Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo Credit: AP
JNS)
Hamas’s unilateral ceasefire proposal failed to thwart the Israel Defense Forces’ operation against the terror group’s last bastion of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening.
“Hamas’s proposal was intended to torpedo our forces’ entry into Rafah. It did not happen,” the premier stated in remarks shared by his office.
“Last night, with the approval of the War Cabinet, I gave the order to operate in Rafah. Within hours, our forces raised Israeli flags at the Rafah Crossing and took down the Hamas banners,” said Netanyahu.
“Seizing the Rafah Crossing is a very significant step towards destroying the remaining military capabilities of Hamas, including the elimination of the four terrorist battalions in Rafah, and an important step to damage the governmental capabilities of Hamas,” he continued.
The Israeli leader reiterated that the ceasefire terms proposed by Hamas, which Egypt and Qatar devised without consulting with Jerusalem, are still “very far” from what the country’s War Cabinet deems acceptable.
“Israel will not allow Hamas to restore its evil regime in the Gaza Strip, Israel will not allow it to restore its military capabilities and continue to seek our destruction. Israel cannot accept a proposal that endangers the security of our citizens and the future of our country,” he explained.
The premier said he instructed the delegation to Cairo to “stand firm on the conditions needed for the release of our hostages; continue to stand firm on the essential requirements for guaranteeing Israel’s security.”
Meanwhile, the operation in Rafah will help achieve the destruction of Hamas and the return of the 132 hostages, according to Netanyahu.
“We have already proven with the previous release of the hostages—military pressure on Hamas is a prerequisite for the return of our hostages,” he charged.
‘Meant to present Israel as the refuser’
The IDF began operating in “a targeted manner” against Hamas sites in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday night.
The military announcement came minutes after Israel’s War Cabinet decided unanimously to “continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” per a Prime Minister’s Office statement.
IDF ground troops took full control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on Tuesday morning as tanks from the 401st Armored Brigade of the 162nd Division were deployed there.
The operation started as Hamas claimed it had accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by mediators, in what senior officials in Jerusalem described as “an exercise by Hamas meant to present Israel as the refuser.”
The United States did not inform Jerusalem in advance of Hamas’s “acceptance” of the hostage deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three Israeli officials.
Upon reading the Hamas statement, Israeli officials reportedly were surprised to see “many new elements” that were not contained in the previous proposal to which Israel had agreed and was presented to Hamas by the American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators 10 days earlier.
According to one source, CIA director William Burns and other Biden administration officials involved in the talks knew about the new proposal but didn’t inform the Israeli side. The new version was finalized at Doha on Monday morning with Washington’s knowledge.
President Joe Biden speaks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in Washington. Statue of Freedom stands behind.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism on college campuses and around the globe in the months since Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war in Gaza, using a ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust to also denounce new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews.
Biden said that on Oct. 7, Hamas “brought to life” that hatred with the killing of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and warned that, already, people are beginning to forget who was responsible.
The president used his address to renew his declarations of unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas even as his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained over Israel’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which would surely worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians.
The Democratic president has struggled to balance his support for Israel since the attack by Hamas — the deadliest day for Jews worldwide since the Holocaust — with his efforts to protect civilian life in Gaza.
While acknowledging the ceremony was taking place during “difficult times,” Biden made no explicit reference to the deaths of more than 34,700 Palestinians since the attack by Hamas led Israel to declare war in Gaza. The tally from the Hamas-run health ministry includes militants, but also many civilians caught up in the fighting.
“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree,” Biden said.
“We’re at risk of people not knowing the truth,” Biden said of the horrors of the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were systematically killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. “This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world.”
Biden steered clear of the upcoming presidential election in his speech. But it played out in counterpoint to former President Donald Trump’s criticism of the incumbent for not doing more to combat antisemitism. Trump has a long personal history of rhetoric that invokes the language of Nazi Germany and plays on stereotypes of Jews in politics.
Biden’s remarks at the Capitol played out as pro-Palestinian protests — some of which have involved antisemitic chants and threats toward Jewish students and supporters of Israel — rock college campuses across the country.
“As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocity and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we’ve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world,” Biden said.
“Not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting, they’re already forgetting, that Hamas unleashed this terror that it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis, that it was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages,” Biden said. “I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget.”
The Capitol event, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, also featured remarks from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Holocaust survivors, local youth and elected officials took part in the remembrance ceremony, which included a recitation of the Jewish prayers for the dead.
The campus protests have posed a political challenge for Biden, whose coalition has historically relied on younger voters, many of whom are critical of his public support for Israel.
Biden said “There’s no place on any campus in America” or any place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence. He added, “We’re not a lawless country — we are a civil society”
In conjunction with Biden’s speech, his administration was announcing new steps to combat antisemitism on colleges campuses and beyond. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights was sending every school district and college in the nation a letter outlining examples of antisemitism and other hate that could lead to federal civil rights investigations.
The Department of Homeland Security was moving to educate schools and community groups about resources and funding available to promote campus safety and address threats. And the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism was meeting with technology companies on how to combat the rise in hateful conflict online.
On Monday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish spouse of a nationally elected American leader, met with Jewish college students at the White House about the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism. He heard students describe their own experiences with hatred, including threats of violence and hate speech, his office said.
Trump’s campaign on Monday released a video on Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day, that aimed to contrast the 2024 presidential candidates’ responses on antisemitism.
The video shows images of Trump visiting Israel and speeches he has given pledging to stand with Jewish people and confront antisemitism, while showing footage of the protests on campuses and clips of Biden responding to protesters upset with his administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
One of the clips shows Biden saying, “They have a point,” but it does not include the next sentence in which Biden said, “We need to get a lot more care into Gaza.”
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said in response that “President Biden stands against antisemitism and is committed to the safety of the Jewish community, and security of Israel — Donald Trump does not.”
Pro-Hamas protesters demonstrate outside the main gate at Columbia University in New York City on Friday, April 26th. Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Morrison
(DCNF) The president of an international transit union intends to sue Columbia University after it allegedly failed to protect workers held “hostage” by Palestinian protesters who overtook one of the school’s buildings this month, according to Politico.
John Samuelsen of the Transport Workers Union, which oversees over 150,000 workers in a multitude of businesses, including the airline, transit, railroad and education fields, said that Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik waited too long to bring in police on April 30 after pro-Palestinian overtook Hamilton Hall, according to Politico. One worker had reportedly claimed to have been prevented from leaving the building by the protesters and Samuelsen said the union was looking into “legal action” to protect workers. (RELATED: Columbia Cancels Main Commencement Ceremony Amid Anti-Israel Protests)
“We’re exploiting every legal means at our disposal against Columbia, against the individual occupiers of the building … [who] thought that they could hold our custodians hostage to their ideology,” Samuelsen told Politico.
Protestors gather at the gates of Columbia University, in support of student protesters who barricaded themselves in Hamilton Hall, despite orders from university officials to disband or face suspension, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 30, 2024. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)
Protesters occupied the building after the university had implemented a mandatory suspension of anyone who had not cleared the encampment by 2 p.m. One maintenance worker claimed that they had been held “hostage” for a brief period as protesters shouted, “We will honor all the martyrs, all the parents, mothers, fathers.”
