Nikki Haley in Israel: Oct 7th Could “Absolutely Happen in America Too”
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Nikki Haley in Israel: Oct 7th Could “Absolutely Happen in America Too”
Knesset to vote on bill designating UNRWA a terror group, another stripping its immunitie
( JNS) Israel’s Knesset is set to hold a preliminary vote on Wednesday on two bills targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over its ties to terrorism.
One of the bills, proposed by Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu), seeks to define the agency as terrorist organization and cut all official ties with it, while the other, tabled by MK Dan Illouz (Likud) seeks to strip UNRWA of various immunities it currently enjoys.
Back in February, legislation that would prohibit UNRWA from operating on Israeli state-owned land passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset, 33-10.
Malinovsky’s bill “will allow for a complete dissociation from the agency—no cooperation, no trade, nothing,” she told JNS.
“For years this organization has been cooperating with Hamas, and on October 7 even actively participated in the murder, kidnapping and rape of Israeli citizens,” she said.
“I expect every Knesset member who has integrity to vote in favor of this bill and do justice to the murdered, the injured, the kidnapped and all the citizens of Israel,” she added.
In February, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that 30 UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, and that 1,468 of the agency’s 13,000 staff members in Gaza were members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He also shared the names and photos of 12 UNRWA employees Israel had accused in January of taking part in the massacre.
Also in January, a comprehensive report published by U.N. Watch documented a Telegram group for UNRWA teachers in Gaza in which many glorified the massacre and advocated the execution of Israeli hostages.
“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to jihadi terrorism,” said U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer at the time.
Illouz, whose bill seeks to strip UNRWA of immunities it enjoys with regard to taxation, lawsuits and more, told JNS that the agency “is not and cannot be part of the solution” in the Gaza Strip.
“UNRWA workers took an active role in the October 7 massacre. They assisted in the heinous attack,” he said. “To make matters worse the organization has for years been a catalyst in perpetuating the conflict and depriving the Palestinian people of a nonviolent future. They are no longer a welcome entity and we will replace them with bodies that will actually carry out the humanitarian mission,” he added.
In December, it was reported that Israel’s Foreign Ministry had put together a classified report calling for the removal of UNRWA from the Gaza Strip.
The report’s recommendations set out a three-stage process for shrinking and eventually eliminating the agency: 1) Prepare a case detailing UNRWA’s cooperation with Hamas; 2) Reduce UNRWA’s field of activity and find replacement service providers; and 3) Transfer UNRWA’s responsibilities to another entity.
The refugee agency has pushed back against claims it engages in or encourages terrorism.
“Part of this campaign involves inundating donors with misinformation designed to foster distrust and tarnish the reputation of the agency,” said UNRWA head Phillipe Lazzarini in March. The agency is facing a “deliberate and concerted campaign” to undermine its operations, he added.
MSNBC Legal Analyst Says Bragg Team Should ‘Worry’ That Having Lawyers On Trump Jury Could Lead To Acquittal
(DCNF) Former Department of Justice spokesman Anthony Coley said prosecutors should be concerned that the presence of two lawyers on former President Donald Trump’s jury could contribute to an acquittal.
The panel of 12 jurors includes a young corporate law attorney and a civil litigation attorney in the trial pertaining to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s allegations Trump falsified business documents to conceal a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Coley on “Jonathan Lemire Reports” said the lawyers on the jury may overthink the case and have an outsized influence on other jurors, which could hurt the prosecution.
“I think what I would worry about if I’m on the prosecution case, and I say this tongue in cheek, because I ran communications at arguably the largest law firm in the world, the U.S. Justice Department, I do worry that there are lawyers on this jury, not one but two lawyers,” Coley said. “And by my own experience, lawyers can sometimes be overly analytical. They can be hyper technical. I worry that the nonlawyers on this jury may rely on the lawyers who, quite frankly, don’t have expertise in this area of the law.”
Bragg’s star witness was Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who legal analysts said faced serious credibility issues while testifying, including admitting he stole from his previous boss. Coley said the defense’s strategy will be to target Cohen.
“I think their strategy can really be summed up in four words,” Coley said. “Don’t believe Michael Cohen. And what we saw in four days of meandering testimony and cross-examination towards the end of this trial, we saw them take a couple hits at Michael Cohen’s credibility. We now know, for example, that in addition to being a convicted felon and a liar, we know that Michael Cohen by his own admission is a thief. So I expect to see defense attorneys return to those schematics.”
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‘Regrettable’ ICJ made Israel work on Shabbos, court’s VP writes in dissent
(JNS) South Africa failed to present substantially new facts on the ground in Rafah, the International Court of Justice shouldn’t “micromanage” Israel’s military operations, the Jewish state has been increasing aid flow into Gaza and the United Nations high court hasn’t previously required a sovereign state to allow outside observers in during a war.
