[PULSE.NG] Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun has commended the Department of State Services (DSS) for the arrest of 10 suspected members of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... /Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... 's West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Ilesa-Osun.
In a statement by Malam Olawale Rasheed, the Governor's Spokesperson, made available to newsmen in Osogbo on Saturday, Adeleke hailed the alertness of the DSS operatives.
He said that the DSS move to eliminate threats posed by the suspected terrorists, gives assurance that our security agencies are up to the task of sustaining peace and security in every part of Nigeria.
Adeleke commended the intelligence-gathering skills of the personnel of the State Service, who painstakingly monitored the activities of the suspected criminals and moved swiftly to cut off their dastardly act.
''This is a welcome development and a big relief, not just for us as a government, but to the people of the state and Nigerians in general.
''I commend the security operatives for their alertness and intelligence-driven operation.
''We have absolute confidence in our security forces to keep protecting us,'' the governor said.
[IsraelTimes] Wikipedia has banned several editors for using the platform to spread antisemitic rhetoric and misinformation about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the Anti-Defamation League says.
A thing that until now has not bothered Wikipedia management even a little. Curious, that.
These users have spread “malicious, false and biased information about Zionism and Israel across the platform,” says the ADL.
An arbitration committee for the collaborative online encyclopedia banned the users Iskandar323, Selfstudier, Nableezy, Levivich and Nishidani from the Israel-Palestine discussion for operating in bad faith, the watchdog says. Another editor, Ivana, was previously banned from all editing.
Following the decision, “it is now imperative for Wikipedia to begin work immediately to undo the harm caused by these rogue but prolific editors who literally have wreaked havoc across the platform,” the ADL says.
“As we have said before, Wikipedia needs to wake up to the reality that this is a systemic problem across the platform that needs immediate action. There is still a lot more that must be done to ensure that Wikipedia can live up to its policy around the encyclopedia holding a neutral point of view.”
The ADL was labeled as “generally unreliable” regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Wikipedia’s editors in June. The organization charged that all of the banned users had taken part in a coordinated campaign to smear its credibility.
[IsraelTimes] David Abrams makes a living off hunting alleged fraud by groups critical of Israel; in JVP’s case, the group allegedly misrepresented itself when applying for COVID relief funds
One of the most reviled adversaries of the pro-Israel community was just dealt a major blow in a fraud complaint brought by an activist attorney.
The anti-Zionist advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace, which accuses Israel of genocide in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and wants the US to end military aid to the country, agreed to pay a penalty of nearly $700,000 to settle an allegation of financial fraud, according to a Wednesday announcement from the US Justice Department.
The resolution of the case, which centers on JVP’s application for COVID-19 relief funds in 2020, puts a significant strain on the group’s financial health — the group’s annual budget has hovered a little below $3 million for the past several years — and gives the group’s many critics a potent new weapon against it.
"Who would have imagined that an antisemitic group would also engage in fraud," tweeted Andrés Spokoiny, a Jewish nonprofit executive, in one representative example of the sentiment unleashed by the Justice Department’s announcement.
But JVP’s legal trouble was not just a lucky gift for its detractors — it was the direct result of one enterprising attorney’s strategy of weaponizing the law against critics of Israel. JVP is the latest in a string of left-wing and pro-Paleostinian groups he has succeeded in damaging.
David Abrams sics prosecutors on his targets using a law that allows private citizens to become whistleblowers when they discover alleged government fraud. The law also lets him collect a portion of the penalty paid to the government. He’s built a one-man business around the enterprise, called the Zionist Advocacy Center or TZAC.
"I’m a passionate Zionist and I’m also an attorney," Abrams told Politico in an article published last year. "And so it’s natural to say, ’Well, how can I combine those two things?’ And that’s what I started doing about 10 years ago."
His earnings in this work as of last year are at least $1.7 million, according to a tally based on court records by The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... . Abrams is one of several attorneys making money by hunting for pandemic fraud, but Abrams is in it for more than just the earnings.
"We’re in America," Abrams told Politico. "People have an absolute right to attack Israel unfairly, to slander Israel and so on. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... from my perspective, they don’t have the right to take government money to support their work that they’re not entitled to."
He refers to his solo act as "lawfare" on behalf of Israel.
Now, a major voice on the right is calling on the incoming Trump administration to make lawfare the central tactic of a national crackdown on antisemitism. The idea appears in Project Esther, a proposal from the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, which urges the federal government to target groups it deems supportive of the Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... , including Jewish Voice for Peace.
In this case, Abrams found that JVP had received $340,000 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. He believed the group should have been ineligible for funding — money that millions of American companies and nonprofits had also received during the pandemic — due to rules excluding entities "primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities."
He filed a lawsuit in late 2021 accusing JVP of lying on its application form, citing the group’s stated mission of campaigning to change US policy on Israel. The federal prosecutors who looked at the case agreed with Abrams’ assessment and decided to move forward with it. If the matter had gone to trial and prosecutors had prevailed, JVP would have had to pay back in damages triple the amount it received.