Mario Torres, one of the maintenance workers in the building at the time, said that he was swarmed by protesters who came in with zip ties, duct tape and masks, according to the Free Press. Torres fought with one of the protesters in an attempt to “protect the building” but worried about his family and how he was going to make it out.
“I was freaking out. At that point, I’m thinking about my family. How was I gonna get out? Through the window,” Torres told the Free Press.
The university eventually called in the New York Police Department the following evening, who showed up in riot gear and arrested dozens of protesters. Samuelsen, however, argued that was not enough and demanded in a letter sent to the university Monday it release the names of the protesters who occupied the building and footage of the incident, according to Politico.
Columbia announced Monday that it would no longer hold its main graduation ceremony due to the ongoing protests. The university said that they would opt for smaller “Class Days and school-level ceremonies” so students could celebrate “individually alongside their peers.” The University of Southern California also canceled its commencement ceremony due to safety concerns after protesters occupied the campus for weeks.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Palestinians celebrate in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, after Hamas announced its approval of a ceasefire on May 6, 2024. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.
(JNS) The Biden administration did not inform Jerusalem in advance of Hamas’s “acceptance” on Monday of the latest hostage deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three Israeli officials.
The officials told the U.S. news outlet that the government was caught off guard by the Hamas announcement, the text of which it didn’t receive from the mediators until an hour after the terrorist group released its statement.
Upon reading the statement, Israeli officials reportedly were surprised to see “many new elements” that were not contained in the previous proposal to which Israel had agreed and was presented to Hamas by the American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators 10 days earlier.
“It looked like a whole new proposal,” one official told Axios political correspondent Barak Ravid.
Two senior Israeli officials said that the Egyptians gave Hamas a new proposal without coordinating it with Jerusalem. Another source familiar with the negotiations said that the U.S. invited Israel to Cairo over the weekend, but Jerusalem declined to send a delegation. One Israeli official said that it was a mistake not to have an Israeli team present at the talks.
According to the Israeli official, CIA Director William Burns and other Biden administration officials involved in the negotiations knew about the new proposal, but didn’t inform the Israeli side. The final version of the proposal was hashed out in Doha on Monday morning with the Biden administration’s knowledge.
Burns spoke on the phone with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday morning, a source said, but Gallant was also surprised when Hamas released the statement.
“Israel got played” by the U.S. and the mediators, two Israeli officials said. They drafted “a new deal” and were not transparent about it.
The Israeli officials said they suspect that the Biden administration gave Hamas guarantees via the Egyptians and Qataris about ending the war, which the terror group demands but which Jerusalem says is a nonstarter until Hamas is defeated, the hostages are released and Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.
“We think the Americans conveyed the message to Hamas that it will be okay when it comes to ending the war,” one senior Israeli official said.
A U.S. official told Axios that the stated goal of the Biden administration is to “ensure that an initial six-week ceasefire would be built into something more enduring. The agreement lays out three phases for this purpose and it would be our aim to see all three phases completed with all the hostages returned to their families.”
The official said that the U.S. did not give any guarantees to Hamas about ending the war, and pushed back against the Israeli charges that they were left out of the process, saying that “American diplomats have been engaged with Israeli counterparts. There have been no surprises.”
Asked about the reports during a briefing Tuesday, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby likewise stressed that Washington has had “sustained, ongoing normal” interactions with Israel since the start. “Nobody was hiding any footballs from anybody.”
Israel’s War Cabinet approved sending a delegation to Cairo for talks with the Egyptians and Qataris about the proposal that Hamas accepted, despite deep reservations. Burns is expected to be in the Egyptian capital when the Israel team arrives.
According to a report in Reuters, citing a senior Israeli official, Jerusalem was only sending a team of mid-ranking officials to Cairo on Tuesday to attempt to see if Hamas can be persuaded to change its position on the latest offer, which Jerusalem cannot accept.
“This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation,” the official told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the New York Times, citing two sources familiar with the talks, reported that Hamas told mediators on Monday that some of the 33 hostages who would be released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal would not be alive.
The first group of the more than 100 captives still held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 massacre includes women, elderly men, the ill and wounded. Israel initially demanded 40 hostages in the “humanitarian” category, but came to believe that Hamas did not have that many who fit the criteria.
HILCO REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCES TWO COMMERCIAL CONDOMINIUMS AVAILABLE THROUGH A BANKRUPTCY SALE IN GREENWICH VILLAGE
Hilco Real Estate, LLC, announces May 17, 2024 as the bid deadline for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale of two commercial condominiums in New York City’s historic Greenwich Village. These condominiums occupy the first and second floor of the building located at 350-354 Avenue of the Americas. With 176 feet of prime, wraparound frontage on the corner of 6th Avenue and Washington Place, these offerings promise high visibility and heavy foot traffic.
The ground-floor retail space, totaling over 7,850± square feet and zoned C1, boasts 15-foot ceilings, exceptional location and can accommodate single or multiple tenants. While currently not built out, the versatile layout can be retrofitted, taking advantage of three separate entry points, which present a unique opportunity for various uses.
The second-floor space, spanning 8,942± square feet and zoned C2, offers ample flexibility for community-oriented endeavors. Previously occupied by a daycare, the space retains its built-out infrastructure, providing a turnkey solution for a new operator. This setup can also offer potential investors the ability to combine both floors and potentially increase the value for a prospective tenant.
The condominiums sit just one block from Washington Square Park and four blocks from NYU, ideally positioned to take advantage of excellent foot traffic. Additionally, eight subway lines, including the A, C, E, B, D, F, M and 1, and the PATH train are within walking distance, ensuring easy accessibility for both employees and customers.
Greenwich Village, on the west side of Lower Manhattan, is known for its history of fostering art and creativity, with notable former residents including Edgar Allen Poe, Jackson Pollack and Bob Dylan. The neighborhood also features multiple attractions, including Washington Square Park, the Village Vanguard jazz club, the Comedy Cellar, the historic Jefferson Market Library and several historic districts dedicated to preserving the Village’s character and charm. In addition to being lauded for its creative culture, Greenwich Village is home to New York University (NYU), The New School and Cooper Union, with over 64,000 students in attendance between the three universities. Despite the pandemic, the neighborhood also saw a 1.85% population increase from 2020 to 2021 and a 4.29% increase in median household income.
The sale of 350-354 Avenue of the Americas is being conducted by Order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), Bankruptcy Petition No. 23-10068-JPM, In re: Nuovo Ciao-Di LLC. Bids must be received on or before the deadline of May 17 at 5 p.m. (ET) and must be submitted on the Purchase and Sale Agreement available for review and download from Hilco Real Estate’s website.
Interested buyers should review the requirements in order to participate in the bankruptcy sale process available on Hilco Real Estate’s website. For further information, please contact Jonathan Cuticelli at (203) 561-8737 or [email protected].
A Jewish businessman has been found murdered in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, Egyptian and Israeli media outlets reported Tuesday.
According to Hebrew news reports, the murder is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack.
The victim has been identified as Ziv Kiefer, a dual Israeli-Canadian citizen. Kiefer was reportedly visiting Egypt on business.
