Thursday, August 22, 2024
Sinwar Reverses Stance, No Longer Wants the 72 Virgins
Hamas ‘absolute leader’ Yahya Sinwar has added a new condition to the terror group’s demands for a hostage release and ceasefire deal: his survival.
“Sinwar insists on guarantees for his safety and life,” including after the war is over,” according to a senior Egyptian official quoted by Ynet.
The Hamas chief was among more than 1,000 terrorists released from prison in Israel on October 18, 2011, in a swap for Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier kidnapped on Jun 25, 2006, by Hamas and allied terrorists. At the time, Sinwar had spent 22 years in prison, serving multiple life sentences for murder.
For months, the Hamas leader has claimed the terrorists “have the Israelis right where we want them” and telling fellow Hamas leaders in Doha that Gaza’s civilian losses “are necessary sacrifices.”
Sinwar once referred to the thousands of Gazans he placed in harm’s way as “necessary sacrifices” in his terrorist group’s war to annihilate the Jewish State. And just a few months ago, he likened the ongoing conflict to a 7th-century battle in Karbala, Iraq in which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’s grandson was killed.
“We have to move forward on the same path we started or let it be a new Karbala,” Sinwar wrote in a message to his allies.
That is not to say that Sinwar is personally willing to die for his people, “martyr” or not.
As he draws closer to meeting the 72 virgins promised by Islamic jihadist belief to every “shahid” (martyr) who dies fighting an enemy, Sinwar may indeed be reconsidering his desire for eternal life.
Former Israeli national security adviser Jacob Nagel, who is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), has said he believes Sinwar will do anything to survive, keeping at least some hostages around him as life insurance.
CNN commentator scorches Dems blaming Trump at DNC: 'She's in the White House right now'
CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings went viral after confronting Democrats with the "glaring" problem they face with Vice President Kamala Harris on the 2024 ticket.
"The gaffe that I still see in all of these speeches, as good as they were, is that she's in the White House right now. Democrats have controlled the White House for 12 of the last 16 years," Jennings said on CNN during Tuesday night's Democratic National Convention.
"For all the talk about divisions and problems in the country and people are hurting, Democrats have mostly controlled this country.... and somehow it's still all [former President] Trump's fault and somehow she hasn't been at the center of it," he continued.
"So to me, that's still the glaring hole of this campaign that hasn't yet been solved at this convention. How do you explain all the problems that will be solved, by the person who is currently in there, for the past 3.5 years, that is supposed to already be working on solving them?" he asked.
The political commentator's criticism came amid a chorus of enthusiasm from liberal commentators on the network praising former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama's speeches that night.
The Obamas each took shots at the GOP nominee during their time on stage and drew a contrast between Trump's presidency and one under Harris.
Jennings' warning about the pitfalls of Harris, the incumbent vice president, blaming Trump for the current administration's ongoing problems, went viral on social media.
One post sharing the CNN clip attracted over 2 million views on Wednesday.
Hilarious: Commerce Sec doesn’t ‘believe’ news of grim job revisions put out by her own office ๐คฃ
Social media users trashed President Biden's Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for admitting to ABC News on Wednesday that she wasn’t "familiar" with the day's major revision to the jobs numbers.
ABC News correspondent Kayna Whitworth asked Raimondo what she thought of the jobs numbers revision by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"I am curious as to your thoughts on today the Bureau of Labor saying that more than 800,000 fewer jobs were actually created than initially reported," Whitworth said.
The reporter played a clip of former President Trump talking about the report at his rally in North Carolina on Wednesday. "The administration padded the numbers with an extra – listen to this one – 818,000 jobs that don’t exist. So they said they existed and they never did exist. They built ‘em up so they could say what a wonderful job they’re doing," Trump said.
Raimondo dismissืงื the news as Trump spreading misinformation and when asked if the revision could be a liability for Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Harris, she said no.
"No. When I hear that, first of all, I don’t believe it because I’ve never heard Donald Trump say anything truthful," Raimondo said.
"It is from the Bureau of Labor," Whitworth responded.
"I'm not familiar with that," Raimondo said, despite the report having been released several hours earlier.
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Raimondo moved on to tout optimism around Harris’ "pro-business" economic vision for the country. Meanwhile, the presidential candidate has been dinged in recent days for proposing what critics, including from the left, described as government price controls on businesses.