Instead, a settlement limits the penalty to only double the amount, with no admission of liability by JVP. The group maintains that "any misstatements in this application were inadvertent," according to the Justice Department. JVP’s leadership did not respond to a request for comment.
Abrams, who also did not respond to a request for comment, is owed about $68,000, or 10% of the penalty, according to a copy of the settlement agreement from the Justice Department. He will also collect about $1,800 from JVP, an amount representing his fees and expenses in filing the initial whistleblower lawsuit.
The JVP settlement comes several months after the resolution of another Abrams-instigated case against a Jewish group that is critical of Israel. In September, Americans For Peace Now, the US fundraising arm of a progressive Israeli group that advocates for the two-state solution, reached a deal with federal prosecutors to pay $262,000 over an identical allegation.
The group’s president and CEO, Hadar Susskind, told The New York Times it settled to avoid the cost of litigation but that the group genuinely didn’t consider itself a political organization when it applied for the pandemic relief money.
Abrams is also behind two earlier pandemic fraud settlements signed by left-leaning Washington think tanks: the Middle East Institute and the Institute for Policy Studies.
Before the pandemic, when Abrams had just started his Zionist Advocacy Center work, he waged lawfare with a focus on humanitarian groups working in Gaza, such as Norwegian People’s Aid, that had received contracts from the American government through USAID. He alleged that his targets had lied when certifying to USAID they had no links to terrorists. Norwegian People’s Aid paid a penalty of $2 million to settle the matter.
Not all of the cases Abrams brings are successful. In 2020, he brought a case against the New Israel Fund — a group supporting left-wing causes in Israel — in which he alleged the group had abused its tax-exempt status. That case was dismissed by mutual agreement without any penalty to the organization.
And, in 2015 he sued the humanitarian group founded by the late president Jimmy Malaise Carter
...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden... , accusing the Carter Center of support for hard boyz over a gathering for Paleostinian politicians in which it served them "physical assets of fruits, cookies, bottled water, and presumably other foods and drinks." Government prosecutors dropped the case.
#1
the settlement with JVFP seems like small potatoes compared with what could be had from deep pocket orgs like Arabella, Rockefeller Foundation, Open Source Foundation and Tides.
Basically a class action lawsuit where plaintiffs allege RICO to intimidate through violence and deprive civil rights of Jews on campus.
I think the civil actions are waiting for a criminal prosecution to start and give them an entry.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/20/2025 15:07 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. by Kamran Gasanov
[REGNUM] In the current “new Syria,” Türkiye is behaving like a true patron. It is trying to confirm not only in words but also in deeds that it is the main beneficiary of the change of power.
According to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan , all recent visits by colleagues from France, Germany, Italy and other countries took place thanks to Turkish mediation. Syria's northern neighbor is lobbying at international meetings, such as the recent summit in Riyadh, for the lifting of sanctions and the restoration of the Arab republic.
According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , Damascus needs no less than $500 billion. For their part, the Turks have already begun to help the Syrians. Together with Qatar, they sent two floating power plants to the eastern Mediterranean to improve the electricity supply situation – the ships will be able to produce up to 800 megawatts of electricity.
Turkish construction companies are already "rising" on news about their possible participation in the construction of roads, schools, hospitals. But for a full-fledged restoration, international donors are needed - the US, the EU, China, the rich countries of the Persian Gulf.
Turkey's superiority is also felt during political and diplomatic events. The first high-ranking guest in Damascus after the December coup was the former head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, and the leader of the new Syria and the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement*, Ahmed al-Sharaa, will pay his first foreign visit to Ankara.
He does not miss the opportunity to thank Erdogan for his support and help. It is clear that al-Sharaa will look for any way to weaken the dominance of the successors of the Ottoman Empire, but for now the reality is different. On January 16, he sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the transitional government, Asad Hassan al-Shibani, to Erdogan .
The main issues of interest to Erdogan and Fidan included the restoration of state institutions, the lifting of sanctions, and the return of 3 million Syrians from Turkey home. But the most problematic topic for Ankara is the fight against terrorism and the territorial integrity of Syria.
In Turkey, terrorists are no longer even understood to mean ISIS*, but rather the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which are part of the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF). The YPG, which the Turkish authorities consider to be the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and the SDF occupy territories in northwestern Syria and are under the care of up to 2,000 American troops.
Erdogan demands the complete elimination of the YPG. In early January, Fidan told al-Sharaa in an interview with CNN Türk that "Syria must solve the problem of the Kurdistan Workers' Party ." If Damascus is unable to solve this problem, Ankara is ready to take responsibility into its own hands. At a meeting with al-Shibani, Erdogan said that in the future of Syria "there is no place for terror," that is, the YPG and SDF, and Turkey will not agree to the division of Syria, that is, the formation of Syrian Kurdistan, whether in the form of autonomy or a separate state entity.
Damascus, at least rhetorically, shares its ally's concerns. Al-Shibani told Erdogan that "northeastern Syria should not pose a threat to Turkey and should be united under our central control . "
For now, the Damascus administration is negotiating with the Kurds. And that is why Ankara has adopted a wait-and-see attitude, periodically flexing its muscles to intimidate the YPG and SDF. As part of this policy, the Turkish Air Force struck the town of Suluk in northern Syria in the first week of January.
