gates in the West Bank, at the entrances of nearly all villages and towns, which it closes on occasion to control Palestinian movement.Palestinians have also decried a policy of “maximum land, minimum Arabs” whereby settlers push out isolated herder communities from rural areas in order to establish settler outposts.The UN says extremist settlers have been responsible for an average of six attacks per day on Palestinians and Palestinian property in the West Bank in 2026.Sameh, a software engineer in Nablus, still sees last year’s move as a positive sign, but concedes the difficulties.“There is still a big distance between international recognition and seeing that recognition translated into reality on the ground,” he said.The Times of Israel contributed to this report.
Israeli firms among those experimenting with AI-powered social media bots — NYT-Report on Chinese, Iranian state influence efforts says two Israeli firms used open-source models to create fake accounts; one says it was researching how to combat misinformation-By ToI Staff Today, 11:22 am-SEP 20,26
Two private companies in Israel used open-source AI models to conduct or simulate influence campaigns on social media, The New York Times reported on Friday, in an article that also reported on use of the technology by the Iranian and Chinese governments.One of the firms, IntelEye, said its activity – which concerned domestic Israeli politics ahead of the October election – was a research experiment, intended to bolster defenses against misinformation. Maor Sellek, one of the company’s co-founders, said IntelEye used the Chinese AI company DeepSeek for the experiment.“IntelEye does not operate influence campaigns,” Sellek told the Times. “Our work with DeepSeek was conducted for defensive research and testing, to understand how models with insufficient safeguards could be misused and to improve detection of that activity.”The campaign, which reportedly came to the attention of US intelligence earlier this year, saw AI agents operate about a thousand accounts on social media platforms, posting content and responding to other users.The Times noted that some of the IntelEye bots were posting in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while others were posting against him.The other Israeli campaign mentioned in the report was referenced by Meta last month as a “commercial operation based in Israel” using a “fairly sophisticated setup,” according to the Times.However, no further details were provided on that effort, including the firm’s name, and the Times did not appear to have any independent information about that campaign.The article discussed the Israeli AI efforts in conjunction with state-backed influence campaigns by Iran and China.They and the Israeli campaigns used Chinese open-source AI technology to create agents that would independently post, without significant direction by humans.The efforts were noticed by US intelligence personnel as well as social media companies, according to the report.The Iranian campaign – previously reported by Axios – was “especially concerning” in the eyes of officials and researchers, the Times said. Some 80,000 people followed the AI accounts, which posed as ordinary Americans in an effort to sway journalists’ and politicians’ assessments of public opinion.In January, Channel 12 reported that about half of the politically active accounts on Israeli social media are bots. A similar situation exists in other countries around the world, according to the network.
Expert says UN is 'trapped in a trauma center'World leaders return to UN amid wars in Middle East and Ukraine, AI fears-Global body struggling amid funding cuts, impending end to leader’s term; US avoids losing right to vote by paying $725 million, still owes over $1b; Netanyahu to speak Thursday
By Antoni Slodkowski Today, 11:01 am-SEP 20,26
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) — World leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, bracing for US President Donald Trump’s return to the rostrum for a second year running, with talks centering on the widening conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the risks of artificial intelligence.Nearly 130 heads of state will meet with the post-World War II order under strain, and with the UN itself struggling to remain relevant and weathering attacks from Trump, who has slashed America’s contributions and withdrawn from dozens of UN bodies.Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who last addressed the diplomatic gathering via video in 2021, will skip New York in favor of one-on-one talks with Trump in Washington on Thursday, fueling debate about the UN’s relevance in addressing global crises.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak on Thursday and is scheduled to be in New York for only about a day. Trump, who is set to speak on Tuesday, is not expected to meet with him.Compounding the crisis of morale and finance are questions about the next leader of the 80-year-old organization: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres completes his term at the end of 2026, with no clear frontrunner in the race to replace him.The 15-member UN Security Council may hold high-level meetings on Ukraine, AI and the Middle East, including talks with Arab leaders, diplomats said.More than a year into Trump’s second term, “we would no longer say that the UN is in freefall, but we would say that it’s stuck in an open-ended crisis,” said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group. “The UN may not be in emergency care like it was last year, but it seems to be trapped in a trauma center for the foreseeable future.”The US avoided losing its vote at the assembly by paying $725 million in contributions to the regular budget this week, but it still owes the organization more than a billion dollars and makes ongoing demands for cuts and reforms.Fears of growing AI risks-The assembly meets shortly after several artificial intelligence industry leaders called for a coordinated slowdown of the development of the technology, warning that it could soon improve on its own and escape human control.Guterres has said that AI will be a major topic, adding that countries pushing its frontiers should set up “common guardrails in order to avoid this race to the bottom that could lead one day to a gigantic disaster at the global level.”The secretary-general has long proposed global governance of AI. In 2023, the UN created an advisory body on the technology, with members including tech executives, government officials and academics.The warning has put Guterres at odds with Trump, who dismissed AI risks as a “hoax,” saying there is a “sick conspiracy” against it and that China would benefit from the doubt being cast on its development.A focus on the Middle East-The Middle East will again be a focus of discussions, as conflict between the US and Iran continues to drive global inflation and destabilize the region. Recent gains by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who are fighting a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, threaten shipping in the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait and could further spike energy prices.“It’s very difficult to have a military solution for that problem, and the experience of fighting in Yemen demonstrated how complicated it is to have successful interventions,” said Guterres, adding that the UN’s envoy on Yemen was making a “huge effort” to advance talks.Peace talks remain stalled, however, as Iran and the US continue to exchange strikes and Trump threatens a major escalation of the war.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the assembly on Wednesday.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will for the second year running not be at the gathering in person, as the US again denied him a visa. On Thursday, the General Assembly voted to allow Abbas to appear via video.There is likely to be a high-level meeting on the conflict in Sudan on the sidelines, diplomats said, although a diplomatic breakthrough is unlikely.Discussions expected on Ukraine-Also on the agenda is Russia’s over-four-year-old war in Ukraine.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will address the General Assembly. Zelensky will likely seek to shore up Ukraine’s position ahead of what is expected to be another tough winter, diplomats said.The Security Council has been unable to take action to end the conflict because permanent member Russia holds a veto.Trump has at times appeared frustrated that he has been unable to broker an end to the war, a goal he declared a priority when he began his second term in January last year. The US president spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this month, but it was unclear whether he plans to meet Zelensky in New York.Guterres highlighted the impact the war was having on civilians but also on food security and energy prices.“The effective blockade existing in the Black Sea is creating enormous problems that add to the problems generated by the Middle East crisis, and I think it would be very important to find a way to allow Ukrainian exports and Russian exports of food, fertilizers and energy to take place in a safe way through the Black Sea,” he said.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
US embassy in Israel issues security alert over Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia-Similar alerts sent by other US missions in Mideast urging vigilance amid renewed fighting due to threats from Iran-backed group, noting past Houthi attacks on civilian airports-By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 3:09 am-SEP 20,26
The US embassy in Israel issued a security alert on Saturday in light of the renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and a Saudi-led coalition that supports the internationally recognized government of Yemen.The alert instructed US citizens in Israel to “exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.”“US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted,” the security warnings read. “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions.”Other US missions across the Middle East, including the US virtual embassy in Iran, issued similar security alerts.The alerts were published hours after the Houthis said that they had launched missile strikes at “sensitive sites” in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Firefighters were seen extinguishing a blaze on a fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco at a fuel depot near Riyadh’s international airport earlier on Saturday.Saudi Arabia later confirmed that the Houthis had fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn, but said its air force had “successfully intercepted and destroyed” it.The US embassy alert noted that the Houthis have targeted civilian airports in the past, and that “the military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly.”A Houthi missile hit Ben Gurion Airport in Israel in May 2025, injuring six, briefly closing the airport and prompting a wave of flight cancellations.“Americans traveling to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations,” the security alert stated, adding that both the embassy in Jerusalem and the branch office in Tel Aviv were operating as normal.The US Embassy in Israel has issued similar alerts several times in recent months due to the war with Iran, but this appeared to be the first published due to fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition.The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theater of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February. US President Donald Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for direct US military intervention against the Houthis. Israel largely ceased its fighting in the war in early April.The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks against Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, creating new threats to global oil supplies and putting at risk the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.The UN Security Council, in a statement on Friday, “condemned in the strongest terms continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children.”In the statement, the Security Council also condemned the “Houthi military escalation in Yemen.”