Those were several of the objects that Julia Sebutinde, vice president of the ICJ—the principal United Nations judicial arm located in The Hague—raised in her dissenting opinion on Friday.
“Israel’s ongoing military operations in Rafah are part of the broader conflict initiated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israeli territory, killing citizens and abducting others,” wrote Sebutinde, of Uganda. “To maintain its judicial integrity, the court must avoid reacting to every shift in the conflict and refrain from micromanaging the hostilities in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah.”
Sebutinde noted that South Africa had “invited” the court to modify its rulings on Israel for the fourth time since December—on Dec. 29, Feb. 12, March 6 and May 10.
“Once again, South Africa has invited the court to micromanage the conduct of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. Such hostilities are exclusively governed by the laws of war (international humanitarian law) and international human rights law, areas where the court lacks jurisdiction in this case,” she wrote.
She also noted that the court invited misunderstandings when it ordered Israel on Friday to “halt its military offensive … in the Rafah governorate.”
That phrasing “is susceptible to ambiguity and could be misunderstood or misconstrued as ordering an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire, thereby exemplifying an untenable overreach on the part of the court,” the ICJ vice president wrote.
“In my understanding, the objective of the court is to order Israel to suspend its military offensive in Rafah only insofar as such suspension is necessary to prevent the bringing about of conditions of life that could bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.
“This directive, which could be erroneously misunderstood as mandating a unilateral ceasefire in part of Gaza, amounts to micromanaging the hostilities in Gaza by restricting Israel’s ability to pursue its legitimate military objectives, while leaving its enemies, including Hamas, free to attack without Israel being able to respond,” Sebutinde wrote.
“This measure also implicitly orders Israel to disregard the safety and security of the over 100 hostages still held by Hamas, a terrorist organization that has refused to release them unconditionally,” she added.
“I firmly believe that Israel has the right to defend itself against its enemies, including Hamas, and to continue efforts to rescue its missing hostages,” she added. “These rights are not incompatible with its obligations under the Genocide Convention. Israel can continue pursuing its legitimate aims of combating Hamas and rescuing its hostages, provided it respects its obligations under the Genocide Convention and the provisional measures indicated by the court.”
Sebutinde also took South Africa to task for failing to mention—as context to Israel’s operations in Rafah—that Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Houthis have been regularly attacking the Jewish state, and that Iran launched a direct attack on Israel.
“These threats collectively pose a significant risk to the safety, security and welfare of Israel and its citizens,” she wrote. “While the international community is rightfully concerned about the safety and security of the displaced Palestinian civilians in Gaza, it is equally important to recognize that Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah has resulted in the displacement of 60,000 Israelis from their homes in southern Israel and another 60,000 in northern Israel.”
Israel has increased aid, including medical care, in the Gaza Strip since the court’s order, according to Sebutinde, who noted that Israel also warns Palestinian civilians to leave areas ahead of attacks.
“Such actions are inconsistent with the intent to destroy the group in question,” she wrote. “Israel has also acted to make infrastructure available at shelter sites and has facilitated the supply of shelter equipment into Gaza.”
“To be sure, the efforts taken by Israel thus far have not entirely alleviated the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip,” she added. “War inevitably, and tragically, affects the lives of civilians. But this does not make Israel’s war against Hamas inherently illegitimate or unlawful and nor does it transform it into an act of genocide.”
Sebutinde noted that she voted against the court’s requirement that Israel “maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,” because the court had already stated sufficiently “robust” requirements in prior orders and since Egypt controls part of the crossing.
“There have also been reports that Egypt has prevented the movement of aid trucks from Egypt towards Kerem Shalom,” she wrote. “Without Egypt’s co-operation, Israel alone cannot ‘maintain open the Rafah crossing’ which would render the court’s current order, which is directed at Israel but not Egypt, impracticable.”
Sebutinde wrote that she dissented from the court’s requirement that Israel allow fact-finding missions to enter Gaza. There is no evidence that Israel is destroying evidence, she said.
“There may also be legitimate security reasons behind preventing the access of certain individuals into Gaza during an active conflict, given that their safety could not be guaranteed,” she wrote. “Furthermore, the court has never imposed an obligation upon a sovereign state to admit third-party observers onto its territory.”
She also voted against the ICJ requiring Israel to file “yet again one more report.”
“In view of the number of reports that the court has already ordered Israel to file, this measure could be seen as another effort by the court to enforce the implementation of its existing orders, which is a power it does not possess,” she wrote.
“Finally, I find it necessary to note my serious concerns regarding the manner in which South Africa’s request and incidental oral hearings were managed by the court, resulting in Israel not having sufficient time to file its written observations on the request,” she added.
