Iran: 9 hurt in "explosion" at chemical factory

 

Nine people were hurt in an explosion and fire at a chemical and fireworks factory in the central province of Isfahan in Iran early Sunday morning.

Isfahan medical emergency center Abbas Abedi stated that "the reason for the explosion at the Sepahan Nargostar chemical industry is under investigation while nine injured people have been transferred to hospital," the Mehr state news agency reported.

Residents reported on social media that the explosion shook the ground, leading many to initially believe that an earthquake had occurred.

Iran has been rocked by numerous explosions over the past year, including several explosions which caused severe damage to Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

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2 Israelis shot in Uman

Two Israeli citizens were injured in a shooting incident in Uman, Ukraine Saturday afternoon.

According to local media reports, police are trying to locate those involved and are gathering evidence from people who were in the area of the shooting.

The victims are in moderate and light condition.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the shooting was not anti-Semitic in nature and that it was in contact with the victims.

The shooting occurred near a hotel hosting many Jews who come to Uman to pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav. Police know the identity of the suspect and are conducting an extensive manhunt for him.

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Hamas founder’s son says Israel should kill terror group’s leaders after ceasefire

 

Sheikh Hassan Yousef is the founder of Hamas.

The son of Hamas founder Hassan Yousef urged Israel to target the terror group’s leaders for assassination, even after the ceasefire reachedFriday.

“Assassinating Hamas leadership will not destroy Hamas, but it will teach them a lesson and hold them accountable,” Mosab Hassan Yousef told The Post in a phone interview. “Next time, before you get civilians on both sides involved in a bloodbath, you need to think 1,000 times. This is my personal suggestion.” 

Mosab Yousef said top Hamas leaders like his father likely rode out the recent violence in secure underground bunkers, while using the deaths of their own people to score foreign propaganda points.

“Hundreds of children have paid the price. These type of people cannot get away with what they did. They should not feel safe for a day,” he said. “Hamas hates Israel more than they love their own children.”

Mosab Yousef, 43, said he follows regional developments closely, and attributed the latest round of violence to Hamas’ growing marginalization in recent years. The real estate dispute in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood — the ostensible trigger of the current unrest — was just a pretext, he said.

“Hamas was very disappointed by the Abraham Accords that ignored them completely,” he said of the peace deals Israel signed with several Mideast states last year. “It’s the new reality that President Donald Trump made in the region. This is a new reality and Hamas is not prepared to accept it.”

Much of that new reality came together during Trump’s final months in office. His signature agreements saw Israel formally normalize relations between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco. Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights provoked remarkably little reaction from Hamas.

“The Middle East understood Trump’s language very well. It was the language of fire. He did not show lots of tolerance,” Mosab Yousef said. “The seventh-century mentality of the Middle East misunderstands tolerance as weakness.”

Born in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mosab Yousef was once groomed by his father to be a leader in the Palestinian terror movement. But in 1997, he began secretly collaborating with Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet. For 10 years, he was one of their most valuable intelligence assets. His code name was “The Green Prince,” a nod to his exalted family background. A book and documentary film about his exploits followed in 2010 and 2014, respectively. 

He later turned toward Christianity, sought political asylum in the United States, and became a citizen in 2018. He now lives quietly in California, where he enjoys free diving and yoga. His survives off speaking engagement fees and consulting work. Another brother, Suheib Youself, defected from Hamas in 2019, telling Israeli media he had become fed up with corruption and called the group a “racist terror organization that is dangerous for the Palestinian people.”

Mosab Yousef said he saw the light after a stint with his dad’s comrades in an Israeli jail during the mid-1990s. At Megiddo Prison, he witnessed Hamas inmates leading a brutal year-long campaign to weed out supposed Israeli collaborators. 

“During that time, Hamas tortured and killed hundreds of prisoners,” he said, recalling vivid memories of needles being inserted under finger nails and bodies charred with burning plastics. “Many, if not all, had nothing to do with Israeli intelligence.

“I will never forget their screams,” he continued. “I started asking myself a question. What if Hamas succeeded in destroying Israel and building a state. Will they destroy our people in this way?”

Though Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians of Gaza in 2006, Mosab Yousef said the group was not as popular as they might appear from news footage. 

“The silence of the majority of Gaza is not because they support Hamas, but because they are afraid of Hamas,” he said. “The people live in fear. Hamas rules over them by the sword. If you oppose Hamas they will shoot you or hang you immediately. You and your family are finished.”

Mosab Yousef said he has had no contact with his family since 2009. Though he travels frequently, he has no plans to ever make a journey home, as certain death would await him. His father has already blessed his assassination.

“[My father] publicly declared, ‘He is not my son’, which means if you want to get him, I am not going to stop you or come after you,” Mosab Yousef said. 

