Israel Released Arab Murderers and Rapists yet Herzog Wavering on Pardoning Jewish Prisoners

 Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Israeli President Isaac Herzog held talks over the past few weeks regarding pardoning or commuting the sentences of Jewish security prisoners in light of the hostage deal, which saw the release of hundreds of Palestinian Arab terrorists.

Yedioth Aharonoth reported that Levin presented an official request to Herzog that he consider pardoning or commuting the sentence of approximately six Jewish prisoners who were convicted of severe nationalist crimes. According to Levin, the move would create a balance to the release of Arab terrorists.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Israeli President Isaac Herzog held talks over the past few weeks regarding pardoning or commuting the sentences of Jewish security prisoners in light of the hostage deal, which saw the release of hundreds of Palestinian Arab terrorists.

Yedioth Aharonoth reported that Levin presented an official request to Herzog that he consider pardoning or commuting the sentence of approximately six Jewish prisoners who were convicted of severe nationalist crimes. According to Levin, the move would create a balance to the release of Arab terrorists.

Satmar Candidate for Mayor Mamdani Takes Photo With Imam Linked to 1993 Terror Plot

Vice President JD Vance called out New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, the Satmar Sukka Hopper,  after a photo surfaced showing him with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a cleric previously named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

“I’ve been reliably informed that Democrats are opposed to any kind of political violence, so I look forward to them universally condemning Zohran Mamdani for campaigning with an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist plot that killed 6 New Yorkers,” Vance wrote on X.

The image, posted Friday, shows Mamdani smiling alongside Wahhaj and City Councilman Yusef Salaam at the imam’s Brooklyn mosque, a day after Mamdani’s first mayoral debate.

Islamist Linked to 2023 Airport Pogrom Targeting Jewish Passengers Found Stabbed to Death in Istanbul

 

Abakar Abakarov, a Dagestani opposition activist wanted by Russian authorities for allegedly inciting an antisemitic pogrom at Makhachkala Airport in October 2023, was found stabbed to death on Friday in a rented villa in Istanbul. Turkish police have launched a criminal investigation.

Abakarov, who ran the Telegram channel Utro Dagestan, had leased the villa under a false name on October 6 while seeking refuge from political persecution. Surveillance footage reportedly shows a visitor entering the villa on October 7 carrying two suitcases. His body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was sent to a forensic institute.

Russian authorities accused Abakarov of one of three leadership roles in the airport unrest, during which protesters targeted a flight from Tel Aviv, injuring around 20 people. The Dagestani diaspora in Turkey condemned his killing as “an attack on the freedom of the Dagestani people” but observers note it raises questions about the safety of Russian exiles abroad.

No arrests or official comments have been made by Turkish authorities. Abakarov’s case has been forwarded to the Supreme Court of Dagestan.

Massachusetts congressman returns AIPAC donations, refuses further support

 

Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton announced on Thursday that he was returning donations and would not accept further contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The Democrat representative explained in a statement that while he supported the State of Israel's right to exist, he believed that AIPAC had grown too close in alignment with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

"I'm a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC's mission today is to back that government," said Moulton. 'I don't support that direction."

AIPAC responded on Thursday that Moulton was lying about the American pro-Israel lobbying group's mission in order to garner media attention.

The congressman was "abandoning his friends to grab a headline, capitulating to the extremes rather than standing on conviction," AIPAC said on X/Twitter.

"His statement comes after years of him repeatedly asking for our endorsement and is a clear message to AIPAC members in Massachusetts, and millions of pro-Israel Democrats nationwide, that he rejects their support and will not stand with them," the group continued.

In response to Moulton, AIPAC also published a video on Friday explaining the policies that the group promoted.

AIPAC emphasized that its member base was made up of American citizens - Republicans, Democrats, and independents - who wanted to advance policies that strengthened US-Israel ties.

"This partnership advances America's interests and democratic values, and is bigger than any government at any particular time in either country," AIPAC said on social media.

