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)
MR SUPERFREAK DADDYS BOY JUSTIN TRUDEAU FINALLY RESIGNS AS BABY MURDERER LIBERAL LEADER AND PM OF CANADA.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have
heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one
hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all
the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood
afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping
and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich
all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast
their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be
removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy
their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16
And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the
earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
I
KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP
WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2,
19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS
DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE
CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD
TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN
WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO
GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK
WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA,
KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS
A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM
5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A
POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E
(BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A
SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO
"GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING,
-TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα,
στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German
stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in
or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves
and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded
or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general
they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped
themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling,
Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.)
Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says
he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils,
hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of
Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary,
servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage
cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be
for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will
increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say,
Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him
had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the
wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 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, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
LOCUSTS (DEMONIC) TORTURES SINNERS 5 MONTHS
REVELATION 9:1-6
1
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the
earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he
opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as
the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke
(DEMONIC) locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that
they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing,
neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in
their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill
them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Biometrics starts 2025 with new and increasingly clear roles in the digital world-Jan 4, 2025, 2:40 pm EST | Chris Burt
Biometrics
were asked to do more than ever before in 2024, with some use cases,
like age assurance, graduating to functional markets. The themes
revisited throughout the year in Biometric Update’s coverage of the
industry also reflect maturing digital identity ecosystems, across 3412
news reports including 60 longer features and 71 guest posts. Clarity
has increased on how digital ID will work, in terms of the types of
credentials that will be used (mDLs in the U.S.) and where they will be
stored (national digital ID wallets in the EU), and how identity
verification providers fit into national schemes (through Trust
Frameworks in places like the UK and Australia). Interviews like those
with leaders at Augentic, Idemia and PimEyes provided insight on key
developments in national ID card issuance, airport biometrics contracts
and biometric data privacy, respectively, which will continue to
resonate in 2025.Defining themes of 2024 in digital identity-The EU’s
biometric entry-exit system (EES) was due to go live in October 6 this
year, then November 10, and now over several phases in 2025. The year
was filled with hand-wringing, deliberations and emergency measures like
an exemption for British travelers at the UK border to prepare for the
launch.Digital government reform was a big theme of 2024, often
overlapping with an international push in support for digital public
infrastructure (DPI). One example is the progress of Saudi Arabia’s
Absher platform, which includes digital identity and financial inclusion
tools, has led to 94 percent of adults in the Kingdom possessing not
just bank accounts but also digital wallets.Trust frameworks for digital
identity were also prominent in the news this year, with the UK’s new
government introducing two new pieces of legislation to implement the
DIATF and Australia clarifying its modest ambition for the number of
accreditations under the TDIF as the country’s national digital ID
system rolls out.Mobile driver’s licenses advanced significantly in
several countries around the world in 2024, notably including the U.S.
and Australia. Thales Head of Federal Government Sales Neville Pattinson
explained the path through trials to production rollouts in a guest
post at the beginning of the year. Thales Strategic Marketing Director
Digital Identity John Cullen enumerated the benefits of mDLs and framed
them as “an inevitable step forward” in a digitizing world. The advances
in trials and standardization over the year support Cullen’s
contention, and set up another round of mDLs in 2025.KuppingerCole’s
European Identity and Cloud (EIC 2024) conference focused on
decentralized digital ID and digital wallets, two more trends
dramatically reshaping the industry over the past year. EUDI Wallet
development appears to be progressing more smoothly than the new border
control system, with the formal adoption of technical standards by the
EC, prototype competitions and early versions launching in several
countries.Several countries issued contracts for national ID cards in
2024, including a 15-year deal for Augentic in Cameroon. Augentic CEO
Labinot Carreti told Biometric Update how the Build-Operate-Transfer
contract came about, and how the two-phase ID card project is expected
to unfold.Biometric Update’s on-location coverage of MOSIP Connect in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia included an interview with an official from Sierra
Leone’s NCRA on the country’s successful MOSIP pilot and the rollout of
its new ID cards. Also among highlights from the event was a
presentation in which officials from Morocco and the Philippines
discussed the significantly different ways their countries are using
MOSIP.Ethiopia is also hosting ID4Africa 2025, as announced at the
movement’s 2024 AGM in Cape Town, South Africa. Our on-location coverage
of ID4Africa 2024 took in the presentations, announcements, insider
perspectives and planning shared during the milestone conference.Airport
biometrics also continued their steady rollout around the world in
2024. But as adoption of the technology ticks up in places with legacies
of troubled tenders, separating facts from allegations becomes more
challenging. Biometric Update spoke to Idemia by phone and email on
multiple occasions to clarify points details of a canceled contract and
legal dispute with a former partner on South Africa’s biometric
passenger processing system.Even in the U.S., TSA continues to face
congressional opposition to its congressional mandate to implement face
biometrics for international travelers, whether through diverted funding
or calls for investigations. Despite that, the agency says it intends
to reach 400 airports across America over the coming years.A new
standard for biometric passports from ICAO is coming in 2025, and
preparations to adopt it included a two-day workshop held by the EAB.
The presentations delved into the ISO/IEC biometrics standards ICAO uses
as a basis for the passport standard, with presentations from some of
the most prominent voices in the field, and the new, more flexible
system for encoding biometric data.The EAB’s ongoing lunch talk series
also highlighted another of the year’s top trends in biometrics and
digital identity: the threat of deepfakes and generative AI, including
morphing attacks on passport and border control systems.Among the most
insightful presentations from Biometric Update’s on-location coverage of
Identity Week 2024 were panels on biometrics innovation with
representatives from the FBI, Craefte, CITER and Iris ID, and then DHS,
ROC, Oak Ridge National Lab, Biometrics Guru and SAIC’s Maryland test
Facility. The technologies in development discussed included mobile iris
scanning, algorithmic explainability and tasks adjacent to facial
recognition, like image quality assessment, PAD and face detection.The
FIDO Alliance’s Authenticate 2024 conference reviewed significant gains
not just in remote authentication through passkeys, which were a major
trend over the past year, but also remote identity proofing, which has
reached the point where Amazon is ready to take the leap of accepting
digital identities.The risks that effective facial recognition systems
can pose to people’s privacy was highlighted by the integration of a
pair of online biometric services with Meta’s smart glasses by a couple
of Ivy League students. PimEyes Director Giorgi Gobronidze responded to
Biometric Update in an interview that the students’ demonstration of
potential biometrics risks also showed malicious actors how to weaponize
the technology.Toppan Gravity’s acquisition of HID’s Citizen Identity
division in October appears to be the largest M&A agreement reached
during 2024, and represents a year in which deals were large, if not as
plentiful as in some recent years. Even bigger than Amadeus acquisition
of Vision-Box, Entrust’s purchase of Onfido, IN Groupe picking up MitID
and LexisNexis’ addition of IDVerse is the exclusive negotiating window
for IN Groupe to buy Idemia Smart Identity.The first-ever Global Age
Assurance Standards Summit served notice of the maturity of age
verification and facial age estimation technology, and the age assurance
ecosystem more generally. NIST testing suggests biometric age
estimation is reaching the same level of effectiveness as checking an ID
document, and just in time, with legislators and regulators around the
world moving to impose meaningful age checks on a range of services from
online pornography and social media to gambling.Please let us know
about any podcasts, webinars or other content we should share with those
in biometrics and digital identity, either in the comments below or
through our X or LinkedIn accounts.
Sri Lanka advised to build
necessary safeguards as digital ID project begins this month-Jan 6,
2025, 1:23 pm EST | Ayang Macdonald
The Sri Lankan government
has been told that it must put in place certain safeguards in order to
guarantee full sovereign control over its Unique Digital Identity
project (SL-UID) ID which is expected to hit the ground running this
month.The caution is contained in an editorial by local newspaper The
Sunday Times which calls for clarity on certain aspects in a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) which the government intends to sign with India
regarding the project implementation.The MoU is expected to be signed
this month, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said in
December.India is helping technically and financially in implementing
the national ID project in Sri Lanka which is modelled like the Aadhaar.
Last year, the Indian government handed in part funding of $5.4 million
for the early stages of the project.Last month, Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met to
discuss cooperation issues, and highlighted the need to accelerate the
implementation of the digital ID project.“Sri Lanka must not go
starry-eyed without building the safeguards against becoming dependent
in key sectors of its critical infrastructure—in this instance, its
digital infrastructure, especially to an external government-backed
entity relinquishing Sri Lanka’s sovereign control,” the editorial
asserts.The editorial also urges Sri Lankan authorities to be careful
about personal data security and privacy, warning that even India has
had issues related to data breaches with the Aadhaar system.The advice
comes as the government plans to begin the implementation of the project
this January, as reported by Daily News. Authorities have emphasized
the importance of the project, saying it will facilitate access to a
good of services from government and the private sector.It is part of
the country’s digital transformation journey which also seeks to
streamline government services. In October last year, President
Dissanayake expressed the wish to have the project executed within a
time span of 18 months once it effectively begins.The Indian government
is working alongside the Ministry of Digital Economic Affairs, and the
Agency for Information and Communication Technology on the project.
Nigeria wants to add iris biometrics to digital ID for more inclusion-Jan 6, 2025, 12:34 pm EST | Ayang Macdonald
The
National Identity Management Commission of Nigeria (NIMC) says it is
looking at ways of streamlining and expanding the rollout of digital ID
in Nigeria and one of the options on the table is adding iris biometrics
to its digital ID enrollment.The hint was dropped recently by the
Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the NIMC, Abisoye
Coker-Odusote, during a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism
Fellowship training which took place in Abuja.Speaking through a
representative, the NIMC boss said this idea is among a litany of
innovations which they are planning to introduce to the digital ID
system in order to make it more inclusive, The Sun reports.At the
moment, biometric enrollment for the National Identification Number
(NIN) in Nigeria involves face and fingerprints. Adding the iris
modality, according to the official, will make it possible for citizens
with disabilities to be equally issued the important credential which is
necessary to access a wide range of services in the country.“We are
exploring the use of iris recognition technology to cater to the
specific needs of individuals with disabilities,” the representative was
quoted as saying. Uganda is one other African country which has
announced the addition of iris biometrics to its new generation
biometric national ID card.The NIMC CEO said despite the challenges the
ID authority faces, its commitment to build an inclusive ID system and
expand coverage remain unwavering. She emphasized the important of the
NIN as an essential tool in getting access to several services.In order
to streamline access to services, Odusote said they have been working
tirelessly with their partners to enhance interoperability among
government agencies to facilitate identity verification. This, she says,
will save Nigerians the stress of having to register many times with
government agencies to obtain services.The innovations envisaged by the
NIMC are part of a broader reforms plan which aims to give the ID
authority a new legislative framework for more efficient identity
management.It also comes at a time when the World Bank has extended its
support for the country’s digital ID program by another two years, with a
target to issue 180 million digital IDs by the close of the
extension.The Nigeria ID4D has pledged in the past to create the
enabling environment to the issuance of NINs to persons living with
disabilities.A recent investigative report however suggests that many
aged and physically challenged citizens in Nigeria go through tough
times seeking the NIN. Some have reportedly had their SIM cards blocked
while others have been locked out of their bank accounts for their
inability to register for a digital ID.
Draft Indian data protection rules set vague age assurance, consent requirements-Jan 6, 2025, 11:45 am EST | Chris Burt
India’s
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wants to
require consent for personal data processing and age assurance for
social media with draft rules to operationalize its data protection law.
The exact tools and methods allowed for authenticating consent or
performing age checks are not set out in the published draft.The
“Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025” is subordinate
legislation to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP
Act), which passed nearly 17 months ago.Platforms that hold data, like
social media, ecommerce and gaming platforms, are considered “data
fiduciaries” (DF), and will need to collect verifiable consent to store
user data.Children below 18 years old will have to obtain parental
consent to open social media accounts, with the age and identity of the
parent authenticated by reference to a government-issued or approved
source, which could include the parent’s DigiLocker.The four examples
provided in the draft text all involve either the child or their parent
informing the DF that the user is a child. Age verification methods are
not specified, and no mention is made of biometric facial age
estimation.“For a child, the Data Fiduciary must verify that the parent
is an adult by using reliable identity details or a virtual token mapped
to such details,” an explanatory note from MeitY says.The rules also
include new data breach notification responsibilities and conditions
under which personal data must be deleted, such as after a period of
account dormancy.The whole will be overseen by a Data Protection Board
which can levy penalties of up to 2.5 billion rupees (approximately
US$29.2 million).The Internet Freedom Foundation criticized the draft
rules in a series of nine posts to social media platform X, emphasizing
that the public consultation is not transparent. The draft has not been
published in most of the country’s official languages and the group says
MeitY can choose not to publish all comments.The Ministry says
submissions “shall not be disclosed to any one at any stage, enabling
persons to submit feedback/comments freely without any hesitation. A
consolidated summary of the feedback/comment received, without
attribution to stakeholder, shall be published after the finalization of
the Rules.”MeitY is accepting feedback on the draft rules until
February 18, 2025.
Draft Indian data protection rules set vague age assurance, consent requirements-Jan 6, 2025, 11:45 am EST | Chris Burt
India’s
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) wants to
require consent for personal data processing and age assurance for
social media with draft rules to operationalize its data protection law.
The exact tools and methods allowed for authenticating consent or
performing age checks are not set out in the published draft.The
“Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025” is subordinate
legislation to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP
Act), which passed nearly 17 months ago.Platforms that hold data, like
social media, ecommerce and gaming platforms, are considered “data
fiduciaries” (DF), and will need to collect verifiable consent to store
user data.Children below 18 years old will have to obtain parental
consent to open social media accounts, with the age and identity of the
parent authenticated by reference to a government-issued or approved
source, which could include the parent’s DigiLocker.The four examples
provided in the draft text all involve either the child or their parent
informing the DF that the user is a child. Age verification methods are
not specified, and no mention is made of biometric facial age
estimation.“For a child, the Data Fiduciary must verify that the parent
is an adult by using reliable identity details or a virtual token mapped
to such details,” an explanatory note from MeitY says.The rules also
include new data breach notification responsibilities and conditions
under which personal data must be deleted, such as after a period of
account dormancy.The whole will be overseen by a Data Protection Board
which can levy penalties of up to 2.5 billion rupees (approximately
US$29.2 million).The Internet Freedom Foundation criticized the draft
rules in a series of nine posts to social media platform X, emphasizing
that the public consultation is not transparent. The draft has not been
published in most of the country’s official languages and the group says
MeitY can choose not to publish all comments.The Ministry says
submissions “shall not be disclosed to any one at any stage, enabling
persons to submit feedback/comments freely without any hesitation. A
consolidated summary of the feedback/comment received, without
attribution to stakeholder, shall be published after the finalization of
the Rules.”MeitY is accepting feedback on the draft rules until
February 18, 2025.