KURDS TALK ABOUT INTEGRATION
Al-Sharaa announced the first official negotiations with the Kurds on December 29: "We are negotiating with the SDF to resolve the crisis in northeastern Syria ." The essence of those negotiations was, first of all, de-escalation. After all, on December 9, immediately after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad , fighters of the Syrian National Army (SNA) loyal to Turkey went on the offensive against the YPG and SDF forces in the Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani) regions.
At the same time, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) began to build up their forces along the Syrian border in preparation for a large-scale operation. Two weeks later, an SDF spokesman reported that the Kurds had decided to launch a counterattack near the Karakozak Bridge and the Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River. And, according to some media, the Kurds managed to retake the dam. Al-Sharaa needs to extinguish the hotbeds of conflict in order to build new state structures and rebuild Syria.
Further issues in the negotiations concern the status of the territories under the control of the SDF and YPG and the status of these armed groups in the new state. In the same speech, the head of HTS* made it clear that his government considers the Kurds an integral part of Syrian society, but will not allow Syria to become a platform for PKK attacks. Al-Sharaa also stated that he wants to include the YPG and SDF in the forces of the Ministry of Defense.
Two days later, a Kurdish delegation arrived in Damascus and the first round of negotiations began. The main achievement of that meeting was the Kurds' agreement to preserve the integrity of Syria.
On January 9, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi said: “We share a common position on the importance of the unity and territorial integrity of Syria and reject any plans to divide the country that could threaten its unity . ”
What the negotiations between Damascus and the SDF will ultimately lead to is not yet entirely clear. Yes, formally the Kurds agree to the integrity of Syria, which seems to suit Erdogan. But what status will the Kurds receive for their territories and will there be some kind of autonomy that will smoothly flow into independence, like in Iraqi Kurdistan? Will the YPG and SDF fighters be disbanded or will they receive some status as part of the forces of the Ministry of Defense, which, by the way, other groups in Syria, such as the Southern Operational Headquarters, are also seeking for themselves? All these questions will have to be resolved in the near future by the new leader of the still ununited Syria.
By helping the new Syrian government, Turkey's allies will push them to take action against Kurdish militants. The only acceptable option for Ankara is the complete dissolution of the YPG and SDF.
The Erdogan government, by the way, is trying to achieve the same thing from the PKK already on Turkish territory. At the end of the year, Erdogan's AKP coalition partner Devlet Bahceli (MHP party) suggested that the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan address parliament and announce the self-dissolution of his organization.
On December 19, Fidan said that Türkiye would not carry out an operation against Kurdish groups if the new Syrian authorities took control of the northeastern territories.
But the longer the negotiation process between Damascus and the Kurds lasts, the more bellicose the statements from Ankara become. On January 16, during a speech in parliament, Erdogan said that Turkey could “crush all terrorists” in Syria on its own, referring to ISIS* and the YPG.
POTENTIAL CRISIS
The United States remains an additional and significant component of the "Kurdish issue". After the overthrow of Assad, the Americans doubled their presence in northeastern Syria.
On January 8, at a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Ankara against a large-scale operation. Blinken said that Washington is working closely with Ankara to resolve issues with the PKK, and Turkey should not launch an operation. At the same time, he demanded that al-Sharaa ensure the participation of the Kurds in the transition period.
The following day, Deputy Secretary of State John Bass arrived in Ankara to discuss the YPG presence in northern Syria. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet noted that Bass arrived after Ankara had toughened its rhetoric against the YPG, and therefore the White House wanted to reach an agreement with its ally. On the eve of the Deputy Secretary of State's visit, Turkish media outlets spread rumors that Turkey and Syria could jointly conduct an operation against the YPG, but apparently this was only a tool to increase pressure on the United States.
For his part, Fidan stressed that Ankara has no intention of talking to Kurdish fighters, saying that “the countdown to military action has begun .” Turkey has only one condition: the Kurds must lay down their arms and the foreign SDF fighters must leave Syria. If the West makes new demands on Turkey, a military operation will become inevitable, Hurriyet says.
Erdogan is irritated not only by the US, which is covering up the YPG, but also by France. But while the Turks are ready to talk to the Americans, they do not take the French seriously. At one of the press conferences, Fidan made it clear that his country will not interact with those who “hide behind the power of America, promoting their own plans .” This is how the Turkish minister responded to rumors that French President Emmanuel Macron proposed to outgoing US President Joe Biden to deploy a Franco-American contingent on the Turkish-Syrian border from the Syrian side.
Macron's plans were revealed to the Turks by the co-chairman of the Kurdish administration for foreign affairs, Ilham Ahmed , who said on TV5 Monde that the US and France "could ensure the security of the entire border . "
The warnings and attempts by Blinken's team to make diplomatic moves are understandable, given that the Biden administration has supported the Kurds and prevented Turkey from eliminating the YPG for four years. But all the State Department's statements are of little use now, because Donald Trump's team is coming to power tomorrow , and Erdogan will have to resolve issues with him.
