HOMAN: “The bottom line is, if you want less collateral arrests, then let us in the jail.”
Dana Bash: “My question is, do you have compassion for those people who are seeing what's going on, hearing you speak, seeing what's happening in their neighborhoods shouldn't have any… pic.twitter.com/nO9hXOww8C
[IsraelTimes] After PM’s office says account defamed troops and citizens, as well as the premier himself, paper says the response ‘does not refute the facts’
The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... on Sunday dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s denial of a July 11 investigation that concluded he has prolonged the war against Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... in order to stay in power, declaring that the response "does not refute the facts."
According to the lengthy Times report, published Friday, Netanyahu has deliberately extended the war 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... against Hamas to serve his own political goals of rehabilitating his domestic image and staying in power.
Among the actions listed in the report were Netanyahu’s shelving of a Gaza truce deal that would have secured the release of at least 30 hostages, due to a threat by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to bring down the government. He also allegedly derailed a White House effort to secure Israeli-Saudi normalization that was conditional on ending the Gaza war amid opposition by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
In a statement released Friday night, then deleted without explanation and rereleased after Shabbat, the Prime Minister’s Office claimed that the Times’ coverage "defames Israel, its brave people and soldiers, and its prime minister," while praising Netanyahu’s decisions post-October 7 as leading to the "greatest military comebacks in history."
In its Sunday response, The Times stated that its investigation drew "on dozens of government records and military documents and interviews with more than 110 officials in Israel, the US, and across the Arab world."
"Our role as independent journalists is to report and disclose information vital to the public interest, and to hold leaders to account regardless of party. The statement from the Prime Minister’s office does not refute the facts of that reporting. What the Times investigation shows in detail is how prolonging the Gaza war helped Mr. Netanyahu stay in power," the paper asserted.
In its report, the Times said Netanyahu’s office "declined several requests for interviews and did not respond to a detailed list of the findings" from the article.
According to the report, the Gaza truce proposal that Netanyahu scuttled in April last year would have created a window to end the war permanently and release the remaining hostages, similar to the deal currently under discussion in Doha.
Moving forward with the deal would have raised the chances for a normalization agreement 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... , whose leadership had been secretly signaling its willingness to accelerate peace talks with Israel if the Gaza war ended, the report said.
The Times also touched on Netanyahu’s troubled relationships with top security officials, stating that he repeatedly dismissed their assessments that growing internal rifts stemming from his government’s controversial judicial overhaul were being viewed by Israel’s adversaries as an invitation to attack in the lead-up to the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023.
During the war, Netanyahu’s mistrust of security officials grew to the point that he had generals patted down before meeting with him to make sure they weren’t recording the conversations, according to the report.
[IsraelTimes] Amid claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s four-day visit to Washington last week failed to produce a ceasefire announcement in Gaza due to his alleged desire to prolong the conflict, the premier defends the trip as “very successful” and accuses Hebrew media outlets of misrepresenting both his intentions and public opinion on a deal.
“It was a very successful visit, following a major victory in Iran… We have a lot of tasks to do, and I’m determined to complete them,” Netanyahu says in a video update posted to his X account.
Responding to claims that he and his government are obstructing a deal, Netanyahu charges that Hebrew-language media “are always echoing Hamas propaganda, and they’re always wrong.”
“We accepted the deal, the [US Special Envoy Steve] Witkoff framework, and afterward the modified version that the mediators suggested — we accepted it, Hamas refused it,” he says, referring to the latest proposals being discussed in Doha.
“What does Hamas want? It wants to stay in Gaza. It wants us to leave, so it can rearm, so it can attack us again and again. I won’t accept that,” he continues, adding that “I will do everything to return our hostages. I’m meeting with the families, I know the hardship they’re going through, their suffering. I’m determined to bring the hostages home.”
Asked about polls showing that a majority of Israelis support a deal, Netanyahu argues that the wording of the questions fails to reflect the true cost.
“I’m also in favor of a deal — but they don’t say to you [in the questionnaire] the other side of things. That is, these are manipulated polls, they’re always misleading the public. They’re not asking: Do you want a deal for the release of hostages, that leaves Hamas in its place? So it can repeat its offenses of rape, murder, kidnappings, and invasions? No. Otherwise, the results would be the complete opposite.”
Netanyahu reiterates that “we must insist on releasing the hostages, and insist on the other goal of the war in Gaza: the destruction of Hamas, and guaranteeing that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. That’s what I’m doing — I’m not giving up on any of these goals.”
In response to Netanyahu’s remarks, Channel 12 — whose Friday poll showed 74% of Israelis, including 60% of Netanyahu coalition voters, supporting a deal — clarified that the question asked respondents whether they supported releasing all the hostages at once “in exchange for an end to the Gaza war.”
Continued on Page 47
[IsraelTimes] Meeting former UK PM Tony Blair in Amman, PA president calls on terror group to cede its arms and let PA take over governing Strip
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> urged Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... to release the hostages it is holding and hand over its weapons to the PA, stressing that the terror group "will not rule 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" after the war there ends.
In a meeting in Amman on Sunday with British former prime minister Tony Blair, Abbas also called for the release of Paleostinian prisoners from Israeli jails, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid to the Strip, according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.
Abbas also called for the PA to be given control of the enclave, a notion long rejected by Israel. He further stressed the need to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict based on the Arab Peace Initiative and called for an international peace conference to be held in New York, the report said.
Though Abbas has in the past called for the hostages to be released, an end to the war, and for the PA to takeover governing Gaza, it was only last month that, for the first time, he condemned the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel during which the hostages were kidnapped. The attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggered the ongoing war.