An Egyptian company owned by Kiefer is involved in the export of frozen fruits and vegetables.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has been alerted to the incident and is investigating the matter in conjunction with the Israeli embassy in Cairo.
Local police are probing the circumstances surrounding the murder and are working to track down the perpetrators.
This is not the first time Israeli nationals have been murdered in Alexandria in recent years.
On October 8th, two Israeli citizens and an Egyptian tour guide were shot and killed in an attack on a group of Israeli tourists near Pompey’s Pillar in Alexandria’s Mansheya neighborhood, following the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7th.
The gunman was later apprehended by local police, and claimed he was carried out the shooting after he was provoked and lost control of himself.
Gaza terrorists near the Rafah crossing on September 20, 2023. (Shutterstock)
By Bassam Tawil, Gatestone Institute
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly spoken of the need for a “pathway” for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
According to Blinken, a Palestinian state would have two positive effects: First, it would pave the way for a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and second, it would “isolate” Iran and its terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.
This is the same Blinken who has put pressure on Israel to refrain from a military operation to destroy the remaining four Hamas battalions in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
If the battalions are not destroyed, it means that Hamas will remain in power and that Israel will, by default, lose the war.
Hamas would be able to rebuild its military and, as it has vowed, will repeat the October 7 attack, time and again, until Israel is annihilated.
In addition, a Hamas victory would catapult the terror group’s power and popularity among Palestinians, as well as Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terrorist groups.
A Hamas victory would accurately be seen globally as proof that terrorism not only works but is rewarded.
A Hamas victory would also definitively seal the chances of Iran and Qatar continuing to control the Palestinian state that Blinken is so keen to establish – as is seemingly the Biden administration’s intent.
Opinion polls conducted by Palestinian organizations have repeatedly shown that a majority of Palestinians vastly prefer Hamas to the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Shortly after Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, 57% of respondents in the Gaza Strip and 82% in the West Bank said the terrorist group was “correct” to launch the attack.
“The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion,” Blinken said during a recent visit to the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
“But then in order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required — calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”
Saudi Arabia and the US are reportedly working on the details of an agreement to boost bilateral trade and defense ties – but a deal will not happen unless the kingdom and Israel establish diplomatic ties, US officials say.
The US argument is that a defense pact would solidify the seven-decade security alliance between Saudi Arabia and the US, tying the two countries ever closer together as US adversaries such as Iran, Russia and China seek to expand their influence in the Middle East.
Speaking to reporters earlier this year after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Blinken tried to claim that the region faces two paths.
The first is “to integrate Israel, with security guarantees and commitments from the countries of the region and also the United State and [the second is] to create a Palestinian state — at least a path that leads to that state.”
Blinken added that, in his view, strengthening Israel’s security and creating a Palestinian state would be the best way to thwart attacks by Iran’s regional proxies such as Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and various militias that have carried out attacks on US and foreign interests in Syria and Iraq.
By establishing a link between Israeli-Saudi normalization and the establishment of a Palestinian state, Blinken would also give the Palestinians a veto right on any peace deal between Israel and an Arab country.
Many Arab countries, of course, have already demonstrated that they are capable of making peace with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
If the Saudis were really interested in normalizing their relations with Israel, they could have done so long ago.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is delaying the move, in part, reportedly, out of fear of facing a backlash from his own people.
He may, however, also have serious reservations that he would prefer not to talk about in public.
The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan never made their normalization agreements with Israel conditional on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Saudis pay a lot of lip service to a Palestinian state but have done little, if anything, in the last eight decades to help the Palestinians achieve a state.
Long before the 2020 Abraham Accords, Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties with Israel without insisting on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Decades later, those peace treaties are still in force, although no Palestinian state was ever established.
Like most Arabs, the Saudis could not care less about a Palestinian state and might secretly prefer not to have one at all.
They are no doubt aware that the Palestinians themselves are the biggest obstacle to the establishment of a state of their own.
During the past eight decades, they have acted as a serial wrecking ball to every peaceful place they set foot.
When Jordan graciously hosted them, in 1951, a Palestinian associated with Hitler’s great ally, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, assassinated King Abdullah I.
In 1970, in a bloodletting called “Black September,” Palestinians tried to overthrow the government of King Hussein, after which the Palestinians were forced to flee to Lebanon.
Since 2005, when the Israelis unconditionally transferred every millimeter of Gaza to the Palestinians so they could build a “Singapore on the Mediterranean,” Palestinian leaders squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid and failed to create adequate state institutions and a free and vibrant democracy.
Moreover, the power struggle between the two main parties, Fatah and Hamas, has led to the creation of two separate entities for the Palestinians – one in the West Bank, ruled by the Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, and a second in the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, supported by Qatar and Iran.
The last thing most Arab states want is a Hamas-controlled Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain justifiably regard Hamas and other Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to their national security, most likely the main reason they all have refused to take in Gazan refugees.
Blinken’s claim that a Palestinian state would “isolate” Iran and its proxies is pure nonsense.
WATCH: ‘ONLY ISRAEL CAN STOP IRAN,’ SAYS IRANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER
The opposite is the case. Iran, its proxies and Qatar would doubtless be extremely happy if the Biden administration would allow them to establish a terrorist state on Israel’s doorstep.
This state would be used by Iran and its terrorists as a launching pad for more October 7-style massacres of Israelis to further their goal of destroying first Israel, then the Arab states.
It is Israel — not Iran — that will find itself “isolated” and surrounded by Iran-backed Islamist terrorist groups thirsting for Jewish blood.
Blinken’s claim that establishing a Palestinian state would bring security and stability to the Middle East is, to put it as nicely as possible, counterfactual.
Palestinians had an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
In 2007, Hamas overthrew the ruling Palestinian Authority in Gaza and took full control there.
At the time Palestinian Authority security officers were dragged into the streets and lynched, while another was thrown to his death from the roof of a high building.
The Hamas-controlled Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip poses a threat not only to the Palestinian Authority, but also to Israel and Egypt.
For years prior to the October 7 atrocities, Hamas fired tens of thousands of rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip at Israeli cities and towns.
The Egyptians, for their part, accused Hamas of working closely with Islamist terrorist groups in the Sinai who were responsible for killing Egyptian soldiers and civilians.
One can only imagine what would happen if Iran and its proxies could extend their control to east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
They would undoubtedly turn these areas into bases for jihad (holy war) against Israel, as they have done in the Gaza Strip.
A Middle East that includes a Palestinian state controlled by Iran and Islamist terrorists will be a less secure region, especially after Iran acquires nuclear weapons.
The new Palestinian state will not only be used to attack Israel, but also to undermine security and stability in neighboring countries, especially Jordan and Egypt.
The Iranian regime and its puppets have never been satisfied with the peace treaties that these two Arab countries signed with Israel.
Just in case Blinken does not know it, Iran, through its proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has already succeeded in infiltrating the West Bank.
In recent years, the Israeli authorities have thwarted some of the countless attempts by Iran to smuggle weapons into the West Bank via Jordan.
“[Palestinian] Islamic Jihad is using Iranian money to buy weapons and loyalty in the West Bank,” said a Palestinian Authority official. “The organization is paying high salaries to its members.”
In the past three years, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas have established more armed cells and recruited dozens more gunmen in the northern West Bank, specifically the areas of Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem, the official revealed.