“He made my blood halal.”

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Arab Animal Who Beat Jewish Man In Midtown: ‘I Would Do It Again’

 

The animal who was arrested for savagely beating a Jewish man in Midtown last week is showing no remorse for his actions.

In fact, he would do it again given the chance.

23-year-old Waseem Awawdeh of Bay Ridge was arrested on Friday for the beating of 29-year-old Joseph Borgen, and charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a hate crime.

In the attack, Borgen was kicked and struck repeatedly by at least six people after being knocked to the ground in middle of Broadway. The New York Post reported that Borgen suffered a concussion, a black eye and sustained bruises all over his body.

Awawdeh’s bail was set at $10,000.

According to a prosecutor at the arraignment, Awawdeh told one of his jailers “If I could do it again, I would do it again. I have no problem doing it again.”

The Manhattan assistant district attorney added that the case is being investigated as a hate crime, noting that Awawdeh called Borgen a “dirty Jew” and said, “[expletive] Israel, Hamas is going to kill all of you.”

The NYPD has released an image of more suspects being sought in the case.

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NYC Mayor Convenes Emergency Meeting of Jewish Leaders Regarding Antisemitic Attacks

Agudath Israel of America has condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the senseless, antisemitic attacks against Jews in New York City, Los Angeles, and elsewhere around the country. The idea that unrest in the Middle East justifies gang violence and “Jew-hunting” is horrifying.

In New York City, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudah’s executive vice president, and Mr. Shlomo Werdiger, chairman of Agudah’s board of trustees, reached out to Mayor Bill de Blasio to request an urgent meeting to address this critical matter. Mr. de Blasio responded immediately and convened an emergency meeting of Jewish leaders at New York City Hall.

In addition to Mr. Werdiger and Rabbi Zwiebel, the Jewish delegation included Mr. Chaskel Bennet, member of Agudah’s board of trustees, Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Agudah’s director of New York government affairs, Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman, executive director of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, and Rabbi Moshe Indig, of the Satmar community of Williamsburg.

They were joined by Dean Fuleihan, NYPD First Deputy Mayor, Rodney Harrison, NYPD Chief of Department, John Miller, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, and Pinchas Ringel, the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit Assistant Commissioner. The NYPD representatives reported on the progress of the ongoing cases, as well as what preventive measures they would be putting in place to ensure the continued safety of the Jewish community.

Mr. De Blasio assured the Jewish leaders that the attacks will be addressed forcefully, that arrests have been made and that more arrests are forthcoming.

The Agudah commends the mayor for his responsiveness and thanks him for his assurances.

Those who committed anti-Semitic acts over recent days must be held responsible for their actions and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Agudah calls upon members of the media, elected officials nationwide, and all people of good conscience to denounce these and all acts of antisemitism and senseless violence.

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Jews Attacked In Flatbush and In Boro Park

 

The NYPD is investigating two possible hate incidents late Motzei Shabbos.

Sources say that at around 7:30PM, two Jewish teens were assaulted on Ocean Parkway and 18th Avenue. The victims claim a group of men exited a Toyota Camry and assaulted them.

The boys say they were forced to say “Free Palestine”, and were repeatedly punched. They claim another few men surrounded them with baseball bats.

The boys say that a Muslim Uber driver saved their lives when he passed by and saw what was happening. He drove them to where they were staying for Shabbos, in the area of Avenue R and East 12th Street.

Meanwhile, a short while later, a group of men exited a vehicle on 16th Avenue and 49th Street in the heart of Boro Park, and began yelling anti-Semitic slurs at Jews on the street. One man reportedly spit at Jewish pedestrians while yelling “kill the Jews”. Another man punched a car mirror, breaking it.

The NYPD is looking into the possibility that both incidents are connected. A massive NYPD response was called late Motzei Shabbos, and a Level 1 Mobilization was requested.

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PHOTOS of Times Square Anti-Semitic Hate Monsters

 

Police released new surveillance images Friday night of several suspects wanted in connection with a vicious antisemitic attack in Times Square a day earlier.

Joseph Borgen thought he was going to die on Thursday when a group of men beat him to the ground and assaulted him during tense demonstrations in Times Square over unrest in the Middle East.

The group punched, kicked, pepper sprayed, and hit Borgen with crutches while making antisemitic statements, according to police and video of the assault.

“I was holding my head bracing, trying to make it out alive,” Borgen, 29, said. “They proceeded to assault me, kick me, beat me, hit me with flagpoles … My whole face was on fire, more pain than anything else.”

Borgen was treated at a hospital for his injuries.

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Bomb kills 6, wounds 13 at Pakistan pro-Palestinian rally

 A bomb exploded at a pro-Palestinian rally in southwest Pakistan on Friday, killing six and injuring 13, reported Reuters.