“In my view, the court should have consented to Israel’s request to postpone the oral hearings to the following week to allow for Israel to have sufficient time to fully respond to South Africa’s request and engage counsel,” Sebutinde wrote. “Regrettably, as a result of the exceptionally abbreviated time-frame for the hearings, Israel could not be represented by its chosen counsel, who were unavailable on the dates scheduled by the court.”
“It is also regrettable that Israel was required to respond to a question posed by a member of the court over the Jewish Sabbath,” she added. “The court’s decisions in this respect bear upon the procedural equality between the parties and the good administration of justice by the court.”
Major Retailers Are Offering Summer Deals to Entice Inflation-Weary Shoppers
(AP) — Americans who spent Memorial Day scouting sales online and in stores found more reasons to celebrate the return of warmer weather. Major retailers are stepping up discounts heading into the summer months, hoping to entice inflation-weary shoppers into
Target, Walmart and other chains have rolled out price cuts — some permanent, others temporary — with the stated aim of giving their customers some relief. The reductions, which mostly involve groceries, are getting introduced as inflation showed its first sign of easing this year but not enough for consumers who are struggling to pay for basic necessities as well as rent and car insurance.
The latest quarterly earnings reported by Walmart, Macy’s and Ralph Lauren underscored that consumers have not stopped spending. But multiple CE0s, including the heads of McDonald’s, Starbucks and home improvement retailer Home Depot, have observed that people are becoming more price-conscious and choosy. They’re delaying purchases, focusing on store brands compared to typically more expensive national brands, and looking for deals.
“Retailers recognize that unless they pull out some stops on pricing, they are going to have difficulty holding on to the customers they got,” Neil Saunders, managing director of consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData, said. “The consumer really has had enough of inflation, and they’re starting to take action in terms of where they shop, how they shop, the amount they buy.”
While discounts are an everyday tool in retail, Saunders said these aggressive price cuts that cover thousands of items announced by a number of retailers represent a “major shift” in recent strategy. He noted most companies talked about price increases in the past two or three years, and the cut mark the first big “price war” since before inflation started taking hold.
WHERE CAN SHOPPERS FIND LOWER PRICES?
Higher-income shoppers looking to save money have helped Walmart maintain strong sales in recent quarters. But earlier this month, the nation’s largest retailer expanded its price rollbacks — temporary discounts that can last a few months — to nearly 7,000 grocery items, a 45% increase. Items include a 28-ounce can of Bush’s baked beans marked down to $2.22, from $2.48, and a 24-pack of 12-ounce Diet Coke priced at $12.78 from $14.28.
Company executives said the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer is seeing more people eating at home versus eating out. Walmart believes its discounts will help the business over the remainder of the year.
“We’re going to lead on price, and we’re going to manage our (profit) margins, and we’re going to be the Walmart that we’ve always been,” CEO Doug McMillon told analysts earlier this month.
Not to be outdone by its closest competitor, Target last week cut prices on 1,500 items and said it planned to make price cuts on another 3,500 this summer. The initiative primarily applies to food, beverage and essential household items. For example, Clorox scented wipes that previously cost $5.79 are on shelves for $4.99. Huggies Baby Wipes, which were priced at $1.19, now cost 99 cents.
Low-cost supermarket chain Aldi said earlier this month that it was cutting prices on 250 products, including favorites for barbecues and picnics, as part of a promotion set to last through Labor Day.
McDonald’s plans to introduce a limited-time $5 meal deal in the U.S. next month to counter slowing sales and customers’ frustration with high prices.
Arko Corp., a large operator of convenience stores in rural areas and small towns, is launching its most aggressive deals in terms of their depth in roughly 20 years for both members of its free loyalty program and other customers, according to Arie Kotler, the company’s chairman, president and CEO. For example, members of Arko’s free loyalty program who buy two 12-packs of Pepsi beverages get a free pizza. The promotions kicked off May 15 and are due to end Sept. 3.
Kotler said he focused on essential items that people use to feed their families after observing that the cumulative effects of higher gas prices and inflation in other areas had customers hold back compared to a year ago.
“Over the past two quarters, we have seen the trend of consumers cutting back, consumers coming less often, and consumers reducing their purchases,” he said.
In the non-food category, crafts chain Michaels last month reduced prices of frequently purchased items like paint, markers and artist canvases. The price reductions ranged from 15% to up to 40%. Michaels said the cuts are intended to be permanent.
DO THESE CUTS BRING PRICES BACK TO PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS?
Many retailers said their goal was to offer some relief for shoppers. But Michaels said its new discounts brought prices for some things down to where they were in 2019.
“Our intention with these cuts is to ensure we’re delivering value to the customer,” The Michaels Companies said. ”We see it as an investment in customer loyalty more than anything else.”