The situation in the West Bank has become so dangerous that Abbas’s Fatah faction recently accused Iran of trying to spread chaos in its territory and declared that it would oppose outside operations that have nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.
Fatah said it would not allow “our holy cause and the blood of our people to be exploited” and warned that it would oppose any outside interference aimed at harming the security forces or national institutions.
US DENIES IRAN OFFERED TO NIX REVENGE PLANS IF ISRAEL AGREED TO CEASEFIRE
Jamal Nazzal, a member of Fatah’s “Revolutionary Council,” said that Iran’s fingerprints on the Palestinian reality were devastating, indicating that Tehran had decided to fight Israel to the last drop of Arab blood.
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV channel, he added that Iran has agents, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Nazzal pointed out that the Palestinian situation will not tolerate Iranian interference. He also noted that there are Iranian-backed armed groups in areas of the West Bank.
By continuing to obsessively promote the delusional idea of a Palestinian state, the Biden administration is sending a message to the Palestinians that it wants to reward them for launching the deadliest, most sickening attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
In addition, by trying to prevent Israel from destroying Hamas, the Biden administration is facilitating the creation of an Iranian-controlled terrorist state that can only become a source of instability in the Middle East and pose an existential threat not simply to Israel but to the region, especially after Iran acquires nuclear weapons.
By withholding ammunition and other military supplies from Israel, demanding that Israel end the war against Hamas and accept a Palestinian terror state, the Biden administration is advancing its already threadbare legacy since his surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021.
First, Biden, by reconfirming that terrorism “works,” would embolden all the other terrorists.
Just keep on terrorizing everyone, and, when your demands are met, keep on increasing and hardening them.
More significantly, by appeasing Iran, Qatar and potential voters in Michigan by creating a Palestinian state, the Biden administration will in fact be inviting Iran to initiate still more attacks – not only on Israel but also on US forces in the Middle East.
Iran has already launched more than 150 attacks on US troops in the Middle East just since October 2023, and nearly 300 since Biden took office in 2021.
If Iran finally coerces the US to withdraw from the region as it is reportedly thinking of doing, the regime will finally be able to take over its neighbors’ oil fields and holy sites without worrying about the US interfering.
Meanwhile, as the Biden administration, busy trying to win re-election in November, seems to have no idea how to end all the conflicts it ignited, directly or indirectly, in Gaza, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.
The US has been backing both sides of all of them. Iran, presumably taking advantage of these distractions, and perhaps as a consolation prize for losing so much of Hamas -– has been moving to take over Sudan.
It is a country rich in oil, gold, rare earth minerals and terrorism — and felicitously positioned to help Iran launch unlimited combat drones – the planet’s new “cheap, instant air force” — at both Israel and US forces, and enable Iran to use Sudan’s port on the Red Sea to continue obstructing maritime traffic.
The Israel Defense Forces is pursuing a staged operation to dismantle Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah, southern Gaza.
The IDF on Monday began evacuating some 100,000 civilians from eastern Rafah and announced the widening of the humanitarian zone at Al-Mawasi, on the Gaza coastline, to accommodate increased levels of aid flowing into the Strip.
The area includes new field hospitals and increased quantities of food, water and medication.
The IDF also fixed a waterline leading directly to this area.
According to Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the Research and Assessment Division of IDF Military Intelligence and currently a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the order to begin evacuation came after a lengthy process aimed at “accumulating legitimacy” for an Israeli operation.
“There is finally some [international] legitimacy to some extent, due in part to Hamas’s problematic stance in the [hostage negotiation] talks, and because of the mortar barrage shelling, which killed four IDF soldiers, and was launched from close to a civilian population, and close to Rafah Crossing,” said Kuperwasser.
This provided additional legitimacy for the Israeli operation in Rafah to begin, he added.
“There is no choice but to carry it out. In the end, it probably needs to be done gradually to preserve this legitimacy,” Kuperwasser added.
The first stage of the operation will focus on evacuating civilians, before the military enters eastern Rafah, in an area of the city that is closest to the Israeli border.
“This is also a kind of pilot, in the sense that if we manage to conduct this operation and also cause heavy damage to Hamas forces deployed in this space while avoiding hitting civilians as much as possible—it’s clear this will be a central effort in the operation—then it will be possible to expand the operation later on,” Kuperwasser said.
The four Hamas battalions in place are no different from the other 19 enemy battalions that Israel dismantled since its ground offensive in Gaza, launched on Oct.27, he added, but the difference is that Egypt is in close proximity, as are many civilian aid agencies.
“This is the last Hamas fortress. Hamas will likely try to defend it ferociously. There could be more terrorists in addition to the original four Hamas battalions,” he added.
At the same time, Rafah will feature many of the same challenges that the IDF already overcame in Gaza City and Khan Yunis, such as underground terrorist infrastructure and a terrorist army entrenched in civilian areas.
“I don’t think Hamas’s deployment in Rafah is substantially different from its deployment in other places. There is of course the issue of tunnels leading to Egypt, which was absent in other areas of Gaza,” said Kuperwasser.
Hamas’s leadership could try to use them to escape to Sinai, an effort that the Egyptians may not find so easy to stop, he cautioned.
Once the operation gets into full swing, Israel will have new pressure levers to apply in negotiations for the release of hostages, said Kuperwasser.
“If we show this can be done without large civilian casualties, Hamas will likely be under pressure from the prospect of Israel completing the operation, and it losing Gaza,” Kuperwasser said. “In that sense, this operation could be a game changer, both regarding the question of hostages, and the question of the day-after in Gaza.”
Gradual plan
Speaking on Monday, IDF Spokesman to the international media Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the latest moves are part of operational plans approved by the Israeli War Cabinet.
“We are going to have situational assessments and will operate according to this gradual plan. And this is part of our endeavors to dismantle Hamas that, as we saw yesterday, is still active in shooting from Rafah,” Shoshani said.
The IDF Southern Command’s Population Evacuation Unit leads these efforts.
The unit uses an advanced digital map that divides Gaza into more than 600 polygons, enabling evacuations from very specific areas.
A green polygon on the unit’s digital map means over 75% of the population has left, enabling ground forces to move in.
The Rafah operation is expected to involve significant air and artillery strikes and tank movements.
The military began issuing calls to Gazans move to the humanitarian areas through airdropped flyers, text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic.
Shoshani described an evacuation operation limited in scope to temporarily move residents from the eastern part of Rafah, stressing that this was not a general evacuation of the city.
The amount of aid going into Gaza in the upcoming days is not going to change, Shoshani said, adding that aid is flowing through Route 96—built by Israel in March to enable trucks to enter northern Gaza directly from Israel, airdrops, as well as goods unloaded from ships at Ashdod Port, while the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Gaza has been temporarily closed following Sunday’s deadly mortar attack there by Hamas. The mortar attack was carried out from Rafah.
“We are calling on the people of Gaza, of the people of the eastern parts of Rafah to move north to the expanded humanitarian area,” said Shoshani.
Rafah is a densely populated urban area. The military will aim to attack Hamas targets from the air and the ground using its many sensors and precise firepower.