World caps landmark year as it aims to define
‘human’ in the context of AI-‘Tremendous’ growth sees firm log irises of
nearly 10 million ‘verified humans’-Jan 3, 2025, 2:05 pm EST | Joel
R. McConvey
Proof of Personhood (PoP) is a concept that’s set to
enter the mainstream in 2025. Several firms, including Civic, Humanity
Protocol and World, have emerged to offer options in the market for
verifying the quality of “humanness.”Exactly what it will be called,
however, is still up in the air.World, which operates the World ID
digital network and uses iris biometrics as its modality of choice for
PoP, took a major leap in 2024. Notably, it underwent a major rebrand
intended to take the focus off its roots in cryptocurrency and to
clarify its intention to register everyone on earth for a World ID.A
year-in-review blog from the company calls 2024 “a landmark year for
World Network, which has grown to over 20 million participants including
9,678,662 verified humans.” Its “tremendous growth” was “thanks to new
global launches, new ways to access the network and more useful World ID
applications.”Trying to make ‘proof of human’ a thing-In the wake of a
live streamed launch event in October 2024 (“A New World”), the firm has
been pushing the term “proof of human” in its branding. As explained in
another recent blog from the company, “proof of human, also known as
proof of personhood, is a process aimed at verifying that a digital
action or account belongs to a real, unique, living human rather than a
bot, AI or automated system.”In essence, people are feeling (rightfully)
nervous about AI, which has seen adoption and popular cultural
penetration skyrocket since the launch of ChatGPT by Sam Altman’s AI
firm, Open AI. The news is filled with predictions on how AI agents will
be the tool of 2025 – not to mention illustrations of our growing
understanding of the ecological costs of AI.Rather than dial back the
AI-O-Meter, Altman is capitalizing that anxiety with World (he is a
co-founder) by offering “a counterpart to advanced AI, one that allows
them to know who is or what has been created by a verified human
online.”Proof, perhaps, of human presence, human agency, a human soul –
but surely, something with a proper grammatical object?Firm clears the
air on use of iris biometrics-While World has grand ambitions, it has
found itself occasionally mired in regulatory kerfuffles across the
globe. A few countries have banned its activities, while others have
issued temporary suspensions. A recent ruling in Germany that its
activities violate the GDPR will present more problems in Europe. The
issue is usually to do with the language of consent and clarity of
purpose in its collection of biometrics.Perhaps in response, its World
Help Centre offers the following explanation: “Biometrics are the most
accurate way to prove that someone is a unique, living human being. When
acquired and used in a responsible and privacy-preserving way,
biometrics can be a powerful and inclusive tool – one that empowers
individuals to take ownership of their identity and keeps our goods and
institutions secure.”On iris biometrics specifically, it says “our
research showed that iris scanning offers the most accurate biometrics
with an acceptable user experience. The iris has strong fraud resistance
and data richness, which means it can be used as a fair and inclusive
way to differentiate among billions of unique human beings.”World –
which now also offers a wallet, blockchain and digital credentials –
says its biometrics and digital ID project can help solve challenges
facing humankind in the AI era. It will increase trust online as bots
proliferate. It will prevent online fraud and cybercrime amplified by
the availability of generative AI and deepfakes. And it will provide
“the foundation for safe, secure and decentralized digital identity.”“An
Orb-verified World ID helps anonymously ensure World Network members
are real and unique humans,” says the blog, referring to the metallic
sphere used to scan iris biometrics in exchange for World’s crypto
tokens. “This includes cutting edge cryptography and personal custody
features to ensure their data is always private, secure and only
controlled by the individual.”There was an old lady who swallowed
AI-Silicon Valley has been most adept at convincing us of the necessity
of its inventions, then turning that into reality. Computers were lines
of code before they turned into Windows; phones were for calling people
before they were for mobile digital identity verification. The
appearance of embedded social posts in digital news articles marked a
shift in the power balance of news; fast forward to 2025, as the owner
of what’s left of Twitter is preparing to take a seat at the White
House.Now, AI is everywhere, with social platforms promising more on the
near horizon. Citing a crisis of trust amid the AI invasion, World is
touting its capacity to arbitrate the humanity of every person against
every algorithm.Presumably, Sam Altman could make the problem simpler by
turning off ChatGPT for a while. But, just two years since its launch,
have we already collectively decided that we need it too much to give
up? If so, what have we traded in exchange? The answers, after all, are
moot: Mr. Altman is unlikely to jump in front of the boulder he has set
to rolling.Language is a tell. Perhaps by contorting the essence of
being alive and conscious into the nonsensical “proof of human,” World
is aiming to redefine how we talk about who we are. Regardless of what
it claims, whether that’s necessary is still a matter of opinion.
Brazil, Argentina, Uzbekistan implement biometric-enabled gambling regulations-Jan 3, 2025, 1:36 pm EST | Lu-Hai Liang
Regulated
and legal sports betting has launched in Brazil as 2025 gets under
way.Bettors can open accounts if they’re at least 18 years old, provide
their Individual Taxpayer Registration (CPF) information, and agree to
the use of face biometrics for identity and age verification.While
sports betting has been technically legal since 2018, the gaming
industry operated in a legal gray area without taxation or regulation,
as reported by Covers. But in December 2023, president Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva signed Bill PL3626/23, which soon led to dozens of operators
applying for licenses. Brazil also mandates that operators integrate
advanced identity verification systems, such as the use of 3D face
biometrics.In neighboring Argentina, online gambling is coming under
stricter regulation. The country has introduced nationwide requirements
for biometric identity and age verification, in a move to regulate the
sector and protect vulnerable groups. This aligns with global trends
which Ondato chronicled last month in itsAge Verification Report.The new
legislation requires digital identity verification for all online
gambling platforms, designed to prevent underage gambling and address
addiction. Online gambling platforms will need to implement identity
verification using Argentina’s Registro Nacional de las Personas
(RENAPER), which is the national digital ID.RENAPER includes face
biometrics to confirm user identity and ensure legal gambling age
requirements are met. The new rules are stringent on verification: To
help prevent account sharing and unauthorized access by minors, users
must complete biometric ID verification each time they access an online
gambling platform.In addition, gamblers must undergo biometric
verification when withdrawing funds from their accounts, a measure that
is intended to enhance financial accountability. Data Protection
Compliance must be adhered to by the relevant platforms. These measures
mean Argentina aligns with international trends for gambling
regulations, where age restrictions are enforced via digital identity
solutions that also combat fraud and ensure compliance.Meanwhile, in
Central Asia, Uzbekistan has approved licensing rules for online
gambling and lotteries. The regulations include a mandate on digital
identity verification. Those wanting to gamble or participate in
lotteries must use licensed platforms, with identity verification and
transactions carried out electronically, as reported by a local news
site.Uzbekistan’s government has said it will establish procedures for
digital identification of participants, which will require photo
identification that’s referenced against government databases. The
country’s National Agency for Prospective Projects (NAPP) has oversight
and is responsible for issuing licenses and ensuring compliance.
Indian face biometrics startup passes Level 2 PAD evaluation by iBeta-Jan 3, 2025, 1:08 pm EST | Chris Burt
India-based
biometric liveness detection provider Spoofsense has passed an
evaluation by iBeta Quality Assurance for presentation attack detection
with Level 2 presentation attack instruments (PAIs).The test result
confirms the compliance of SpoofSense v2.1.0 with the international PAD
standard as set out in ISO/IEC 30107-3.An announcement from the company
makes clear that it uses passive PAD technology, and says it integrates
easily with mobile apps, online platforms and enterprise systems.
Decisions are delivered within two seconds, Spoofsense says.The
software, running on an Android smartphone, delivered an attack
presentation classification error rate (APCER) of 0 percent across 750
attacks. The bona fide presentation classification error rate (BPCER) is
included in the final report but not made public in the conformance
assessment letter from iBeta.Level 2 PAIs include sophisticated 3D masks
and high-quality digital forgeries, with materials costs up to $300,
and to pass the test, false acceptance rate (FAR) must be below 1
percent.Spoofsense is a face biometrics brand owned by Chakshu.AI with
three employees, and was founded in Bangalore in 2021, according to
Crunchbase. The company passed an evaluation with Level 1 PAIs in
late-2022.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC)
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)
THE FIRST
JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST
GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING (BUT WILL NOT KILL EVERY BODY WITH
WATER)(BUT 50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE (4 BILLION PEOPLE) FROM NUCLEAR
WAR)(THE BIBLE SAYS BY FIRE OR ATOMIC BOMBS THIS TIME)
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy
destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not
known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6
For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion)
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them
blood to drink; for they are worthy.
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.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.so was not yet deemed a threat to land.The storm was located
about 580 miles (930 kilometers) west-southwest of the southernmost tip
of the Cabo Verde Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85
kph), the center said.The storms churned in the Atlantic as rescuers in
the U.S. Southeast searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane
Helene struck last week, leaving behind a trail of death and
catastrophic damage.
Winter storm warnings in effect for most of
Canada. Here's where-Environment Canada is offering a glimpse into this
year's winter weather forecast. Allison Bamford has the details.Dorcas
Marfo-CTVNews.ca Journalist-Updated Jan. 6, 2025 11:19 a.m. EST
A
weekend winter storm(opens in a new tab) that brought much of Canada
under severe weather alerts continues to bring chilly conditions to
Canadians across the country.South of the border, U.S. residents from
central and southern states, including the East Coast, faced similar
weather(opens in a new tab) including snow, ice, wind and extreme
cold.The Associated Press reported motorists were stranded, classes
cancelled, government offices were shut down and power outages plagued
several states including Kentucky, Indiana and West Virgina.Here's
what's happening across provinces and territories.Western
Canada-Residents of northern parts of Manitoba are in for a chilly start
to their week.Areas like Brochet and Tadoule Lake can expect very cold
wind chills. According to Environment Canada, a cold air mass has
dropped temperatures into the mid -30 C when combined with winds of 10
to 15 km/h.Extreme wind chills near -45 will occur Monday morning into
Tuesday morning before warmer temperatures move into the regions during
the day.The weather agency has warned that extreme cold puts everyone at
risk including vulnerable groups like children, seniors, people with
chronic illness and people without proper shelter.Extreme cold warnings
were also issued for northern parts of Saskatchewan.Residents of areas
like Fond-du-Lac, Stony Rapids and Uranium City are in for wind chill
values near -45 Monday morning. Temperatures will begin to warm by
Monday afternoon, said Environment Canada.Eastern Canada-In Newfoundland
and Labrador, the southeastern regions from L'Anse-au-Clair to
Cartwright were issued a winter storm warning.The weather agency said
additional snowfall of five to 10 centimetres was expected inland and
over higher terrain, with wind gusts of 70 to 80 km/h.The wintry
conditions will last till Monday morning or afternoon, Environment
Canada estimates.Visibility will be reduced to near-zero at times in
heavy and blowing snow, the warning said.On Sunday, massive waves
slammed into the province's coastline(opens in a new tab), with a winter
storm leaving thousands without power, tearing down trees and small
buildings.In Nova Scotia, areas like Inverness and Victoria counties can
expect between 10 to 20 centimetres of snow, with up to 50 centimetres
of snow in highland areas. Conditions will persist Monday evening and
ease overnight.Wind gusts of 70 km/h were also forecasted, according to
Environment Canada.Kings County in Prince Edward Island was tagged with a
similar winter storm warning. Two to four centimetres of snow and wind
gusts of 80 km/h will continue Monday and taper down in the afternoon or
evening.The Territories-In areas like Lutsel K'e Region and Wekweeti,
wind chill values near -50 are forecasted and will continue Monday
morning and end by the afternoon.A winter storm watch was issued for
Ulukhatok where blizzard conditions are predicted starting Tuesday
afternoon through Wednesday morning. Falling snow and strong easterly
winds will cause poor visibility, Environment Canada said.In Nunavut,
the communities of Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet and Whale Cove are
under an extreme cold warning, with wind chills of -55 and wind speeds
of 40 km/h expected to last into Tuesday when warmer temperatures will
move into the area.Further inland, Baker Lake, Nunavut, is under an
extreme cold warning also carrying -55 wind chills and 40 km/h winds.In
Yukon, the community of Dempster is in for blowing snow across all of
Dempster highway – a route that connects Yukon and the Northwest
Territories.The blowing snow will last Monday night into Tuesday when
southern sections of the highway will be blanketed with blowing snow and
wind gusts of 40 to 60 km/h.Strong easterly winds across the Richardson
Mountains and strong southerly winds across the Ogilvie Mountains will
develop this evening said Environment Canada in the warning.Winds are
expected to subside Tuesday night.With files from The Associated Press
What
is freezing rain and why is it dangerous?Freezing rain could lead to
treacherous conditions across the UK over the weekend, the Met Office
warned-Alexander Butler-Sunday 05 January 2025 07:42 GMT
The Met
Office has warned of snow and ice, with the risk of rare freezing rain,
across most of England and Wales over the weekend.The phenomenon -
commonly known as ice storms in North America - is not often seen in the
UK because the conditions needed for it are quite specific, according
to the forecaster.Met Office chief forecaster Jason Kelly said freezing
rain could lead to “treacherous conditions” across the country amid
warnings of stranded vehicles on the roads and delayed or cancelled rail
and air travel.What is freezing rain? Freezing rain is rainfall that
has become “supercooled” as it falls from the sky, travelling through
various temperatures in the atmosphere.It starts as snow, ice, sleet or
hail high up in the atmosphere, but as it travels down it melts through a
layer of warmer air, then refreezes again through a layer of colder air
near the surface.It can produce striking effects, as the rain drop
spreads out momentarily across the surface before it freezes, encasing
the surface in a layer of clear ice.Why is it dangerous? The weight of
the ice can sometimes be heavy enough to bring down trees and power
lines, and the glaze of ice on the ground effectively turns roads and
pathways into an ice rink, according to the Met Office.It can also prove
extremely hazardous for aircraft, with the chance of icicles forming
across the wings of an airplane.The ice is very clear, often referred to
as black ice, because it is so difficult to see, making it treacherous
for pedestrians and drivers.Mr Kelly added: “There is a risk of freezing
rain across parts of the Midlands and northern England, but especially
Wales, adding to the risk of ice and leading to some treacherous
conditions in places.“As the super-cooled rain droplets hit the surface
they instantly freeze, covering everything in a layer of ice, making it
extremely dangerous.”
Winter Storm grounds over 1,300 flights
across US-A winter storm in the US caused over 1,300 flight
cancellations and 414 delays on Monday. Airlines such as Southwest,
American, United, and Delta issued travel advisories, warning of
disruptions due to the storm.Reuters-UPDATED: Jan 6, 2025 18:03
IST-Posted By: Girish Kumar Anshul
Airlines in the United States
cancelled more than 1,300 flights on Monday after a winter storm brought
snow, ice and freezing temperatures to a broad swath of the country.A
total of 1,306 flights were cancelled and 414 flights were delayed, as
of 5.13 am ET, according to flight-tracking website
FlightAware.Southwest Airlines LUV.N cancelled 264 flights, the most
among carriers, followed by American Airlines AAL.O at 176.Carriers,
including Southwest, American, United AirlinesUAL.O and Delta Air
LinesDAL.N, also issued travel advisories warning about an impact due to
the storm.The Federal Aviation Administration had warned on Friday that
gusty winds, snowfall and some freezing could impact travel in the
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Published By:Girish Kumar Anshul-Published On:Jan 6, 2025
Justin
Trudeau resigns as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, to step down as
PM-Longtime premier says decision ‘due to internal battles’ amid
coalition crisis; to be replaced as PM when Liberal Party chooses
successor By Rob Gillies Today, 8:06 pm-JAN 6,25
TORONTO (AP) —
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday
in the face of rising discontent over his leadership and after the
abrupt departure of his finance minister signaled growing turmoil within
his government.A misty-eyed Trudeau said it had become clear to him
that he cannot “be the leader during the next elections due to internal
battles.” He planned to stay on as prime minister until a new leader of
the Liberal Party is chosen.“I don’t easily back down faced with a
fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country.
But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being
of democracy is something that I hold dear,” he said at the announcement
outside his official residence.He said Parliament, which had been due
to resume January 27, would be suspended until March 24. The timing will
allow for a Liberal Party leadership race.All three main opposition
parties have said they plan to topple the Liberal Party in a
no-confidence vote when Parliament resumes, so a spring election after
the Liberals pick a new leader was almost assured.“The Liberal Party of
Canada is an important institution in the history of our great country
and democracy. A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will
carry its values and ideals into that next election,” Trudeau said. “I
am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”Trudeau came
to power in 2015 after 10 years of Conservative Party rule, and had
initially been hailed for returning the country to its liberal past. But
the 53-year-old scion of one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers
became deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of
issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing, and surging
immigration.The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for
Canada internationally. US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened
to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government
does not stem what Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs in the US —
even though far fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from
Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.Canada is a major exporter of
oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern
neighbor for steel, aluminum and autos.Trudeau kept publicly mum in
recent weeks, despite intensifying pressure for him to step down.“His
long silence following this political drama speaks volumes about the
weakness of his current position,” said Daniel Béland, a political
science professor at McGill University in Montreal.Canada’s former
finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced her resignation from
Trudeau’s Cabinet on December 16, criticizing some of Trudeau’s economic
priorities in the face of Trump’s threats. The move, which came shortly
after the housing minister quit, stunned the country and raised
questions about how much longer the increasingly unpopular Trudeau could
stay in his job.Freeland and Trudeau had disagreed about two recently
announced policies: a temporary sales tax holiday on goods ranging from
children’s clothes to beer, and plans to send every citizen a check for
$250 Canadian ($174). Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, said
Canada could not afford “costly political gimmicks” in the face of the
tariffs threat.“Our country is facing a grave challenge,” Freeland wrote
in her resignation letter. “That means keeping our fiscal powder dry
today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff
war.”Trudeau had been planning to run for a fourth term in next year’s
election, even in the face of rising discontent among Liberal Party
members. The party recently suffered upsets in special elections in two
districts in Toronto and Montreal that it has held for years. No
Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight
terms.And based on the latest polls, Trudeau’s chances for success
looked slim. In the latest poll by Nanos, the Liberals trail the
Conservatives 47% to 21%.Over nearly a decade in power, Trudeau embraced
an array of causes favored by his liberal base. He spoke in favor of
immigration at a time when other countries were trying to tighten their
borders. He championed diversity and gender equality, appointing a
Cabinet that was equal parts men and women. He legalized cannabis.His
efforts to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental
protection were criticized by both the right and left. He levied a tax
on carbon emissions and rescued a stalled pipeline expansion project to
get more of Alberta’s oil to international markets.Fewer people died
from COVID-19 in Canada than elsewhere and his government provided
massive financial support. But animosity grew among those opposed to
vaccine mandates. Flags with Trudeau’s name and expletives became a
common sight in rural parts.A combination of scandal and unpopular
policies damaged his prospects over time.Trudeau’s father swept to power
in 1968, and led Canada for almost 16 years, becoming a storied name in
the country’s history, most notably by opening its doors wide to
immigrants. Pierre Trudeau was often compared to John F. Kennedy and
remains one of the few Canadian politicians who are recognized in
America.Tall and trim, with movie-star looks, Justin Trudeau channeled
the star power — if not quite the political heft — of his father.He
became the second-youngest prime minister in Canada’s history, and
rivals said his age was a liability when he first sought office. But he
won a sweeping mandate in a come-from-behind victory in 2015.Trudeau is a
former teacher, nightclub bouncer and snowboard instructor who has
three children with his now estranged wife, a former model and TV host.
