Rubio announces sanctions on two ICC judges

 US Senator Marco Rubio announced sanctions today (Thursday) against two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges over their participation in the ICC's targeting of Israel.

The sanctions were announced against Georgian judge Gocha Lordkipanidze and Mongolian judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin.

"These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel's consent, including voting with the majority in favor of the ICC's ruling against Israel's appeal on December 15," Rubio said.

He added: "The ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel, which sets a dangerous precedent for all nations. We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC's jurisdiction."

"Our message to the Court has been clear: the United States and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and therefore reject the ICC's jurisdiction. We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC's lawfare and overreach," Rubio stated.

Last week, an American official told Reuters that the US has asked the ICC to drop its probes of Israeli leaders over the Gaza war and to formally close its long-running Afghanistan file concerning American personnel. Failure to do so, the source said, could lead to further punitive measures targeting additional ICC figures and potentially the court as an institution.

On Monday, the ICC rejected one in a series of legal challenges brought by Israel against the court's probe into its conduct of the Gaza war.

The judges refused to overturn an earlier decision allowing the prosecution’s investigation into alleged crimes under its jurisdiction to include events following Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The ruling means the investigation will continue, and the arrest warrants issued last year for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remain in effect.

The ICC has faced accusations that its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, pursued the arrest warrants against Israeli officials to pressure a woman who accused him of sexual harassment to keep silent. Khan, in an unusual move, announced the warrants soon after he cancelled a fact-finding mission to Israel.

Israel and the US are not party to the Rome Statute or the ICC, which leaves them outside the ICC's jurisdiction.

Chassidishe Rebbes Playing the Violin ..... Don't Laugh!!

 

In an Ironic Twist ...Just as Chilonim were getting ready to light Chanuka Candles Charedim were busy lynching a Police Officer

 

Following false reports of the arrest of three yeshiva students on Hanna Street near Ali HaCohen,  clashes erupted between hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters and police and Border Police forces at the scene.

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The Vanity Fair interview was a ‘targeted’ hit job on Susie Wiles, entire Trump admin

By Miranda Devine NYP

 When it comes to hit jobs, the 10,000-word Vanity Fair spread on Susie Wiles is a classic of the genre.

Chris Whipple, a veteran journalist, producer and author with a career spanning the constellation of left-wing media — CBS’s “60 Minutes,” ABC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Politico, The Daily Beast, The New York Times, The Washington Post — has craftily framed the president’s chief of staff in a narrative of typical Trump-derangement fantasies.

The wonder is that she let him do it.

And there’s no doubt she did.

Washington journalism veteran Mark Halperin on his 2WAY podcast says Wiles may have thought the 11 interviews Whipple said she did this year were off the record.

Journalists talk to longtime sources all the time with an implicit understanding that everything’s off the record except when you come to a mutual agreement other­wise.

In an industry where trust is every­thing, burning a source by revealing off-the-record confidences is career-limiting to say the least.

Exhibit A: Olivia Nuzzi, the short-lived West Coast correspondent for Vanity Fair, has coined the term “Michael Wolffing it,” meaning telling a source everything is off the record and printing it anyway.

Trump biographer Wolff got rich burning sources and making up stories, but nobody buys his books or believes what he says anymore.

Nuzzi’s journalistic career is over — and not just for having affairs with the politicians she covers.

Wiles did not respond to The Post’s questions about whether she thought her conversations with Whipple were off the record — which is an answer in itself.

Missing Kentucky girl found alive with new identity 42 years later — and she had no idea

 A woman who was abducted when she was just 3 years old was found alive and well more than four decades after her disappearance — with no knowledge she’d ever been a victim in the first place.

Michelle Marie Newton was first reported missing on April 2, 1983. Her mother, Debra Newton, allegedly moved the pair from Louisville, Kentucky to Georgia “to begin a new job and prepare a new home for the family” — but left her husband, Michelle’s father, in the dust, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The missing child was none the wiser for a staggering 42 years.

Now 46, Michelle was raised under a different name. Her mother, now 66, started going by “Sharon,” according to the sheriff’s department.

After Debra allegedly absconded with their child, Joseph Newton tried to track them down. He told WLKY that he last spoke to his jilted wife sometime between 1984 and 1985 before she vanished entirely.

Still, the search for Debra and Michelle pressed on until 2000. At that point, the case was dismissed because prosecutors couldn’t reach Joseph, WFTV9 reported.

Five years later, Michelle was removed from the nationwide missing child databases, the sheriff’s office said. By then, she would’ve been around 25 years old.

The case was reopened in 2016 at the request of a family member, but there still weren’t any meaningful developments until police received a bullseye Crime Stoppers tip in 2025.