Target said it was difficult to compare what its price-reduced products cost now to a specific time frame since inflation levels are different for each item and the reductions varied by item.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks consumer prices, said the average price of a two-liter bottle of soda in April was $2.27. That compares with $1.53 in the same month five years ago. A pound of white bread cost an average of $2 last month but $1.29 in April 2019. One pound of ground chuck that averaged $5.28 in April cost $3.91 five years ago.
WHY ARE COMPANIES CUTTING PRICES ON SOME ITEMS?
U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated for the third straight month in April as Americans continued to fret about their short-term financial futures, according to the latest report released late last month from the Conference Board, a business research group.
With shoppers focusing more on bargains, particularly online, retailers are trying to get customers back to their stores. Target this month posted its fourth consecutive quarterly decline in comparable sales — those from stores or digital channels operating at least 12 months.
In fact, the share of online sales for the cheapest items across many categories, including clothing, groceries, personal care and appliances, increased from April 2019 to the same month this year, according to Adobe Analytics, which covers more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites.
For example, the market share for the cheapest groceries went from 38% in April 2019 to 48% last month, while the share for the most expensive groceries went down from 22% to 9% over the same time period, according to Adobe.
HOW ARE RETAILERS FUNDING PRICE CUTS?
GlobalData’s Saunders said he thinks companies are subsidizing price cuts with a variety of methods — at the expense of profits, at the cost of suppliers and vendors, or by reducing expenses. Some retailers may be using a combination of all three, he said.
Saunders doesn’t think retailers are raising prices on other items to make up for the ones they lowered since doing that would bring a backlash from customers.
Target declined to disclose details but said its summer price promotion was incorporated into the company’s projected profit range, which falls below analysts’ expectations at the low end.
GPM Investments, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ARKO Corp. said its suppliers are funding the convenience store promotions.
Media Matters Fires a Dozen Staffers Amidst Federal Probe and Lawsuit
The left-wing media outlet Media Matters has fired at least a dozen of its staffers as the company currently faces immense pressure from a federal investigation and a lawsuit by Elon Musk, the CEO of X.
As reported by the Daily Caller, several ex-staffers announced their terminations on social media after the decision was made. Media Matters is currently being investigated by Attorneys General Ken Paxton of Texas and Andrew Bailey of Missouri, over allegations of fraud by manipulation of data on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
In addition, X CEO Elon Musk, who purchased the company in 2022, filed a defamation lawsuit against the outlet in a federal court in November. The suit stems from Media Matters’ creation of fake images claiming to show advertisements from big corporations appearing next to posts by alleged “White supremacists.”
“Bad News: I’ve been laid off from @mmfa, along with a dozen colleagues,” said ex-staffer Kat Abughazaleh. “There’s a reason far-right billionaires attack Media Matters with armies of lawyers: They know how effective our work is, and it terrifies them (him).”
“Got laid off, [let me know] who wants research done,” said ex-employee Brendan Karet on X. “On the plus side, no more listening to the dumbest dogshit on earth everyday.”
Media Matters is known for a far-left slant, despite claiming to be non-partisan. It is one of several major left-wing internet-based publications that has taken a massive hit to its credibility and its finances in recent years. Another far-left internet outlet, NowThis, fired half of its editorial team in February, in what the company claimed was a “broader initiative to realign our resources and structure to ensure a long-term sustainable business in the evolving media landscape.”
Other examples include The Intercept, which fired 15 staffers on the same day as NowThis’s layoffs; among those fired was The Intercept’s Editor-in-Chief, Roger Hodge. The Messenger, another startup internet outlet founded in May of 2023, shut down after less than one year in existence.
Lawler: Remove Rashida Tlaib from Congress for Speech at Conference Linked to Terror Group
By Elizabeth Weibel(Breitbart)
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to be “removed from Congress” over a speech she gave at an anti-Israel conference that was linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Tlaib had given a speech at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday. The event that Tlaib spoke at featured speakers who were linked to the PFLP.
.@RashidaTlaib should be removed from Congress immediately. Associating with and speaking before groups that are funded by US designated terrorist organizations is disqualifying. https://t.co/pGv59XtOX3
— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) May 26, 2024
Lawler wrote in a post on X that Tlaib “should be removed from Congress immediately.”
“Associating with and speaking before groups that are funded by US designated terrorist organizations is disqualifying,” Lawler added.
Sana’ Daqqah, who was married to PFLP terrorist Walid Daqqah, was the keynote speaker at the conference. Another speaker was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the PFLP, according to the National Review:
Among the speakers at the Michigan event was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist-Leninist terror group active in Gaza and headquartered in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The U.S. State Department, as well as Japan, Canada, and the European Union, has designated the PFLP as a terrorist organization.
Daqqah’s husband, Walid, died in April due to cancer while being detained in prison due to him leading a “PFLP operation that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984,” according to the outlet.
During the conference, Tlaib criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the ongoing war in Gaza and over his support for Israel.