With
Trudeau on his way out, Parliament is prorogued. Here's what that
means-Here's how prorogation has been used in the past-Kevin Maimann,
Rhianna Schmunk · CBC News · Posted: Jan 06, 2025 12:10 PM EST |
Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said he will be stepping down from
the country's top office and from his role as Liberal Party leader as
soon as a replacement is chosen.In the same breath, he also confirmed
Parliament will be prorogued, or suspended, until March 24."The fact is,
despite best efforts to work through it, Parliament has been paralyzed
for months after what has been the longest session of a minority
Parliament in Canadian history," Trudeau said, referring to the
government elected in 2021."That's why, this morning, I advised the
Governor General that we need a new session of Parliament."Trudeau said
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon granted the request to prorogue Parliament until
March 24.Here's what prorogation means for the government and for the
public.What is prorogation?Prorogation effectively allows the prime
minister to hit pause on Parliament. The government remains in power,
but all parliamentary activity — from existing bills and committee work
to studies and investigations — comes to a halt.A speech from the throne
is then scheduled to kick off the next parliamentary session and lay
out the government's intentions going forward. Why prorogue Parliament?
Prorogation is different than dissolution, which terminates Parliament
and triggers a general election.In this case, it means the Liberals will
avoid a confidence vote and get more time to run a leadership race.
Trudeau said confidence votes that come after March 24 will "allow
Parliament to weigh in on confidence in a way that is entirely in
keeping with all the principles of democracy.""Anyone who's been
watching politics closely over the past months will know that Parliament
has been entirely seized by obstruction, by filibustering and a total
lack of productivity," Trudeau said Monday when asked why he chose
prorogation instead of immediately setting off the next election."It's
time for a reset. It's time for the temperature to come
down."Analysis-After attacking the Speaker, would Poilievre consider
parliamentary reform?The prime minister's future has been in question
for months as the party fought against its lowest level of support in
years. As of Monday, an average of publicly available polls had Pierre
Poilievre's Conservative Party with a 24-point lead over Trudeau's
Liberals.Calls for Trudeau's resignation intensified after Chrystia
Freeland, one of his most loyal allies, suddenly resigned as minister of
finance and deputy prime minister on Dec. 16.Why has prorogation been
controversial? The practice has also been used as a tactic during
political crises. Trudeau previously suspended Parliament in September
2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and controversy over the WE Charity
student volunteer grant program. The Conservatives under former prime
minister Stephen Harper used prorogation to avoid a confidence vote in
2008, thwarting all three opposition parties in their attempt to defeat
his government.Analysis-After attacking the Speaker, would Poilievre
consider parliamentary reform? Harper's government used the move again
for two months in 2010, that time to kill a committee inquiry into the
treatment of Afghan detainees.Jean Chrétien's Liberal government was
accused of using prorogation to avoid tabling a report on the
sponsorship scandal in 2002-03.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
(NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD
HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY
NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS
SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3
PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD
IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about
thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in
fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I
shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their
destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I
send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED
THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and
they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have
spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out
from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully
ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200
MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold,
the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and
their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM
ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD
PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they
shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN
WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
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.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD
DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM
NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
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.
Report:
Israel thinks Trump will back IDF strike on Iran nuke program or order
US hit-Dermer said to leave Mar-a-Lago in November believing one of
those two options likely, but others close to US president-elect believe
he’ll try for new nuclear deal before striking-By ToI Staff Today, 7:38
pm-JAN 6,25
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly
left a November meeting with Donald Trump believing the US
president-elect will either support an Israeli military strike against
Iranian nuclear facilities or direct a US strike on those sites
himself.The revelation was reported Monday in the Axios news site, which
cited two sources who spoke to Dermer — a close confidant of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — after the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
resort in Florida.The report said that Israel is seriously considering a
strike of its own and that outgoing US President Joe Biden’s aides have
also urged him to carry out a US strike before Trump takes office. No
active conversations about such a strike are still being held at the
White House, Axios clarified.Dermer is reportedly slated to travel back
to Washington this week for meetings with Biden and Trump aides.Despite
the increased speculation regarding a potential strike on Iran, Axios
cited other unnamed individuals close to Trump who believe he will
attempt to secure a new nuclear deal with Tehran before pursuing
military options.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an
interview last week that his country is ready to restart nuclear talks
with the US.In 2018, Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal former
president Barack Obama negotiated three years earlier. He advanced a
maximum-pressure sanctions campaign against Tehran, which responded by
rapidly accelerating its nuclear enrichment to the point where it is now
effectively seen as a nuclear threshold state.Biden entered office
pledging to negotiate a US return to the 2015 deal along with the
bolstering and strengthening of that accord, but that effort never got
off the ground.Asked about the possibility of war with Iran, in a
November interview with Time magazine, Trump responded, “Anything can
happen… It’s a very volatile situation.”The 2015 deal’s snap-back
sanctions clauses expire in October, adding further urgency to the issue
for Western signatories of the agreement.Senior diplomats from the E3
(France, Germany and the UK) met with Iranian officials in November and
warned that they would institute snap-back sanctions if a new deal isn’t
reached by the summer, Axios reported.The Iranian officials in turn
said Tehran would respond to those sanctions by withdrawing from the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and end all UN inspections and
monitoring of its nuclear facilities, the report said.Citing the
acceleration of its nuclear program and support for Russia’s war against
Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Iran is
the main strategic and security challenge in the Middle East.Last week,
Araghchi said Tehran was ready for any future Israeli attacks on the
country, while warning that such action could spark a wider
conflagration.There has been mounting speculation that Israel may strike
Iran in response to recurring ballistic missile attacks launched
against Israel by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which receive arms and other
support from the Islamic Republic.“We are fully prepared for the
possibility of further Israeli attacks,” Araghchi said to China’s
state-run CCTV, according to a translation provided by the broadcaster.
“I hope Israel will refrain from taking such reckless action, as it
could lead to a large-scale war.”Israel has carried out two direct
attacks on Iran over the past year in response to its unprecedented
drone and missile attacks, including an October 1 barrage of some 200
ballistic missiles by Tehran, most of which were intercepted.Israeli
warplanes carried out a counterstrike on October 26, hitting military
facilities and air defenses protecting other key sites.In April, Israel
hit an air defense battery near a nuclear site in response to a volley
of some 300 drones and missiles fired at Israel by Iran.In contrast to
bombastic rhetoric often utilized by Tehran to threaten Israel, however,
Araghchi said Iran would pursue a “diplomatic approach” and would
consult with allies, including China.
Rocket volley from Gaza
lightly damages Sderot home as attacks surge-Missile slams into yard of
rabbi’s home, the third time the same property has been hit by
projectiles fired from Palestinian enclave; woman, 68, injured running
to bomb shelter By Emanuel Fabian-and Agencies Today, 3:11 pm-jan 6,25
Gazans
fired three rockets into southern Israel Monday morning, lightly
damaging the home of a local religious leader and marking the latest
attack amid a return to near-daily launches terrorizing southern
residents.One of the three rockets shot from the northern Gaza Strip
landed in the city of Sderot, the military said. A second projectile was
intercepted, and a third apparently landed in an uninhabited area.There
were no casualties in the attack, though a 68-year-old woman required
hospitalization for light injuries sustained while rushing to find
shelter as air raid sirens sounded in the city and other communities
bordering the Gaza Strip, the Magen David Adom emergency service
reported.Residents of the area have mere seconds to take cover when
rocket warnings sound and injuries stemming from panic are not
uncommon.According to the Ynet news outlet, the rocket that hit Sderot
slammed into the yard of the home of local Chabad emissaries Rabbi
Hananel and Tzviah Pizam.The rocket broke a fence and damaged a walkway,
while sending debris flying. According to the report, shrapnel also hit
a gas tank, causing a temporary leak but no explosion.The Pizams said
the attack was the third time the home had been a hit by a rocket from
Gaza. The home had not yet been repaired from the last time it was
damaged.“It is terrible — not the first time, not the second,” Tzviah
Pizam told Ynet. “We thought that it was over, and it hit the gas
canister.”Pinhas Cohen, who has an office in the street where the rocket
landed, told the Kan public broadcaster that “we flew out of our seats
from the shockwave; it was an especially large explosion.”The attack
ended a short-lived period of calm on Sunday, which followed nine
consecutive days of rocket attacks since December 27.Over 20 rockets
were launched in that time, mostly from the Strip’s far north town of
Beit Hanoun, where the IDF is currently carrying out a major offensive
against Hamas.Rocket attacks from Gaza had largely stopped since the
spring of 2024, which was attributed to Israeli military gains against
the Hamas terror group and its formerly massive arsenal in Gaza. Most of
the rocket strikes in recent days have been launched from northern
Gaza, where fighting has intensified since October amid Israeli attempts
to keep Hamas from regrouping there.The Palestinian terror group has
previously fired rockets from areas where the IDF is advancing, to
prevent the military from capturing them.Israel has stepped up strikes
in Gaza recently, carrying out over 100 airstrikes over the weekend,
according to the IDF.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on
Monday that 49 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the
past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,854. The
number could not be verified and does not distinguish between fighters
and civilians.Israel and Hamas have been at war for nearly 15 months
since the Palestinian terror group invaded southern Israel on October 7,
2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages to
Gaza.That attack, during which rampaging terrorists murdered at least 70
people in Sderot, was launched under cover of a barrage of thousands of
rockets fired from Gaza across many areas of Israel.Israel says it has
killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November 2024 as well as
another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7 and the days that
followed.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and
stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting
from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.The
war has caused immense damage to Gaza’s infrastructure and some 1.9
million Palestinians of the 2.3 million population are residing in the
Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone,” according to IDF assessments in
July.As winter sets in, the harsh weather is creating further problems
for an already major humanitarian crisis in which aid deliveries are
struggling to reach some areas of Gaza, particularly the north. Israel
says that Hamas and other armed groups are looting many of those that do
arrive.The Palestinian Authority official news agency WAFA reported
that an infant died Monday from the cold.Yousef Ahmed Anwar Kalloub had
lived for just 35 days, according to the report.His death brought to
eight the number of fatalities due to the weather, WAFA said, of whom
seven were children. Similar to other statistics from Gaza, the figures
could not be verified.US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators have tried for
over a year to negotiate a ceasefire deal that would see the hostages
released; reports have indicated the sides were inching close to inking
an agreement amid a recent push.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
voiced confidence Monday that a ceasefire deal in Gaza would come
together, but possibly after US President Joe Biden leaves office on
January 20.US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January
20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of
“hell to pay” if it does not free hostages seized in the October 7,
2023, attack.Blinken said there had been an “intensified engagement” by
Hamas on reaching a deal, but that it was not yet complete.It is
believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7
remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by
the IDF.Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late
November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages
have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have
also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli
military as they tried to escape their captors.Hamas is also holding two
Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as
the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014
3 Israelis
killed, 8 wounded in West Bank terror shooting; IDF hunting for
gunmen-Attackers open fire on two cars and bus on major road used by
settlers and Palestinians, then flee, authorities say; army surrounds
Nablus as leaders vow to capture killers By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 11:42
am-jan 6,25
Two elderly women and an off-duty cop were killed and
at least eight other Israelis were wounded when Palestinian terrorists
opened fire on vehicles in the northern West Bank on Monday morning, the
military and medics said.The shooting attack, which targeted a bus and
two cars, occurred inside the Palestinian village of al-Funduq, which
straddles a major artery used by thousands of Israelis and Palestinian
drivers daily. The army said it launched a manhunt for the gunmen.The
fatalities were identified as Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, a
police officer, and sisters-in-law Rachel Cohen and Aliza Raiz.Three
Palestinian terrorists from the Jenin area in the northern West Bank
opened fire on two Israeli cars and a bus traveling along the highway as
they passed through the village, according to the military. According
to an initial Israel Defense Forces probe, the terrorists, armed with
assault rifles, first opened fire at a civilian car from a close range,
killing Cohen and Raiz. Their deaths were declared at the scene by Magen
David Adom medics.Then, the gunmen fired at a bus further away,
injuring eight people, including the driver, 63, who MDA said was rushed
to a hospital in serious condition. Two women on the bus were in
moderate condition, and at least five others were lightly hurt.As the
terrorists were shooting at the bus, the military said an armed civilian
opened fire with a handgun at the gunmen, causing them to get back in
their car and flee. The shots hit the car but apparently did not injure
any of the terrorists, the military probe found.While the terrorists
were fleeing, they opened fire on another car around 150 meters (490
feet) away, killing Winkelstein, the police officer, according to the
IDF’s investigation.The military said two of the gunmen were known to
the defense establishment and were already wanted for involvement in
terror activity, while the third was still unidentified.Winkelstein, 35,
a father of two from the northern town of Ein HaNatziv, was an
investigator at the Ariel police station. He was off-duty at the time of
the attack.One of Winkelstein’s sons was in the car when he came under
fire, but was unharmed physically, according to Hebrew-language media
reports.Cohen, 73, and Raiz, 70, sisters-in-law and educators from the
settlement of Kdumim, were driving together when they came under
attack.The IDF said that it had dispatched a large number of troops, as
well as an Israeli Air Force helicopter, to search for the
terrorists.The attack occurred along Route 55, an east-west highway
traversing the West Bank and linking areas northwest of Tel Aviv to the
outskirts of Nablus, passing near or through a number of Israeli
settlements and Palestinian towns.Surveillance video published by
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster showed a man emerge from the passenger
side of a white sedan stopped on the road and aim a weapon at a passing
bus. The man appears to continue shooting for several seconds before
getting back in the car, which then peels away from the scene.The army
said it set up roadblocks near the attack site, and placed cordons
around the city of Nablus and several other nearby villages.Defense
Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to “use strong force against
any place where the killers’ tracks lead.”“Anyone who follows the path
of Hamas in Gaza and sponsors the murder and harm of Jews will pay a
heavy price,” he added.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel
would collar the shooters “along with everyone who helped them. No one
will be spared.”There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but
it was swiftly lauded by the Hamas terror group, which called it a
“heroic response to the ongoing crimes” committed by Israel in the Gaza
Strip.Following the attack, police minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on
Israel to end security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, which
has been waging a major crackdown on terrorists in Jenin in recent
weeks.“Remember that the PA supports terror, stop all cooperation with
it, place as many checkpoints as possible and close roads [because] the
settlers’ right to life outweighs PA residents’ freedom of movement,” he
said.On Sunday, the Border Police said its troops shot and killed
wanted terror suspect Hassan Rabaiya in a village near Jenin when he
attempted to escape during an arrest raid.The Palestinian security
services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive
Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national
duty.”Israeli authorities released helmet-cam footage that showed police
blowing up what they called an explosives lab in his home.Separately,
the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said a 17-year-old boy
was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus. The
military said individuals hurled explosives at soldiers operating in the
area, who then opened fire and hit one of them.There have been numerous
attacks on Israelis using Route 55 over the years, including in
al-Funduq. Most attacks have involved stone-throwing, though there have
been shootings as well, including an April attack on a bus and another
vehicle that injured two.Plans to pave a bypass road around al-Funduq
for Israelis were recently approved; construction is set to begin next
month.Violence in the West Bank has mounted since October 7, 2023, when
Hamas assaulted southern Israel, sparking war in Gaza and unrest across
the region. Since then, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel,
have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West
Bank, including some carried out by Israeli citizens.Another six members
of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in
the West Bank. Much of the violence has been concentrated near Nablus,
Jenin and other Palestinian cities in the northern West Bank where PA
control has steadily weakened over the years.According to the PA health
ministry, more than 835 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since
October 7, 2023. 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.During the same period, troops have
arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including
more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
IDF strikes Hamas members in Gaza humanitarian
zone; senior PIJ commander killed-Army says company commander in terror
group took part in Oct. 7 attack; Gazans report 23 killed in day of
strikes By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies 5 January 2025, 11:40 pm
A
pair of Israeli drone strikes hit Hamas operatives inside the Gaza
Strip’s designated humanitarian zone, the Israel Defense Forces said
Sunday.The strikes came after a weekend of intense Israeli bombing of
terror targets in the Palestinian coastal enclave that, according to
unverified reports from officials in the Hamas-controlled territory,
killed over 80 people.A drone strike was carried out against a group of
Hamas operatives at a command center in the Israeli-designated
humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, the IDF said. The compound, in the
Khan Younis area of the humanitarian zone, was used by the Hamas
operatives to plan and carry out attacks against troops in Gaza and
against Israel, the military said.Gaza medics said the compound was a
police station and that five people were killed. Last week, Hamas said
the IDF killed its chief of police and his deputy in a strike also in
the zone.The IDF said a separate strike in the Deir al-Balah area of the
humanitarian zone targeted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who
had carried out previous attacks from the area.In both strikes, the IDF
said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm. Israel accuses Hamas of
exploiting civilian shelters, civilian buildings, and the civilian
population as human shields.The humanitarian zone is located in the
al-Mawasi area on the southern Strip’s coast, the western neighborhoods
of Khan Younis, and central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.The size of the zone
has changed multiple times, amid evolving IDF operations against the
Hamas terror group.The IDF also reported that a Palestinian Islamic
Jihad company commander who participated in the October 7, 2023,
onslaught in Israel was killed by troops during recent operations in
northern Gaza’s Jabalia.According to the military, Saad Said Zaki
Dahnon, who was also deputy head of the terror group’s rocket division
in northern Gaza, was killed in a close-quarters battle with troops of
the Givati Brigade.Dahnon had infiltrated Israel and participated in the
October 7 attack, and was also involved in several attacks against
troops in the Beit Lahiya area during the war, the IDF said.A video
released by the IDF showed Dahnon and another operative covering
themselves in blankets and attempting to approach troops under the cover
of darkness and rainy weather. The IDF said Dahnon was killed, while
the second operative surrendered to troops.The second operative was
carrying an explosive device, and he was taken to Israel for further
interrogation, the IDF added.Meanwhile, a soldier in the Givati
Brigade’s Tzabar battalion was seriously wounded in the northern Gaza
Strip on Sunday. According to an IDF probe, the soldier was injured when
a brick fell on his head during “operational activity.” He was taken to
a hospital in Israel for treatment.Rescuers in the Hamas-controlled
Strip said that at least 23 people were killed in strikes on Sunday. The
figures, which cannot be verified, do not differentiate between
combatants and civilians.An air strike on a house in northern Gaza’s
Sheikh Radwan area killed at least 11 people according to the Hamas-run
Civil Defense agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal. He said the victims
included women and children.“Rescuers are still searching for five
people trapped under the rubble of the house,” he said, adding his crew
members were using “bare hands” in the effort.The Palestinian
Authority’s official news agency WAFA later reported that a young girl
was rescued from the rubble of the building.Civil defense teams rescued a
young girl from the rubble of the Zohd family's home, destroyed by an
Israeli airstrike in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City.