Europe braces for possible Russian escalation against it, as hybrid threats intensify-Macron orders critical sites protected, Poland boosts air defenses and Germany readies hospitals; but NATO reportedly says it sees no imminent threat of attack-By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 12:16 am-SEP 20,26
European governments are stepping up military and civilian preparations for a possible escalation by Russia, as officials warn that Moscow could intensify drone, missile, sabotage and cyber operations against NATO countries supporting Ukraine in the coming months.The heightened concern has prompted preparations across the continent, from plans to protect critical infrastructure in France and hospitals in Germany to updated evacuation plans in Lithuania and heightened air defenses in Poland.Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, with NATO countries providing Kyiv with extensive military and financial support while stopping short of directly entering the conflict.French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday summoned political party leaders and presidential hopefuls to Elysee Palace’s crisis room for a meeting to brief attendees on confidential French intelligence assessments of the current security challenges.“The Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” Macron told journalists after the meeting, adding that he had ordered “the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure” and the “most sensitive” defense industry and technology sites against drone and cyberattacks.Macron also backed a warning issued a day earlier by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said Russia could send drones or missiles into NATO territory in the coming months, calling the assessment “sound and well-documented.”“There is a real risk that drones or other types of projectiles will enter the territory of one or several countries on the eastern flank and even cause destruction,” Tusk warned.“The official narration will be that it’s an accident and there is no reason for NATO to think about a response,” he added.Poland, which borders both Ukraine and Russian ally Belarus, has meanwhile stepped up its own military preparations. On Saturday, the Polish military launched preventive aviation operations and placed ground-based air-defense and radar reconnaissance systems on heightened readiness as Russia carried out strikes on Ukraine.The move came a day after Tusk announced that Poland was joining an anti-ballistic missile coalition with Ukraine and other European allies.“From today, Poland is part of this major project,” Tusk said after attending a summit in western Ukraine, saying the countries had agreed on the framework for their cooperation.Ukraine and nine European countries announced the air-defense initiative in July, with plans to jointly develop an anti-ballistic missile system intended to provide a less expensive alternative to the US-made Patriot system.The announcement came at the inaugural summit of a new regional initiative launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Carpathian Eight, bringing together Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and the European Union to deepen cooperation on security, energy, logistics and trade.“Naturally, security issues are a priority right now and for the years ahead,” Zelensky said in a speech.Europe steps up preparations-Elsewhere in Europe, governments are making preparations that extend beyond immediate military readiness.Germany is preparing hospitals for the possibility of a conflict and mass casualties, according to Bloomberg, while the Polish Radio public broadcaster reported that Lithuania has updated plans for evacuating civilians in the event of a crisis.Finnish President Alexander Stubb, meanwhile, told Finland’s MTV news Thursday that it was “worth mentally preparing for something to happen,” including acts of sabotage and Russian drone activity.Military preparations have also accelerated around the Baltic Sea.German troops reportedly joined Swedish forces for drills on the Swedish island of Gotland on Friday, following separate NATO exercises near Kaliningrad last month.Russian hybrid activity fuels NATO concerns-Meanwhile, Russian-allied Belarus held four days of military exercises this week, including in areas bordering NATO members Poland and Lithuania.The Belarusian Defense Ministry described the exercises, which ran from Tuesday through Friday, as “strictly defensive in nature,” saying they were intended in part to improve the military’s ability to defend the country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”The Belarusian drills unfolded against an already tense backdrop along NATO’s eastern flank, where a series of confrontations and suspected Russian operations have fueled concerns that Moscow is becoming increasingly willing to test the alliance.Recent incidents have ranged from NATO jets shooting down a Russian drone over Lithuania to a Russian warship firing flares at a Danish military helicopter. German authorities have also linked a suspected Russian operative to an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport, an incident the European Union said bore the hallmarks of “state-sponsored terrorism.”Between January and August, 100 hybrid incidents were officially attributed to Russia across Europe, up from 60 during the same period last year, according to Politico, citing the Ukraine-based Sahaidachnyi Security Center. A senior NATO official told the news outlet that the actual figure was likely more than 200, excluding cyberattacks, saying, “Numbers are up, severity is up, [Russia’s] risk appetite is up.”US intelligence assessments reported by The Wall Street Journal in August found that Russian President Vladimir Putin could seek to test NATO with a limited attack on an alliance member in the coming years, with possible scenarios ranging from a cyberattack to a small-scale land incursion. The reports assessed the likelihood of a limited ground incursion as low, though increasing over time.Later that month, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow and warned Russian officials against attacking NATO members, with particular emphasis on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, according to Politico and other US media.Russia has simultaneously sharpened its public rhetoric. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned this week that any NATO attack on Russia would result in a “very short” war.No imminent threat-Still, there is no indication that NATO believes a Russian attack is imminent, and it is unclear whether the warnings issued by European leaders in recent days are based on new intelligence.Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said Friday that his country had the same intelligence cited by Tusk about a possible operation carried out under a foreign flag, but indicated that the information dated to July.“I see the public statements of politicians about this as part of a coordinated campaign to warn Russia not to make stupid decisions and not to try to do something thinking that it will not reach [NATO’s mutual defense clause] Article 5 and will not be washed away,” Budrys said.Politico reported that NATO members have not been formally presented with new intelligence that has prompted the alliance to revise its threat assessment.“At this time, we see no imminent threat of attack,” a NATO official told the outlet, while cautioning that the alliance could not afford to be “naive or complacent.”
Denmark hails ‘binding’ Greenland deal with Trump giving US ‘permanent control’ of security-Deal, to be signed at UN General Assembly, bars Chinese, Russian bases and ‘sensitive investments’ in Arctic territory, but falls short of Trump’s desire to have the US control it-By Camille BAS-WOHLERT 19 September 2026, 11:13 pm-SEP 20,26
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Denmark on Saturday hailed a “binding” deal announced by US President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese bases from the Arctic territory.Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance.Denmark and Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — both hailed the agreement and said they would sign it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.“A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a social media post on Saturday.The deal respected Denmark’s “red lines” and was “important” in light of a changed security situation, he said.‘Permanent control’While the terms are still unclear, Denmark maintains that its sovereignty remains intact.Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the agreement with Washington “recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.”It was “good for NATO and Europe,” she said. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the deal “recognizes Greenland’s interests” and “strengthens” its security.In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, residents had mixed feelings.“I don’t know exactly what the agreement is or what has been signed. But whenever the US and Trump are mentioned, I have mixed feelings. I’m not entirely comfortable with how much attention Greenland has right now,” Soren Kreutzmann, a 29-year-old hairdresser, told AFP.“We hope the leaders have made a good agreement, because our country needs to be protected, both from the air and sea. Denmark had not given that enough attention for many years,” said Bibbi Kleist Jepsen, a 64-year-old pedagogue.Trump hailed the deal as an “‘Infinite Life’ Agreement, there is no end!” Washington would immediately start building up a large military presence in the territory, he added.“From now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.”While Trump presented the deal as a major triumph, Danish commentators said he had likely gained little.They noted that, under a 1951 defense pact updated in 2004, Washington was already able to ramp up its military presence on the island provided it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance.“Shhh. Don’t tell Trump that it’s the Kingdom of Denmark that has prevailed,” US correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen wrote in Danish newspaper Berlingske on Saturday.Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Trump “obviously didn’t get in this agreement what he originally set out to have, that is, sovereign control over all of Greenland as a part of the United States.”China, Russia concerns-Trump has repeatedly warned of Russia and China trying to establish a foothold in Greenland as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in a warming Arctic. The State Department left no doubt that they would not be allowed to do so.“This agreement guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, they cannot send troops to Greenland, and the necessary mechanisms are in place to prevent investment in sensitive sectors,” a State Department official said.Gad noted that while Russia had little interest in Greenland, China was investing in extractive industries to get a foothold in the Arctic.“The US is worried that any kind of Chinese footprint could be turned into military assets,” he said.Cautioning that the details of the deal remained unknown, Gad said that “the worrisome thing here is this exclusive access for the US to build bases in Greenland and how that involves NATO allies from Europe.“Trump has been flirting with breaking up the NATO alliance… If Europe is an adversary, how would that position Europe, Denmark and Greenland in that situation?”Furthermore, he said, “If the US can also veto European investments in Greenland, that would be highly controversial.”