The operation is expected to involve the 98th Paratroopers Division, which led the four-month operation in Khan Yunis, and the 162nd Armored Division, which spent six months fighting in central Gaza and setting up the Netzarim Corridor separating northern and southern Gaza.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) believes that “young black kids growing up in the Bronx don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is.”
“They don’t know,” she added. “They don’t know these things.”
The Governor of New York thinks black kids don’t know what the word ‘computer’ is. pic.twitter.com/N13QL1efGf
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 7, 2024
This condescension toward black people has always simmered just beneath the surface of the Democrat Party (the party that fought a Civil War to hold onto their slaves, and then created the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow, and segregation). But earlier this month, it bubbled and then burst to the surface through Hochul’s ignorant and racist mouth.
You can watch the full video of her appearance at the “Milken Institute Fireside Chat” here. Her racist remarks are heard at about the seven-minute mark… Afterward comes my favorite part… Watch as Hochul, after spewing racism, is allowed to go on without being challenged by the event moderator, the far-left Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. He’s such a good dog, he allows a white woman to get away with a blatant act of racism without challenging her, pushing back, or even mentioning it.
Because she’s a Democrat, and he’s a partisan eunuch, Capehart simply moves on…
White Democrat: Black people are too ignorant to know what a computer is.
Eunuch: Tell us more about how awesome you are.
This is a truly revealing moment because this is what Democrats really think of black people… In that respect, nothing has changed since the days of slavery except the style of the plantation. Democrats still believe black people are helpless and ignorant. Democrats believe black people are something less and — through the federal government — must be cared for and controlled.
It’s the worst kind of racism, the only “acceptable” racism allowed today (along with hating whitey) because this lie about black people being inferior empowers Democrats and the organized left.
But Capehart, man… What a wretched little man to allow such a thing to be said without challenge. But he only cares about himself and his place at the corporate media trough. He couldn’t even summon the decency and dignity to state the obvious
Why is it only black kids in the Bronx, Governor? What about the white, Hispanic, and Asian kids stuck in the Bronx? Do they not face the same disadvantages? Would they not be just as ignorant?
Instead, he once again proved himself a coward, a punk, and an establishment whore willing to allow a gob of blatant racism to be spit in his face as long as his status remains.
Racist Democrats and their loyal sell-outs. Despicable people.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
The first of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials will begin April 15, a Manhattan judge ruled Monday.
(DCNF) Judge Juan Merchan denied former President Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche’s motion for a mistrial Tuesday following porn star Stormy Daniels’ testimony about his client.
Blanche referred to Daniels’ testimony as ”unduly prejudicial” and said he does not believe there is a way to reverse the effects of what she said about the alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006. The lawyer alleged Daniels discussed irrelevant details to the case, which is about an alleged $130,000 payment from Trump to the porn star, with Merchan indicating he will instruct the jury only to take into account a limited portion of her testimony.
“You don’t even know how to have a conversation,” Daniels testified she told Trump before “swatting” him with a magazine. She also alleged Trump did not wear a condom during their alleged affair.
“All of this has nothing to do with this case,” Blanche said, adding that her testimony could “inflame the jury.”
“The guardrails for this witness answering questions from the government were just thrown to the side,” Blanche said.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche moves for a mistrial based on Daniels’ testimony.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche moves for a mistrial based on Daniels’ testimony.
“The guardrails for this witness answering questions from the government were just thrown to the side,” he said. @DailyCaller
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) May 7, 2024
In March, Merchan previously denied Trump’s request to prevent Daniels, as well as his former attorney Michael Cohen, from testifying in the trial.
“Your honor, we were extremely mindful of not eliciting too much testimony about the actual act,” prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said. “There were details that were left out based on the court’s instructions at the bench…But your honor, their stating that this is an entirely new story is not accurate.”
During the previous two weeks of testimony, prosecutors called witnesses who established context for the payment to Daniels, as well as the “conspiracy” to influence the 2016 election they allege Trump engaged in through the payment.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels arrives at the adult entertainment fair “Venus” in Berlin, on Oct. 11, 2018. The Manhattan district attorney’s office appears to be getting close to a decision on whether to charge Donald Trump over hush-money payments to Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
(AP) — As the third week of witness testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial takes place, all eyes are on who will be called next and whether the former president will be able to abide by the terms of his now twice-broken gag order that bars him from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others connected to the case.
Porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was called to the witness stand by mid-morning, following testimony from a Penguin Random House executive.
Before Monday’s testimony began, Judge Juan M. Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for a second time, fining him $1,000 for a single violation and sternly warning the loquacious former president that jail time would be considered for future violations “if necessary and appropriate.”
Two people tied to the Trump Organization took the stand on Monday — former controller Jeffrey McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff — elaborating on a key piece of the charges against Trump: Michael Cohen’s reimbursement for the $130,000 Daniels payment.
Tuesday’s witness testimony is set to dig further into the events and people involved in what prosecutors have said was a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and burying negative stories about the then-candidate.
The trial is in its 13th day.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments — including the payment to Daniels — recording them instead as legal expenses.
— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here
Here’s the latest:
DANIELS FURTHER DESCRIBES ENCOUNTER WITH TRUMP
After talking with Donald Trump in his hotel suite for about two hours, Stormy Daniels testified, she went to use the bathroom. When she was finished, she said, she found Trump sitting on the bed wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt.
“When I exited, he was up on the bed, like this,” Daniels testified, feigning reclining with her knees up in the witness stand.
“At first it was just startled, like jump scare. I wasn’t expecting someone to be there, minus a lot of clothing,” Daniels testified. She said it suddenly felt like the room was spinning, like blood was draining from her hands and feet.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ what did I misread to get here?” Daniels testified. “Because the intention was pretty clear. Somebody stripped down in their underwear and posed on the bed, waiting for you.”
Daniels said Trump told her: “I thought we were getting somewhere, we’re talking. I thought you were serious about what you wanted. If you ever want to get out of that trailer park — I was offended because I never lived in a trailer park.”
JUDGE ADMONISHES PROSECUTOR OVER EXCESSIVE DETAILS IN DANIELS TESTIMONY
Before Stormy Daniels returned to the stand after a morning break on Tuesday, the judge in Donald Trump’s hush money case admonished prosecutor Susan Hoffinger about the “degree of detail” she’s eliciting from Daniels, saying there was no need to get into the design of the floor in the hotel room foyer or the various subjects covered in her conversation with Trump.
“The degree of detail that we’re going into here is just unnecessary,” Judge Juan M. Merchan said.
DANIELS SAYS TRUMP SUGGESTED PUTTING HER ON ‘THE APPRENTICE’
Before a morning break in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, Stormy Daniels testified that she and Trump spoke for about two hours in his hotel suite before they were supposed to go to dinner. During the conversation, she said, he dangled the idea of putting her on his TV show “The Apprentice.”
Daniels testified that Trump pitched the allure of a porn star competing on the show — which had yet to spawn its celebrity version — and said it would be a chance for her to show the world that, as a writer and director, she’s “more than a dumb bimbo.”
Daniels said she doubted the show’s network, NBC, would ever let it happen, and that she feared her lack of business acumen would make her an easy out. She said she enjoyed her work making adult films and isn’t ashamed of it, but she had designs on writing and directing music videos and more mainstream productions.