Moulton, an Iraq War veteran, announced on Wednesday that he would challenge Senator Ed Markey for his Senate seat. In 2019, Moulton ran a long-shot bid for the presidency, according to Reuters.

ex-Long Island Rep. George Santos released from NJ prison hours after Trump commuted 7-year sentence

Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) walked out of prison a free man Friday hours after President Trump commuted his 87-month prison sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Santos, 37, had served less than three months – a grand total of 84 days – of the sentence handed down by a federal judge in April when he was released from FCI Fairton, a medium security prison in Fairfield Township, NJ,  at around 11 p.m., his lawyer Joseph Murray told The Post.

“God bless President Donald J Trump the greatest President in U.S. history!” Murray wrote in a note posted on Santos’ X account late Friday night. 

Santos, usually not one to shy away from the cameras, left the prison undetected.

A vehicle with New York license plates was seen entering the facility shortly after 10:30 p.m. and sped out soon after, though it’s unclear that was the car that carried Santos to freedom.

Santos had initially faced 20 years behind bars, but he copped a plea deal just weeks before he was set to go on trial on nearly two dozen charges related to an alleged scheme to inflate his campaign contributions.

Santos had begged Trump to get him out of prison in an open letter, published Monday in the South Shore Press.

Louisiana "monster" participated in deadly Hamas atrocities on October 7

 

A Louisiana man described by prosecutors as a "monster" was charged Oct. 17 with participating in the Hamas surprise attack in 2023 that sparked the deadly conflict with Israel.

Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, 33, was arrested in Lafayette, Louisiana, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. The native of Gaza belonged to a Palestinian military group, according to court papers. On the day of Hamas’ attack, cell phone location data placed him at the scene of a kibbutz just outside the Gaza Strip where dozens of people were killed and 19 people captured.

"After hiding out in the United States, this monster has been found and charged with participating in the atrocities of October 7 — the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the arrest. "While nothing can fully heal the scars left by Hamas’s brutal attack, this Department’s Joint Task Force October 7 is dedicated to finding and prosecuting those responsible for that horrific day, including the murder of dozens of American citizens."

Al-Muhtadi’s arrest on Oct. 16 comes over two years after the attack that left 1,200 people dead and 251 kidnapped, according to Israel’s government. The nation responded by launching a devastating campaign that flattened much of the densely populated enclave and killed over 66,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The suspected terrorist fighter entered the U.S. on Sept. 12, 2024, by providing false information on a visa application, according to prosecutors. 

Al-Muhtadi was a fighter in the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He also fought in the National Resistance Brigades, a Gaza-based paramilitary group he stood with on Oct. 7, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say he participated in the attack on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a small community barely two miles from the border with Gaza. 

"When Al-Muhtadi learned of the unfolding barbaric attack on Israel and civilians from multiple nations, including the United States, he sprang into action. He armed himself, recruited additional marauders, and then entered Israel, where there is evidence placing him near one of the worst-hit Israeli communities," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. "Subsequently, Al-Muhtadi fraudulently obtained a visa to enter the United States where he hoped to remain undetected. This arrest is the first public step in bringing to justice those responsible for harming Americans on that day."

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Al-Muhtadi was found by Joint Task Force October 7, a group Bondi created to go after people involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.

An attorney for Al-Muhtadi could not be reached. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI did not respond to further questions about the case. 

Hamas refuses to disarm, seeks continued control in Gaza

 

Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal stated that the terrorist organization intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period and cannot commit to disarming.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency from Doha, Nazzal said Hamas is prepared for a ceasefire of up to five years to allow for reconstruction, but insisted that future guarantees must offer Palestinian Arabs “horizons and hope” for statehood.

Shas will Rejoin Coalition as Chareidi Draft Bill Framework Emerges

The Shas party may be on the verge of returning to the government just months after its dramatic resignation, according to a report from Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster.

Boaz Bismuth, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, announced this week that he had submitted a document outlining the principles of a new Chareidi draft exemption bill to the committee’s legal adviser — a move widely seen as paving the way for Shas’s return.