In response to the International Criminal Court issuing a statement that it was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defensive Minister Yoav Gallant, and several Hamas leaders, Biden said what was happening in Gaza was “not genocide.”
Tlaib questioned Biden during her speech at the conference and asked him, “Where’s your red line, President Biden?” The Michigan congresswoman also suggested that people vote against Biden at the ballot box in November.
“We’re not gonna forget in November, are we? The International Court of Justice just ruled that the Israeli government must stop its invasion of Rafah,” Tlaib said. “But, President Biden says what’s happening in Gaza is not a genocide. Where’s your red line, President Biden?”
A November 2023 report from the Canary Mission found that Tlaib was connected to six activists linked to Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror organization behind the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which left 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken hostage.
Canary Mission can confirm that at least 6 Hamas-linked activists fundraised for Tlaib during her 2018 Congressional campaign: Mwafaq Jbara, Sheikh Muhammad Qatanani, Huwaida Arraf, Salah Sarsour, Rafeeq Jaber and Abdelbaset Hamayel.
Jbara reportedly met with a “Hamas co-found” while imprisoned in a maximum-security jail in Israel and has “called for the death of Jews and praised the terrorist who killed U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force,” according to the outlet.
Saudi Arabia: ‘Israel doesn’t get to decide’ on Palestinian statehood
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Saudi official warned Sunday Israeli opposition to Palestinian statehood would harm rather than help the country’s security, expressing “extreme concern” over Jerusalem’s pronouncements rejecting the two-state solution.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke with reporters in Brussels Sunday night, shortly after the Norwegian foreign minister met with Palestinian Authority Premier Mohammad Mustafa in the Belgian capital to hand over diplomatic papers affirming his country’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
Norway is one of three European countries – along with Ireland and Spain – which announced last week it would unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood without a final status agreement between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
The Saudi foreign minister lauded the three European states for their recognition of Palestinian statehood, while claiming the establishment of such a state would serve both Palestinian and Israeli interests.
The unilateral recognition, Prince Faisal said, would “reinvigorate the two-state solution independent of Israel’s position because Israel doesn’t get to decide whether or not the Palestinians have a right to self-determination.”
He added that the diplomatic shift “is not just symbolic,” saying it restored “viability of the two-state solution.”
Iranian court denies retrial for Jewish man facing execution; Jews raise $1.5 million to spare his life
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Despite international advocacy on behalf of a Jewish man facing execution, Iran denied the request for his retrial.
Advocates for Nathaniel Ghahremani said he killed a Muslim man in self-defense after he ran at him with a knife.
Iran is governed by Sharia law, which provides harsher punishments for non-Muslims who kill Muslims than in incidents when both parties are Muslim.
Arvin Natanel Ghahremani was involved in a 2022 brawl in the city of Kermanshah.
Court transcripts indicate that Ghahermani was working out at a gym when he was confronted by seven men, one of whom owed him money.
One of the mob, identified as Amir Shokri, stabbed Ghahermani with a knife. Shokri was killed after Ghahermani wrested the knife away and fought back in self-defense.
Ghahermani was convicted by a local court of being an “accomplice to the intentional murder of a Muslim” and for “intentionally inflicting nonfatal injuries.”
He was immediately sentenced to death by hanging, which cannot be appealed under Iranian law.
The only way to avoid capital punishment for the killing, under Iranian law, is if the defendant acquired forgiveness from the dead man’s family, something they refused to grant.
Iran International wrote, according to the IHRNGO, “the decision places Ghahremani at immediate risk of execution, underscoring a judicial process marred by oversight and lack of fair representation.”
Beni Sabti, who was born in Tehran and is an Iran expert for the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel told The Jerusalem Post, “In these last days and weeks, there have been international efforts to release him and get the Muslim family to forgive him and turn the execution to a prison term.”
He added, “Jews in the US and other countries raised funds amounting to over $1.5 million, including an offer of an apartment and the building of a mosque in the name of the dead Muslim man. It seems that they did not agree.”
Sabti explained, “I am not surprised. Most of the time, the regime and judiciary system do not cooperate with the person who is going to be executed.”
He added, “They enjoy it and do not care. They do not do anything to the change verdict.” Sabti emphasized, “In any hour we can hear the news that he can be executed.”
WATCH: EUROPEAN MUSLIMS CALL FOR GLOBAL CALIPHATE
He added that the Iranian regime can “say to a family he will be executed on Wednesday and the family comes on Monday and they say he has already been executed. This is Iran.”
NY Times: Migrant Hotels Make Visiting New York City More Expensive than Ever
John Binder(Breitbart)
The cost of illegal immigration is bearing out in the Big Apple and tourists are the latest to foot the bill.