The damning tip led authorities to Debra’s home in The Villages, Florida on Nov. 24. She had been living in the famed retirement community as “Sharon Nealy” and had a new beau at her side, WFTV9 reported.

In body camera footage obtained by WESH 2, a police car rolls into Debra’s driveway. A friend joked, “They’re coming for you, Sharon!” according to the video.

Debra laughed it off, but one of the deputies plainly stated that they were in fact “here for you, ma’am.”

After cuffing Debra — who once held a spot on the FBI’s “Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives” — police went to Michelle’s doorstep and delicately shattered her reality.

“You’re not who you think you are. You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton,” they told her, Michelle told WLKY.

From there, Michelle phoned the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and planned a long-awaited reunion with her father.

“She’s always been in our heart. I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter,” Joseph told WLKY.

“I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.”

Debra was arraigned on a felony charge of custodial interference, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in Jefferson County. She was released on bond posted by a family member.

Michelle and Joseph were both present at her arraignment. Michelle didn’t appear to immediately take a side.

“My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both just wrap it up so that we can all heal,” she told WLKY.

How the Mossad took out 11 Iranian nuclear scientists....New details

 

The Washington Post and PBS Frontline have released a joint documentary detailing the planning and execution of Israel’s June military campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, including a covert operation targeting senior Iranian nuclear scientists.

According to the report, Israeli forces launched coordinated strikes as part of a broader campaign aimed at Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, missile capabilities, and air defenses. Central to the effort was what Israeli officials described as a campaign to eliminate key figures involved in Iran’s nuclear research, an operation carried out alongside widespread air and intelligence activity.

The documentary reports that Israeli strikes killed multiple senior Iranian nuclear scientists during the opening days of the conflict, including Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and former atomic energy chief Fereydoun Abbasi. Israel said a total of 11 leading scientists were killed over the course of the operation.

The Washington Post and PBS Frontline state that their investigation is based on interviews with current and former officials from Israel, Iran, the US, and Arab states, many speaking anonymously. Officials cited in the documentary assessed that Iran’s nuclear program was significantly damaged but not eliminated, despite claims by President Donald Trump that it had been completely destroyed.

The report also documents civilian casualties resulting from some of the strikes, citing independent verification conducted by The Washington Post and investigative researchers. Israeli officials told the filmmakers that extensive measures were taken to reduce civilian harm, while Iranian authorities reported hundreds of civilian deaths from the campaign.

The documentary further describes the intelligence preparations behind the operation, including years of surveillance, the use of agents inside Iran, and coordination between Israel and the US. The documentary also examines diplomatic efforts and disinformation tactics that preceded the strikes, as well as differing intelligence assessments regarding Iran’s nuclear progress.

The joint report concludes that while Iran retains nuclear knowledge and some enriched material, the strikes set back its program by several years, according to Israeli, US, and International Atomic Energy Agency officials interviewed for the documentary.

Belgium ends federal protection for Antwerp’s Jewish quarter

 

Antwerp Mayor Els van Doesburg announced Tuesday that the 16 federal police officers assigned to protect the city’s Jewish quarter will no longer be deployed after January 1, reported the Belga news agency.

The decision, confirmed later by Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, raises serious concern in light of continued security threats facing Jewish communities in Belgium.

Van Doesburg revealed the plan during an appearance on a local talk show, emphasizing the timing just days after the deadly shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney that left 15 people dead. The mayor underscored the need to maintain security around Jewish institutions, calling the federal withdrawal “incomprehensible” and warning, “There must be no vacuum in the safety of Antwerp’s Jewish quarter.”

She added, “This is something we have to do together. It goes beyond the Antwerp police.”

On Monday, the Antwerp branch of Vlaams Belang had urged extra protection for Jewish schools and institutions during a city council meeting. However, instead of strengthening local security, the existing federal deployment will be discontinued.

A statement from Van Doesburg’s office to the Belga news agency confirmed, “The minister of the Interior has decided that security by federal agents will be discontinued from January 1.”

Since 2014, Belgium’s Jewish community has lived under an elevated threat level, prompting joint security operations between local and federal police in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter. The federal withdrawal will now halve the protection presence there.

Quintin told local authorities that the “deployment of the federal reserve should not be a structural measure for Antwerp.” He clarified that “the decision taken simply means that 16 Brussels federal police officers, who were temporarily assigned as reinforcements, will be redeployed to their original station.”

Despite the pullout, Quintin insisted that “the security of Jewish sites remains an absolute priority.”

Jewish community leaders strongly criticized the move, rejecting Quintin’s explanation and calling it a “political decision.”