The ongoing settlement of the Gaza conflict removes one of the major problems in the future relations between the leaders of the two countries, even taking into account that members of the new US administration are extremely pro-Israel. But the Kurdish issue has the potential to create a crisis in relations between Ankara and Washington.
For Trump, Syria is not only a question of influence in the Middle East, but also oil, concentrated mainly in Kurdish territories. Al-Sharaa can eliminate a potential problem point between the US and Turkey by reaching an agreement with the Kurds. But relying solely on the leader of HTS*, who needs improved relations with America to lift international sanctions, would be extremely short-sighted from Erdogan’s point of view.
The Turkish government is now fully confident that it can solve the Kurdish problem in Syria. According to a source at the Atlantic Council (an organization considered undesirable in Russia), who asked to remain anonymous, Turkey prefers to persuade the YPG to disarm rather than carry out a military operation against them, since Ankara believes that such a decision will create an opportunity to put an end to the PKK. But “if the YPG rejects the Turkish olive branch ,” Turkey will go on the offensive, and “the US will not be able to stop it . ”
[Rudaw] The Iraqi government brought back 12 people from the Kurdistan Region who spent nearly two months in Libya trying to reach Europe, a diplomat told Rudaw.
"After nearly two months of efforts and follow-up, today we managed to return 12 citizens who were stranded in Libya while attempting to reach Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... through illegal means," Ahmad Sahaf, the Iraqi Embassy’s chargé d'affaires in Libya, told Rudaw.
"After coordinating with the Libyan government, they were returned today at 4:30 pm via Iraqi Airways," Sahaf added.
All 12 were from the Kurdistan Region and had been staying in a refugee camp in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... .
"The Libyan government had housed them in a special refugee camp in the Tajura area of the country's capital," said Sahaf.
Libya is a transit country for people trying to reach Europe because of its strategic geopolitical position and proximity to Italia.
In 2024, around 719.000 migrants colonists were registered in Libya, according to a report from the International Organization for Migration.
In June, twin shipwrecks off the coasts of Italia’s Roccella Ionica and Lampedusa left more than 70 people dead and missing. Most of the passengers were Kurds from the Kurdistan Region and Iran’s western Kurdish areas, as well as others from Bangladesh, Pakistain, Egypt, and Syria.
Around 20,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region migrated out of the country in 2023, seeking a better life in Europe. At least nine of them bit the dust on the dangerous and illegal smuggling routes, according to the Summit (Lutka) Foundation for Refugees and Displaced Affairs.
Continued on Page 47
[Rudaw] A second mass grave in under a month containing the remains of 155 Kurds massacred by the former Iraqi regime decades ago was exhumed on Sunday in Iraq’s southern Muthanna province.
The state-affiliated Martyrs Foundation announced that the mass grave, located in the Tal Sheikha area of Iraq’s southern Samawa desert, was exhumed and the remains of 155 Kurds, mostly women and kiddies killed during the 1988 Anfal campaign, were found.
An additional seven graves in the area have been found and are being excavated, according to the foundation.
Chro Hama Sharif, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s deaders, victims, and political prisoners committee, told Rudaw that the Martyrs Foundation has yet to inform them about the mass graves.
The Anfal campaign began in 1986. Then-president Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime killed more than 182,000 Kurds in two years of slaughter and demolished around 4,500 villages in the Kurdistan Region.
Many of the victims were brought to prisons in the south of the country, where they were killed and their bodies buried in mass graves.
On December 22, several mass graves were discovered via satellite images in Tal Sheikha.
Iraq’s Supreme Court recognized Anfal as a crime against humanity in 2008. Years later, however, very little has been done for the survivors or the families of the victims.
[IsraelTimes] The three hostages released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip today were given “gift bags” by members of the terror group before they were handed over to the Red Cross.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, the bags included photos of them in Hamas captivity and a “certificate.”
A video released by the IDF shows former hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher holding the gift bags when they were handed over to troops.
On Sunday, the first group of hostages set to be released under the new ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... were set free. As RedState reported, jeering crowds of deranged Paleostinians surrounded them, many cosplaying as soldiers in camouflage and terrorist headbands. Notably, they only seem to find their "uniforms" when the fighting stops. Funny how that works.
Naturally, the Red Thingy, which couldn't be bothered to do anything for the hostages throughout their captivity, tried to take center stage by being the go-between. In one last bit of propaganda, Hamas made sure the trucks were surrounded and that the hostages had to walk through a conglomerate of turbans who were touching and harassing them. The Red Thingy was fine with that, once again showing why no one should ever give a dime to that dumpster of an NGO.
The abuse didn't stop there, though. Hamas also gave the hostages "gift bags" and forced them to take smiling photographs. What was in the bags? According to reports, the bandidosturbans put pictures of the hostages while they were in captivity along with a map of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and a "certificate."
Paleostinians are the most depraved people on earth, and I don't say that lightly. They started a war by invading Israeli civilian areas and slaughtering over a thousand innocent people. They then took hundreds of hostages, including young babies. Refusing to hand them over, they saw Gaza essentially leveled and tens of thousands of their fighters killed by the IDF. And then when a ceasefire is finally reached, they cheer on Hamas and laugh about giving the hostages "gift bags."