“They have bigger budgets and better catering,” she quipped on the witness stand.
Daniels testified that her takeaway from Trump was that “people might be able to take me serious, know that I wasn’t just an airhead” and that being on the show could position her to “about what I wanted to do, which was to be taken seriously as a writer and director.”
“He’s like, ‘this is your chance for somebody to see you and maybe give you that opportunity,’” Daniels said. “He pitched it as a win-win.”
TRUMP GREETED DANIELS IN HIS HOTEL SUITE IN HIS PAJAMAS, SHE SAYS
When Stormy Daniels went to meet Donald Trump for dinner in 2006, she testified Tuesday, she took an elevator up to the penthouse level of the hotel where was staying per instructions from his bodyguard.
Daniels said she saw the bodyguard, Keith Schiller, outside the door and exchanged pleasantries with him before going inside.
Schiller had told her the plan was for her and Trump to go down to one of the hotel’s restaurants for dinner. She said she entered a foyer with black and white tile floors, mahogany furnishings and a big floral arrangement.
She said she called Trump’s name and said, “Hello,” and Trump entered the foyer “wearing silk or satin pajamas that I immediately made fun of him for.”
“I said, ‘Does Mr. Hefner know you stole his pajamas,’” Daniels recalled, referring to the late Playboy owner. Trump then left her to quickly change into a suit. She said Trump’s hotel suite was three times the size of her apartment.
Daniels testified that after Trump changed, the two of them sat down at a dining room table in the penthouse. He started asking her about her childhood and her career — probing questions about the production of adult films, how much of them is scripted versus improv, whether performers have unions and how testing for sexually transmitted diseases works in the industry.
“He was very, very interested in a lot of the business aspects of it, which I thought was very cool,” as most people just ask about “the sexy stuff … the salacious things,” Daniels said.
Trump listened to Daniels’ testimony with a pained expression on his face, muttering at times to lawyers on either side of him.
DANIELS SPEAKS ABOUT AGREEING TO DINNER WITH TRUMP IN 2006
Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday morning that she saw Donald Trump again after the golf round in what was known as the “gift room,” an area where the celebrity golfers collected gift bags and swag during the Lake Tahoe event. There, she said, he remembered her as “the smart one,” and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner.
She testified that Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, took her number.
Daniels said she accepted Trump’s invite because she wanted to get out of a planned dinner with her adult film company colleagues, some of whom she “didn’t want to be around — catfights,” she said with a chuckle.
She said her then-publicist suggested in a phone call that Trump’s invitation was a good excuse to duck the work dinner and would “make a great story” and perhaps help her career. “What could possibly go wrong?” she recalled the publicist saying.
DANIELS IDENTIFIES TRUMP IN COURTROOM
As is standard in court proceedings, Stormy Daniels was asked Tuesday morning if she saw Donald Trump in the courtroom and to identify him.
Before answering, Daniels shuffled in her seat for a beat, looking around the courtroom. She pointed toward Trump, describing his navy suit coat, and said he was sitting at the defense table.
Trump looked straight forward, lips pursed, as he was identified.
It is the 13th day of Trump’s hush money trial and a payment that was made to Daniels is at the heart of the charges against the former president.
DANIELS TESTIFIES ABOUT HER CAREER AND MEETING TRUMP
Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday that she started appearing in adult films at age 23 and soon was writing and directing them, as well. She said she has directed over 150 such films and has won a roster of porn industry awards.
Daniels was upbeat and voluble on the stand, speaking over the prosecutor’s questions occasionally and laughing at times as she recounted her wide-ranging resume. She was twice asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger to slow down so that a court stenographer could keep up.
Daniels’ testimony quickly shifted to the celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe where she met Trump in 2006.
The adult film studio she worked for at the time was sponsoring one of the holes on the golf course. She told the court that she and Trump initially had a “very brief encounter” when his group passed through. She recalled him chatting to her about the adult film industry and her directing prowess, remarking that she must be “the smart one” if she was making films.
DANIELS BEGINS TESTIMONY BY DESCRIBING HER UPBRINGING
Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money case began their questioning of Stormy Daniels on Tuesday by asking her about her upbringing in Louisiana.
Daniels first spoke about having grown up poor and said she wanted to become a veterinarian.
She testified that she did ballet growing up, and then an acquaintance got her into exotic dancing while she was in high school.
“I started dancing on the weekend, which was pretty cool because I didn’t have to miss any classes,” Daniels testified.
As Daniels describes her childhood and early work experience, Trump whispered frequently in the ear of his attorney, Todd Blanche. Otherwise, his gaze was cast down at his desk and his face expressionless.
Jurors listened attentively as Daniels testified about getting into adult films.
One juror smirked when Daniels mentioned one of the ways into the industry was by winning a contest, like “Miss Nude North America.” Many jurors took notes, alternating their gaze from Daniels on the witness stand to prosecutor Susan Hoffinger at a lectern behind the prosecution table.
STORMY DANIELS CALLED TO THE STAND
Stormy Daniels has been called to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
The porn actor was paid $130,000 in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in July 2006.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
At the time of the payment, Trump and his campaign were reeling from the Oct. 7, 2016 publication of the never-before-seen 2005 “Access Hollywood” footage — in which he boasted about grabbing women without their permission.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, paid Daniels through a shell corporation he created and the deal was finalized on Nov. 1, 2016, just a week before Election Day.
Prosecutors have said that payments from Trump reimbursing Cohen were falsely — and illegally — logged as legal fees to cover up their actual purpose. Trump’s lawyers contend the payments were legitimate legal expenses.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES FROM TRUMP’S BOOKS ENTERED INTO THE RECORD
Over the objections of defense attorneys, prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday introduced additional excerpts from one of his books, “How to Get Rich,” including an epigraph from Trump’s mother and a page thanking the book’s co-writer, Meredith McIver.
The line of questioning seems designed to undercut the defense’s suggestion, made on cross-examination, that the books were written by a ghostwriter, with little involvement from Trump.
“Are quotes attributed to an author’s mother typically written by a ghost writer or the author?” Mangold asked.
“The author,” Franklin replied.
TRUMP’S SON COMPLAINS ABOUT HUSH MONEY CASE
While sitting in court Tuesday morning, Donald Trump’s son Eric posted on the social platform X about his father’s hush money trial, calling it “unbelievable” that a former president and current presidential candidate “is being tried for 34 felonies (based on a bookkeepers entry who never spoke with the President and sat in New York while he was in the Oval Office 240 miles away from Washington DC).”
PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE IS FIRST WITNESS OF THE DAY
Sally Franklin, an executive at Penguin Random House, was the first witness to take the stand Tuesday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. One of the publishing house’s imprints published a couple of Trump’s books, “Trump: How to Get Rich” and “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.”
Prosecutor Becky Mangold began questioning by having Franklin read excerpts from the 2004 volume “Trump: How to Get Rich” that get at Trump’s approach to business.
The readings appeared to be designed to show that Trump was hands-on at his company and willing to retaliate against those he perceived to have done him wrong.
Among the excerpts: “If you don’t know every aspect of what you’re doing, down to the paper clips, you’re setting yourself up for some unwanted surprises,” and “for many years, I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back.”