Several media outlets have reported that Washington wants to open three new military bases in southern Greenland, in addition to the Pituffik base it already has in the north of the territory.At the height of the crisis, Trump would not rule out using force to seize the territory of 57,000 inhabitants, sowing anxiety within the EU and NATO.Tensions have since eased. In an apparent move to assuage Trump, NATO launched a mission to bolster security in the Arctic.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH) (DO NOT EVER LISTEN TO ANYBODY THAT SAYS THE WORLD IS ENDING.ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN-4 BILLION WILL BE LEFT ON EARTH TO GO INTO JESUS" 1000 YEAR RULE)(THAT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD TO ANY ONE, DOES IT-NOT ME.THE EARTH IS JUST RENOVATED.NEVER ENDED.
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.(CAN YOU SAY TORNADOES,HURRICANES,VOLCANOES,EARTH QUAKES,LANDSLIDES,FLASH FLOODING,EXPLOSIONS,SNOW STORMS,THEN FINALLY NUKESAND ANY OTHER JUDGEMENTS THE EARTH CAN VOMIT THE SINNERS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH WITH.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.
LUKE 19:40
40 And He answered and said unto them, “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
US nearly raided Chinese ship after AI falsely flagged ‘nuclear’ cargo for Iran — CNN-Report says warplanes were already in the air when officials realized intel report was written by a hallucinating chatbot; it ‘almost started a war,’ source says-By ToI Staff and AFP 19 September 2026, 6:36 pm
A US intelligence report produced by AI with false information nearly led to a confrontation between Washington and Beijing after it mistakenly surmised that a Chinese ship was carrying nuclear components to Iran during the Middle East war, CNN reported over the weekend, citing sources familiar with the episode.The US military prepared to seize the vessel, and warplanes were in the air, CNN said, before officials examined the report more carefully and realized it was written with the help of a chatbot that misidentified the cargo. CNN said it was unable to ascertain what the actual cargo was.CNN quoted one source as saying the intelligence report was “entirely false” but “almost started a war.”According to the network, a US military analyst had queried the chatbot about intelligence from the Hawaii-based US Special Operations Command Pacific about the ship, and the chatbot based its faulty response on both open-source and secret signals intelligence.It was unclear whether the bot was a commercial or government product, CNN says, adding that neither the Pentagon nor Special Operations Command Pacific responded to a request for comment.US Central Command — which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East — did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported incident.The CNN report comes after a furor erupted earlier this month when a researcher publicly resigned from leading AI firm Anthropic over fears that the technology could escape human control.Another Anthropic employee, who did not resign, said publicly that “we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans,” and that he thought the chances were greater than “10 percent within the next decade.”Despite the warnings, US President Donald Trump and some of his key allies have voiced opposition to drastically curbing the development of artificial intelligence.In a separate incident involving the US military and China, Politico reported Friday that F-35 jet parts — including a sensitive stealth canopy for a cockpit — were diverted to Hong Kong and are now missing, raising fears that Beijing had obtained sensitive American military technology.The parts were headed from Australia to the United States for repairs when the diversion occurred, the US outlet reported, adding that it was unclear why the parts were rerouted or where they are now.A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, which manages the F-35 supply chain, said the company could not discuss specific shipments because of “security reasons.”“Lockheed Martin follows all US regulations established by the Department of War and regulated by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) regarding the shipment of aircraft components,” the spokesperson said.“Our teams handle every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the F-35 program and the security of our allied partners.”
North Korea launches 2 ballistic missiles toward the sea and dials up pressure on the U.S.Earlier this year, Kim Jong Un said he could return to talks if the U.S. drops its “hostile policy” against his country and respects what he calls the North’s status as a nuclear state.by Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press-Published Sept. 20, 2026, 2:59 p.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, days after the North threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent capabilities and respond to what it called U.S. hostilities.The launches were the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations by North Korea even after U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back a joint military exercise with South Korea last month in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un.The two missile launches — about three hours apart — were conducted from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area. The first missile flew about 280 miles while the second one flew more than 370 miles, both toward the North’s eastern waters, South Korea’s military said.The missiles eventually ended up in the sea. South Korea’s presidential office urged North Korea to immediately halt ballistic missile launches that are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions. The South’s military said it maintains readiness to repel any provocations by the North under a solid alliance with the United States.Japan’s Defense Ministry said it detected a suspected North Korean missile earlier Sunday but that the weapon did not land in its territorial waters.North Korea escalates pressure on U.S.Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, earlier shrugged off Trump’s overture, saying that shortening the drill wouldn’t change its “provocative, aggressive nature.” North Korea’s military later launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, apparently following through with a previous threat to respond to the U.S.-South Korean drill.On Friday, Kim’s sister slammed another recent U.S.-led multilateral maritime exercise in the region as a “frantic military move” by the Americans meant to prolong their hegemony in the Asia-Pacific area. The “Pacific Vanguard” exercise brought together the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.She claimed that “regular U.S.-led war rehearsals” are the main source of worsening tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the region.“Our will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer action and there will be never ever change in the course of intensifying the nuclear war deterrence,” she said.Earlier this month, North Korea conducted what it called a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery, and drones, a day after the United States, South Korea, and Japan wrapped their five-day trilateral military drill that North Korea described as a provocation. North Korea said its drill included firing different types of weapons simultaneously, likely aiming at developing the ability to overwhelm South Korean and U.S. air defenses.Chances of a swift resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks are unclear-Kim Jong Un has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal after his earlier high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.When Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea, he cited what he called a good relationship with Kim, who has called such drills invasion rehearsals.Emboldened by his advancing nuclear arsenal and deepening ties with Russia and China, experts say, Kim likely thinks he now has greater leverage in possible fresh diplomacy with Trump. Earlier this year, Kim said he could return to talks if the U.S. drops its “hostile policy” against his country and respects what he calls the North’s status as a nuclear state.South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal who advocates improved ties with the North, said on Friday that a resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks would be “an important starting point” toward boosting chances for peace on the Korean Peninsula.“What is clear is that President Trump wants dialogue and I’ve also been encouraging President Trump to seek dialogue” with Kim, Lee told reporters.Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press.