There is no peace to be had with these people. That's not what the smart set wants to hear, but I've got decades of evidence to support that assertion. No amount of aid or concessions will ever be enough. Genocidal jihadi culture is all they know, and the average IQ among Paleostinians is below 70, likely due to generations of inbreeding. Reasoning with a population like that is simply impossible.
I don’t being aware of this, so here is Red State’s link to the study which appears at first glance to be legit.
#3
The real danger of this cultural inbreeding IMHO is cultivating traits like dangerous mental instability that need not necessarily correlate with a low IQ.
As for the article, maybe Israel could reciprocate by giving the next batch of released terrorists some complimentary samples of Israeli communications technology, like smart phones and pagers.
#9
So Gazans are low IQ because they are inbred illiterates.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
01/20/2025 14:53 Comments ||
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#10
Illiteracy causes ignorance but not necessarily a low IQ.
In any case, these polities have by and large been sufficiently intelligent to play the Western political and intellectual class like a cheap fiddle for decades, an exception to this rule being Israel's successful ant-Hezbollah campaign of 2024.
[IsraelTimes] After 3 civilian hostages freed, Israel releases mostly female inmates either to West Bank or East Jerusalem, first of up to 1,904 prisoners to go free in truce deal’s first phase
Israel released 90 Paleostinian security prisoners early Monday morning, hours after Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... released three civilian hostages Sunday on the first day of a ceasefire with the terror group in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) said in a statement.
Most of the inmates, who included terror convicts but reportedly none convicted of murder, were taken to the West Bank town of Beitunia where a crowd of hundreds cheered and chanted and some climbed atop the lead bus and unfurled Hamas flags.
They were joined by others waving the flags of Fatah, Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... and several other Paleostinian factions, including terror groups, as well as the Paleostinian flag and the flag of Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... ’s Hezbollah terror group.
The 90 Paleostinian prisoners released on Monday included between 62 and 69 women, according to contradictory media reports. The IPS statement did not provide a breakdown.
According to the Haaretz daily, Israel freed 62 women — including one minor — and 28 men, including eight teenagers. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the Ynet news site reported that 69 women were set free, including one minor, alongside eight male minors and 13 adult men. Similarly, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named said before the release that it had seen a list of inmates set for release that included 69 women.
Ahead of the return of the Israeli hostages, the IPS bussed the first round of Paleostinian prisoners to Ofer Prison in the West Bank, where Israeli security forces and Red Thingy representatives verified each prisoner’s identity and performed medical checks on them before releasing them in coordination with security forces and the government.
The prisoners include 78 West Bank residents, released at the Beitunia Checkpoint near Ofer Prison.
The remaining 12 East Jerusalem residents were transported back to the city and released back to their homes from the Russian Compound detention center.
As the release was delayed by several hours, Ynet reported that Israeli security officials were blaming the Red Thingy, accusing the organization’s staff of deliberately stalling the process with the purported motive of making Israel seem like it is not complying with the deal’s terms. But after a short while, the release went ahead.
The deal, signed Friday, is broken into three phases. During the first, 42-day phase, Hamas will release a total of 33 Israeli hostages — women, children, and elderly, maimed, or sick men — not all of whom are alive. Israel, in return, will release up to 1,904 Paleostinian security prisoners and detainees, including more than 150 bandidosholy warriors convicted of murder and several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks.
The next release of hostages and prisoners is due Saturday. In just over two weeks, talks are to begin on the far more challenging second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The youngest prisoner freed Monday was Mahmoud Aliowat, 15, who was convicted of carrying out a shooting attack in the City of David area of Jerusalem, wounding two people, when he was 13.
The list also included, according to the list reported by AP, Khalida Jarrar, 62, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP), a leftist faction with an armed terror group that carried out attacks on Israelis decades ago, including plane hijackings.
Jarrar was accused of criminal masterminding the 2019 bombing that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb at a spring in the West Bank. As part of a plea deal, Jarrar was charged with "illegal association" and sentenced to two years in prison in 2021.
Jarrar, 62, was again arrested in late 2023 and since held under indefinitely renewable administrative detention — a controversial tool enabling detention without charge that Israel uses against terror suspects in cases where disclosing the evidence against them in court could harm national security. The practice, primarily used against Paleostinians, has been criticized by right groups.
Dalal Khaseeb, 53, the sister of former Hamas second-in-command Saleh Arouri, was also on the list, which was provided by Hamas. Arouri was killed in an Israeli strike in a southern Beirut suburb in January 2024.
Also listed for release, according to AP, was Abla Abdelrasoul, 68, the wife of detained PFLP leader Ahmad Saadat who ordered the liquidation of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001 and has been serving a 30-year sentence.
Haaretz also noted the inclusion on the list of East Jerusalem residents Nawal Abed Fatiha, an Israeli citizen who in 2020 stabbed a 70-year-old Israeli man with a knife in Jerusalem, and Ibrahim Zamar, who in April 2023, when he was 15, shot two people at the entrance to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
A 2015 shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Sheik Jarrah neighborhood; Ibrahim Zamar, who carried out the attack, is to be released on January 19, 2025 in exchange for three Israeli women taken hostage by the Hamas terror group.