At the time, Abbas also said that Hamas must not be permitted to rule Gaza and should hand over its weapons to the Paleostinian Security Services.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas-led murderous Moslems on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
Hamas seized control of Gaza from the PA in 2007 during a bloody coup. The terror group and Abba’s Fatah secularist party, which dominates the West Bank-based PA, have remained at odds ever since.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to vanquish Hamas, has thus far ruled out any role for the PA in Gaza, but failed to advance any alternative amid pressure from his far-right partners, who want to establish settlements in the Strip.
The PA is largely seen as ineffectual and corrupt. It has not held general elections since 2006, and presidential elections since 2005.
Blair left office in 2007, then became an envoy for the Middle East Quartet — the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... , the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , and Russia — set up in 2002 to mediate peace between Israel and the Paleostinians. He established the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit organization, in 2016. In January 2024, the institute denied as "a lie" a Hebrew media report linking him to talks for the resettlement of Paleostinians from Gaza to other countries.
US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... has touted a highly disputed initiative to relocate Paleostinians out of the coastal enclave to other countries. Netanyahu has openly backed the plan, which has been flatly rejected by Paleostinians.
[IsraelTimes] 4.5-ton Dror-1, developed by IAI to serve Israel’s communication needs for next 15 years, will reach fixed point over Earth within 2 weeks
Israel’s most advanced communications satellite, dubbed Dror-1, was successfully launched into space from Cape Canaveral in the United States on Sunday.
The satellite, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries, was launched into orbit on a Falcon 9 two-stage rocket, manufactured by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
According to IAI, the satellite weighs 4.5 tons and spans a total of 17.8 meters (58 feet) with its solar panels fully opened up. The pair of reception antennas, or dishes, each spans 2.8 meters, the largest in an Israeli satellite.
The satellite is set to serve Israel’s communication needs for the next 15 years.
The first stage of the booster, which has now been used 13 times, landed back on Earth on a barge — also known as an autonomous spaceport drone ship — dubbed “Just Read the Instructions,” off the coast of Cape Canaveral.
The second stage of the rocket pushed the satellite deeper into space, as the payload canister opened. Over the following day, the satellite is set to open up its solar panels and dishes and begin to maneuver into its fixed position relative to Earth.
IAI said it would take the satellite some two weeks to reach the fixed position, at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles), after several orbits around the Earth.
“The satellite completed the launch process, and initial readings received from it indicate it is functioning properly,” IAI said in a statement.
“In the coming weeks, as the satellite is positioned in orbit around the Earth, IAI engineers will conduct a series of tests to verify its functionality, after which it will begin its years-long mission in space as Israel’s national communications satellite,” the company said.
Speaking at the launch event, which The Times of Israel and other media attended, IAI’s CEO Boaz Levy said the Dror-1 was “the most advanced communications satellite ever built in Israel, with the goal of preserving this national-strategic capability in the country and providing Israel with vital satellite communications capabilities for years to come.”
“Israel’s space program has turned from vision to reality thanks to the creativity and innovation of IAI employees, who have developed over the years complex and groundbreaking technologies,” Levy said.
IAI has led Israel’s space program since 1988 with the launch of the first satellite, Ofek-1. IAI has developed, manufactured, and launched numerous satellites, both for communication and observation, for military, scientific, and civilian purposes.
Continued on Page 47
[NAHARNET] U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has clarified his remarks about the possibility that Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... might be swallowed by Syria, after they sparked outrage in Lebanon.
''My comments yesterday praised Syria's impressive strides, not a threat to Lebanon. I observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic opportunity presented by
@POTUS's (U.S. President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... 's) lifting of sanctions: investment from Turkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to neighboring countries, and a clear vision for the future,'' Barrack said in a post on X.
''I can assure that Syria's leaders only want co-existence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the United States is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,'' Barrack added.
He had warned in an interview with the UAE's The National newspaper that Lebanon risks being swallowed by regional powers unless it acts to address Hezbollah's arms and implement reforms.
''You have Israel on one side, you have 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... on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn't move, it's going to be Bilad Al Sham again,'' he said, using the historical name for the Syria region.
''Syrians say Lebanon is our beach resort. So we need to move. And I know how frustrated the Lebanese people are. It frustrates me,'' he added.
Barrack also said that the U.S., 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... and 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... are ready to help if Lebanon takes the lead.
As for Lebanon's response to his latest proposal, the envoy said: ''I thought it was responsive, very responsive,'' while acknowledging that sticking points remain.
What happens when Israel knocks them down before they reach Israel, as they’ve been doing to most of the missiles Iran and the Houthis have been shooting off the past two years? Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
There’s no mutuality about the destruction — Bibi andThe Donald have seen to that.
[REDSTATE] Iran, the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, despite having its nuclear weapons program disassembled by Israeli and American explosives, is still run by the mullahs. And those mullahs' mouths are still writing checks their butts can't cash.
In the latest, Iran has now placed a $40-plus million bounty on President Trump.
An Iranian movement has reportedly raised more than $40 million for the assassination of President Donald Trump, as the country's senior religious clerics make clear that "every cell of the resistance in the West is charged with carrying out this sentence."
Iranian leaders recently issued two death warrants, or fatwas, against Trump and deemed him an "enemy of Allah" who must be killed. Those calls prompted the creation of a new organization dubbed the "Blood Covenant," which claims to have raised nearly $40.3 million for the president's assassination, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2025 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.
...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...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...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...
[REDSTATE] Iran, the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, despite having its nuclear weapons program disassembled by Israeli and American explosives, is still run by the mullahs. And those mullahs' mouths are still writing checks their butts can't cash.