Member of Parliament Michael Freilich vowed that efforts were underway to maintain full protection. “We are doing everything to solve the problem. There will be maximum security - regular police, federal officers, or soldiers. We will not leave the community without protection.”

He noted that legislation must be amended before soldiers can perform police duties, adding, “The law is expected to be ready by the summer.”

BMG Has $40 Million to Purchase Jackson, New Jersey’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School

 The Jackson Township Board of Education has accepted a $40 million bid from Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG) to purchase the former Christa McAuliffe Middle School.

BMG has not publicly stated what it plans to do with the campus, and no formal proposal regarding future use of the property has been announced.

The acceptance of the $40 million offer comes after the district reduced the minimum asking price for the property earlier this fall. Initially listed with a minimum bid of $54.4 million, the price was lowered to $44.4 million in late November after officials reassessed market interest. At the time, district leaders said the adjustment was part of an ongoing effort to secure a buyer for the large, unused campus.

The Christa McAuliffe Middle School property is located on South Hope Chapel Road and includes a 126,305-square-foot main school building, five modular classrooms totaling approximately 3,500 square feet, athletic fields, administrative offices, and a cafetorium equipped with a full kitchen. The size and scope of the campus made it one of the most valuable surplus properties in the district’s inventory.

The Jackson School District closed Christa McAuliffe Middle School over the summer following several years of declining public school enrollment, reduced state aid, and persistent budget shortfalls. District officials have said that maintaining unused buildings was no longer financially sustainable and that selling surplus properties was the most viable long-term strategy to help stabilize the district’s finances and reduce operating costs.

The school’s location had drawn particular interest due to its proximity to Lakewood, which has experienced rapid population growth over the past decade, largely driven by the expansion of the Orthodox Jewish community. That growth has fueled increasing demand for educational facilities, including yeshivos and schools serving a growing student population. In addition, many Orthodox Jewish families have moved into eastern and central areas of Jackson, further increasing interest in large school campuses near the border between the two municipalities.

The proposed sale to BMG follows an earlier transaction completed this year, when the Jackson School District finalized the sale of the former Sylvia Rosenauer Elementary School on Citadel Drive. That property was sold for $13.1 million to Bais Yaakov of Jackson, also known as Bais Faiga.

London’s Muslim Mayor Sadiq Khan Attempts to Block Vigil for Victims of Chanukah Terror in Sydney, Australia

 London Mayor Sadiq Khan is facing criticism after activists said City Hall officials attempted to block a vigil in Parliament Square commemorating Jewish victims of the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre in Australia, even as national authorities moved to toughen enforcement against antisemitic rhetoric amid rising security threats.

The vigil, organized Sunday by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), was intended to mark the second night of Hanukkah and honor the 15 people killed in the antisemitic terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. But CAA CEO Gideon Falter said officials from the Greater London Authority (GLA) arrived shortly before the event and told organizers they were not permitted to set up in Parliament Square.

“Officials from the Greater London Authority turned up with clipboards telling us that we are not allowed to set up on Parliament Square at all,” Falter said. He described the intervention as especially jarring given that Khan had earlier pledged to do “everything in his power” to keep London’s Jewish community safe and had called for heightened police protection for Chanukah events.

Israel Finalizes Historic $35 Billion Natural Gas Export Deal with Egypt

Israel has signed its largest-ever natural gas export agreement, a deal valued at approximately $35 billion (about 112 billion Israeli shekels) to supply Egypt with up to 130 billion cubic meters of gas from the Leviathan field through 2040.

The agreement, finalized this week after months of negotiations and delays, expands on previous exports and is expected to generate around 58 billion shekels in direct revenue for the Israeli government through royalties and taxes.

 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the deal as a milestone for Israel’s energy sector and regional ties. “This is the biggest export deal in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a statement, emphasizing its role in strengthening economic interdependence with Egypt despite ongoing regional tensions.

The pact involves partners in the offshore Leviathan reservoir, including U.S. energy giant Chevron, NewMed Energy and Ratio Energies. It includes phased increases in supply, starting with additional volumes in 2026 and ramping up further after infrastructure expansions, such as a new pipeline.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who had previously delayed approval over concerns about domestic reserves and security issues, gave the green light following diplomatic efforts, including U.S. involvement.

The deal underscores Israel’s emergence as a key natural gas exporter in the Eastern Mediterranean, with exports to Egypt and Jordan already accounting for half of production in recent years. State revenues from gas royalties reached a record in 2024, and this agreement is projected to significantly boost future inflows.

Egypt, facing domestic energy shortages, will use the gas for power generation and potential re-export as liquefied natural gas.

The signing comes amid strained Israel-Egypt relations over Gaza border issues but highlights continued cooperation in energy and security.