None of the inmates set free in the first batch have been convicted of murder, Haaretz reported. The adult men were being held for relatively minor offenses like incitement, identifying with terrorism and disorderly conduct, according to Ynet.
Almost all the hostages set for release by Hamas were kidnapped from Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught led by the Paleostinian terror group, in which 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 taken hostage into the Strip.
For each of the living women, children and elderly, 30 Paleostinian prisoners will be released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released; for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47 Paleostinians released in the 2011 Shalit deal and since rearrested; and for the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the more than 1,000 Gazook detainees.
Following the first phase of the deal, Israel and Hamas are to engage in continued negotiations over a permanent ceasefire, as the terror group releases the remaining hostages and Israel releases more Paleostinian security prisoners.
It is believed that 91 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas has so far released three hostages during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group 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 40 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 body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014.
Continued on Page 47
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is entering its second day - one Gazan tells the BBC he slept soundly for the first time since the war "because of feeling safe"
Ninety Palestinian prisoners were released overnight as part of the first phase of the ceasefire, the Israeli prison service has said - most of them women and teenage boys
Three Israeli women including a dual British national were earlier released by Hamas - they are being treated in a Tel Aviv hospital and are in a stable condition
There have been emotional reunions on both sides - Palestinians were greeted with hugs and cheers by their families, while freed hostage Emily Damari shared the moving moment she had a video call with her family
The ceasefire in Gaza came into force after a last-minute delay, but joy faded as Palestinians returned to their destroyed homes and there is still uncertainty at what lies ahead, our correspondent writes
[IsraelTimes] In a statement, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry welcomes the hostage and ceasefire deal and calls for the release of all those held in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , including Thai nationals.
"Thailand welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip," the ministry says.
"Thailand commends Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , Egypt and the United States of America, for their pivotal role and continued efforts in mediating the conflicting parties towards the successful conclusion of the deal," the statement reads.
"Thailand calls on all sides to fully implement the deal, as well as the immediate release of all remaining hostages, including Thai nationals," the ministry says.
Eight Thai nationals who were taken hostage from Israel on October 7, 2023, are still held in Gaza.
Continued on Page 47
[IsraelTimes] The Trump transition team is reportedly considering relocating some of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s two million people outside of the enclave while post-war reconstruction of the decimated Strip takes place, with one of the temporary host countries considered for refugees being Indonesia.
NBC makes the revelation in a Saturday report but only cites one anonymous transition official, who divulges an idea widely seen as completely unrealistic, and it’s unclear how many people in the incoming administration are actually seriously considering it.
Regional countries to date have rejected the idea of accepting Paleostinian migrants colonists, not wanting to be seen as complicit in another refugee crisis. There is also significant fear among many Paleostinians that Israel would not allow those who leave the Strip to return.
Which is completely different than the fact that much of the Gaza population has been dying to move abroad since long before the 10/7 Hamas invasion. Has anyone considered boarding them in that futuristic building/city that Saudi Prince MBS has been constructing deep in the Saudi desert (or wherever it is)?
NBC also reports that incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is considering a visit to Gaza, as he works to maintain the nascent ceasefire deal that is slated to commence on Sunday.
"You got to see it, you got to feel it," the transition official says, adding that doing so would allow Witkoff to see the dynamics playing out on the ground himself, rather than taking Israel’s word for it.
Witkoff is considering the Gaza trip, as he plans to maintain a near-constant presence in the region over the coming weeks and months, given how fragile the deal is expected to be, NBC says, still citing the same lone unnamed transition official.
"Remember, there’s a lot of people, radicals, fanatics, not just from the Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... side, from the right wing of the Israeli side, who are absolutely incentivized to blow this whole deal up," the transition official says, offering rare criticism of Israel from a Trump official, albeit an anonymous one.
"If we don’t help the Gazooks, if we don’t make their life better, if we don’t give them a sense of hope, there’s going to be a rebellion," the transition official adds.
The Times of Israel revealed last week that Witkoff’s January 11 meeting with Netanyahu was critical in securing a breakthrough, with the Trump envoy leaning on the premier to make the compromises necessary for a deal.
He essentially conveyed to the prime minister, "If you’re not intent on making a deal, then tell me, and I’ll get on the plane and I’ll go home," the transition official tells NBC.
Witkoff reportedly highlighted to Netanyahu how much Trump did for Israel in his first term.
He also pointed to Trump’s willingness to take political heat from his conservative supporters in order to secure the ceasefire deal, and Witkoff urged the Israeli government to take the same approach, NBC says.
The network says Witkoff relayed the following message to Hamas via Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... : Unless you’re prepared to die, tell me why you don’t see this as the deal that could ultimately lead to the end of the war.
NBC also reveals that American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel is not scheduled to be released until Day 14 of the ceasefire.
No Israeli news site — even well-sourced ones — has published the days during which specific hostages will be released, and it’s unclear the veracity of this unsourced detail in the unconfirmed report.