pic.twitter.com/tHZ5EQ63J3 — WAFA News Agency – English
(@WAFANewsEnglish) January 5, 2025-Health officials also said an
airstrike killed five people in a house in the Nuseirat camp in central
Gaza, while another airstrike killed four others in Jabalia in the
northern edge of the enclave, where Israeli forces have been operating
for three months.Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said a total of 88
people were killed over the previous 24 hours.The IDF said over 100
targets were struck in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens
of Hamas operatives. The strikes were carried out by the Israeli Air
Force in a joint effort with the Southern Command, following
intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and the
Shin Bet security agency.Additionally, the IDF said it struck several
rocket-launching sites in Gaza over the weekend.Renewed fire from Gaza
has repeatedly triggered air raid sirens in Israeli communities near the
Strip in recent days. Rocket fire had become less frequent as the war
dragged on but has intensified since late December as Israel continues a
three-month major land and air offensive in the territory’s north.The
recent escalation coincides with ongoing indirect negotiations for a
ceasefire and hostage release deal that has eluded the sides since
November 2023.Mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the United States have tried
for months to strike a deal to end the war and secure the release of
Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The latest effort comes just days before
Donald Trump takes office as US president on January 20.Kan cited a
Palestinian source familiar with the developments as saying the next two
days are critical, and that there is a preference to reach a partial
deal rather than a full agreement, with Hamas fearing the situation
could change once Trump is installed. The Republican, who has backed
Israel in the war, has repeatedly warned of serious consequences if the
hostages are not released by his inauguration.French Foreign Minister
Jean-Noel Barrot, in an interview with RTL radio, said that “we continue
to exert the necessary pressure” to reach a deal. “Unfortunately, it
doesn’t depend only on us.”The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more
than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in
the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not
differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed
some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000
terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Israel has said it seeks to
minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s
civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including
homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.It is believed that 96 of the 251
hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the
bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105
civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages
were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops
alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including
three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their
captors.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the
Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who
were killed in 2014.
First 50 ultra-Orthodox soldiers drafted to
IDF’s new Haredi brigade-Military hails ‘significant milestone,’ says
another 100 older Haredi men join Hasmonean Brigade’s first reservist
company-By Emanuel Fabian-5 January 2025, 8:37 pm
The first 50
ultra-Orthodox soldiers were drafted for regular service in the Israel
Defense Forces’ new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, the
military said on Sunday.The establishment of the brigade comes as part
of the efforts in the IDF to expand the draft of ultra-Orthodox men, as
it faces personnel shortages caused by the ongoing war.The IDF has been
opening new units, as well as considering building a separate induction
center, for Haredi troops, to meet the army’s needs of at least 10,000
additional troops per year.The dispute about the ultra-Orthodox
community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in
Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the
issue, having failed to achieve a resolution.The Haredi religious and
political leadership fiercely resists any effort to draft young men, who
have in the past been granted exemptions from serving. The issue has
come to a head, in light of recent High Court rulings demanding an end
to blanket exemptions, and public pressure has risen, due to the
manpower shortages caused by the long ongoing war.The 50 soldiers
drafted on Sunday were set to be part of the Hasmonean Brigade’s first
regular company. Meanwhile, another 100 older Haredi men were being
drafted into the brigade’s first reserve company.The reserve company was
set to be made up of people who have already completed the so-called
Shlav Bet (Stage B) track, in which older people are put through two
weeks of basic training before being sent to serve in noncombat roles.
The reservists will undergo an additional six-month combat training
period before being sent to the Hasmonean Brigade’s reserve company,
according to the IDF.Additional soldiers are expected to be drafted in
the coming month, and will join those who began their training on
Sunday.The IDF said the recruitment of the 150 soldiers was a
“significant milestone” in establishing the Hasmonean Brigade and “the
process of expanding [the number of] members of the ultra-Orthodox
community in IDF service, especially in light of the operational needs
arising from the needs of the war.”Ahead of the draft, the IDF said it
carried out a “wide-ranging preparation process,” including recruiting
staff for the brigade, renovating an old training base — the Tebetz Camp
in the Jordan Valley — and “adapting it to the ultra-Orthodox
lifestyle.”According to a report by the Israel Hayom daily, soldiers
serving in the new brigade will be permitted to wear “Sabbath clothes”
on Saturdays, when not on duty, instead of military uniforms, and will
be required to attend prayers and a mandatory hour of Torah study
daily.The troops will also be required to have phones that are “kosher” —
devices on which social media and most other apps are blocked.The first
commander of the Haredi brigade is Col. Avinoam Emunah, an Orthodox
senior officer. Maj. Gen. David Zini, the head of the IDF’s Training
Command and General Staff Corps, is the “project manager” of the
drafting of Haredi soldiers.Also on Sunday, the IDF said additional
members of the ultra-Orthodox community were drafted to other units for
Haredi troops.The existing IDF units for Haredi soldiers include the
Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, the Tomer Company in the
Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion, the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers
Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, and the Nevatim Airbase’s ground defense
unit, as well as numerous other non-combat roles.Last month, the IDF
established a first-ever Israeli Air Force technicians unit for young
men of the ultra-Orthodox community, allowing them to maintain their
religious lifestyle while serving in the army.A landmark High Court
ruling in June said there was no longer any legal framework allowing the
state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military
service.In November, the IDF said it was sending out 7,000 draft orders
to members of the ultra-Orthodox community after the first phase of a
plan to draft Haredi soldiers was largely unsuccessful. The IDF had sent
out 3,000 draft orders in the first stage over the summer, but just 230
showed up at induction centers.Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that
military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that
those who enlist will be secularized.Israelis who do serve, however, say
the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a
sentiment that has intensified since the October 7 onslaught and the
ensuing war, in which more than 825 soldiers have been killed and some
300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.Last week, during a meeting
with military officials on the efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox men,
Defense Minister Israel Katz said a new outline for a Haredi draft law
was being formulated and would soon be brought to the Knesset to advance
a legislative process.Also in the meeting, Katz said his target was to
reach at least 50 percent of Haredi men turning 18 each year to draft to
the military within seven years.The IDF has previously told Katz that
it can handle drafting 100% of those turning 18 within a year and a
half.This past year, some 70,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible
for military service.
Report: New Orleans rammer apparently
radicalized in past year, unbeknown to family-Shamsud Din-Jabbar’s
relatives say US Army veteran had grown noticeably more conservative,
but not violent; they attributed erratic behavior to divorces, financial
stress By ToI Staff 5 January 2025, 6:34 pm
The terrorist in the
New Year’s Eve ramming in New Orleans last week appears to have
secretly radicalized over the past year, although investigators are
struggling to pinpoint exactly when his views changed from merely
adherence to a conservative interpretation of Islam to a view that would
justify violence against non-Muslims, according to a Saturday report by
The New York Times.In the early hours of last Wednesday morning,
Shamsud Din-Jabbar rammed a rented truck into New Year’s Eve revelers in
New Orleans, murdering 15 people and injuring dozens of others,
including two Israelis, before he was killed in a firefight with
police.The attack has prompted concerns that the Islamic State group —
also known as ISIS — could mount a comeback, about a decade after it
emerged during the Syrian civil war, seizing territory in the Middle
East and declaring a “caliphate” before being largely wiped out by a
US-led coalition.According to The Times, Jabbar, 42, recorded a series
of videos, some addressed to his family, as he drove to the location
where he eventually killed 15 people. “I wanted to record this message
for my family. I wanted you to know that I joined ISIS earlier this
year,” he said.He also referred to “animosity” with his family, and said
he had considered attacking them as well, but decided not to,
apparently out of concern this would shift focus away from his vision of
holy war against non-Muslims.Investigators who searched Jabbar’s home
after the attack found supplies that could be used to build a bomb, The
Times reported.‘Largely secular’ upbringing-According to the article,
friends and family noticed that Jabbar, a decorated US Army veteran with
a $120,000-a-year job as a “senior solutions specialist” at Deloitte,
had become more conservative over the last year in his religious
outlook.But those close to him told the newspaper they were entirely
unaware of his radicalization, and could not say exactly when it had
happened.Jabbar, an African-American Texas native whose father,
originally a Baptist, converted to Islam, grew up in a “largely secular”
family, some of whom continued to attend a Baptist church even after
his father’s conversion, according to relatives.According to a
half-brother, Jabbar loved school as a child and got good grades. After
high school, however, he lost a scholarship at the University of Houston
due to heavy partying and drinking that compromised his studies.In
2007, Jabbar enlisted in the US Army, working in human resources and
information technology, and achieving the rank of staff sergeant before
his deployment to Afghanistan. He was awarded a Global War on Terrorism
service medal, and was even featured by the Army in a 2013 Facebook
post, drawing a proud comment from his mother, The Times noted.Jabbar
reportedly told family members he was grateful for his military service.
Relatives told The Times that the army “gave [Jabbar] some discipline”
and “grounded him.”After the military, Jabbar studied at Georgia State
University. There, one friend said, he showed a growing interest in
Islam. But no one reported any signs of extremism. Following his
studies, he returned to Texas and began his white-collar professional
career.In recent years, the paper reported, Jabbar began suffering
severe financial problems, especially following his divorce from his
third wife in 2021, due to subsequent alimony payments and child support
for his two daughters and son.Jabbar’s family and ex-wives told The
Times that his behavior became more concerning and erratic over the last
year. They said they thought that it was due to the stress from his
financial troubles and divorce, but was also connected to stress over
global affairs, and was influenced by his religious views. At the time,
one previous ex-wife and her husband limited his contact with their
children.‘No part in this community’Around this time, Jabbar moved to a
largely-Muslim neighborhood of mobile homes, located north of Houston,
where neighbors described him as a recluse. Congregants at two nearby
mosques told The Times they had never seen him attend prayers.“He wasn’t
a member of this congregation, he wasn’t someone that used to come
here, and he had no part in this community whatsoever,” said Mohammed
Khan, a member of the Bilal Mosque, the closest to his home.The mosque
has drawn attention since the attack, as video surfaced of a guest
delivering a presentation that blamed Jews for persistent
antisemitism.Worshipers at the other nearby mosque also said they had
never seen Jabbar, with one congregant saying he’d been part of the
community since 2008 and had never seen the attacker before.After the
Israel-Hamas war broke out in late 2023 — when the Hamas terror group
attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages —
Jabbar seemed upset with the violence, according to his half-brother.“He
didn’t like it — he said it was genocide on both sides, inhumane,” the
half-brother reported.Noticeable shift-Over the subsequent year, the
veteran reportedly grew noticeably more austere in his religious
outlook, growing out his beard and expressing his disapproval of
partying and drinking, according to his half-brother.Around this time,
he also began posting audio recordings to the website SoundCloud,
espousing conservative religious beliefs, such as warning that music —
which some streams of Islam consider forbidden — has the power to lure
people “into the things that God had made forbidden to us,” such as
alcohol and drugs.In that recording, from early 2024, Jabbar suggested a
link between the release of a recent rap album and a wave of murders in
his neighborhood, and said that “the voice of Satan spreading among
Prophet Muhammad’s followers, peace be upon him, is a sign of the end
times.”But it is still not clear to investigators when Jabbar came to
endorse violence as part of his religious beliefs, The Times reported —
though he appears to have “liked” on his SoundCloud account some
recordings by others that expressed views used by extremist groups to
justify killing non-Muslims.In the weeks before the attack, relatives
said Jabbar didn’t mention any plans to go to New Orleans, though some
neighbors told The Times he had said that he was moving there when his
lease in Houston came to an end.In addition, the publication reported,
Jabbar seemingly prepared for the trip via an out-of-office reply for
his work email, which said he would be taking personal time off.As they
answered questions from the FBI on Thursday, Jabbar’s relatives were
still in shock, the paper reported.“They want to know why he did this,”
one brother told the newspaper. “I could not give them an answer. That’s
not the brother I know.”
More records found linking Credit
Suisse to Nazi accounts, US Senate panel says-Budget Committee says tens
of thousands of uncovered documents, microfilms have ‘high relevance
rate’ of Nazi ties; ombudsperson cites bank file dealing with looted
Jewish assets By AFP 5 January 2025, 6:34 pm
WASHINGTON — An
investigation by a US Senate panel has found that troubled investment
bank Credit Suisse concealed information during previous inquiries into
Nazi-controlled bank accounts during World War II.Tens of thousands of
documents discovered during an ongoing examination have provided new
proof of the existence of account holders linked to the Nazis, the
Senate Budget Committee said in a statement released Saturday.The bank
did not reveal the existence of these accounts during previous
investigations, notably in the 1990s, the committee said.Credit Suisse,
now a subsidiary of investment bank UBS, agreed in 1998 to take part in a
$1.25 billion settlement of lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors,
but it has been accused of not being completely open about its past
dealings with Nazis.The Senate committee said Saturday that one set of
newly discovered files, including 3,600 physical documents and 40,000
microfilms, was found to have a “high relevance rate” of Nazi
connections.It said the revelations stem from an interim report by
former prosecutor Neil Barofsky, who was fired as an “independent
ombudsperson” by the bank in 2022 after being pressed to limit his
investigative work.Barofsky was reinstated in the role in 2023 “as a
result of the Committee’s investigation,” and after UBS’s takeover of
Credit Suisse.In a letter to the panel released Saturday, Barofsky noted
the “extraordinary level of cooperation that Credit Suisse, under the
leadership of UBS, has provided” since he rejoined the company.But he
said Credit Suisse had yet to share all the information it held.The
Barofsky team has discovered, among other things, accounts controlled by
high-ranking SS officers, the Wall Street Journal reported.In his
letter, Barofsky highlighted “especially noteworthy” discoveries from a
Credit Suisse research department.“Numerous client files in the sample
are marked with a stamp stating ‘Amerikanische schwarze Liste’ — meaning
‘American Black List’ — a list maintained by the Allies of individuals
and companies that were directly financed by, or were known to regularly
trade with, Axis powers,” he wrote.“One file bearing this stamp relates
to an entity that was involved in selling looted Jewish
assets.”Contacted by AFP, UBS said it was committed to providing a
complete record of the former Nazi-linked accounts in Credit Suisse’s
predecessor banks.It said it would provide Barofsky with all necessary
assistance in his work to shed light “on this tragic period.”The Senate
panel’s investigation is continuing.