Israel shuts down for Yom Kippur, after deadly West Bank terror shooting and with IDF on high alert-Public transportation and airspace close on eve of Day of Atonement; poll finds most Jewish Israelis will fast, including about half of those who identify as secular By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian Today, 2:26 pm-SEP 20,26
Israel shut down Sunday afternoon for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, which begins at sundown and ends Monday night.The Day of Atonement came amid violence across the region.In the West Bank, just hours before the start of Yom Kippur, a man in his 30s was killed in a terror attack when a gunman opened fire on Israelis who had gathered for the traditional practice of immersing in a natural spring ahead of the holiday. The IDF later captured the alleged terrorist responsible.Separately, the army said troops shot dead a Palestinian who allegedly attempted to ram forces in the West Bank with his vehicle.Meanwhile, tensions persisted in the war between the US and Iran, and fighting continued between the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and a Saudi-led coalition.Israeli soldiers remain deployed in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and southwestern Syria, and settler violence has surged in the West Bank, where the Jewish holidays have previously been a time of heightened tension. The holiday season began with Rosh Hashanah 10 days ago, and will continue through Simchat Torah on October 3.For Israel, it was the first year since 2023 when Yom Kippur arrived without major fighting on any front; Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack took place less than two weeks after the holiday that year. This was also the first Yom Kippur in more than a decade that no Israelis were held captive in Gaza.The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it was ramping up its forces on all fronts ahead of the fast day, with additional companies deployed in the Northern, Southern, and Central commands, and a senior officer on duty in each sector during the holiday.A senior commander told Channel 13 that the situation in Gaza was “calm” but said the IDF “would not get complacent.” The commander said the army did not discount the possibility that it may have to resume major ground operations in the Strip.The Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza was closed on Sunday and Monday, and crossings into Jordan and Egypt – including the Allenby Crossing, in the West Bank – were also set to shut down for the holiday, reopening Monday night and Tuesday.Israel Railways ended its services at 1 p.m., to resume on Tuesday. Buses, both intercity and local, stopped running completely by 3 p.m., with services to resume on Monday night. Light rail lines shut down by 2 p.m.The last flights in and out of Ben Gurion Airport came and went at around 2 p.m., with the first arrival after the holiday slated for 10:30 p.m. on Monday, and the first departure an hour after that. Israel closes its airspace for the duration of the holiday each year.About three-quarters of Jewish Israelis fast on Yom Kippur, according to an August poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, including about half of those who identify as secular.Among those who identify as Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox, overwhelming majorities (more than 97%) observe the full fast from sundown on Sunday to nightfall on Monday, while 90% of those who identify as traditional observe either the full fast or a partial fast.Among secular Jews in Israel, 28% observe a full fast, and 19% a partial fast.A majority (57%) of Jewish Israelis attend synagogue services on Yom Kippur – mostly Orthodox services, though 6% of Jewish Israelis pray at Reform or Conservative services.About a third of those who attend synagogue on Yom Kippur don’t typically do so on any other day of the year.Many traditional and religious Jews also attend Selichot services in the days and weeks leading up to the holiday, reciting special penitential prayers, either early in the morning or late at night.Tens of thousands attended “selichot” services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Saturday night, with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation placing the number at some 150,000. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended from a perch above the main event.Driving on the Day of Atonement is considered taboo, and roads are generally empty of cars, save for occasional emergency vehicles. Many secular Israelis also treat the day as a cycling holiday, taking advantage of the car-free roads, including highways.Yom Kippur is one of the busiest days of the year for emergency calls, with hundreds of extra medics, paramedics, ambulances and volunteers deployed across the country.Most injuries come from bicycle accidents. Other common Yom Kippur injuries are caused by parents leaving children unattended outside synagogues and by dehydration and complications from fasting.
Shots fired in East Jerusalem after alleged stone-throwing-Father of six shot dead in West Bank terror attack near natural spring, IDF catches shooter
Israelis had come to immerse in spring before Yom Kippur when attacker shot from inside car, fled on foot; victim is Netanel Shukrun of Alei Zahav; elsewhere, army says Palestinian tried to ram soldiers, was shot dead-By Emanuel Fabian, Jeremy Sharon, Noam Lehmann and Lazar Berman Today, 3:48 pm-SEP 20,26
An Israeli man in his 30s was shot and killed Sunday late morning in a terror shooting at a natural spring near the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf, also known as Halamish.The incident took place hours before the start of the Yom Kippur holiday; it is a traditional practice to immerse in a spring ahead of the Day of Atonement, which begins at sundown.The shooter opened fire toward the spring from a vehicle, hitting the victim, father of six Netanel Shukrun, who was also inside his car. Neither was driving. According to the Israel Defense Forces’ initial probe, the terrorist then got out of the car and fled on foot, still armed.Footage posted to social media showed the moment of the attack. In the clip, Israeli bathers at the spring can be seen ducking for cover as sounds of gunshots ring out in the area.Shukrun was taken in serious condition to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where he later succumbed to his injuries.Shortly after the terror attack, the combat tracker for the military’s Binyamin Regional Brigade opened fire on the gunman as he fled, injuring him, according to the IDF.The terrorist later got back into his car and drove to a hospital near Ramallah.Some hours later, the army said commandos of the Duvdevan Unit, following information provided by the Shin Bet, had captured the terrorist at the hospital. The terrorist’s vehicle, parked outside the medical center, was also seized, the military said.Shukrun lived in the settlement of Alei Zahav in the northern West Bank, the Samaria Regional Council said.He went to the natural spring with his eldest son to immerse in the water before Yom Kippur.Shukrun worked as a systems information analyst, while his wife Meirav is a lecturer at Ariel University.“A man of kindness, humble and a lover of people, was murdered just after he finished immersing [in the spring] with his son ahead of Yom Kippur. These barbarians will never break us — we will build our land even more,” said Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.Dagan called on the security services to “increase the force of activities within [Palestinian] villages, go house to house, collect illegal weapons, and dismantle the terror infrastructure.”Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, said: “This is a very difficult incident, but we are strong and we will get through it.”“God willing, this [upcoming] Sukkot will be full of tourists,” he said, referring to the weeklong festival that starts later this week. “No one is going to run away from here.”Footage shows the moment of the shooting attack at a natural spring near Halamish. pic.twitter.com/1lmJK5Sx3z — Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 20, 2026-“The State of Israel must go from defense to offense and restore deterrence and security for residents. The settlements will never be broken,” added Dagan, who also serves as head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization for West Bank settlements.IDF: Palestinian driver tried to ram troops, shot dead-Separately, the IDF said a Palestinian attempted to ram troops with his vehicle at the site of the formerly evacuated settlement of Ganim in the northern West Bank.Soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion stationed in the area opened fire on the car, killing the driver, according to the IDF.A second Palestinian in the car was apprehended by the soldiers.The army said no soldiers were injured in the incident.Responding to the two attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “no terrorist is immune, nor are those who assisted them.”“We will hold them all accountable — in Gaza, in Lebanon, and in Judea and Samaria,” he said in a statement released by his office, using the biblical term for the West Bank.The premier said he instructed Israeli security forces to send reinforcements to the West Bank, and to impose closures and carry out arrests.Netanyahu also ordered that the home of “the terrorist” be demolished immediately. It was not clear which attacker Netanyahu was referring to, though at the time the statement went out, the perpetrator of the shooting had yet to be caught.“On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I send our deepest condolences to the family of the victim of the attack and share in their profound grief,” said Netanyahu of the victim of the terror shooting.Defense Minister Israel Katz sent his condolences to the victim’s family and praised IDF soldiers operating in the West Bank.“The IDF and security forces are prepared to defend the borders and citizens of Israel everywhere, from all enemies who plot to carry out attacks on the Jewish people’s holiest day,” he said.Meanwhile, President Isaac Herzog said in a statement that terrorism would not break Israelis’ spirit.“I bow my head in memory of the victim murdered in the terror attack,” said Herzog. “I share wholeheartedly in the grief of his family and community and pray for the recovery of the wounded.”“On the eve of this sacred festival, let it be stated clearly: Terror will not break us, and it will not shake our spirit,” he continued. “We will stand against terror together, united, resolute, and full of faith.”Liberman: IDF must ‘flatten’ terrorist’s village
Avigdor Liberman, chair of the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, wrote on X that “the IDF must enter the village the terrorist came from and flatten it,” adding: “We must impose a heavy cost — there is no forgiveness for terrorism.”Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the opposition Together party, wrote on X: “Israelis need to be safe everywhere in our land. We must get to the terrorist and those who sent him, and eradicate terrorism with an iron fist.”And Gadi Eisenkot, chair of Yashar, the leading opposition party, wrote that “we will continue to pursue those who seek our harm, everywhere and at all times,” adding that “an entire nation’s heart aches at this difficult time.”Shots fired, alleged stone-throwing in East Jerusalem-Police said shots were also fired in East Jerusalem’s Silwan, after “a group of youths that passed through the area” was allegedly pelted with stones and one person “fired shots in the air to get the suspects away.”No one was injured, police said, adding that officers on the scene were carrying out “widespread scans to locate the suspects and other findings.”The statement did not specify the nationality of the youths or the suspects.Footage from the scene, in Silwan’s Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, showed Jewish youths admonishing officers for questioning them instead of going after people off camera who the youths claimed had hurled stones.Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.Sixty-seven civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the Israeli security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.During the same period, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Pew poll finds majority of Israelis and Palestinian say two-state coexistence impossible-New survey shows just 17% of Israelis and 21% of Palestinians in West Bank and East Jerusalem see path to peaceful two-state outcome; respondents cite land, security and deep distrust-By ToI Staff Today, 7:31 pm-SEP 20,26