New York City is more expensive than ever to visit, primarily due to Mayor Eric Adams (D) converting tons of hotels into shelters for newly arrived migrants, the New York Times reported Saturday. As Breitbart News has chronicled, Adams currently has about 65,000 migrants living in more than 16,500 hotel rooms across New York City.
The result has been skyrocketing hotel room costs for tourists who pay the price while hotels, often owned by the largest conglomerates, are raking in up to $185 per hotel room per night, whether migrants are staying in the room or not.
“The average daily rate for a hotel stay in New York City increased to $301.61 in 2023, up 8.5 percent from $277.92 in 2022, according to CoStar, a leading provider of commercial real estate data and analysis,” the Times reported:
During the first three months of 2024, when prices traditionally dip, the average stay was still 6.7 percent higher than during the same time period last year: $230.79 a night, up from $216.38 in 2023. [Emphasis added]
About 135 of the city’s roughly 680 hotels entered the shelter program, with many congregated in Midtown Manhattan, Long Island City in Queens and near Kennedy International Airport — all traditional magnets for tourists. Participating hotels are paid up to $185 a night per room, according to the city. Not a single one has converted back into a traditional hotel. [Emphasis added]
…
Beginning in late 2022, the city entered into a contract of up to $980 million with a hotel trade group to pay hotels that decide to shelter migrants under its “Sanctuary Hotel Program.” City officials said the hotels receive between $139 and $185 a night per room, whether or not the room is occupied, guaranteeing them a fixed stream of income. (Those rates do not include money the city is spending on food and other services for migrants; there have also been reports of hotels being paid more than $185 a night.) [Emphasis added]
Today, New York City — a city of almost nine million residents — has fewer than 122,000 available hotel rooms for tourists to compete for. Over the next three fiscal years, New Yorkers are projected to pay about $10 billion for migrants arriving in the city.
Like hotel rooms, rents have continued to soar across New York City as waves of migrants pour in undeterred by the prospect of being jobless and in shelters.
Most recently, Bloomberg reported that rents in New York City are “so high that only five percent are affordable for the average salary.”
“Soaring rents and high upfront costs mean that fewer than 5 percent of New York City apartments were affordable for the average local worker last year,” Bloomberg reported:
New Yorkers earned on average just under $89,000 last year, meaning they could afford up to $2,216 per month on housing without spending more than 30% of their annual income, according to a new report by Zillow Group Inc.’s StreetEasy and tech:nyc. Factoring in average upfront costs, which includes the first month’s rent, a security deposit and broker fees that amounted to $10,454 last year, the average worker could only afford 4.4% of rentals on the market without breaching that affordability threshold, the report said. [Emphasis added]
Despite illegal immigration sending hotel and housing costs to record highs, Adams has pleaded with President Joe Biden to more quickly get work permits to migrants who arrive at the nation’s southern border and are subsequently freed into the United States interior.
Experts have previously told Breitbart News that handing out work permits en masse to newly arrived migrants would serve as a pull factor for more illegal immigration at the southern border rather than a deterrent.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
Elon Musk’s xAI Says It Has Raised $6 Billion to Develop Artificial Intelligence
(AP) — A group of investors will put up $6 billion to fund development of artificial intelligence by Elon Musk’s xAI.
The company said on its website Sunday that the Series B funding round will be used to take xAI’s first products to market and speed up research. xAI said it has made “significant strides” during the past year in developing the technology, which will continue in the coming months.
Investors in the latest round include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding.
Musk wrote on the social media site X that before the investment, xAI had a valuation of $18 billion.
The funding should help Musk’s company compete in a race to develop artificial intelligence against Microsoft and Open AI, which created Chat GPT.
Musk announced formation of the company in July of last year and released its artificial intelligence chatbot called Grok in November.
2,300-year-old gold ring found in Jerusalem’s City of David
(JNS) A gold ring dating from the early Hellenistic period set with a precious stone was recently found in the joint Israel Antiquities Authority-Tel Aviv University excavation in Jerusalem’s City of David.
The 2,300-year-old ring was discovered by Tehiya Gangate, a City of David excavation team member.
“I was sifting earth…and suddenly saw something glitter,” she recounted. “I immediately yelled, ‘I found a ring, I found a ring!’ Within seconds everyone gathered around me, and there was great excitement,” she said, adding, “This is an emotionally moving find, not the kind you find every day.”
The ring was manufactured by hammering thin pre-cut gold leaves onto a metal base. Stylistically it reflects the common fashion of the Persian and Early Hellenistic periods, dating from the late 4th to early 3rd century BCE and onwards.
The finds at the excavation “are beginning to paint a new picture of the nature and stature of Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the Early Hellenistic Period,” said professor Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University.
“Whereas in the past we found only a few structures and finds from this era, and thus most scholars assumed Jerusalem was then a small town, limited to the top of the southeastern slope (“City of David”) and with relatively very few resources, these new finds tell a different story: The aggregate of revealed structures now constitute an entire neighborhood,” he added.