Analysis'It's too early to
believe this rebrand'As European and Arab leaders rush to meet Syria’s
new leader, Israel calls for caution-Ahmed al-Sharaa is hoping to
convince the world that he’s left his jihadist past behind, but FM
Gideon Sa’ar and other senior officials are not persuaded.By Lazar
Berman-5 January 2025, 6:16 pm
As Syria’s new government strives
to gain international legitimacy after overthrowing the Bashar al-Assad
regime, Western countries seem open to giving a chance to the government
led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
group.At the same time, Israel is focused on making sure its allies
don’t give a free pass to a man who led a brutal jihadist
organization.“It’s too early to believe this rebrand,” an Israeli
official told The Times of Israel.On Friday, French Foreign Minister
Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock became the
most senior Western diplomats to visit the Syrian capital since
Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Assad last month.The two
diplomats warned Sharaa that the transfer of power must be peaceful and
inclusive. “This requires a political dialogue involving all ethnic and
religious groups, involving men and equally women,” said Baerbock.She
also told Sharaa that the European Union stood ready to support the
transition in Syria but cautioned that “Europe will not finance new
Islamist structures.”Barrot met with Christian leaders in the country to
discuss the transition toward a democratic Syria.In Israel, Foreign
Minister Gideon Sa’ar is leading an effort to press the world to treat
Sharaa’s government with extreme suspicion, while warning that European
countries are too eager to overlook any potential problematic aspects of
the new government in order to send back the millions of refugees who
have fled the fighting since 2011.“The world is talking about ‘an
orderly change of government in Syria,'” he told a conference last
month. “But it’s not like a new government that today controls all of
Syria was democratically elected.“This is a terrorist gang that was
previously in Idlib and took over the capital Damascus and other areas.
The world would very much like to see them as a new and stable
government because the countries want to return the refugees on their
territory to Syria. But that’s not the case.”Sa’ar argued that
minorities like Alawites, Kurds, and Christians are threatened by
Sharaa’s new government.“This is an Islamist government that will try to
achieve unified control over all of Syria,” he said.Also last month,
Sa’ar’s deputy Sharren Haskel accused Sharaa of being “a wolf in
[sheep’s] clothes.”Speaking at a press conference, Haskel held up a
photo collage of Sharaa, showing his past as a member of various
jihadist organizations.“It is important to avoid falling for the attempt
to whitewash jihadist [groups] in Syria. We know who they are and their
true nature, even if they change their names, and we understand how
dangerous they are to the West,” said Haskel.Sharaa, now Syria’s de
facto leader, joined al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2003, where he was captured by
US troops. After his release, he created the jihadist Al-Nusra Front to
fight against Assad in Syria.The US State Department designated Sharaa a
terrorist in 2013, and placed a $10 million bounty on his head four
years later. Sharaa eventually broke his organization’s ties with
al-Qaeda, and since 2017 has been working to present HTS as a moderate
organization focused on governance and toppling Assad.The US removed the
bounty in December amid an attempt to improve relations with the new
Syrian leadership.Since coming to power in December, Sharaa has preached
religious coexistence and promised not to enforce strict adherence to
Islamic fundamental principles. He also traded his military garb for
suits, and dropped his nom de guerre, Abu Muhammad al-Julani.Israeli
leaders besides the foreign minister have also been warning against too
readily buying into Sharaa’s ostensible transformation.During a visit to
the recently captured peak of Mount Hermon, Defense Minister Israel
Katz warned that the new Syrian rulers “pretend to present a moderate
image, but belong to the most extreme Islamic sects. ”Meanwhile, Arab
diplomats have hurried to Damascus to meet Sharaa. After a sit-down in
late December, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi expressed support
for “a government that represents all spectrums in Syria,” as well as
for “the drafting of a new constitution,” according to official
Jordanian TV.“We agree to support the Syrian people in rebuilding their
state,” he was quoted as saying, adding that “the Arab countries agree
to support Syria at this stage without any external interference.”Senior
officials from Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also been to Damascus to
meet Sharaa.Ukraine too has rushed to reset ties after the fall of
Assad, who allied himself closely with Russia. Ukraine’s Foreign
Minister Andrii Sybiha met Sharaa last week, and President Volodymyr
Zelensky sent 500 tons of grain to Syria and said Kyiv could contribute
to stabilizing the country.Though HTS leaders celebrated the devastating
Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, the new Syrian leadership
stresses that it is not interested in a fight with Israel.Sharaa said
that his new regime is “committed to the 1974 agreement and we are
prepared to return the UN [monitors],” referring to peacekeeping forces
that manned the demilitarized zone alongside Syrian troops.“We do not
want any conflict, whether with Israel or anyone else, and we will not
let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks. The Syrian people need a
break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its
previous positions,” Sharaa told The Times of London earlier this
month.The new governor of Damascus has also emphasized that the newly
installed government wants to have cordial relations with Israel. “We
have no fear toward Israel, and our problem is not with Israel,” Maher
Marwan told NPR last month. “There exists a people who want coexistence.
They want peace. They don’t want disputes.”“And we don’t want to meddle
in anything that will threaten Israel’s security or any other country’s
security,” he said. “We want peace, and we cannot be an opponent to
Israel or an opponent to anyone.”Israel has also signaled its desire to
have “correct ties” with the new regime, as Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said in early December. But “if this regime allows Iran to
reestablish itself in Syria, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons
or any other weapons to Hezbollah, or attacks us, we will respond
forcefully and we will exact a heavy price from it.”AFP contributed to
this report.
Nasrallah burial to be held after initial 60-day
ceasefire-Katz warns ceasefire in jeopardy if Hezbollah doesn’t withdraw
from south Lebanon-Defense minister says if terror group doesn’t remove
operatives and weapons as stipulated in truce, ‘there will be no
agreement, and Israel will be forced to act independently’By Emanuel
Fabian,and Agencies 5 January 2025, 4:37 pm
Israel will be
“forced to act” if Hezbollah does not pull back from southern Lebanon as
stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, Defense Minister Israel Katz
warned on Sunday.“Israel is interested in the implementation of the
agreement in Lebanon and will continue to enforce it fully and without
compromise to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to
their homes,” Katz said during a visit to an Israel Defense Forces base
in northern Israel, where the military has set up a display of captured
Hezbollah weapons.As part of the truce agreement signed by Israel and
the terror group on November 27, the IDF is required to cede all of its
positions in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army within 60 days. At
the same time, Hezbollah is required to retreat north of the Litani
River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.An
Israeli official told The Times of Israel Sunday that Israel was
recently signaling it could remain in Lebanon after the initial 60-day
ceasefire to pressure the Lebanese Armed Forces to fulfill their
obligations before the period ends.Israel would very much prefer to have
the Lebanese army deploy across southern Lebanon and ensure that
Hezbollah retreats fully from the area, the official said.Israeli forces
have so far withdrawn from two towns in southern Lebanon — Khiam and
Shamaa, but according to the International Organization for Migration,
they remain stationed in some 60 others, and around 160,000 Lebanese
remain displaced.Meanwhile, the IDF has continued to carry out strikes
against Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in south Lebanon. It has
denied violating the terms of the agreement, saying that the strikes
have targeted Hezbollah’s own violations.“But the first condition for
the implementation of the agreement is the complete withdrawal of the
Hezbollah terror organization beyond the Litani River, the dismantling
of all weapons, and the [removal] of the terror infrastructure in the
area by the Lebanese army, something that hasn’t happened yet,” Katz
said.“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and
Israel will be forced to act independently to ensure the safe return of
the residents of the north to their homes,” he added.In a Saturday
speech, Hezbollah’s new chief Naim Qassem threatened that its “patience
may run out” with Israeli behavior even before the end of the 60-day
withdrawal period stipulated in the November truce agreement.The war in
Lebanon was sparked when Hezbollah, unprovoked, began firing at Israel
on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023, a day after fellow Iran-backed
terror group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people
and take 251 hostages, starting the war in Gaza.Israel escalated the
campaign against the terror group in September 2024, decimating its
leadership and much of its capabilities, in a bid to end the persistent
rocket fire that had displaced some 60,000 northerners.Fighting came to a
halt with the start of the ceasefire agreement on November 27, despite
both parties frequently accusing the other of violating its
terms.Nasrallah burial preparations-Meanwhile, a senior Hezbollah
official said on Sunday that long-time terror chief Hassan Nasrallah,
killed by Israel in September, would be laid to rest after the 60-day
initial ceasefire period. Top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa
said preparations were underway for the burials of both the terror
leader and his short-lived successor Hashem Safieddine.Israel
assassinated Nasrallah on September 27 and killed Safieddine days later.
Nasrallah was reportedly buried temporarily in a secret location for
fear Israel would target a large funeral.Safa added that Lebanese
parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with
Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with US envoy
Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a
position.”“Hezbollah is ready to face any aggression in the way it
deems appropriate,” he pledged.Analysts say truce likely to
hold-Hochstein led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile
truce, which analysts say is likely to hold despite the accusations from
both sides about hundreds of ceasefire violations.“The ceasefire
agreement is rather opaque and open to interpretation,” said Firas
Maksad, a senior fellow with the Middle East Institute in Washington.
That flexibility, he said, may give it a better chance of holding in the
face of changing circumstances, including the ouster of Syria’s
longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, just days after the ceasefire took
effect.With Assad gone, Hezbollah lost a vital route for smuggling
weapons from Iran. That further weakened Hezbollah’s hand.“The key
question is not whether the deal will hold, but what version of it will
be implemented,” Maksad said.IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani
has said Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese towns has been slower than
anticipated because of a lack of Lebanese army troops ready to take
over. Lebanon disputes this and says it is waiting for Israel to
withdraw before entering the towns.Shoshani said Israel is satisfied
with the Lebanese army’s control of the areas it has already withdrawn
from, and that while it would prefer a faster transfer of power,
security is its most important objective.Harel Chorev, an expert on
Israel-Lebanon relations at Tel Aviv University, said Israel does not
consider the 60-day withdrawal timetable as “sacred.” He said he
estimates that Lebanon will need to recruit and deploy thousands more
troops before Israel will be ready to hand over control.Over the final
two months of the war, Hezbollah suffered major blows to its leadership,
weapons and forces from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, and a ground
invasion that led to fierce battles in southern Lebanon. The fall of
Assad was another big setback.“The power imbalance suggests Israel may
want to ensure greater freedom of action after the 60-day period,”
Maksad, the analyst, said. And Hezbollah, in its weakened position, now
has a “strong interest” in making sure the deal doesn’t fall apart
altogether “despite Israeli violations,” he said.While Hezbollah may not
be in a position to return to open war with Israel, it or other terror
groups could mount attacks using light weaponry if IDF troops remain in
southern Lebanon, said former Lebanese army Gen. Hassan Jouni.And even
if Israel does withdraw all of its ground forces, Jouni said, the IDF
could continue to carry out sporadic airstrikes in Lebanon, much as it
has done in Syria for years.Times of Israel staff contributed to this
report.
High Court: State entitled to hold bodies of Israeli
terror suspects for negotiations-Court has ‘exceedingly limited’ scope
for intervention in security matters, justice writes; representatives of
slain men say ruling allows state to violate citizens’ ‘basic rights By
Jeremy Sharon-5 January 2025, 10:05 pm
The High Court of Justice
ruled unanimously on Sunday to reject six petitions demanding that the
state release for burial the bodies of slain Israeli citizens accused of
acts of terrorism.The court ruled that previous decisions by the High
Court have upheld the government’s authority not to release the bodies
of such individuals, and that since the security cabinet has determined
that the bodies of the men in question may be needed in the framework of
an agreement for the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza,
the court has no scope for intervention.The Adalah legal aid
organization, which represented the petitioners, denounced the ruling
for allowing the state to “violate the basic rights of its citizens,”
and said it amounted to “the suspension of the rule of law.”Petitions
were filed against the state last year by relatives of six men, all of
whom are Arab citizens of Israel, whose bodies security services have
refused to release for burial in accordance with the decisions of the
security cabinet.Authorities say five of those men were killed by
security forces while carrying out or trying to carry out terror
attacks, while the sixth was a terror suspect who died in the
hospital.The petitions argued that the security cabinet’s decision not
to release the bodies of the men was unlawful, taken without legal
authority, and did “severe and blatant harm” to the dignity of the dead
and of their families.At least two of the petitioners also argued that
their relative’s actions had been carried out due to mental illness, and
not on the basis of nationalistic or terrorist motivations.The state
argued in response that negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages
and the dead being held by Hamas were “dynamic” and were at a sensitive
stage, and that at present “it is not possible to rule out that holding
the bodies of these terrorists will be needed for the purpose of
[returning] the captives and missing.”In Sunday’s decision, Justice
David Mintz, who penned the opinion for the three-justice panel, wrote
that the court has “the most limited scope” for intervening in
government decisions relating to security decisions, and that such
intervention is reserved for extreme situations.The conservative Mintz
also wrote that military commanders have the authority under a 1945,
pre-state regulation to withhold the release of bodies of terrorists,
and that the court previously ruled in September of last year that this
applied to Israeli citizens as well.The justice conceded that the
state’s position on not releasing the bodies of Israeli citizens has
changed of late, since it had previously been reserved for situations
when there is a legal position paper from security services stating that
the measure was necessary.The state’s position under the current
circumstances, as laid out in a security cabinet decision in September
2024, is that as long as Israeli hostages and the bodies of Israeli
civilians are being held in Gaza, Israel will continue to hold onto the
bodies of Israeli citizens who were convicted of or are suspected of
terror offenses. The cabinet decided in December 2024 to persist with
that policy for at least another three months.“As has been determined
more than once, the extent of this court’s intervention in policy
decisions made by the [security] cabinet on matters of a distinct
security nature is extremely limited, and is reserved only for
exceptional and extreme cases in which a serious flaw has been found in
the decision,” wrote Mintz.“The cabinet’s decision to hold the bodies of
Israeli civilian terrorists — temporarily and for a limited time — at
this time does not reveal any flaw that justifies our
intervention.”Mintz conceded that the security cabinet decision was a
blanket order, and that the circumstances of the six bodies currently
being held by the security services, and specifically whether they would
assist negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages, had not yet
been evaluated.He nevertheless asserted that the security cabinet’s
decision “did not come against an empty background,” but rather followed
“the murderous terror attack which began on October 7, 2023,” when 251
Israeli hostages and dead were taken captive, and “100 of them still
being held in captivity.”He added that terror groups in Gaza are holding
numerous bodies of slain Israelis and that these were taken
specifically for use in negotiations.“This is a temporary and
time-limited decision which is reviewed from time to time by the
cabinet,” he said. “In light of this, and with respect to the current
security reality, the negotiations currently being conducted and their
dynamic nature… we did not find that there was any room for our
intervention,” concluded Mintz.Adalah denounced the decision, saying:
“Practically speaking, it totally suspends the principle of the rule of
law and constitutes a further deterioration for the significance of the
citizenship of Palestinian citizens of the State of Israel.”Adalah added
that the decision “gives a green light to the policy of accumulating
the bodies of civilians and holding them hostage without any specific
examination of their case,” including in cases when authorities have not
yet ruled that the background to the incident was terrorism.“This is an
extremely dangerous decision that gives the government the green light
to act above the rule of law in all matters related to the violation of
the fundamental rights of its citizens. We are diligently studying the
ruling in depth and will consider further legal steps accordingly.”
Biden
administration said prepping $8 billion arms package for Israel,
including heavy bombs-Deal, which still needs congressional approval,
reportedly also includes supply of air-to-air missiles, artillery
shells, ammunition for attack helicopters and small diameter bombs By
Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 12:41 pm-JAN 04,25
The Biden
administration has informally notified the US Congress of a proposed $8
billion arms deal with Israel that includes munitions for fighter jets
and attack helicopters alongside artillery shells, Axios reported on
Friday, citing two sources.The sources told Axios that the deal could be
partly supplied from current US stocks, but most would take a year or
more to deliver. The deal will presumably be the last to be approved by
the outgoing Biden administration.The package — which needs to be okayed
by the US House and Senate foreign relations committees — reportedly
includes AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for fighter jets to
defend against airborne threats, including drones; 155mm artillery
shells; Hellfire AGM-114 missiles for attack helicopters; small diameter
bombs; JDAM tail kits that turn “dumb bombs” into precision munitions,
500-lb warheads and bomb fuzes.In late spring, the US held up a shipment
that included 500-lb bombs, but these were subsequently delivered.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained about this policy in
November, saying that such setbacks would soon end, an apparent
reference to the incoming Trump administration.Axios quoted a source
saying that the State Department told Congress the deal is aimed at
“supporting Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of
critical munitions and air defense capabilities.”And it quoted a US
official saying, “The President has made clear Israel has a right to
defend its citizens, consistent with international law and international
humanitarian law, and to deter aggression from Iran and its proxy
organizations. We will continue to provide the capabilities necessary
for Israel’s defense.”A US official confirmed the Axios report to
Reuters. The US State Department did not respond to a request for
comment from the news agency.Anti-Israel protesters have for months
demanded an arms embargo against Israel, but US policy has largely
remained unchanged.In August, the United States approved the sale of $20
billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel. A $680
million arms sale was confirmed by the US in November.The Defense
Ministry said in August that the US has sent over 50,000 tons of
armaments and military equipment to Israel since the war began.The Biden
administration says it is helping its ally defend against Iran-backed
terror groups like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis
in Yemen.Over the past month, the Houthi ballistic missiles have sent
millions of Israelis to bomb shelters in the middle of the night.In
Gaza, fighting in the coastal enclave’s north continues, with Hamas
still demonstrating it is still capable of firing rockets at Israel
after nearly 15 months of war.While in Lebanon, a delicate ceasefire
holds as Israeli forces continue to uncover Hezbollah infrastructure in
the country’s south.Aggressions against Israel throughout the Middle
East, which have been described as a seven-front war, began with the
Hamas October 7, 2023 massacre, which saw terrorists invade Israel,
killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.The
Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip
have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though
the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians
and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in
battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on
October 7.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and
stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting
from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and
mosques.There is also a growing humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with
many of those displaced living in tents. Israeli authorities say they
have allowed thousands of aid trucks carrying food, water, medical
equipment and shelter supplies into Gaza, with much of it looted by
Hamas and armed gangs. International aid agencies say Israeli forces
have been hampering aid deliveries, making the situation even worse.