Continued on Page 47
They do say so, yes. We’ll see what that means to them… and for how long.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Islamic Resistance® Movement, Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... , stated Sunday that with the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, it reaffirms its commitment to upholding its terms, which it said is ''the result of the resilience and patience of our great people and the legendary steadfastness of our valiant resistance against the Israeli machinery of terror and killing.''
''Our heroic prisoners and detainees are on a path to freedom starting today, as we remain steadfast in our promise to them until they break the shackles of their captors and breathe freedom in the skies of Paleostine,'' the statement added.
The Paleostinian group affirmed that it is monitoring the delivery of aid and the relief of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... 's residents with all necessary measures, emphasizing its commitment to making every effort to provide all required support and assistance to restore normal life in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas also announced that it is awaiting the delivery of a list from ''Israel'' shortly, which includes the names of 90 detainees, comprising women and kiddies, expected to be released from Israeli prisons on Sunday as part of the first phase of the agreement's implementation.
The movement has fulfilled its commitments under the ceasefire agreement by providing mediators with a list of three Israeli female captives who will be released from Gaza on Sunday.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2025 00:00 ||
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And now the Hamas-lovers who read GEO in Pakistan and elsewhere know, too. Ain’t life grand!
[GEO.TV] President-elect Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday that if Hamas reneges on the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal, the United States will support Israel "in doing what it has to do."
He added in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," "Hamas will never govern Gaza. That is completely unacceptable".
Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly told the families of American hostages that the Trump administration will make sure that all phases of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas are implemented, amid concerns among many of the hostage families that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will resume fighting after the first phase, putting the lives of their relatives slated for release in the second phase at risk.
Families present at the meeting on Saturday expressed their concern over recent comments made by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said he received assurances from Netanyahu that Israel would resume fighting after the first phase, Axios reports.
The families asked Waltz that the Trump administration push for negotiations on the second phase of the deal to begin as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the 16th day of the ceasefire as the deal stipulates, the report says.
[GEO.TV] The next group of Gaza hostages to be released under a ceasefire agreement with Israel will be freed on Saturday, a senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday after the initial release of three women.
"The release of the second batch of Israeli prisoners (hostages) will take place on the evening of next Saturday, the seventh day from the start of the ceasefire agreement," the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.
Assuming Hamas can restrain themselves for that long, anyway, not to mention Islamic Jihad and the remaining small Palestinian terror groups, whether jihadi or secular Communist. History suggests the odds are not high that they all will manage to resist irresistible temptation, just as they couldn’t that fateful October 7th that they’ve been deservedly paying for ever since.
[IsraelTimes] Hundreds of thousands more came back earlier in 2024 from Lebanon, fleeing Israel-Hezbollah conflict; Turkey allowing 3 round trips per refugee family to prepare for resettlement
Nearly 200,000 Syrian refugees have returned home since the fall of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... ’s regime in early December, the UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said Saturday ahead of a visit to the region.
Those returns came after a lightning offensive by an Islamist-led coalition of rebels ousted Assad in December, raising hopes of an end to a 13-year civil war that killed over half million dead and sent millions seeking refuge abroad.
Between December 8 — when the regime fell — and January 16, some 195,200 Syrians returned home, according to figures published by Grandi on X.
"Soon I will visit Syria — and its neighboring countries — as UNHCR steps up its support to returnees and receiving communities," Grandi said.
Some half a million Syrians total returned home last year. Many of those who returned before the regime fell did so from Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... , amid fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group there, who have since agreed to a ceasefire.
It was not immediately clear how many of those who went to Syria escaping that conflict may have returned to Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire in November, or whether they may have been counted twice.
Footage shared online in the wake of Assad’s fall purported to show thousands in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... member, but not the most reliable... driving toward the border and into Syria to return to their homes.
Turkey, which shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria, hosts some 2.9 million Syrians who have fled since 2011.
Ottoman Turkish authorities, who are hoping to see many of those refugees return to ease growing anti-Syrian sentiment among the population, are allowing one member of each refugee family to make three round trips until July 1, 2025, to prepare for their resettlement.
Turkey is also involved in Syria itself, backing gangs that oppose the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country’s north.
Continued on Page 47
[Rudaw] A Kurdish rapper in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... who was handed a death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... for supporting nationwide protests in 2022 has arrived in Germany after being freed from jail, a non-governmental organization announced on Friday.
Saman Yasin is a Kurdish rapper from Iran’s western Kermanshah province who recorded songs protesting Iran’s socioeconomic conditions. He was arrested in October 2022 and transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison during the Jin Jiyan Azadi (Women Life Freedom) protests.
He was convicted on charges of moharebeh, or enmity against God, which carries the death penalty in Iran, as well as "assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against the security of the country."
His death sentence was overturned in October 2023.
Duzen Tekkal, a German-Yazidi journalist and founder of Hawar Help NGO, said on X that Yasin had managed to leave Iran and make his way to Germany.
"While in captivity, Saman was subjected to torture and even mock executions by prison guards... During at least one previous hospital stay, he was injected with an unknown liquid that caused him to lose consciousness for 24 hours," Tekkal said.