A large majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a majority of Israelis say they do not believe Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, according to a new Pew survey.Just 17% of Israelis said they believed a path to peaceful coexistence could be found, compared with 56% who said it could not. Among Palestinians surveyed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 21% said coexistence was possible, while 68% said it was not.The Israeli result is a low point in more than a decade of Pew polling on the issue. The share saying coexistence was possible had already fallen to its lowest level in 2025 and remained roughly unchanged in 2026.The year 2026 was the first time that more than half of Israeli respondents explicitly said it was impossible.Among Jewish Israelis, 16% said a two-state solution was possible, while 64% said it was not. Among Arab Israelis, 46% either said they did not know or declined to answer, while 23% said peaceful coexistence was possible and 26% said it was not.Pew surveyed 1,001 people in Israel and 1,038 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israeli interviews were conducted from April 5 to May 6, while Palestinian interviews took place from March 30 to April 28, in Hebrew and Arabic.The fieldwork coincided with the Iran war, beginning while fighting was still underway and continuing after an initial ceasefire was declared on April 7. Gaza was not included because Pew said it was unable to conduct fieldwork there.Those who still see a path to peace-Among the relatively small shares on both sides who believed coexistence remained possible, Pew found that respondents often cited a desire for peace, a belief that an eventual agreement was unavoidable, and the need for compromise and greater trust.Some respondents argued that Israelis and Palestinians would ultimately have to find a way to live alongside one another. “Neither side is going from here. It is necessary to learn to live together,” a 57-year-old Jewish Israeli man told Pew.A 29-year-old Jewish Israeli man said, “We need to find the path to peace for the sake of our children and their children,” while a 43-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank or East Jerusalem said, “We have no choice but to coexist and find another solution.”Palestinian respondents who remained optimistic often pointed to the practical advantages of an agreement, including improved economic conditions, while some recalled earlier periods when relations were better. One 18-year-old Palestinian woman said, “We complement each other in work, trade and security, so that we may live together.”Others said an agreement would require both sides to alter their positions, restore confidence in one another or undergo political change. Some Israeli respondents called for greater moderation on both sides, while some Palestinians and Arab Israelis said progress would require Israeli withdrawal from territory, reductions in settlement activity or fewer restrictions on movement.Land, security and distrust drive pessimism-Among those who rejected the possibility of coexistence, disagreement over land was one of the most common explanations on both sides. Some argued that partitioning the territory was no longer realistic, while others said sovereignty over the territory should belong exclusively to their own side.Israeli respondents who opposed a Palestinian state frequently focused on security. One 43-year-old Jewish Israeli man said he was unwilling to risk Palestinians gaining a state, becoming stronger and arming themselves with a border close to his home. Another, a 57-year-old Jewish Israeli man, said: “They don’t want to live next to us, but in our place.”Pew found that many Palestinians, by contrast, pointed to Israeli control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlements and checkpoints as central obstacles. A 19-year-old Palestinian woman said: “It is an occupied country, there is no security, movement between cities is difficult, and there are checkpoints.”Past and recent bloodshed also figured prominently in explanations from both sides. Some Jewish Israelis explicitly cited the Hamas-led October 7 attack as the point at which they lost faith in a two-state solution. “Since what happened on Oct. 7, I have lost all faith in the Palestinian people and in the two-state solution for both peoples,” said a 36-year-old Jewish Israeli man.Palestinian respondents similarly invoked deaths, destruction and violence during the ensuing war. “They took our land and killed the people, and that’s enough. My brother was killed,” said a 31-year-old Palestinian woman.Beyond specific events, many responses also reflected a profound lack of confidence in the other side, with some respondents portraying the two peoples’ religious or national outlooks as irreconcilable. Respondents accused the other population of rejecting peace, denying their national rights or harboring violent intentions.Fewer respondents focused primarily on failures by political leaders. Others said the answer depended on whether attitudes, governments or conditions changed.
Turkey says nine Israelis arrested amid crackdown on major investment fraud network-Authorities say network led by Israelis and others used multilingual call centers, fake profit reports and overseas crypto wallets to defraud victims worldwide; over 200 arrested-By ToI Staff Today, 5:09 pm-SEP 19,26
Nine Israelis have been arrested in Turkey, local media reported Saturday, as authorities said they’d broken up an Israel-linked international investment fraud network accused of stealing some $266 million from victims across Europe, Asia and Africa.The investigation targeted 42 call centers operated by 28 companies and involving 239 suspects, Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek wrote in a post on X.Raids were carried out in Istanbul and the southwestern province of Mugla in coordination with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, police and Interpol, he added.Gurlek said simultaneous raids were launched at 286 locations in Istanbul and Mugla beginning at 5 a.m.According to Israel’s Channel 12, the Israelis detained in the operation worked at call centers.Gurlek said investigators had determined that people with links to Israel predominated among the owners and ultimate beneficiaries of the companies under investigation.Middle East Eye reported that Turkish authorities identified one of the alleged masterminds as an Israeli citizen who also held a Portuguese passport.Gurlek said analyses by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), findings from intelligence and police units, and hundreds of victim complaints obtained through Interpol had uncovered “an organized fraud structure targeting different countries.”Turkish officials told Middle East Eye that the operation was connected to an international criminal network they referred to as “Scam Empire,” which has operated in multiple countries for years and was recently investigated by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.How the alleged scheme worked-According to Gurlek, the network attracted victims through online and social-media advertisements offering supposedly lucrative forex and cryptocurrency investments, then assigned multilingual customer-service representatives to communicate with them.Once victims began investing, platforms controlled by the alleged operators displayed fictitious profits in an effort to persuade them to deposit additional funds, Gurlek added.Gurlek said that when clients attempted to withdraw their money, they were asked to make further payments under pretexts such as an “account freeze” or “tax.” The money deposited by victims was then allegedly transferred to overseas bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.Middle East Eye reported that individual victims lost anywhere from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The alleged operation targeted people across Europe, the Far East and Africa.Gurlek said investigators identified approximately 13 billion Turkish lira ($266 million) in transactions over two years.False identities, polygraphs and a ban on Hebrew-Turkish officials with knowledge of the investigation told Middle East Eye that some Israel-based networks had moved their operations to Turkey in an effort to avoid detection, apparently seeking to take advantage of worsening relations between Ankara and Jerusalem.According to the officials who spoke to Middle East Eye, operators used shell companies that functioned as call centers and hired workers who spoke languages including French, Spanish, Japanese and Hindi.Staff were assigned roles such as “conversion agents” and “retention agents,” the officials said.One Turkish official told Middle East Eye that new recruits underwent a week of training during which they were assigned aliases and instructed to develop fabricated personal histories designed to gain victims’ trust. Some employees were allegedly told to claim credentials such as having graduated from Oxford University.The official told Middle East Eye that recruits were subjected to polygraph tests before starting, in order to ensure they didn’t have any ties to law enforcement.“Speaking Hebrew inside the office is prohibited,” the official told Middle East Eye, while “callers present themselves as representatives of investment platforms whose names are frequently changed by the Israeli organizers.”He added: “One of the strictest rules reportedly enforced within the network is that Israeli citizens must not be targeted.”Channel 12 reported an additional restriction, saying the organization deliberately avoided targeting both Israeli and American citizens. Instead it sought victims in countries including Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Singapore, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, China, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and South Korea.Previous investigations into similar networks-Many such fraudsters operated out of Israel before Israel banned the entire binary options industry with a Knesset law passed in October 2017, largely as a result of reporting by The Times of Israel.The industry, which employed thousands of Israelis, was estimated to have stolen billions of dollars from victims worldwide over a period of 10 years with little to no interference from law enforcement. Many former binary options operatives have pivoted to other financial products, including initial coin offerings or ICOs. Others moved their operations to other countries, like Cyprus or Turkey.A binary option is an option contract whose payoff depends on the price of another asset, like gold, wheat, or Apple stocks. If the holders of the options guess correctly about the direction that the price has moved at the time of expiry, they earn a predetermined amount of money, and, if not, they lose the money “invested” in a particular trade.In the case of the Israeli binary options industry, companies offering these contracts were largely fraudulent. They would dupe victims worldwide into believing that they were successfully investing and earning money, encouraging them to deposit more and more into their accounts, until the company eventually cut off contact with the investor and disappeared with all or most of their money.But some operators subsequently moved their activities overseas or shifted to other forms of online investment fraud. In 2020, a consortium of more than 20 news organizations, including The Times of Israel, documented an Israeli-run call center in Kyiv whose employees allegedly persuaded ordinary investors to put money into cryptocurrency and stocks before some or all of their funds disappeared.Gurlek said Turkish authorities would continue pursuing international organizations that use technology and the financial system to carry out fraud.“Our fight against organized structures that target people’s labor and savings with fake investment promises and turn technology and the international financial system into instruments of crime will continue without compromise,” he said.The investigation remains ongoing.