“They attest to both domestic and public buildings, and that the city extended from the hilltop westward. The character of the buildings—and now of course, the gold finds and other discoveries—display the city’s healthy economy and even its elite status,” he said.
“It certainly seems that the city’s residents were open to the widespread Hellenistic style and influences prevalent also in the eastern Mediterranean Basin.”
The ring will be exhibited to the public at the free “Jerusalem Mysteries” conference hosted by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Jerusalem Day, June 5.
Exchanging Truth for Myths, George Floyd’s Deceptive Legacy
(American Greatness) May 25 marked the fourth anniversary of the death of George Floyd while in police custody. As expected, numerous politicians, activists and the corporate media have been actively beating the drums of outrage just in case anyone had forgotten the long summer of rioting over Floyd’s death in 2020.
The official narrative is that Floyd was murdered by a racist police officer named Derek Chauvin, simply for having the wrong skin color.
This narrative is furthered by self-serving “fact checks” from politicized outlets like PBS, USA Today, the New York Times and and NPR.
However, it’s a narrative that doesn’t stand up well to even modest scrutiny.
John LeFevre offers a reality-based alternative to the version of George Floyd as a sainted individual murdered by white supremacists.
LeFevre points out that, far from being an innocent bystander, singled out for his skin color, Floyd was a repeat offender who had been to prison 8 times for drugs and armed robbery.
What brought Minneapolis police in contact with Floyd on that fateful day was the suspicion that he had just committed multiple felonies including trying to pass a counterfeit 20 dollar bill.
Floyd’s original coroner’s report showed no evidence of suffocation or strangulation and his autopsy revealed a lethal amount of fentanyl in his system as well as clear evidence of heart disease.
Nevertheless, the myth persists that officer Chauvin deliberately killed the man by kneeling on his neck.
Floyd’s family graciously took a $27 million settlement from the city of Minneapolis before Chauvin’s trial had even concluded.
But the bigger story remains how so many well-funded and well-organized riots broke out simultaneously across the entire nation, causing billions of dollars in damages and numerous needless deaths.
In the years since Floyd’s death, police departments have faced ongoing calls for their defunding, even as crime continues to rise in many cities.
It’s possible to acknowledge the tragedy when a person succumbs to the results of his own bad decisions and yet resist the urge the twist the narrative in hopes of some perceived political advantage.
The politicians, activists and pundits who continue to push the lionization of George Floyd are being deceptive at best and outright evil at worst.
Gun battle breaks out between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers near Gaza border
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
An Egyptian soldier was killed Monday after a gun battle erupted between IDF and Egyptian troops stationed on the border separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
It is unclear what initiated the gunfight, though Israeli military sources told Hebrew-language media outlets that the incident was sparked by Egyptian soldiers who opened fire on IDF troops, prompting the Israeli soldiers to return fire.
The Egyptian soldiers reportedly shot at an IDF engineering corps unit operating on the edge of Rafah.
The Israeli army has launched an investigation into the incident, an IDF spokesperson said.
Egypt confirmed that one soldier was killed in the gun battle, adding that Cairo has opened its own probe into the shooting.
“The Egyptian Armed Forces are conducting an investigation through the competent authorities regarding a shooting incident in the border area in Rafah, which led to the martyrdom of one of the personnel,” the Egyptian army tweeted Monday.
A report by i24NEWS claimed that two Egyptian soldiers were killed Monday, with several more wounded.
Israeli security officials contacted their Egyptian counterparts to halt the shooting.
Last year, a 22-year-old Egyptian police officer, Muhammad Salah Ibrahim, opened fire and killed three IDF soldiers on the Israeli-Egyptian border.
Ibrahim was reportedly carrying a copy of the Koran with him at the time of the attack, along with several handguns, multiple knives, and additional ammunition – suggesting that he was possibly intending to carry out a larger attack within Israel.
Several months later, on October 8th, a gunman shot and murdered two Israeli tourists in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria.
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.
Earlier this month, a dual Canadian-Israeli citizen, Ziv Kiefer, was shot and murdered while visiting Egypt for business.
Here’s how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could make the first debate stage under stringent Biden-Trump rules
(AP/ TJV additional reporting) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long argued that the biggest hurdle of his presidential campaign is the perception that independent candidates can’t win. He has looked to the debates as a singular opportunity to stand alongside Joe Biden and Donald Trump in front of a massive audience.
But to make the first debate stage, he’ll have to secure a place on the ballot in at least a dozen more states and improve his showing in national polls in one month.
With a famous name and a loyal base, Kennedy has the potential to do better than any third-party presidential candidate since Ross Perot in the 1990s. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns, who fear he could play spoiler, bypassed the nonpartisan debate commission and agreed to a schedule that leaves Kennedy very little time to qualify for the first debate.