IDF
destroys Hamas terror compound overlooking Israel; rocket hits aid
crossing-Palestinians report dozens killed in Strip in past day, as
Israeli officials at UN defend raid on north Gaza hospital from last
week By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies Today, 5:37 pm-JAN 4,25
The
Israeli military said Saturday that its troops had in recent days
demolished an entire residential complex in northern Gaza, close to Beit
Hanoun, which had been used as a hideout and command center by senior
Hamas commanders.The military said the “officers’ neighborhood” had
high-rise buildings overlooking the Sderot area of southern Israel and
served as a “central terror complex” with anti-tank firing positions,
booby traps, tunnels and rocket launchers aimed at Israel.The complex
overlooks the Israeli community of Netiv Ha’asara and was considered a
threat to the rail line to Sderot, which hasn’t operated since Oct. 7,
2023.The IDF said combat engineers destroyed the entire complex and the
terror infrastructure it housed over the past week.On Saturday evening a
rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip struck the Erez Border
Crossing, the military said. There were no immediate reports of injuries
and it was unclear if major damage was caused. It marked the ninth day
in a row of rocket fire from Gaza. Sirens had sounded in nearby Netiv
Ha’asara during the attack.The crossing, which in the past facilitated
people’s movement between Gaza and Israel, is being used to bring aid
into Gaza.At the same time, Palestinian medics said over 60 people had
been killed in strikes across Gaza over the last day, including 12 in a
house in Gaza City early on Saturday. Medics said several children were
among those killed.A recent surge in Israeli operations comes amid a
renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and bring home
Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on
January 20.Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha,
which were broken down by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.On Friday, US
President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to broker the
talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to
reaching an agreement, but it was unclear how close the two sides
were.Also on Friday, Israeli officials at the UN defended its raid on a
north Gaza hospital last week.Meanwhile, the UN human rights chief
called the justification unsubstantiated and the World Health
Organization urged Israel to release the hospital’s director from
detention.Israel’s UN Ambassador in Geneva Daniel Meron posted on social
media a letter he sent Friday to the WHO and Volker Turk, the UN human
rights official. It said the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital a week ago was
“triggered by irrefutable evidence” that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic
Jihad terrorists were using the hospital.He said Israeli forces had
taken “extraordinary measures to protect civilian life while acting on
credible intelligence.”Turk told the UN Security Council on Friday that
Israel did not “substantiate many of these claims, which are often vague
and broad. In some cases, they appear to be contradicted by publicly
available information.”“I am calling for independent, thorough and
transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks on hospitals,
healthcare infrastructure and medical personnel, as well as the alleged
misuse of such facilities,” he told the 15-member body.Hamas has fought
from within hospitals throughout the war and periodically hid some of
the hostages kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023, inside them.
International law generally prohibits targeting hospitals during
wartime, but hospitals can lose this protection if they are used for
military purposes.Israel has repeatedly raided hospitals it says were
used as hideouts and command centers by terror groups throughout the
war, making dozens and sometimes hundreds of arrests of terror suspects
during such operations.Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Miller
said more than “240 terrorists were apprehended” during the latest raid,
“including 15 who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre” in southern
Israel in 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The
hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, was also detained in the
raid.“We suspect him of being a Hamas operative, as hundreds of Hamas
and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital
under his management. He is currently being investigated by Israeli
security forces,” Miller said.The WHO is deeply concerned about Abu
Safiya, said WHO representative Richard Peeperkorn, adding: “We have
lost contact with him since and call for his immediate release.”The
United States is gathering information about Abu Safiya, Deputy US
Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the Security Council.Palestinian
UN envoy Riyad Mansour broke down in tears as he recalled words that a
doctor from Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Mahmoud
Abu Nujaila, wrote at Gaza’s Al Awda Hospital before he was killed in a
strike in November 2023.Mansour said that Nujaila had written on a
hospital whiteboard used for planning surgeries: “Whoever stays until
the end, will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.”Rocket
sirens sounded several times Friday in Israeli communities along the
Gaza border, in the eighth straight day of incoming fire from the
enclave, as the IDF said it launched airstrikes against some 40 staging
grounds of terror operatives and Hamas command centers across the
territory.A siren in Be’eri midday Friday was triggered by a
surface-to-air missile launched at an Israeli Air Force helicopter
flying over Gaza, according to military sources. The shoulder-launched
missile, fired by a gunman in the Bureij area of central Gaza, did not
come close to hitting the helicopter, and was successfully shot down by
the Iron Dome air defense system, the sources said.Rocket fire from Gaza
has generally become rare since the early months of the ongoing
multifront war.Following the sirens in Be’eri, the IDF issued an
evacuation warning for Palestinian civilians in the Bureij area of
central Gaza. “Terror organizations are once again firing rockets from
this area that has received warnings several times in the past,” Col.
Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman said on X, attaching
a map of the areas to be evacuated.Civilians were urged to head for the
Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza before the IDF
launched strikes on the area.The IDF also said Friday it had launched
airstrikes against some 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past
day, including staging grounds for terror operatives as well as Hamas
command centers. The strikes were launched by the IAF in a joint
operation with the IDF’s Southern Command, using intelligence provided
by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet security
agency.The IDF said dozens of Hamas operatives were gathered at the
targeted sites, from which they planned and launched attacks against
troops in Gaza and against Israel.Some sites were embedded in former
schools, which have also served as shelters for displaced
Palestinians.The IDF said this was “another example of Hamas’s cynical
and systematic use of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza
Strip for terror purposes.” The military said it took steps to mitigate
civilian harm in the strikes, including by using “precision munitions,
aerial surveillance and other intelligence.”Also on Friday, the IDF
released drone footage from one former school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia
where Hamas operatives had been holed up. The video showed several
assault rifles inside the damaged school building.According to the IDF,
the school was searched by troops of the Givati Brigade, who found
numerous weapons. In a nearby residential building, the military said,
the troops found RPGs in a child’s bedroom.Meanwhile, COGAT, the Defense
Ministry body responsible for overseeing the delivery of humanitarian
aid to Gaza, said that 1,200 units of blood and 3,000 units of plasma
were delivered Thursday to Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza’s Khan
Younis via the Kerem Shalom Crossing.COGAT said the blood and plasma
were delivered “to support ongoing treatments and maintain essential
operations at the hospital.” The operation was carried out in
coordination with international organizations, COGAT said, adding the
transfer underwent “stringent security inspection.According to Gaza’s
Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 45,000 people in the Strip have
been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll
cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and
fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as
of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October
7.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses
that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from
civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.Israel’s
toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military
operations along the border with the Strip stands at 395. The toll
includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a
Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Report: Syrian leader asked
US to press Israel to withdraw its forces from buffer zone-Amid reports
of more Islamist slant in Syrian school curricula, Ahmed al-Sharaa
hosts German and French foreign ministers, who warn that Europe won’t
fund ‘new Islamist structures’By ToI Staff Today, 3:00 pm-JAN 4,25
Syrian
leader Ahmed al-Sharaa demanded that the United States tell Israel to
pull its forces out of the border buffer zone and the Syrian side of
Mount Hermon, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Friday.Israeli
officials told the outlet that they have received no official request on
the matter, adding that the Israel Defense Forces’ presence at and
across the border is necessary to protect its security.Per the unsourced
report, the rebel leader also asked the US to provide humanitarian aid
to the country.Sharaa, who came into power last month after rebel forces
surged across the country and ended the Assad regime’s 50-year rule,
has been trying to show his administration to be moderate, engaging in
talks with Western officials to have sanctions against his country
removed.On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her
French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot met with Sharaa in Damascus, marking
the highest-level diplomatic visit by a major Western power since the
fall of the Assad regime.In a press conference following the meeting,
Baerbock said lifting sanctions on Syria will depend on the political
process going forward, adding that Europe will not fund the creation of
new Islamist structures in Syria.“Europe will support, but Europe would
not be a sponsor of new Islamist structures,” Baerbock said.Baerbock
said she and Barrot lobbied Sharaa to cut ties with Russia, which was a
key ally of the Assad regime, the report said.According to the
Telegraph, Baerbock added that “women’s rights are a yardstick” for
determining the progress in Syria’s human rights situation and stressed
that European support is contingent upon all groups in Syria — including
women and Kurds — being included in the country’s transitional
process.The Telegraph reported that before the meeting, Sharaa shook
hands with Barrot but greeted Baerbock by placing his hand over his
heart, which is common among Muslim men when interacting with women.The
German Bild outlet called the move a “scandal.” Sharaa was previously
criticized for asking a woman to cover her hair before taking a
photograph with her. Baerbock did not cover her hair during her
visit.Speaking before the meeting, the German diplomat warned against
“excessively long deadlines for elections,” the Telegraph reported.
Sharaa has said it could take up to four years for new elections to be
held in Syria.Baerbock also called out “steps to Islamize the justice or
education systems.”Baerbock’s warning followed reports that the new
government has already decided to implement a more Islamist slant into
Syrian schools’ curricula.One proposed change would see the term
“defending the nation” being changed to “defending Allah.”The reform
also calls for removing evolution and the Big Bang Theory from science
education and excluding references to deities worshiped in Syria before
Islam. Moreover, the historical role of Queen Zenobia, who ruled the
ancient Syrian city of Palmyra during the Roman era, seems to have been
diminished.Syrian Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri downplayed the
changes, saying curriculums will remain unchanged until specialized
committees review and revise them, the BBC reported.According to
al-Qadri, the only changes implemented were the removal of content
glorifying the “defunct Assad regime” and the replacement of the old
regime’s flag with the Syrian revolutionary flag. He also said
“inaccuracies” in Islamic content were corrected.According to the BBC,
the changes have been welcomed by some but have also drawn criticism
from activists fearing that the country’s new leadership will not
incorporate outside voices when implementing new policies.Some have
called for protests to be held before the new school term begins on
Sunday.The new government will hold a “National Dialogue Conference” to
address the activists’ fears, having already held meetings with various
minority groups in Syria. The activists believe, however, that
unilateral changes like those in the education system undermine such
efforts.
Top IDF officer’s warning of Hamas onslaught plans was
hidden in Aug. 2023 – report-Channel 12 cites ‘Maj. Nun’ as saying that
while IDF was preparing for only four simultaneous incursions from Gaza,
Hamas was planning a far more significant raid-By ToI Staff Today,
11:17 am-JAN 5,24
An assessment from a senior Israeli
intelligence officer in August 2023 warning that Hamas was readying for a
large-scale attack was suppressed and not passed on to senior military
brass in the months prior to the Palestinian terror group’s brutal
October 7, 2023, massacre, according to a Saturday evening
report.According to Channel 12, a senior Israel Defense Forces official
named only by his first initial as “Maj. Nun” wrote the assessment that
there had been a change in the feasibility of war with Hamas, based on
dire warnings from two counterintelligence officers from the military’s
8200 signals intelligence unit, as he was leaving his role in August
last year.The report said that in the presentation, Nun had warned that
while intelligence indicated that Hamas was preparing for a very broad
operation, the IDF was readying only for a scenario of up to four
simultaneous incursions from the Gaza Strip.He wrote that the
intelligence indicated that “several basic assumptions” should be
challenged, according to the report, and suggested resuming monitoring
Hamas’s elite Nukhba force. It was the Nukhba force that led thousands
of Palestinian terrorists across the border into Israel on October 7,
2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid many acts
of brutality and sexual assault.Unit 8200, one of the IDF units pointed
to as playing a role in the failure to prevent October 7, reportedly
stopped listening in to the handheld radios of Hamas operatives in Gaza
around a year before the onslaught because it was seen as a “waste of
effort.”Nun was reportedly the officer responsible for presenting a
document obtained by Unit 8200 in April 2022 setting out Hamas’s plans
for what proved to be the October 7 invasion and slaughter in southern
Israel.The existence of the document, which Israeli military
intelligence codenamed “Jericho Walls,” was first reported by the Kan
broadcaster and detailed by The New York Times in November 2023.As
reported by Hebrew media last year, it was not seen by IDF Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi before the October 7 attack. It was also not
seen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-defense minister Yoav
Gallant, or the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee.According to the timeline laid out by Channel 12 on Saturday,
the IDF chief was briefed on Hamas’s military training drills in
September 2023, but Nun’s warnings were left out of the
presentation.Instead, the warnings were assessed by the senior
official’s commanding officer, named in the report as “Lt. Gen. Alef,”
as warning of a “pompous and unrealistic scenario.” He ordered Nun’s
successor to create a new document on Hamas training preparations to
present to Halevi that did not mention the “Jericho Walls”
plan.According to the reports, the 40-page “Jericho Walls” plan laid out
almost exactly how Hamas eventually wound up carrying out the
attack.The Times wrote: “The document called for a barrage of rockets at
the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and
automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel
en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which
happened on Oct. 7.”Israeli intelligence officers who did see the plan
reportedly determined that the terror group was incapable of carrying
out an assault of such a large scope — or possibly unwilling — and
dismissed concerns about it.Saturday night’s report was the latest in a
long series of revelations that began emerging soon after October 7
about intelligence material in Israel’s hands pointing to the looming
Hamas invasion that was ignored, dismissed, or misinterpreted. The TV
channel said its report was compiled under military censorship
limitations.Last month, the IDF chief instructed the military to
“accelerate the timetables” for the conclusion of its investigations
into the October 7 onslaught, to meet a January 31 deadline set by
Defense Minister Israel Katz.The government has refused to appoint a
state commission of inquiry and has opposed any probes that could
include looking at political failures surrounding the devastating
surprise attack, its lead-up, and its aftermath.The attack sparked the
ongoing war in Gaza, which has also seen fighting on several other
fronts as well against Iran — which backs Hamas — and its various other
proxy groups in the region.
Houthis claim to have targeted power
plant near Hadera-Late-night Houthi ballistic missile attack thwarted by
IDF, without widespread sirens-No injuries or damage reported; in
contrast with other recent attacks, warnings sound only in a single town
By Emanuel Fabian,AFP and ToI Staff Today, 7:36 am-JAN 5,25
A
ballistic missile fired toward Israel from Yemen was intercepted early
Sunday morning, the military said, with air raid sirens largely
remaining silent despite the threat.The attack by the Iran-backed Houthi
rebel group just after midnight was the latest in a series of
middle-of-the-night attacks that have sent millions scrambling for
shelter, upending daily life in Israel and occasionally causing
widespread destruction.The Israel Defense Forces said the single
ballistic missile “was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli
territory.”The Houthis later took responsibility for the missile launch,
claiming to have targeted the Orot Rabin power plant near Hadera, in
the north of Israel’s heavily populated central coastal region. It would
mark the deepest claimed strike in Israel by the Houthis. Previous
attacks by the Houthis have targeted the Tel Aviv area and southern
Israel.The Iran-backed terror group claimed that “the operation
successfully achieved its objectives.”Sirens only sounded in the town of
Talmei Elazar, an agricultural community near Hadera. The military said
the warnings were triggered there “according to protocol,” without
providing details.In previous attacks, sirens have sounded across wide
swaths of the country, seemingly due to fears of falling shrapnel, which
can cover a large area due to the speed of the long-range missiles and
the height at which they are intercepted.Loud blasts were reported in
several areas around central Israel following the interception, and
videos showed flaming pieces of shrapnel streaking toward Earth.Footage
posted to social media shows fragments falling following an apparent
successful interception of a Houthi ballistic missile fired at Israel.
pic.twitter.com/B9Znw3T2Sj — Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian)
January 4, 2025-There were no reports of impacts, injuries or damage.A
spokesperson for the Houthis accused Israel of lying about the
interception, and said the attacks would continue until Israel’s
military campaign against the Hamas terror group in Gaza ended.Following
the attack, the Houthi’s Saba news agency and Al-Masirah TV reported
three raids east of the Houthi-controlled city of Saada, in Yemen’s
mountainous northwest, attributing the operations to the United States
and Britain.There was no immediate comment from either military.The
Iran-backed rebels have stepped up their attacks since a November
ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed terror group,
Hezbollah, in Lebanon.While most of the missiles and drones launched
from Yemen have been intercepted, one missile wounded 16 people in Tel
Aviv in December, according to the military and emergency services.A
number of people have also been injured while rushing for shelter.On
Friday, the military said it successfully shot down a ballistic fired by
the Houthis in the hours before dawn, though a fragment of a projectile
impacted near the central city of Modiin.No physical injuries were
reported as a direct result of the attack. However, medics treated at
least nine people who suffered from acute anxiety and 12 who were hurt
while seeking shelter, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.Later
on Friday morning, a drone launched at Israel from Yemen was
successfully intercepted by the Israeli Air Force, the military
said.Israel and Western allies have carried out several sorties against
Houthi targets in Yemen, including Sanaa’s international airport, but
they have failed to stem the attacks.According to the IDF, the Houthis
have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the
past 12 months, including 13 missiles and 10 drones since the start of
December.The Yemeni rebels have also been firing at ships in the Red Sea
and Gulf of Aden — destabilizing a vital shipping lane and prompting
reprisal strikes by the United States and sometimes Britain against
Houthi targets.