‘We’re not running’: Jewish students lead rally outside Mamdani residence-Middle and high schoolers gather outside Gracie Mansion for prayers, songs and speeches, but claim it’s not a protest; critics say event ‘needlessly inflames tensions’By Luke Tress 18 September 2026, 9:30 pm
NEW YORK — Several hundred Jewish students held a solidarity rally outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence in Manhattan on Friday morning.The middle and high school students were from SAR Academy and The Ramaz School, two of the leading Modern Orthodox schools in New York City.Students and organizers said the gathering was a statement from the community against antisemitism and marginalization, but not a protest.Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in New York City, and critics say Mamdani’s anti-Zionist activism increases risks against the Jewish community.“We come from a people who know how to carry hard things and keep going,” a student told the crowd. “Being Jewish means being part of something that has survived, and more than survived. It has kept choosing joy, kept choosing community, kept showing up.”Other organizers included the advocacy group IMPACT, the Israeli-American Council, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Romemu congregation.The crowd gathered on the sidewalk two blocks south of Mamdani’s residence, Gracie Mansion, on the Upper East Side. The event began with prayers led by students and songs, followed by speeches from students and organizers.Some of the non-student speakers connected the gathering to Mamdani, and several adults in the crowd wore yellow shirts that read, “Fire Mamdani.”“We stand here because we want to show that we are unafraid and that the campaign to diminish our love for Israel will not work,” said Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Kehilath Jeshurun. “This summer, the mayor of New York demonized supporters of Israel and focused on singling out the Jewish state for criticism.”“In this climate of criticism, we need you to remember who you are and we need you to stand tall,” he said. “We are not running. We are standing here in the open in the streets of New York.”The event drew some pushback. Several hundred opponents, including affiliates of the schools, signed a petition, saying the rally risked using students as “political pawns” and that the location “will likely be interpreted as a political statement against the mayor, rather than as a response to rising antisemitism.”“This gathering needlessly inflames tensions between the mayor and the Modern Orthodox Jewish community, as opposed to inviting him into conversation as a potential ally,” said the petition organized by the Halachic Left activist group.Mamdani was not seen by the ralliers, and his schedule did not list any public events for the morning.Asked about the event at a Wednesday press conference, Mamdani said he supported the students, but would likely not be at his residence.“I welcome them. They can have a vigil, or I’ve heard some describe it even as a protest,” Mamdani said. “Whatever it is intended to be, they have the room and space to do so outside of Gracie Mansion. I think that at the time that they are there, I will probably be somewhere else across the city.”The rally ended with the crowd singing Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” and the “Star-Spangled Banner.”“Our people have been here before. Not this exact moment, but this exact feeling. We have been exiled and returned, scattered and rebuilt, told again and again throughout history that this would be the end of us,” one of the students said in a speech. “Every single time, we are here, still lighting candles, still telling stories, still choosing to live Jewish lives.”
Iran executes man accused of giving missile-site intelligence to Mossad-Tehran faces fresh financial pressure as Turkey revokes Iranian bank’s license; Colorado said it faced a cyber attack on water facilities similar to others linked to Iran By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 2:27 pm-SEP 19,26
Iran executed a man accused of providing Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency with information about missile sites, the judiciary announced Saturday, as Tehran continued a crackdown on alleged collaborators amid the ongoing war.“The death penalty was carried out against Hossein Pedaran, who had provided the Mossad with information on missile sites in Isfahan province,” judicial authorities said, without specifying when he was arrested or tried.Pedaran had been accused of “espionage and intelligence collaboration” with Israel, and Iran’s Supreme Court upheld his sentence, according to the judiciary.His case had not previously been reported in the media.Iranian authorities have stepped up arrests and executions both in connection with the war that began on February 28 and nationwide protests that peaked in January.Missile sites across Iran have been bombed during the conflict, while Isfahan province, which also hosts Iranian nuclear facilities, has been among the areas hardest hit.Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at the beginning of the war, when the United States and Israel launched a surprise bombing campaign against Iran.The US and Israel have said that the campaign was aimed at eliminating threats posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and degrading its military capabilities.In August, Iran’s judiciary announced the executions of two other men accused of transmitting the coordinates of sensitive military and security sites to Israel. Iran carries out the second-highest number of executions in the world after China, according to rights groups.Turkey revokes Iranian bank’s license-Separately, on Saturday, Turkey revoked the license of Iran’s Bank Mellat, a semi-private financial institution that has faced Western sanctions for years, according to Turkey’s official gazette.The move came around two weeks after Washington sanctioned a Turkish bank over alleged ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, though it was not immediately clear whether the two developments were connected.The move follows a decision by Turkey’s banking regulator over the Tehran-based bank, which provides financial support to Iran’s government and is subject to US, EU and UK sanctions, according to OpenSanctions, an open-source database of information on sanctions-hit entities.The Iranian government is also the largest shareholder of the bank, it said.In revoking Bank Mellat’s licence, the Turkish regulator cited article 71b of the banking law, which says the entity’s “continued operation poses a threat to the rights of depositors and participation fund holders and to the security and stability of the financial system.”Bank Mellat has long been targeted by Western sanctions over accusations that Iran pursued nuclear weapons capabilities under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.