Testimony eventually moved on to excerpts from Trump’s 2005 “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire,” including sections in praise of penny-pinching (“I call it financial smarts”) and keeping a close eye on bills.
As Trump lawyer Todd Blanche got his chance to cross-examine Franklin, he underscored that Trump worked with a writer on the manuscripts.
JUDGE TO ALLOW LIMITED TESTIMONY ABOUT DANIELS’ ALLEGED SEXUAL ENCOUNTER WITH TRUMP
Judge Juan M. Merchan will allow limited testimony about Stormy Daniels’ alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump when she takes the stand in his hush money case.
Merchan agreed with the prosecution that the details will be necessary because of the porn actor’s credibility concerns and past denials. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said that prosecutors intend to establish that Daniels and Trump did have intercourse but that the testimony “will not involve descriptions of genitalia” or other seamy details.
DEFENSE SEEKS TO BAR STORMY DANIELS FROM DETAILING ALLEGED TRUMP ENCOUNTER
After court got underway in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday morning, Trump lawyer Susan Necheles asked that Stormy Daniels, who is expected to appear as a witness today, be barred from testifying about “the details” of her alleged sexual encounter with Trump. Necheles said it’s irrelevant to “a case about books and records.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger countered that the details are important to buttress Daniels’ credibility, which the defense has questioned. Hoffinger assured Judge Juan M. Merchan that the description of the alleged sexual act would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia.”
Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.
TRUMP ADDRESSES REPORTERS ON HIS WAY INTO COURTROOM
Donald Trump spoke to reporters as he entered the courtroom Tuesday morning and read from a piece of paper he held that he said had statements of people commenting on television about the hush money case’s weakness.
He then started defending some of the actions at the heart of the case, saying that paying his lawyer and listing it as a “legal expense” is what it was.
’We didn’t put it down as construction costs,” he said. “The legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. There’s nothing else you could say.”
Monday’s testimony, from Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, had focused on whether money paid to Michael Cohen — reimbursing him for payments to Stormy Daniels — was correctly logged as a legal expense.
TRUMP POSTS ABOUT NYC CONGESTION PRICING WHILE EN ROUTE TO COURTHOUSE
Donald Trump has arrived at court in lower Manhattan for the 13th day of his hush money trial.
Ahead of his arrival, Trump dove back into local New York City news, posting on his social media network a complaint about a plan to charge a $15 toll to most drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district. “What office tenant or business would want to be here with this tax,” Trump said.
STORMY DANIELS IS EXPECTED TO APPEAR TUESDAY AS A WITNESS
An attorney for Stormy Daniels says the porn actor is expected to appear as a witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday.
Clark Brewster tells The Associated Press that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is “likely” to be called as a witness in the trial on Tuesday.
Trump said earlier Tuesday that he was “recently told” who the witness would be on Tuesday and complained he should’ve been given more notice.
PROSECUTION IS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass on Monday afternoon told Judge Juan M. Merchan in Donald Trump’s hush money trial that the prosecution’s case is proceeding ahead of schedule.
Steinglass said he estimates being finished with calling witnesses two weeks from Tuesday. While there’s the possibility of rebuttal witnesses, the estimate is related to the primary portions of the trial.
Once the prosecution is done, Trump’s lawyers can then call their witnesses.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS?
The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial fined him $1,000 on Monday for again violating a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and some others connected to the case.
Judge Juan M. Merchan warned Trump that additional gag order violations could potentially result in jail time.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well,” Merchan said. “There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings.”
While prosecutors flagged four prospective violations, Merchan only concurred with one — comments that Trump gave to a program called “Just the News No Noise” on April 22, which is broadcast on Real America’s Voice.
On the program, Trump criticized the speed at which the jury was picked and claimed it was stacked with Democrats. “The jury was picked so fast. 95 percent Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat,” he is quoted as saying.
Trump was fined $9,000 last week for nine earlier violations of the order.
TRUMP TO RETURN TO COURT FOR 13TH DAY OF TRIAL
Donald Trump was set to return to the courthouse in lower Manhattan on Tuesday for the 13th day of his hush money trial.
The third week of witness testimony began on Monday with two people tied to the Trump Organization taking the stand to elaborate on the hows and whys of Michael Cohen’s financial reimbursement for a $130,000 hush money payment paid to lawyer Keith Davidson in exchange for porn actor Stormy Daniels’ silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.
During the course of testimony, jurors saw notes, bank statements and other documents related to the financial reimbursement that is at the heart of the charges against the former president.
The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records accuse Trump of labeling the money paid to Cohen in his company’s records as legal fees. Prosecutors contend that by paying him income and giving him extra to account for taxes, the Trump executives were able to conceal the reimbursement.
A former Hamas operative called for Israel to proceed with its military operation to destroy the terror group, warning that Hamas’ statement it had accepted a ceasefire was a ploy aimed at preventing the IDF from obtaining a decisive victory over Hamas.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, a former member of Hamas who served as a Shin Bet informant, wrote on social media platform X that Israel must ignore Hamas’ claim that it was willing to agree to a truce.
Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas. He has become an outspoken advocate against the group’s radical Islamic ideology and converted to Christianity from Islam in 1997.
“Israel should not fall into Hamas’s new trap unless the terror group commits to the release of ALL HOSTAGES and stepping down from power,” Yousef wrote on X.
“This is a trick orchestrated by Hamas hosts, agents, and donors to prevent Israel from finishing 36 years of human tragedy at the expense of children and their future,” he continued.
“I have to admit that Hamas’s move was very clever, however, Israel must outsmart them by demanding the release of all hostages in exchange for the Rafah invasion.”
Yousef urged Israel to take a hard line with Hamas, and not give them critical time in which to regroup and rearm.
“Anything less than” a demand for the return of the entirety of the hostages “could be a fatal mistake,” he added.
Talks aimed at securing the release of some 30 hostages in exchange for a ceasefire were ongoing, but a deadly attack on a group of troops by Hamas caused the negotiations to collapse.
In recent days, Qatar and the U.S. have increased pressure on Israel to avoid a military operation in Rafah.
FILE - Yogurt is displayed for sale at a grocery store in River Ridge, La. on July 11, 2018. Yogurt sold in U.S. grocery store may soon have new labels that say the popular food might help reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
(AP) – Sharp-eyed grocery shoppers may notice new labels in the dairy aisle touting yogurt as way to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
That’s because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently said it’s OK for producers of yogurt to make that claim — even though the agency acknowledged that it’s based on limited evidence.
WHY DID FDA ALLOW YOGURT MAKERS TO CLAIM IT CAN LOWER DIABETES RISK?
Danone North America, the U.S. branch of the French firm that makes several popular yogurt brands, asked the FDA in 2018 for clearance to make what is known as a “qualified health claim.” FDA gave Danone the nod in March.
The way FDA sees it, there’s some support — but not significant scientific agreement — that eating at least 2 cups of yogurt per week may reduce the risk of developing the disease that affects about 36 million Americans.
WHAT IS A ‘QUALIFIED HEALTH CLAIM’?
Those are claims that lack full scientific support but are permitted as long as the product labels include disclaimers to keep from misleading the public.