Analysis-Taboo no more: One in five Golan Druze
now holds Israeli citizenship-Requests for naturalization hit an
all-time high as communities warm to the idea. While future trends are
unpredictable, developments in Syria will have a huge impact By Fadi
Amun in partnership with Shomrim Today, 6:08 am-jan 6,25
Against
the backdrop of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, the fall of the Assad
regime, and the tragic death of 12 Druze children in Majdal Shams in a
Hezbollah rocket attack, the number of Druze residents applying for
Israeli citizenship in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights might be a
reflection of local sentiment — and perhaps also of attitudes on the
nearby Syrian side of the volatile border.Data obtained by Shomrim
reveals that the number of citizenship applications in the Israeli Golan
Heights remains at a historic high. Over 20 percent of Golan Druze hold
Israeli citizenship, more than double than at the turn of the
millennium.The statistics were obtained from the Population and
Immigration Authority thanks to a request filed through the Movement for
Freedom of Information, an Israeli NGO that works to promote
governmental transparency.Israel captured much of the Golan Heights in
the 1967 Six Day War; the post-war borders zig-zagged between Druze
villages, cutting families and communities off from one another. When
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, it offered all residents
Israeli citizenship, though only a small minority took it up. Recently,
though, that number has grown.The stats-Druze naturalizations peaked in
2022, when 438 citizenship requests were submitted, of which 419 were
approved. In 2023, applications dipped slightly to 406, of which 389
were granted, and in the first 11 months of 2024, there were 352
requests, of which 318 were approved. Assuming the trend continued
through the end of the year, 2024 likely ended with a similar number of
requests as 2023.Looking at the broader picture, over the past three
years (2022-2024), Israel approved 1,126 citizenship requests from Druze
in the Israeli Golan Heights, compared to just 539 in the five-year
period between 2017 and 2021.Based on data from the Population and
Immigration Authority, approximately 6,000 of the over 29,000 Druze
residents in the Golan Heights — about 20.45% — currently hold Israeli
citizenship. Compared to 2022, this is an increase of around 3.6% of the
total Druze community in the area. Part of this increase is the result
of more applications being submitted and part is the result of couples
with Israeli citizenship having children.Complex history-While applying
for Israeli citizenship has not been a rarity in the Druze community for
many years, it is still something of a controversial issue. While there
are no longer boycotts organized against those who apply for Israeli
citizenship, as was the case for many years, it is still hard to find
anyone willing to talk openly about their decision — and even within
families, there is much secrecy surrounding the issue.For the vast
majority of the time since Israel occupied the Golan Heights, the Druze
residents were fiercely loyal to the Syrian regime, for many and varied
reasons, chief among which was the possibility that the territory could
be returned to Syrian control as part of a peace treaty with Israel. The
Assad regime — first under Hafez Assad and then his son, Bashar —
ensured that Damascus’s relations with the Druze community in the Golan
remained strong, in part by offering them generous financial incentives,
such as importing massive quantities of apples from the Golan,
subsidizing university studies in Syria for young Druze men and women
and allowing family visits between the Israeli and Syrian Golan.Despite
the efforts of the Syrian regime, however, the attractiveness of these
incentives wore off over the years. This led to a decline in agriculture
in the Golan, while other economic sectors such as tourism and
construction grew, strengthening the community’s ties with Israel.
Moreover, the Syrian civil war made studying in Damascus a less
attractive option and interfered with family visits.This process,
accompanied by a consistent increase in the number of requests for
Israeli citizenship, unfolded to a large extent behind the scenes — at
least until the issue was brought to the fore by the October 7, 2023,
Hamas onslaught on southern Israel and a number of subsequent events.For
example, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas invasion, Druze local
authorities in the Golan set up armed rapid-response teams to defend
their communities. In so doing, they openly cooperated with the IDF and
the State of Israel, notwithstanding the heavy symbolism of working with
the Israeli military and government. Another critical moment was the
Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children on a soccer field in the
Druze town of Majdal Shams, which provoked massive anger toward the
Assad regime — Hezbollah’s ally — as well as an expectation that Israel
would take decisive action against those responsible for the tragedy.The
Syrian effect-Dr. Salim Brik, a researcher on Arab society and a
political science lecturer at Haifa University and the Open University,
believes that the main reason for the upward trend in citizenship
requests is the assessment within the Druze community that Syria will
not assume control of the Golan Heights any time soon. Another reason,
he argues, is the demise of the once-fierce opposition within the
community to taking Israeli citizenship and the absence of social
sanctions for doing so. Now, he says, the issue of applying for Israeli
citizenship is seen as a personal choice.Dr. Yusri Hazran, a research
fellow and senior lecturer at Shalem College, sees things differently.
He says that there are four main reasons why Druze residents of the
Golan Heights apply for Israeli citizenship: the ongoing decline in the
political protest against Israel; the absence of an alternative to
Israeli rule, coupled with the fresh understanding that Assad’s
successors in Syria are bad news for the Druze community; integration
into the Israeli economy; and a desire to study in Israeli academic
institutions.“The Druze see their mother country disintegrating with the
fall of the Assad regime and they are looking for an anchor,” he says,
pointing to the rapid-response teams as a significant example of the
change. “I believe that the upward trend in citizenship requests will
continue. I can’t think of anything that would change the graph in the
coming years. On the contrary, I estimate that a further increase is
expected.”All of the researchers with whom Shomrim spoke were of the
opinion that the fall of the Assad regime was a moment of historic
significance for the Druze and will have a long-term effect on their
naturalization. Whether or not the new regime is less oppressive and
whether this will change the trend remains to be seen.Dr. Tayer Abu
Salah is an international relations researcher and the head of the Golan
Association for the Development of Arab Villages who lives in Majdal
Shams. He says that the number of naturalizations surprised him — but
only because he expected them to be higher. Based on his familiarity
with the community, he explains that in recent weeks the Druze have been
analyzing events in Syria and hoping for positive developments. What
unfolds on the Syrian front will have a massive impact on their future
in general and on the naturalization issue in particular.Asked what the
Druze community’s considerations are when analyzing the Syrian
situation, Abu Salah mentions regional alliances which will become
reality under pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump, moderate
comments from Syria’s new leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and Israel’s
record of withdrawing from territory it captured during the Six Day
War.“If what happens in Syria is positive, it will have a positive
impact on the Golan — and vice versa,” says Abu Salah. “In any case, it
must be pointed out that, even after 57 years of Israeli occupation,
most of the Druze community in the Golan is still loyal to their country
of birth, which is Syria.”
Charlie Hebdo to mark 10 years since
terror attack with special God-mocking edition-Magazine to feature
‘funniest and meanest’ depictions of God; Macron, Hidalgo to attend
memorials at satirical weekly’s then-office, kosher supermarket attacked
in related assault By Adam PLOWRIGHT and Anne Pascale Reboul Today,
2:43 pm-JAN 4,25
PARIS (AFP) — French satirical newspaper Charlie
Hebdo is set to publish a special God-mocking edition next week to mark
10 years since an attack on its offices by jihadist gunmen left eight
staff members dead.The anniversary of the shocking attack on freedom of
expression is being used by the atheist publication to send a message of
defiance to the extremists who burst into its offices on January 7,
2015, then fled shouting they had “killed Charlie Hebdo.”“They didn’t
kill Charlie Hebdo,” editor-in-chief Gerard Biard told AFP in a recent
interview, adding that “we want it to last for a thousand years.”The
attack by two Paris-born brothers was revenge for Charlie Hebdo’s
decision to repeatedly publish caricatures lampooning the Prophet
Muhammad, Islam’s most revered figure.The massacre of some of France’s
most famous cartoonists signaled the start of a gruesome series of
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State plots that claimed hundreds of lives in
France and Western Europe over the following years.Two days after the
attack, a terrorist killed four French Jews and held 15 people hostage
at Paris’s Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket to demand that the Charlie
Hebdo perpetrators not be harmed.Next week’s edition is set to feature
the results of a typically provocative competition launched in November
to draw the “funniest and meanest” depictions of God. It will be
revealed on Sunday evening.It is intended for “everyone who is fed up
with living in a society directed by God and religion. Everyone who is
fed up with the so-called good and evil. Everyone who is fed up with
religious leaders dictating our lives.”French President Emmanuel Macron
and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will attend commemoration events on Tuesday
at the location of the attack and at Hyper Cacher.Solidarity-The
Charlie Hebdo killings profoundly shocked France. The attack fueled an
outpouring of sympathy expressed in a wave of “Je Suis Charlie” (“I Am
Charlie”) solidarity with its lost contributors including famed
cartoonists Cabu, Charb, Honore, Tignous and Wolinski.But it also led to
questioning, and in some cases a furious backlash, against Charlie’s
deliberately offensive, often crude strain of humor, which is part of a
long-standing French tradition of caricaturing.Since its founding in
1970, the publication has regularly tested the boundaries of French
hate-speech laws, which offer protection to minorities but allow for
blasphemy and the mockery of religion.Free-speech defenders in France
see the ability to criticize and ridicule religion as a fundamental
right acquired through centuries of struggle to escape the influence of
the Catholic Church.Critics say the weekly sometimes crosses the line
into Islamophobia, pointing to some of the Prophet Muhammad caricatures
published in the past that appeared to associate Islam with
terrorism.“The idea is not to publish anything, it’s to publish
everything that makes people doubt, brings them to reflect, to ask
questions, to not end up closed in by ideology,” director Riss, who
survived the 2015 attack, told Le Monde in November.“Basically, not
being screwed over by what’s fashionable.”Windfall-The attack on Charlie
Hebdo brought a mostly marginal publication into the mainstream and
propelled it to the attention of hundreds of millions worldwide who
often struggled to understand its contents.More than three million
people marched in solidarity in the streets of France afterward, and
around 40 world leaders flew into Paris to make a statement in defense
of the free press.A special post-attack edition of the newspaper sold
more than eight million copies and donations poured in, giving the
publication a financial windfall at odds with its anarcho-leftist
spirit.Subscriptions ballooned to more than 200,000 but have now fallen
back to around 30,000, with another 20,000 copies sold at newsstands and
in shops each week, which still exceeds Charlie Hebdo’s sales before
the attack.Thanks to new recruits, around 12 cartoonists are back
working on the magazine at a secret, heavily protected
office.Controversy is never far away.A front-page depiction of the
Virgin Mary in August suffering from the mpox virus led to two legal
complaints from Catholic organizations in France.A cartoon by Riss in
2016 that linked a child refugee found dead on a beach in Turkey to
foreign sexual attackers in Germany caused outrage, as did another the
year after poking fun at French First Lady Brigitte Macron’s age by
showing her pregnant.On the first anniversary of the attack in 2015,
Charlie Hebdo published a front-page cartoon of a bearded God-like
figure carrying a Kalashnikov rifle.“One year after, the killer is still
on the run,” read the title.Times of Israel Staff contributed to this
report.
Israel lays out NIS 3.4 billion plan to get northerners
back home in March-Internally displaced for more than a year, returning
residents will be eligible for assistance grants of up to NIS 25,360 per
adult and NIS 12,680 per child By Sharon Wrobel-5 January 2025, 9:43 pm
The
Finance Ministry on Sunday presented a NIS 3.4 billion ($934 million)
compensation plan to help bring thousands of evacuated residents of
Israel’s battered northern communities back home in early March, after
more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.“The key to returning home
is security and we are not going to compromise on this matter,” Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, at a press conference in Jerusalem.
“Residents of the north are returning to a different security reality,
and we will make sure that quiet is maintained for years.”The
announcement of the return-to-home plan comes after extended delays and
numerous complaints from residents of Israel’s northern communities, who
have been internally displaced for more than a year.According to the
compensation plan, northern residents who return to their homes on March
7 will receive grants for a maximum NIS 25,360 per adult and NIS 12,680
per child for up to seven kids. A family with two parents and four
children will receive a total grant of NIS 101,440.These grants consist
of two tracks: a grant to assist with the return home and a grant to
compensate returnees for the indirect damage caused to their homes,
after they were abandoned for more than a year. Homes that sustained
damage from direct attacks such as rockets are eligible for government
compensation for reparations by the property tax authority.The grant to
assist with the return home amounts to NIS 15,360 per adult and NIS
7,680 per child. A household with four children will receive NIS 61,440.
In addition, a grant of 10,000 per adult and 5,000 per child will be
allocated as compensation for indirect damage caused to property due to
abandonment, including broken electrical appliances, such as
refrigerators or other infrastructure. The grants will be received via
payment by the National Insurance Institute.Families with children will
be given the option to remain in their current locations and
state-funded accommodation to be able to finish the school year and move
back home to the north in June. However, the size of their back-to-home
grant will be reduced over time, while the eligibility to their home
abandonment grant will not be affected.Dozens of communities in the
north of the country were evacuated after the October 7 massacre in
2023, as the Hezbollah terror group began launching near-daily attacks
from across the Lebanon border. Some 60,000 northerners remained
displaced following months of Hezbollah’s rocket fire.Even after a
tenuous Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, which took effect in late November
and is set to expire at the end of the month, many residents of the
battered border kibbutz communities who are staying in state-funded
accommodation, including hotels, have been worried about their safety
and wary that the peace will hold.Also speaking at the press conference,
MK Ze’ev Elkin, head of the Northern Rehabilitation Directorate, said
that out of the NIS 3.4 billion budget, funds will also be allocated to
local authorities in the north to prepare for the return of residents in
March. The funds will partly be allocated to ensure that educational
institutions such as schools and daycare centers will be reopened and
will operate, even though some residents may decide to defer their
return home until June.“The message for me is not just the grants, but
that there is an action plan to return our residents home,” said Moshe
Davidovich, the head of Western Galilee’s Mateh Asher Regional Council
“The return of residents to a normal life, rehabilitation, and growth of
the Galilee and border communities are of utmost importance to us.”“The
Israeli government should put this before its eyes as a national
mission with a focus on education, welfare, business, agriculture, and
tourism to return the north to growth,” Davidovich demanded.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:
Families call for comprehensive deal to free all
captives-Hamas purports to name 34 hostages to be freed; Israel:
Meaningless; it’s our list from July-‘Hamas list’ is actually Israel’s
40-name roster, minus 5 killed hostages and 1 rescued; list comprises
women, children, older men, and 11 unwell men under 50; does not specify
who is alive By Lazar Berman,ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 11:33 am-jan
6,25
A list of 34 names of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who
could be released in the first stage of an elusive ceasefire agreement
with Hamas was published by a Saudi news outlet Monday, after the
Palestinian terror group apparently leaked the document amid reports
that negotiators were moving closer to sealing a potential hostage
release and ceasefire deal.The roster was swiftly downplayed by Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office said the list had been given
by Israel to the mediating countries in July. On Sunday, reports
indicated that Hamas had okayed the months-old lineup while refusing to
provide information on the state of the hostages, which Israel insists
on getting before any agreement moves forward.“To date, Israel has not
received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of
the hostages on the list,” the PMO stated.Separately, a spokesman for
Netanyahu said leaks emerging from recently resumed talks in Doha
indicating progress was being made were “spin” by the terror group, and
urged the media to ignore Hamas’s “propaganda and psychological
terror.”“They haven’t said who is alive and who is not; they haven’t
sent any list,” a PMO official told The Times of Israel. “So, as far as
we stand, there isn’t any progress.”A-Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned
daily based in London, published a picture of what it said was a list of
names to be released in the first stage of a deal, divided into three
sections and ranging in age from 1-year-old Kfir Bibas to Shlomo Mansur,
86. It also included the names of two civilians held in the Strip since
entering of their own accord in 2014 and 2015: Avera Mangestu and
Hisham al-Sayed.Other outlets, including Reuters and the BBC, said they
had been given the list by Hamas, while declining to detail the names.