hose sanctions were lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers, but the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions.The bank was sanctioned again by the US and Gulf states in 2019 after being named among entities linked to the Revolutionary Guards.The Turkish banking regulator’s action comes shortly before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reportedly due to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.AI-generated report nearly triggered confrontation with China-Meanwhile, a US intelligence report produced with the help of artificial intelligence nearly triggered a military confrontation between Washington and Beijing during the Middle East war after falsely identifying a Chinese ship as carrying nuclear components to Iran, CNN reported.According to the report, the US military prepared to seize the vessel and military aircraft were already in the air before officials took a closer look at the intelligence and discovered that a chatbot had misidentified the cargo.A US military analyst had reportedly queried the chatbot about intelligence from the Hawaii-based US Special Operations Command Pacific.The bot based its response on a combination of open-source information and secret signals intelligence. CNN said it was unclear whether the chatbot was a commercial or government product.Foreign hackers target US water systems-In a separate security incident, foreign hackers targeted and manipulated equipment at two small privately owned water systems in Colorado in August, though state officials said they could not determine who was responsible.The incidents affected two utilities that each serve fewer than 200 people, according to Ally Sullivan, a spokesperson for Colorado Governor Jared Polis.“There was no impact to public safety or water services,” Sullivan said.The hackers were able to change equipment settings, including disabling remote access and alarms and altering pumping cycles, Sullivan added.“These were brief incidents and the risks were quickly addressed by the providers themselves, who subsequently alerted the state,” Sullivan said. “To our knowledge, treatment processes and water quality were not impacted at either provider.”While Colorado officials did not attribute the incidents to Iran, Sullivan pointed to a broader pattern of Iranian-backed cyber activity targeting US water infrastructure.The governor’s office “cannot confirm what foreign actors may have been involved, but we are aware of ongoing efforts across the nation by an Iranian-backed group to access drinking water and wastewater systems,” Sullivan said.The incidents came several weeks after a broader wave of cyberattacks targeting equipment at roughly 100 water entities across about a dozen states, according to an August advisory from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.Cybersecurity experts said those earlier attacks resembled previous Iranian-linked activity targeting programmable logic controllers, computer devices used to control machinery in critical infrastructure networks.The FBI said in a July 30 statement that some previous attacks had resulted in “degraded water operations,” including changes to IP addresses and passwords, “resulting in a loss of view, and in some cases function, of connected equipment in targeted facilities.”The FBI declined to comment.
Interview-We need religion, writes rabbi in her new book, but it’s not there to make our lives better-Noa Kushner urges Jews to stop asking what Judaism can do for them and start asking what it means to enter into a relationship with God in ‘Pretend You Believe,’ on shelves Oct. 13-By Andrew Silow-Carroll Today, 7:47 pm-SEP 20,26
JTA — For many Jews, the High Holidays are an annual encounter with a question they spend much of the rest of the year avoiding: Why have a religious life at all? These Jews may not be regular synagogue-goers, or particularly sure what they believe, but for a few days each autumn they sit in a sanctuary, open a prayer book and wonder whether they should bother with any of it — especially if they find belief in God difficult, or question why they should believe in the first place.Rabbi Noa Kushner has a provocative suggestion for those Jews: Stop asking whether you believe in God. Instead, pretend you believe in God, and see what happens.In her new book, “Pretend You Believe: How to Enter Religion,” Kushner asks readers to bracket their doubts long enough to enter the religious world on its own terms. The goal of “chosen naivete,” she writes, is to “make a dent in your unspoken assumption that religion is vapid, useless, at best decorative, and at worst dangerous and destructive.”But her idea is not “fake it till you make it.” Her book argues against one of the most familiar ways contemporary Jews talk about religion: as a means to an end, something they do because it gives them community, makes them more ethical, and helps them grow or otherwise improves their lives.Kushner considers this a “consumer mentality,” and too close to self-help, which she explicitly rejects. “If we always start and end with our personal responsibility and perspective and never with the tradition’s” perspective, she writes, “then the system simply buckles.”That is the radical claim of “Pretend You Believe”: Judaism is not ultimately a technology for making better people. Ethics matters enormously, Kushner argues, but it cannot be the ultimate purpose of religion. As she puts it in the book, Judaism exists “for the sake of God. To have another end, even one as well regarded and critical as our ethical behavior, is to misunderstand the religious project and our role in it.”Kushner is the founding rabbi of The Kitchen, an independent Jewish congregation and institute in San Francisco that she launched in 2011. The Kitchen has become known for its embrace of Jewish prayer, ritual and tradition, as well as for bringing Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions together. Ordained at Hebrew Union College, the Reform seminary, she studied religion at Brown and served as a Hillel rabbi at Stanford. Kushner, 56, is the daughter of Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, the prominent Reform rabbi and author.I spoke with Kushner in the week before Yom Kippur about God, doubt, the limits of self-help, and what she hopes happens when skeptics decide, at least temporarily, to pretend they believe.Full confession here: I’m a regular synagogue-goer. Judaism is probably the center of my life, personally and professionally. But when I talk about why I do what I do, my answers are invariably transactional. I go to synagogue for the community. I study Torah to focus my brain on living an ethical life and maybe hone my thinking skills. I mark the Shabbat as a respite from the crazy work week. What I don’t think much about is God. Is it accurate to say that your book seeks to challenge that kind of thinking? Yes. I heard exactly that over the years. You know: “Don’t worry about the God piece.” And then I eventually came to a point in my rabbinate where I thought, if I, as a rabbi, can’t advocate for God, who will? What I’ll say to people [who think as you do] is, you have my bracha, my blessing, no matter what. You have my love, no matter what. However, I think this is worth your consideration.So let’s consider the person who may be drawn to a congregation like yours, may want to be part of a welcoming congregation, and wants to reconnect with Jewish traditions for the sake of family, or history, or guilt. You even write about how doing rituals and observing mitzvot have their own rewards. What does believing in God, or even pretending to believe, add to the equation? I would start with politely reframing the question.“What does God add to the equation?” assumes that we are the center of the universe, and God would be there to bolster, affirm, or expand on what we already are. But there is another way of thinking, which is quite traditional: We are not the center of the universe, and religion can teach us that move of humility, which changes a great deal.And we’re so accustomed to entering any experience in what you called a transactional way, or perhaps as a consumer, that we often miss what religion has to offer. Because if you enter religion asking what is there for me, you may indeed miss what’s there altogether.What does God add to the equation?’ assumes that we are the center of the universe, and God would be there to bolster, affirm or expand on what we already are Religion is there to remember that you are holy, you are capable of saying holy things and doing holy things and responding to the gift of your life given from the One on High. And as my father taught me, something that is holy is infinitely valuable in its own right, and cannot be used for any other purpose.I know people who aren’t ready to take the literal leap of faith that you describe — that is, to bypass their intellectual doubts to do the stuff of a religious life. How do you convince them? That’s why the book is called “Pretend You Believe.” You don’t have to have this worked out theologically, intellectually before — as a precursor. Far from it. In classic Jewish terms, it’s what we said at Sinai [when the Israelites accepted the Torah]: “na’aseh v’nishma.” We will do, and then we’ll hear.In other words, doing precedes understanding. But it’s a faithful doing. It’s not just, “I’ll try it. I’ll wing it.” It’s doing with a conscience and integrity. We don’t have to have it all worked out in advance in order to participate. It’s saying, “I’m going to enter this arrangement. I’m not going to say there’s no God or God doesn’t matter or God is off the table. I’m going to leap toward it in my action and see what happens.”This has helped many, many people avail themselves of other realms in religion. And at the end of the day, religion is related to transcendence.Do you intend your argument as countercultural? We live in a consumer culture, and plenty of synagogues and Jewish institutions have to compete by convincing current and potential members of what they get out of participating. When people come [to The Kitchen], they’re going to come as consumers. “Is this worth my time? What will I get out of it? Should I pay for it?” That’s how we’re trained to think, and so we try to respond to people on that level when they first arrive.I compare this to [Moses] at the Burning Bush. He didn’t know what he was in for. He was kind of asking those same questions, like, “Can I do this? Is this going to work out?” These are normal first questions. It would be unkind to turn people away just because they have that point of view. That’s how we are literally trained to think, every minute of the day, especially in this country.But if we leave people there, either as unsatisfied or satisfied customers, then I think we as religious leaders have failed. Our job is to help people see that there’s more here than being an unsatisfied or satisfied customer.Our job is to help people see that there’s more here than being an unsatisfied or satisfied customer-One of the striking things about your book is your discussion of ethics, which seems especially countercultural. You argue against the idea that religion is essentially a practice or philosophy for producing good people, or, as you put it, “religion is not meant solely to cultivate an ethical life.”First of all, there are religious people who are unethical, and there are ethical people who are not religious. So let’s get that out of the way.And if somebody is connected to religion in order to bolster their strength and their insistence that the world be a