Yasin was admitted to a psychiatric clinic at least twice while in captivity, according to Tekkal.
Amnesty International says that Iran has used the death penalty disproportionately to suppress minority groups like Kurds and Baluchis who were active in the 2022 protests that erupted after the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police for wearing a lax hijab.
[IsraelTimes] US-backed Kurdish force demands ‘decentralized administration,’ refuses to dissolve itself in face of interim government’s efforts to unify armed forces
Syria’s new defense minister said on Sunday it would not be right for US-backed Kurdish fighters based in the country’s northeast to retain their own bloc within the broader integrated Syrian armed forces.
Speaking to Rooters at the Defense Ministry in Damascus, Murhaf Abu Qasra said the leadership of the Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was procrastinating in its handling of the complex issue.
The SDF, which has carved out a semi-autonomous zone through 14 years of civil war, has been in talks with the new administration in Damascus led by former rebels who toppled dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... on December 8.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi has said one of their central demands is a decentralized administration, saying in an interview with Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... ’s Asharq News channel last week that the SDF was open to integrating with the Defense Ministry but as "a military bloc," and without dissolving.
Abu Qasra rejected that proposal on Sunday.
"We say that they would enter the Defense Ministry within the hierarchy of the Defense Ministry, and be distributed in a military way — we have no issue there," said Abu Qasra, who was appointed defense minister on December 31.
"But for them to remain a military bloc within the Defense Ministry, such a bloc within a big institution is not right."
One of the minister’s priorities since taking office has been integrating Syria’s myriad anti-Assad factions into a unified command structure.
But doing so with the SDF has proved challenging. The US considers the group a key ally against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bully boys, but neighboring The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... regards it as a national security threat.
Abu Qasra said he had met the SDF’s leaders but accused them of "procrastinating" in talks over their integration, and said incorporating them in the Defense Ministry like other ex-rebel factions was "a right of the Syrian state."
Abu Qasra was appointed to the transitional government about two weeks after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... , the Islamist group to which he belongs, led the offensive that ousted Assad.
He said he hoped to finish the integration process, including appointing some senior military figures, by March 1, when the transitional government’s time in power is set to end.
Asked how he responded to criticism that a transitional council should not make such appointments or carry out such sweeping changes of the military infrastructure, he said "security issues" had prompted the new state to prioritize the matter.
"We are in a race against time and every day makes a difference," he said.
The new administration was also criticized over its decision to give some foreigners, including Egyptians and Jordanians, ranks in the new military.
Abu Qasra acknowledged the decision had created a firestorm but said he was not aware of any requests to extradite any of the imported muscle.
Continued on Page 47
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... has accused Israel of hundreds of violations of a ceasefire, to be fully implemented by next week, and warned against testing "our patience."
His remarks came during a visit to Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... by United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Secretary-General António Guterres ...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years... , who called for Israel to end military operations and "occupation" in the south, almost two months into the ceasefire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.
Guterres on Friday said U.N. peacekeepers had also found more than 100 weapons caches belonging "to Hezbollah or other gangs."
Qassem called "on the Lebanese state to be firm in confronting violations, now numbering more than hundreds. This cannot continue," he said in a televised speech.
"We have been patient with the violations to give a chance to the Lebanese state responsible for this agreement, along with the international sponsors, but I call on you not to test our patience," Qassem said.
Under the November 27 ceasefire accord, which ended two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside peacekeepers from the UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometwrs (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.
Qassem's speech came as Guterres met Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun, the former army chief who has vowed that the state would have "a monopoly" on bearing weapons.
Analysts say Hezbollah's weakening in the war with Israel allowed Lebanon's deeply divided political class to elect Aoun and to back his naming as prime minister Nawaf Salam, who was presiding judge at the International Court of Justice.
Qassem insisted Hezbollah and ally Amal's backing "is what led to the election of the president by consensus," after around two years of deadlock.
"No one can exploit the results of the aggression in domestic politics," he warned. "No one can exclude us from effective and influential political participation in the country."
After his meeting with Aoun on Saturday, Guterres expressed hope Lebanon could open "a new chapter of peace." The U.N. chief has said he is on a "visit of solidarity" with Lebanon.
French President Emmanuel Macron was also in Lebanon on Friday and said there must be "accelerated" implementation of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2025 00:00 ||
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[NAHARNET] Contacts intensified over the past hours, through mediators between Baabda and Ain el-Tineh, in order to contain the dismay of Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... , the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.
''Baabda is betting on a breakthrough in the meeting between (PM-designate Nawaf) Salam and Berri today (Friday),'' the daily added.
''Berri will inform Salam that he agrees to take part in the government whereas Hezbollah will not join it and the Shiite share will go to the Amal Movement,'' Nidaa al-Watan said.
''The share will be reportedly five ministers in a 30-minister line-up,'' the newspaper added.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2025 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
In the current “new Syria,” Türkiye is behaving like a true patron. It is trying to confirm not only in words but also in deeds that it is the main beneficiary of the change of power.
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
[GEO.TV] President-elect Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, 
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