Watch Chareidie Yeshivah in Mexico Honoring the Mexican Flag with a Huge Ceremony
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US job market sees biggest markdown since 2009 with 818K fewer jobs than previously reported
The US economy wasn’t as hot as it seemed between early this year and early 2023, according to revised figures released by the feds.
The nation’s labor market likely created 818,000 fewer jobs during the 12 months ended in March — the largest preliminary downward revision to US payroll figures since 2009, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.
That means that the reported job growth during that period — 2.9 million non-farm payroll positions amounting to 242,000 jobs per month — was likely around 30% less, or 174,000 jobs per month, according to new data gathered from state unemployment tax records.
The massive markdown — short of the 1 million downward revision some economists had feared, but well beyond more optimistic forecasts of 300,000 — fuels concerns that the Federal Reserve has waited too long to start cutting interest rates.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to give more hints about the central bank’s rate cut plans on Friday in a hotly anticipated speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Former President Donald Trump reacted to the downward revision on his Truth Social account on Wednesday, calling it a “massive scandal.”
Earlier this month, a weak July jobs report ignited concerns that the nation’s labor market isn’t as healthy as economists thought.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, has risen four months straight.
Wednesday’s report is part of a yearly process in which the Labor Department updates its monthly employer surveys using more comprehensive data from state unemployment tax records.
The update is only preliminary and subject to a final revision in February.
Judy Woodruff falsely tells live audience that Trump tried to talk Israel out of cease-fire deal
A PBS senior correspondent apologized Wednesday after falsely telling her audience that former President Trump tried to talk Israel out of a cease-fire amid its ongoing war in Gaza.
Judy Woodruff passed off blame for the blunder by “clarifying” that she based the flimsy scoop on outside reporting she had read before broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday.
“The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff told a PBS roundtable.
“Who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, which is work on that one.”
Woodruff caught plenty of flak online for the comment — overwhelmingly from those who pointed out that the rumors she was citing were proven false days before she regurgitated them live on air.
On Wednesday, the former “NewsHour” host said she wanted to “clarify” the remarks she made about the ongoing ceasefire talks.
“As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister,” Woodruff wrote on X
“In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it. This was a mistake and I apologize for it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that Woodruff’s statements were a “complete lie.”
The Axios story Woodruff was referring to was published Aug. 14 and cited two sources who claimed Trump, 78, spoke on the phone with Netanyahu, 74, about the Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal.
Reuters reshared the story on its site — but neither reports claimed Trump urged Netanyahu to hold off on a deal.
The day after the story was published, Netanyahu’s office published a statement denying that any phone call between the prime minister and Trump existed.
That same day, both Axios and Reuters published new stories to reflect the new denials — four days before Woodruff regurgitated the false information to her live audience.
PBS did not respond to messages from The Post.
Trump, however, has maintained that he did speak with Netanyahu.
At a press conference, the Republican presidential nominee claimed he encouraged the prime minister to end the war, but he criticized the terms of the proposed cease-fire.
“He knows what he’s doing, I did encourage him to get this over with,” Trump said.
“It has to get over with fast — get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”
Searches underway for 9 year-old Jewish boy who went missing near Flagstaff, Arizona
Searches are underway in Flagstaff, Arizona after a nine-year-old Jewish boy went missing on Wednesday.
According to Yeshiva World News, the boy was last seen walking with his family towards a parking lot near a forested area when he suddenly disappeared.
Local authorities have put together search teams which are being assisted by Chaverim of Rockland and Rabbi Dovi Shapiro of the Chabad of Flagstaff in coordinating a search effort.
As of Wednesday evening, efforts to locate the child are ongoing, with volunteers and searchers combing the area.
Grandmother of twice wounded soldier in Gaza attacked by Charedi protesters
Yocheved Djerbi, whose grandson was wounded in battle twice, walked passed a demonstration against haredi conscription in Jerusalem on Wednesday and was assaulted by protesters.
Djerbi was appalled by the protesters' behavior and shared with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News: "My grandson was wounded twice and is currently in rehab after being seriously wounded, and I walk past by on the street and see these haredi protesters. They have no share in our country."
She added: "They must enlist and carry the yoke like all of the grandchildren, children, and the entire nation of Israel. As I walk by, they throw water and spit at me as I tell them that they have no share or part in the State of Israel."
In conclusion, she stated: "My demands are that everyone must bear the yoke of the entire nation. I am shaking, unfortunately. It pains me to see this situation."
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