better place, they have my blessing.I just humbly suggest that religion is not only there to serve ethical ends. Yes, religion without ethics is not only ethically bankrupt; it’s religiously bankrupt. However, there is more to it. Otherwise, it is simply communal ethics.Once you’ve made religion instrumental, you have diminished its ultimacy, and at the end of the day, religion is there not to serve any one end, no matter how ethical or powerful or meaningful. Religion is there to serve God and live in service of heaven, whether we always understand it or not.Let’s talk about “ultimacy.” As I said, I have a very instrumental way of thinking about Shabbat: It’s a chance to take a break from the work week, unplug from obligations, catch up with friends. But what other vistas does Shabbat open that we’d miss if we only think of it as a day of rest and disconnecting? I hope Shabbat helps a person rest. But at the end of the day, all of the religious rituals and sources and the tradition are there to help us remember our place in the universe.That is, we’re not God. And for me to be in a Shabbat is to remember there is a Holy One, and that my job is just to actually be of service. That allows me then to perhaps experience things that I couldn’t anticipate or design.In your acknowledgements, you thank your editor, Ben Hyman, for understanding why you wrote this book. What did he understand that maybe others didn’t? I tried to sell this book for many years, and everyone wanted me to write a self-help book. They wanted some version of self-help because that’s how we think, and I’m very stubborn, and I said, “No, it’s actually wrong. If you think about this as self-help, you will miss it.”This is something else. Religion is here to offer us something beyond self-help. If we look at everything through the lens of our own needs — and this really comes from the tradition and from [Abraham Joshua] Heschel — then we will miss great truths, because we can only see so far and only see so much from where we are.Sometimes we have to grow into another level of understanding, and sometimes the world doesn’t convene around our own particular needs and perspective.For example, in the book, I talk about crossing the Red Sea. If I am an Israelite, of course I’m thinking of my needs. I’m thinking of running from Pharaoh. That’s a very legitimate thing for me to ask in that moment.But if I do only that, then I miss the bigger call to bring justice into the world. If instead I imagine God as central, then I see how crossing the sea helps ensure the possibility that righteousness can remain in the world. Religion insists there is a broader vista. Religion is about the grandest and broadest and most ultimate vista beyond our imagining.We are in the midst of the High Holidays. What might a person in the pews be asking in this period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, based on the ideas you explore in your book? I would say, how is it that I am alive? That I am lucky enough, blessed enough to be alive, and given that I’m alive, what might I do with it? How might I be of service? And perhaps in addition to that, a person might consider their life vis-a-vis what I call “righteous coordinates” — that is, connected to the people around me, connected to the generations, and connected to the One On High.The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
Over 1,000 drones said fired at Russia, hundreds at capital-Ukraine targets Moscow in ‘largest ever’ drone attack on city-Two killed, 20 wounded, refinery hit during Russian parliamentary elections; Zelensky says strikes targeted ‘billions of dollars that sustain the war machine’By AP Today, 6:21 pm-SEP 20,26
Ukrainian forces fired more than 1,000 drones at Russia overnight, including hundreds that were launched toward Moscow, officials said Sunday, as the Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections.Moscow’s mayor described the wave of drones as the “largest ever” drone attack on the Russian capital and said there had been damage to a Moscow oil refinery and a residential building.Across the wider Moscow region, the attack killed two people and wounded 20, Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said. The dead were a 74-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, he said.Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had used a range of missiles and drones in the attack — including Ukraine’s domestically made Flamingo and Pelican missiles — to hit oil and logistics facilities.“These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine,” Zelensky said, referring to the financial pressure that Kyiv hopes to put on Russia’s economy.Ukraine also continued to fend off Russian attacks, Zelensky said. A Russian drone strike hit a monastery in Ukraine’s Kherson region Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and wounding four people, he said.A Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital killed three children and their mother on Saturday evening, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration.Russia votes in an election devoid of opposition-The attack took place on the final day of Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election — balloting that has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and is all but certain to cement the Kremlin’s dominance.Russia was also holding the vote in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began but still doesn’t fully control, and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula, that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Kyiv has denounced the action as illegal.In a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Kherson region, a Ukrainian attack killed a member of the local electoral committee, Russia’s Central Election Commission said in a statement.The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces shot down a total of 1,110 Ukrainian drones across Russia, as well as over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 450 drones had been destroyed en route to the Russian capital, and that the attack had damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building.He said the “unprecedented attack” on Moscow was an attempt to disrupt the elections. “The enemy failed in this regard,” he said.Since Russia’s invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine has become a global leader in military drone technology, deploying domestically produced long-range drones alongside missiles for strikes deep inside Russia. Its drone technology has impressed governments and defense manufacturers around the world.Kyiv is aiming to make the Russian public feel the war’s consequences and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace settlement. Putin has so far shown no signs he intends to stop the invasion.Instead, Moscow and Kyiv have been drawn into an escalating duel of long-range aerial strikes as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine has slowed, restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots threatening troop movements.
Eyes on far-right AfD, far-left Berlin candidate as Germans vote in two state elections-AfD seen as unlikely to win either of Sunday’s elections, but expected to make gains in latest challenge to leader Friedrich Merz; far-left Eralp leading in Berlin mayoral poll-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 12:53 pm-SEP 20,26
BERLIN — Polling stations opened Sunday in two German state elections in which the far-right AfD party is expected to make further gains that could determine whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz can hold on to power and push ahead with reforms in Europe’s biggest economy.The state elections are taking place in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a largely rural region in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, and in the capital, Berlin.The rise of AfD, which criticizes the country’s culture of Holocaust remembrance and has had politicians allegedly use Nazi gestures and slogans, has alarmed Jews in Germany. German Jewish leaders have also expressed concern about Elif Eralp, a far-left mayoral candidate in Berlin.The vote comes two weeks after Alternative for Germany, or AfD, finished just short of a majority in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, and has its best chance yet of forming the country’s first far-right regional government since World War II.Regional elections would not usually draw much interest outside Germany, but AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt, which it sees as the first step towards winning federal elections due in 2029, has sent shock waves through Europe.In just over a decade, the party, which wants to take tough action to deport foreigners with no right to stay in Germany, restore energy ties with Russia and quit the euro, has transformed itself from a fringe euroskeptic movement to the country’s most popular party.Opinion polls indicate it is unlikely to repeat its victory in Saxony-Anhalt in either of Sunday’s votes. But they are both expected to underscore the huge advances it has made in recent years and raise fresh questions over the so-called “firewall” strategy, under which the other main parties refuse to enter coalition agreements with it.Merz’s authority was severely damaged by his party’s stinging defeat in the September 6 election by AfD — a result that shocked many Germans who had believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its Nazi past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.AfD is expected to make significant gains in Sunday’s elections as well, but has no realistic path to power in Berlin and faces a much stronger challenge from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s center-left governor than it did from Merz’s party in Saxony-Anhalt.Prospects for Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union are bleaker. It could lose the mayor’s office in Berlin to Eralp. If things go very badly, it could fail for the first time to win seats in a state legislature anywhere by falling below 5% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where it was already weak.In Berlin, a poll showed the far-left Left Party moving ahead of the CDU, threatening the conservative hold on the mayor’s office in a campaign that has focused heavily on housing affordability. Even in liberal Berlin, however, the AfD has made strong gains, moving into third place.Merz, 70, became Germany’s leader 16 months ago with promises to turn around an economy that has barely grown in years, but has failed to lift a sullen national mood and has himself become deeply unpopular.The strong showing of AfD in the Saxony-Anhalt election has further weakened the chancellor’s standing on the national level as well, and in the past two weeks there have been calls even from within his own party to replace him as chancellor.For the moment at least, senior figures in the CDU have rallied behind him, aware that replacing the chancellor, which would in any case be difficult on constitutional grounds, would leave any successor facing the same deep economic problems.But disillusionment with his government has hung over the campaigns in both Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, where voters have focused on issues including soaring energy and housing costs.Apparently anticipating a tough post-election period, Merz abandoned a planned trip to New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly. Despite the strong headwinds, he has repeatedly said that he’s determined to stay on and finish his term as chancellor.