They have been allowed for dietary supplements since 2000 and for foods since 2002, ever since the FDA faced lawsuits challenging the standard of requiring scientific agreement for product claims. Back then, lawyers successfully argued that such standards violated free speech rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
Rather than fight proposed label changes in court, the FDA created a new category, separate from authorized health claims, in which products must prove significant scientific agreement among qualified experts that they reduce the risk of a disease or a health-related condition.
Examples of qualified health claims include reports that consuming some types of cocoa may reduce heart disease and that cranberry juice might cut the risk of recurrent urinary tract infections in women.
Danone submitted information from studies that observed participants over time and found a link between eating yogurt and lower markers of diabetes. The FDA agreed that there is “some credible evidence” of benefit of eating yogurt as a whole food, but not because of any particular nutrient in it.
In other words, there is no direct evidence that yogurt can prevent diabetes — only weak evidence that eating yogurt may be associated with reducing certain biomarkers that are related to increase risk of the disease.
Critics questioned approval of the claim, saying it’s not based on gold-standard randomized controlled trials that could have proven whether yogurt actually reduces Type 2 diabetes risk.
No single food can reduce the risk of a disease tied to overall diet, the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest said. In fact, the label change might raise the risk of diabetes by encouraging consumption of yogurt types that include added sugars and mix-ins such as cookies and pretzels.
Marion Nestle, a food policy expert, said qualified health claims based on limited evidence are “ridiculous on their face.”
The Israeli army took control of the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday morning, as images circulating on Arabic-language news sites and social media appeared to show the Israeli flag raised over the former Hamas-administered site.
The 401st Armored Brigade captured the crossing, cutting it off from the major thoroughfare of Salah a-Din road. That route was separately captured by the Givati Brigade overnight, the army said.
A video, which was apparently filmed by an Israeli soldier, depicted a tank mowing down flagpoles, atop which the Palestinian flag was mounted, at the Rafah crossing.
Hours into the offensive, some 20 terrorists who attacked troops were killed and IDF soldiers discovered three “significant” tunnels, the army said.
A car filled with explosives, which was headed towards soldiers, was “struck and destroyed” before being able to harm troops, the military statement added.
Late Monday evening, Israel appeared to begin its long-delayed military operation in the city, albeit in a limited manner targeting specific neighborhoods within Rafah.
According to a Ynet report, the Israeli air force has launched aerial attacks against some 100 targets in the Rafah area.
Locals reported hearing heavy bombing and shelling throughout the late night and early morning hours.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that Israel was carrying out “targeted” raids in east Rafah, but did not share details regarding the expected duration or scale of the operation.
Dozens of Gazans attempting to flee the Hamas stronghold of Rafah were been blocked from crossing into Egypt by Egyptian soldiers, according to initial reports on Tuesday morning.
Hours before, the Israeli army had reached out to residents of eastern Rafah via SMS and phone calls, urging them to evacuate the area.
This is a developing story and will be continuously updated.
A F-15 Eagle fighter jet takes off from an Israeli Air Force base to the Gaza Strip, Nov. 19, 2012. Photo by Edi Israel/Flash90.
(JNS) The Israel Defense Forces began operating in “a targeted manner” against Hamas terrorist sites in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday night.
The military announcement came minutes after Israel’s War Cabinet decided unanimously to “continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” per the Prime Minister’s Office.
— ישראל שלי | MyIsrael (@MyIsraelorgil) May 6, 2024
According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News, which cited Arab media, IDF ground forces entered eastern Rafah accompanied by heavy airstrikes, including so-called “Belt of Fire” barrages, which entail setting off circular explosions around terrorist infrastructure.
Earlier Monday, the IDF called on residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate to humanitarian zones ahead of a planned military offensive to defeat Hamas’s four terror battalions in its final bastion in Gaza.
The IDF has marked out two evacuation zones: an expansion of the Al-Mawasi zone along the central-southern Gazan coastline, and Khan Yunis.
Monday’s message directs noncombatants to the expanded area in Al-Mawasi, which includes field hospitals, tents and increased amounts of food, water, medicine and other supplies.
The Cabinet decided on the evacuation on Sunday night, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informing U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of the decision overnight. The area initially designated for evacuation contains around 100,000 people.
Gallant told Austin of “the many efforts that the State of Israel is making to reach an [agreement] for the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire, and said that at this stage Hamas refuses any proposal that would allow this,” according to a readout of the call from Gallant’s office.
The Israeli defense minister emphasized that “there was no choice left and this meant the start of the Israeli operation in Rafah.”
U.S. President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Monday that a ceasefire deal with Hamas was the best way to protect the lives of the 132 hostages still held by the terrorist organization in Gaza.
Biden expressed his concerns over the IDF’s imminent military operation in Rafah, which Washington vehemently opposes.
The call took place as Hamas claimed it had accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by mediators, in what senior officials in Jerusalem described as “an exercise by Hamas meant to present Israel as the refuser.”
The proposal that Hamas claimed to have agreed to is unknown to Israel and the United States and did not come up in Netanyahu’s conversation with Biden, stressed a senior Israeli political official cited by Ynet.
Anti-Israel protesters in London on Oct. 14, 2023. Credit: Koca Vehbi/Shutterstock.
(Israel Hayom)
British Green Party candidate Mothin Ali, who won the Gipton and Harehills seat in Leeds with 3,070 votes, proclaimed his election was a “win for the people of Gaza.” After the results were announced, he shouted “Allahu Akbar!” while supporters unfurled a Palestinian flag behind him.
“We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!” Ali declared in his victory speech.
He was not alone in tying his success to the Palestinian struggle. Numerous other candidates running on a pro-Palestinian platform also defeated their rivals across Britain. In Walsall, Naheed Zohra Gultasibhas celebrated by stating, “This is for Gaza, this is for Palestine” after her win. Akhmed Yakoob of West Midlands secured approximately 20% of votes in his constituency on a pro-Palestinian platform as well.
While celebrating their wins, the victorious candidates made clear their intention to amplify Palestinian voices and advocated for the Palestinian cause from their newly elected positions on local councils.
The oppositional Labour Party lost over 10% of its support in some areas to the pro-Palestinian candidates. Chris Hopkins, the political research director at Savanta, said, “Labour’s vote falling away in some Muslim areas shows that the party still has plenty of work to do among some communities over its response to the conflict in Gaza. That said, it’s likely to have a limited impact at a general election, when constituencies are larger and the vote determines the next government rather than local authority control.”
The election-night scenes highlighted the charged atmosphere in Britain surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel’s military offensive in Gaza drags on, pro-Palestinian activism and rhetoric have intensified in some British political circles.
However, polling experts say that the Muslim voters who have turned away from Labour this week are likely to have a “limited impact” on results in the general election.
James Johnson, a former Downing Street pollster, said, “The big caveat is that these places tend to be safe Labour seats and the general elections tend to be more about who will be the next prime minister. Those two combined might mean that in seat terms, it doesn’t have a huge effect.” But he added that we are now seeing the “fledgling signs of a reconfiguration in British politics” where Muslims are voting on “very different issues to the wider public.”
The results indicate a segment of the British electorate feeling strongly enough about the Gaza situation to back pro-Palestinian candidates at the ballot box, even as Hamas’s terrorist tactics have sparked international condemnation.