Shas, which represents large segments of the Sephardic chareidi community, quit the coalition in July after the government failed to pass legislation securing long-term draft exemptions for yeshiva bochurim. The party’s departure left Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition without a stable majority and triggered the temporary reassignment of its key ministerial posts — including Health, Interior, Labor, Welfare, and Religious Services — to Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Tourism Minister Chaim Katz.

According to Kan, Shas leaders are eager to rejoin the government as soon as possible, before October 20, when the temporary appointments would otherwise become permanent.

Political observers say Netanyahu has been working behind the scenes to bring the party back into the fold, viewing Shas’s return as essential to stabilizing his fragile coalition and advancing legislation central to the chareidim.

 

GOP Takes Schumer's Own Words that "Shutdown Good for Democrats" and Generates an AI Video

Senate Republican campaign leaders are using artificial intelligence-generated video to depict Chuck Schumer appearing to say on camera comments he made in a print publication interview about the political impacts of the partial government shutdown.

The 30-second digital ad from the National Republican Senate Committee features the Democratic New York senator appearing to say on camera about the shutdown, now in its 3rd week, “Every day gets better for us.”

The words were taken from an interview Schumer gave in a print interview to Punchbowl News last week, suggesting that the longer the government stoppage lasted, the more advantageous it is politically for Democrats.

The ad includes a disclaimer that AI was used in generating it, as seen on YouTube and when posted on the social media platform X by the NRSC.

“AI-generated content is here,” NRSC spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez told The Associated Press. “It’s going to be used in campaigns. It’s going to be up to legal and ethical parameters.”

“These are Chuck Schumer’s own words,” she added, “and video is a way for voters to see and hear it themselves.”

In addition to portraying Schumer as seizing political advantage from the shutdown, the ad also shows actual video of military service members in line at a food bank, with White House officials and Senate Republicans bemoaning the effects of the shutdown.

Despite the NRSC’s suggestion that it is merely visualizing Schumer’s words, the ad ends with some artistic license, featuring an AI-generated close-up of the Democratic leader with a wide grin on his face.

Calls and texts to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee seeking comment were not immediately returned.

 

Week 3 of the Schumer Shutdown:

"Every day gets better for us." pic.twitter.com/1qeNKhvcfI

— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) October 17, 2025

10 Lev Tahor Families Unite and Fly to Honduras on YomTov

DIN: This is all funded by wealthy Satmar chassidim! 
 

After the Lev Tahor cult was dismantled last month in Guatemala and the families were dispersed to the United States, Canada, Israel, and other countries, around ten families of former cult members who had recently relocated to New York secretly regrouped.

The families had regained custody of their children from Guatemalan child welfare authorities on the condition that they leave the cult. However, they have now fled once again, apparently in an attempt to maintain the cult’s customs in a foreign country.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the escape took place during the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret. The families boarded a flight to a new destination,Honduras, a country where children’s rights are not a top priority.

The order to escape specifically during the holiday, thereby violating religious laws, came from the cult leaders who are currently serving long prison sentences in Brooklyn for serious crimes they committed against children and other members of the cult.
The reason for the timing, it is claimed, was to avoid detection that might thwart the escape.

Another source said:

“Honduras is a corrupt country, very similar to Guatemala. This was all orchestrated through manipulations by the imprisoned leaders, who convinced the families that it’s better to live in a country with no Jewish presence than to stay in America.”

This is not the first time Lev Tahor leaders have violated the Sabbath and instructed cult members to do so.

In October 2021, dozens of Lev Tahor members landed in Moldova on the Sabbath, were denied entry, and deported back to Turkey immediately after the Sabbath ended. Cult members have been expelled from every location they tried to settle in, after authorities were informed they posed a danger.

They also violated the Sabbath in 2018, when two cult children were kidnapped by then-leader Nachman Helbrans (now serving a prison sentence). At the time, Lev Tahor was based in Guatemala.

In July 2019, an indictment was filed against the heads of Lev Tahor for kidnapping the children, an operation that involved traveling by car and plane on the Sabbath, with the children disguised as non-Jews to conceal their identities.