According to Reuters, the list included “10 women and 11 older male
hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children that Hamas
previously said had been killed in an Israeli airstrike,” an apparent
reference to the Bibas children. Hamas has never offered proof that they
were killed.The BBC noted that Hamas has refused to say who on the list
is alive.
The names included 12 women and children:
Romi Gonen, 23
Emily Damari, 27
Arbel Yehud, 29
Doron Steinbrecher, 31
Ariel Bibas, 5
Kfir Bibas, 1
Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33
Liri Albag, 19
Karina Ariev, 20
Agam Berger, 21
Danielle Gilboa, 20
Naama Levy, 20
It also included 11 older men:
Ohad Ben-Ami, 58
Gadi Moshe Moses, 80
Keith Siegel, 65
Ofer Calderon, 54
Eli Sharabi, 52
Itzik Elgarat, 70
Shlomo Mansour, 86
Ohad Yahalomi, 50
Youssef Hamis Ziyadne, 54
Oded Lifshitz, 84
Tsahi Idan, 50
And another 11 men under 50:
Hisham al-Sayed, 36
Yarden Bibas, 35
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36
Yair Horn, 46
Omer Wenkert, 23
Sasha Trufanov, 28
Eliya Cohen, 27
Or Levy, 34
Avera Mengistu, 38
Tal Shoham, 39
Omer Shem-Tov, 22
The
list was not the full list of 40 hostages Israel submitted in July, the
Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel.The July 27 list
included Farhan al-Qadi, who was rescued by the IDF in August. It also
included four of six hostages who were murdered by their Hamas captors
in late August – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, and
Almog Sarusi. Ori Danino and Alex Lobanov were killed alongside those
four, but were not on the July list of “humanitarian” hostages because
they were “healthy” young men, a category that Hamas considers Israeli
soldiers.This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top
left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom
left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. They were
murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza in August 2024. (The Hostages
Families Forum via AP)-Finally, the July 27 list was Avraham Munder,
kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. On August 20, 2024, the kibbutz announced
he was killed during captivity in Gaza.Selection-Talks have largely
revolved around a proposed three-stage deal in which “humanitarian”
cases, including women, children and the infirm, would be released
first, followed by Israeli men of fighting age and then the remains of
those killed during the October 7 onslaught or while in captivity.
Israel would agree to release an unspecified number of Palestinian
prisoners, while also redeploying its forces and ending the fighting in
Gaza.The Hostage Families Forum, which has lobbied for all approximately
100 hostages to be released together, said following the publication of
the list that it was “shaken and upset,” reiterating its call for a
comprehensive deal.Family members of those not on the list compared it
to the “selection” process that took place in death camps in the
Holocaust.“We cannot believe that Israel would leave hostages behind,”
Anat Angrest, the mother of hostage Matan Angrest, told the Ynet news
site. “I can’t believe that my son who was wounded in battle would not
be released in the humanitarian stage.”“We have a grandfather who knew
what selection was and what it means to choose between blood and blood.
The selection today is by the government of Israel, not the Nazis,” she
said.Talks have largely been stuck over a number of issues, but the
Haaretz daily reported Monday that Israel was increasingly optimistic
about the chances of a deal and that talks were heading to a
conclusion.According to unnamed sources cited by the newspaper, Israel
had proposed a partial deal in order to bypass Hamas’s demand for an end
to the war and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.The
report said Netanyahu and senior figures were still deciding whether
Mossad chief David Barnea, who has headed the Israeli negotiating team,
should fly to Qatar for the talks.Other reports also indicated progress
in the talks, but in a statement posted to social media late Sunday
night, Netanyahu’s spokesman cautioned against reporting on Hamas leaks
from the negotiations.“So what did we have today,” Omer Dostri wrote.
“The Mossad chief is flying to Qatar, the Mossad chief is flying to
Qatar tomorrow, Hamas transferred the list of hostages, and more spins
and lies from the terrorist organization Hamas.”Such reports give false
hope to the families of hostages, he charged. “The negotiations in Qatar
continue, in a gradual manner, in a slow manner.”Before Trump-US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also voiced confidence Monday that a
ceasefire deal in Gaza would come together eventually, while noting that
it may not happen until after President Joe Biden leaves office on
January 20.Blinken, who tried repeatedly last year to broker a ceasefire
between Hamas and Israel, said that the Biden administration “will work
every minute of every day” until the end of its term to secure a
hostage deal.“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in
the next two weeks,” Blinken told reporters on a visit to Seoul.“If we
don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident
that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather
than later,” Blinken said.“When it does, it will be on the basis of the
plan that President Biden put forward and that virtually the entire
world supports.”US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on
January 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned
Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free the hostages seized in the
October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught that killed over 1,200 people and
saw the kidnapping of 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.Blinken
said there had been an “intensified engagement” by Hamas on reaching a
deal, but that it was not yet complete.“We need Hamas to make the final
necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally
change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people
in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating
an opportunity to actually move forward to something better,” Blinken
said.‘The appropriate price’Reports citing Hamas and Israeli officials
Sunday evening claimed the terror group had agreed with Israel on a list
of 34 hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential
ceasefire deal, though Hamas continued to refuse to detail who among
them was alive.After a Hamas official was cited by the Reuters news
agency as claiming the terror group had supplied such a list,
Netanyahu’s office quickly denied it and said that “as of now, Hamas has
not given a list of hostages.”Subsequent reports made clear that rather
than supplying a list of names, Hamas had indicated that a list of 34
names sent by Jerusalem several months ago was acceptable to it, but
that Israel viewed the information as incomplete.Citing an unnamed
senior Israeli official, the Walla news site reported that Hamas had
approved the list in exchange for an “appropriate price” — meaning the
number of Palestinian security prisoners to be freed as part of the deal
— but refused to say who of the hostages was alive and who wasn’t,
making it impossible to determine what price would be appropriate.The
AFP news agency reported similar details, quoting an unnamed Hamas
official who demanded a weeklong truce in order for the terror group to
determine who on the list was alive.“Hamas has agreed to release 34
Israeli prisoners from a list presented by Israel as part of the first
phase of a prisoner exchange deal,” the official said, adding, however,
that Hamas needed time to determine their condition.“Hamas has agreed to
release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead,” the official said.
“However, the group needs a week of calm to communicate with the captors
and identify those who are alive and those who are dead.”Israel is
highly unlikely to agree to halt the fighting for a week without a
finalized deal.Negotiators are looking to achieve a halt to the
15-month-old war, together with the release of 100 hostages still held
captive by Gazan terror groups, 96 of whom were kidnapped on October
7.According to the Israel Defense Forces, at least 34 hostages kidnapped
on October 7 are no longer alive. Hamas is also holding the bodies of
two soldiers killed in 2014.The Hamas official who spoke to Reuters on
Sunday insisted that any deal was contingent upon the complete
withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire,
claiming that there had been no progress from the Israeli side in this
regard.Netanyahu has insisted throughout multiple rounds of failed
negotiations that Israel will not commit to a complete end to the war
and has said that the fight against Hamas will resume at the conclusion
of any deal that is reached.Multiple reports said Sunday that White
House Mideast czar Brett McGurk was already in Doha, Qatar, for the
negotiations, claiming Barnea was expected to head there as well.
Channel 12 news said Barnea would arrive on Monday or Tuesday.Netanyahu
has held a series of security discussions in recent days on the hostage
talks, with Channel 12 reporting that Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer
were in attendance.The Walla and Axios news sites also reported Sunday
that Dermer is expected to travel to the US this week to meet senior
officials from the White House and Trump’s incoming administration.Among
the outstanding issues in talks is how Gaza will be governed following
the end of the war, with Israel vowing to eradicate Hamas rule and
suspicious of a Palestinian Authority administration taking its
place.The Saudi Al-Hadath news outlet reported, citing sources from the
Israeli delegation to Qatar, that Jerusalem could agree to grant Hamas
leaders immunity and refrain from targeting them abroad if the group
agrees to relinquish its governance of the Gaza Strip and move
abroad.The report added that in place of the terror group, Gaza would be
controlled by “an independent Palestinian body,” the report stated, in
coordination with the international community. An international
peacekeeping force, similar to UNIFIL in Lebanon, would be established
in this scenario and the US would be responsible for overseeing the
implementation of such an agreement.Hamas released 105 civilians during a
weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released
before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the
bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three
mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their
captors.
Netanyahu to convene key ministers as reports claim
progress in hostage talks-Army Radio says Ben Gvir, Smotrich to join
security discussion; Israeli, Saudi reports quote sources saying
agreement could be clinched on key issues before Trump takes office By
Lazar Berman,ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 2:29 pm-JAN 05,2025
Amid
reports of progress in talks on a hostage-ceasefire deal in Doha, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned a small group of ministers to his
office in Jerusalem for a security meeting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, an aide
to one of the lawmakers told The Times of Israel.The aide would not say
whether the topic of the meeting, which was set amid a renewed push to
reach a deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group before US
President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, was the hostage
issue.A Palestinian source told Qatari outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that
Sunday would be a “decisive day” for hostage talks in Doha.The anonymous
source said that the sides had been able to bridge the remaining gaps
and were waiting on a decision from Israel after Netanyahu’s security
consultation on Sunday evening.However, three Israeli sources
contradicted the Qatari report, telling the Kan public broadcaster on
Sunday that there had been no breakthrough, though there was some
progress over the weekend.The Ynet news sign reported that, in a sign of
real progress, Mossad chief David Barnea was expected to fly to Qatar
on Monday to take part in talks.A mid-level Israeli hostage negotiating
team held talks on Friday with Qatari mediators, who were also hosting
Hamas representatives in Doha for parallel discussions. US President Joe
Biden’s administration, which is helping broker the talks, urged the
terror group on Friday to agree to a deal.Army Radio reported that
Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, far-right ministers who have said
they would oppose the proposals being floated, were set to participate
in the Sunday security meeting with Netanyahu.The discussion was
scheduled after Hamas released a propaganda video on Saturday showing
signs of life from 19-year-old hostage Liri Albag, the latest in a
series of clips it has released of Israeli captives taken in the October
7, 2023, attack. Such videos, like an uptick in Israeli airstrikes in
Gaza, have been seen as attempts to exert pressure during talks.Albag, a
surveillance soldier, was among 251 people, mostly civilians, who were
abducted when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from
Gaza on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people as they rampaged
through southern Israeli communities and military bases.Netanyahu said
in response to the video that Israel was continuing to work tirelessly
to bring the hostages home.“Anyone who dares to harm our hostages will
bear full responsibility for their actions,” he said.Defense Minister
Israel Katz confirmed that indirect hostage-truce negotiations with
Hamas had resumed in Qatar. He told Albag’s family that “efforts are
underway to free the hostages, notably the Israeli delegation that left
[on Friday] for negotiations in Qatar,” his office said.Katz added that
Netanyahu had given “detailed instructions for the continued
negotiations.”Following the release of the Hamas propaganda video, which
Albag’s family asked Israeli news outlets not to air, relatives of
hostages held in Gaza urged the public to take to the streets en masse
at the weekly Saturday night demonstrations. Thousands of people rallied
in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to call for a hostage deal, as speculation
swirled about a possible agreement coming together.Channel 12 news
reported on Saturday that although the talks in Doha had advanced slowly
over the weekend, there was no breakthrough.One of the main sticking
points is reported to be Hamas’s refusal to hand over a list of hostages
it would release in the deal’s first stage. This stage is supposed to
see the release of women, men over the age of 50, and men under the age
of 50 with serious medical conditions.Citing unnamed Israeli sources,
the network reported that with Jerusalem demanding some 30 living
hostages be freed in the first stage, the list necessarily includes
young men, all of whom are considered soldiers by Hamas due to being of
fighting age.Channel 12 also reported that Hamas was demanding the
release of high-profile Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for
such hostages.Previous reports have claimed that Hamas has demanded the
release of top Fatah official Marwan Barghouti, though Netanyahu’s
office stated in December that “the terrorist Marwan Barghouti will not
be released if and when a deal is made to release the
hostages.”Barghouti, 64, is serving five life sentences in an Israeli
prison for his part in planning three terror attacks that killed five
Israelis during the Second Intifada.A Saturday report from Saudi-based
news outlet al-Arabiya echoed Hebrew media reports, with unnamed sources
telling the station that the sides might be able to clinch agreements
on all remaining outstanding issues as early as this week.The report,
which was also carried by Saudi Arabia’s al-Hadath news outlet, claimed
that Hamas had shown flexibility on Israeli demands regarding the
hostages held in the Strip for nearly 15 months.On Friday, a senior
Israeli official told Axios that the sides were still at an impasse over
almost all topics being negotiated, including continued Israel military
presence in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, the Israeli demand
to deport some Palestinian security prisoners to be released in the
deal, the frequency at which hostages would be released, and the start
date of negotiations over the deal’s second stage.The Israeli official
said that the negotiations were advancing very slowly but also expressed
“cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached in the coming weeks,
particularly because of increased pressure on Hamas from Qatari and
Egyptian mediators, along with threats from Trump, who has warned there
will be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by his
inauguration.“All remaining gaps can be bridged. We want to do this and
reach a deal, and we believe the other side wants to as well,” the
official told Axios.On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
held a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart to discuss the ongoing
hostage negotiations that Cairo is helping mediate along with the US and
Qatar according to a State Department readout.Ninety-six of the 251
hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the
bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105
civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages
were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops
alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including
three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape
their captors.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered
the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers
who were killed in 2014.Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
Hostages’
families accuse Health Ministry report of violating captives’
privacy-In a letter to the ministry, the Forum says document detailing
the plight of hostages in Hamas captivity breached doctor-patient
privilege By ToI Staff Today, 6:02 pm-JAN 4,25
The Hostages and
Missing Families Forum has criticized the Health Ministry’s decision to
publish a recent report on the hardships hostages had faced while in
Hamas captivity, saying it violated freed captives’ right to privacy.In a
letter to the ministry, the Forum wrote that the hostages were not
“public property” and that released hostages may not have agreed to have
the information publicized.While the report, which is based on
testimonies from released hostages, does not identify any of them by
name, the Forum said it was possible to identify some of the victims
based on the descriptions in the report.Dana Pugach, an attorney
representing the families who wrote the letter, told the Haaretz
newspaper that some of the released hostages did not know about the
report or that their testimonies would be used in it.The letter stressed
the violation of privacy of minors mentioned in the report, saying it
was unclear whether their guardians had consented to having the
information published.Pugach said previous letters to the ministry
regarding the violation of released hostages’ privacy were ignored.She
told Haaretz that the violation of privacy began immediately upon their
return. “Doctors were interviewed and gave indications that made it easy
to identify which hostages they were talking about. We wrote to the
Health Ministry and expected something would be done, but here comes
this report showing there is a systematic violation of privacy and
doctor-patient privilege. ”Pugach also said the report repeats
information that was already provided discretely by families to Alice
Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. “You don’t need to go
publish things for them to reach the UN rapporteur,” she said.Pugach
wrote that the report’s publication constitutes a crime under the
Israeli criminal code, as it reveals identifying details of crime
victims.In response to the letter, the Health Ministry said the report’s
purpose was to raise international awareness of the hostages’ plight
and the urgent need to release them from captivity. The ministry also
apologized for any harm caused to the hostages and their families,
saying the issues addressed in the letter had been sent to senior
ministry officials “so lessons will be learned.”The Knesset will hold a
session next week on the privacy of released hostages.The report was
compiled from the testimonies of hostages who were released in a
November 2023 deal and those who were rescued by Israeli forces. It
details how individuals were burned and beaten, starved and humiliated,
as well as how the abuse impacted their mental and physical health, even
long after they were freed.The report said hostages were kept for days
in darkness, with their hands and feet bound, and received little food
or water. They were beaten all over their bodies. Some had hair pulled
out and, in some cases, were burned and branded with metal heated over
an open flame. Others, including children, were subjected to sexual
assaults. Injured hostages said they were not given painkillers and
described agonizing pain during medical treatments that, in some cases,
included surgical procedures.Hostages said there was a lack of showers
and that they were forced to wait hours or even days before being
permitted to use a toilet. Some were forced to soil themselves.Some
female hostages were forced to work as “maids,” Channel 12
reported.Released hostages related to authorities that they were
deliberately separated from other family members who were being held.
Captives, including children, were forced to watch videos of the October
7 atrocities.According to the report, some hostages experienced a
dramatic loss in weight due to starvation and lack of nourishment. Adult
hostages lost 8 to 15 kilograms (18 to 33 pounds), while among child
captives, there was an average loss of 10 percent in body weight, though
in some cases, it was as high as 18%.“Due to the terrible hygiene and
unclean water, hostages suffered stomachaches and diarrhea during their
time in captivity. All of this has serious mental consequences,
especially in the case of children.”There were 251 hostages abducted
from Israel on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack on southern
Israel that killed 1,200 people.Ninety-six of them remain in Gaza,
including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas
released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and
four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been
rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been
recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as
they tried to escape their captors.