Instead of having until September to get on enough state ballots to qualify for a debate, Kennedy now has about a month, AXIOS pointed out, whereas Perot had until September in 1992.
Publicly, Kennedy is expressing confidence that he will make the stage.
“I look forward to holding Presidents Biden and Trump accountable for their records in Atlanta on June 27 to give Americans the debate they deserve,” he posted on the X platform.
CNN has said candidates will be invited if they’ve secured a place on the ballot in states with at least 270 votes in the Electoral College, the minimum needed to win the presidency, and have hit 15% in four reliable polls published since March 13. The criteria mirror those used by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has organized debates since 1988, except the commission’s first debate would have been in September, giving Kennedy more time.
Kennedy doesn’t appear to have met the polling criteria yet, although he has reached 15% or higher in at least Three polls meeting CNN’s standards.
Axios pointed out:
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He received 16% among registered voters in two polls from last month that meet CNN’s requirement, CNN/SSRS and Quinnipiac University.
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Kennedy drew 17% in a Marquette Law School Poll of registered voters out this week, another CNN-approved poll.
What to know about the 2024 Election
The ballot access hurdle is even tougher.
State officials have confirmed Kennedy’s place on the ballot in Delaware, Oklahoma and Utah, which have just 16 electoral votes between them. In California, Hawaii and Michigan, minor parties have selected Kennedy as their nominee, in effect offering up existing ballot lines, though the states have not formally affirmed Kennedy’s position. Adding them would bring Kennedy’s total to 89 electoral votes, though it’s not clear that his position in those states would meet CNN’s criteria.
Kennedy’s campaign says he has collected enough signatures in Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, states with 112 electoral votes in total. But he has either not submitted the signatures or they have not yet been affirmed by state election officials.
Those states still only add up to 201 electoral votes.
Independent candidates like Kennedy face a labyrinth of laws that vary wildly from state to state but generally require hundreds or thousands of signatures and compliance with strict deadlines.
The patchwork of laws is littered with pitfalls. And the Democratic National Committee has pledged to scrutinize Kennedy’s submissions for mistakes that could keep him off the ballot or at least tie up his campaign’s time and money.
Kennedy, in turn, has resorted to secrecy and creative tactics in a sort of cat-and-mouse game to get on the ballot before his critics can thwart him. In California, Delaware and Michigan, Kennedy allied with little-known existing parties and received their nominations. In Hawaii, he formed his own political party to nominate him, and he’s pursued a similar strategy in Mississippi and North Carolina.
Elsewhere, he’s waiting to turn in signatures until the deadline to limit the time for critics to pore over them in search of errors. Getting on the debate stage next month would almost certainly require him to change his strategy and submit the petitions he’s sitting on as soon as possible.
Signatures are due in New York by May 28, which would get Kennedy 28 votes closer if they’re affirmed in time. He could then try to make an all-out push in a bunch of states with relatively easy requirements — many require 5,000 or fewer signatures, but they generally don’t bring many electoral votes — or focus on bigger states, such as Illinois with 19 electoral votes or Florida with 30.
Further complicating matters, some states aren’t yet accepting filings from potential independent candidates and won’t before the first debate.
Kennedy’s vice presidential nominee, Nicole Shanahan, who is divorced from Google co-founder Sergei Brin, committed $8 million from her personal fortune for ballot access, the campaign announced Thursday, declaring their $15 million effort “fully funded.”
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Israel: Civilians killed by fire that broke out after Rafah strike
(JNS) Noncombatants were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on Sunday night due to a fire that broke out after the attack, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday.
The Israel Defense Forces earlier said that it was investigating Palestinian media reports that dozens of Gazan civilians were killed and wounded in the strike on a Hamas compound in the city’s northwestern Tel Sultan section.
The targets of the strike were named as Yassin Rabia, the head of Hamas’s Judea and Samaria headquarters, and Khaled Nagar, a senior official in the terrorist group’s Judea and Samaria wing.
The IDF spokesperson said earlier that the strike was carried out in accordance with international law, was based on intelligence and executed using precision weaponry. However, the spokesperson continued, “The claim is known that as a result of the attack and a fire that broke out in the area, a number of non-involved people were injured. The incident is under investigation.”
The IDF announced on Monday afternoon that the military advocate general ordered a probe into the incident led by the General Staff’s investigation mechanism—an independent body that is not subordinate to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
“The mechanism is investigating the circumstances of the deaths of civilians in the area of the attack. The IDF regrets any injuries to those not involved in hostilities,” the army statement said.
Rabia and Nagar carried out terrorist attacks in the early 2000s in Judea and Samaria that killed and wounded Israeli civilians and soldiers, the military said. They also transferred funds for terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria and planned and directed attacks there.