Those wounded included Maulana Abdul Qadir Uni, a cleric who leads a conservative religious party which has supported the Taliban.

The motorcycle bomb blew up as those in attendance were leaving the rally, which took place in Chaman, a city in the province of Balochistan near the Afghan border.

The province is unstable, with an insurgency by nationalists as well as Islamist militants with ties to the Taliban and ISIS.

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Obama a 'parasite' who sucked the Democratic Party dry to get re-elected and believed that he would have beaten Trump, new book claims

 Barack Obama was a 'parasite' on the Democrat party who sucked it dry for his reelection and left it saddled with debt, a new book claims.

The former President used the party structure as a 'host' for his 2012 campaign for a second term then treated it like a 'husk' to be discarded with $2.4million in debt.

Obama's aloof demeanor and professorial detachment masked the reality that he was full of 'self-assured self-regard.'

He oversaw the 'pilfering of talent, money, resources, and purpose' away from the Democratic National Committee to his own reelection team.

After eight years under Obama, the Democrats suffered a net loss of 947 state legislative seats, 63 House seats, 11 senators, and 13 governors - but Obama refused to take the blame.

In Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump, Edward-Isaac Dovere argues that Obama was guilty of 'negligence' with his own party.

In a scathing portrait, Dovere, a journalist with The Atlantic, claims that Obama was so arrogant he believed that if he could have run in 2016 for a third term he could have beaten Trump.

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Pollster Frank Luntz's research is a 'total schtick and scam' that relies on manipulated focus groups

 

Former employees of the influential Republican anti-Trumper pollster and strategist Frank Luntz say that his methods are a 'scam', according to a new report.

Three former Luntz employees, including Chris Ingram, a former senior vice president at the Luntz Research Company, spoke out about the pollster's practices in interviews with Salon.

Ingram, who worked for Luntz from 1997 through the early 2000s, said that Luntz's claim to deliver objective data is a 'total shtick and a scam' and called his methods 'quite frankly bulls**t.'

Luntz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.

Luntz is an influential GOP pollster and strategist, as well as close friend and roommate of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Though he runs a Republican polling and communications company, in January declared that he no longer felt able to call himself a Republican. 

In recent days, his focus group work has been featured on The Daily Show and the New York Times opinion section, and he makes regular appearances on MSNBC.

'The clowns at MSNBC didn't have a clue about how the focus groups or panels worked, or what Frank what was doing,' Ingram told Salon.

'The actions were basically contrived: He screened out anybody that isn't going to give the viewers the opinion that Frank, on behalf of his client, is looking for. Somehow, he is able to bulls**t people,' he added.

Ingram said that Luntz tried to manipulate his focus groups using 'dial testing,' in which participants turn knobs on a dial to indicate their reactions in real time. 

'Frank, when he would be hired by clients, whether they would be corporate or political, would sit in that room yelling, 'Keep turning the dials! Keep turning the dials!'' Ingram said. 

He said that Luntz was mainly concerned with results that would yield more 'compelling' data for the client, rather than accuracy.

Two other former Luntz employees told Salon similar stories on the condition that they not be named. One called Luntz a 'slimeball' and remarked on his lavish lifestyle.

Another said that negative experiences working with Luntz were 'widespread' in Washington DC.

Luntz was recently the target of withering attacks earlier this month from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who accused him of lobbying on behalf of 'liberal' causes. 

Carlson said senior Republicans were disconnected from their supporters partly because they listen to 'conventional liberals' like Luntz, whom he accused of serving 'left-wing corporations'. 

The commentator said that Luntz, who is not a registered lobbyist, 'lobbies on behalf of the world's most left-wing companies,' citing Google, Nike and Delta airlines. 

'In real life, his views bear no resemblance whatsoever to the views of actual Republican voters,' said Carlson.

'So the question is - how did someone like this wind up with so much influence in the Republican Party? Why do they listen to someone like Frank Luntz, rather than their own voters?'

He then played a clip of an interview with Luntz in which the pollster says that Trump supporters are in favor of providing a ‘path to citizenship’ to so-called DREAM-ers.

Carlson accused Luntz of taking the same position on immigration as that of Google, and that his views were applauded by ‘open borders activists.’

In a follow-up segment, Carlson revealed that McCarthy is renting out space in Luntz's luxury 12-bedroom penthouse in DC.

McCarthy's arrangement in Washington appears unusual, but his spokesman said he paid the going rate, to avoid conflict-of-interest charges. 

Carlson ripped the arrangement, saying: 'The top Republican in the House lives with a Google lobbyist? Come on. 

'Even by the sleazy and corrupt standards of politics in Washington, that didn't seem possible. In fact, it sounded like a joke.' 

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