New York Times had a Gaza Doctor Write 2 Op-Eds ..Turns Out He is a Hamas colonel

 A Gaza doctor who slammed Israel in a pair of New York Times op-eds is a colonel with terror group Hamas, according to an Israeli watchdog group and the Israeli Defense Forces.

Hussam Abu Safyia was photographed wearing a Hamas camo military uniform while at a gathering of Hamas elites to celebrate the completion of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in 2016, according to the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor.

Safyia’s photo appeared on the Gaza Medical Services‘ Facebook page — a group overseen by the Hamas-run health ministry.

The ceremony was attended by ranking members of the brutal terror group, including Gen. Abu Obaida Al-Jarrah, Director of Military Medical Services Saeed Saoudi and National Security Forces commander Col. Naeem Al-Ghoul, according to the post.

Following Hamas’ massacre of over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the war in Gaza, Safyia penned two screeds in the Times bashing Israel on Oct. 29, 2023, and Dec. 2, 2024.

“We are suffering and paying the price of the genocide that is happening to our people here in the northern Gaza Strip,” Safyia wrote in one op-ed.

Critics decried media giving the alleged Hamas member any ink.

“Those who platformed Abu Safyia must do some serious soul-searching, and figure out how they ended up promoting the propaganda of a literal Hamas terrorist,” NGO Monitor senior researcher Vincent Chebat said.

The Times referred to the colonel as a “pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza” in each op-ed.

Neither Safyia nor the Times disclosed his alleged affiliation with the terror group, even though Palestinian media refers to him by his military rank. He is also referred to as a colonel in a 2020 Facebook post on the Gaza Strip Medical Services page.

An IDF spokesman said Safyia was a ranking member of Hamas, and that the hospital was teeming with hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists.

Neither NGO Monitor nor the IDF accused Safyia of participating in any specific terrorist acts.

The New York Times did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. The Post was unable to reach Safyia.

The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed Safyia was apprehended during the war on suspicion of “involvement in terrorist activities.” He was not charged and was released by the IDF, but the Israeli Prison Services agency did not respond to a request for comment on his current whereabouts.

Mamdani’s NYC homeless freeze to death

 Brace yourself: This is the editors of the New York Post begging, urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to live up to his inaugural vow to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”

Specifically, when it comes to the homeless he’s decided to let freeze to death.

Last weekend saw at least 10 New Yorkers die in the cold, and temps remain glacial now.

Yet the mayor’s sticking by his order to cops and other city workers to leave encampments alone last weekend and not force the homeless to come in out of the deadly cold.

The idea is that the city should respect the autonomy of these (highly dysfunctional) individuals — which sure sounds like an obsessive care for “rugged individualism” to us.

That he himself called that “frigidity” is all the more damning.

Why is the newly prominent Democratic Socialist leader embracing a cold, laissez-faire attitude out of a Charles Dickens novel?

The most his office will do to get people into the collectivist warmth of a homeless shelter is “redouble outreach efforts.”

“Outreach” is a magic word in blue-city social services circles, because the alternative — compulsory shelter — is (mysteriously) a big no-no.

Even when a homeless person is clearly mentally ill, the ethic among the provider class is to make contact, extend the offer of help . . . .and retreat.

Under Mayor Eric Adams, the city had a policy of “involuntary removal” of homeless people with severe mental illness, but Mamdani rejects that approach because it doesn’t yet lead to “permanent supportive housing.”

Well, involuntary elementary school doesn’t always lead to an Ivy League degree, either, but it’s a good first step.

Nor is it remotely humane or compassionate to leave people to freeze to death just so you can push for some transformative change that might benefit others.

Even the designation of a “Code Blue,” which means it’s cold enough to override normal shelter admission policies, isn’t enough to let the city force people to come inside, unless they’re found to be in a state approaching death — but if they’ve gone hiding after the “outreach” crew has stopped by, they probably won’t get found in time.

It’s bizarre: Progressives are completely down with meddling maximally in people’s lives most of the time — taxing us, regulating us, telling us how to tip on food delivery and where to dispose of our vegetable peels.

But they become fiercely libertarian when it comes to letting mentally ill people refuse to come out of the cold.

“The law, in its majestic equality,” snarked Nobel Prize winner Anatole France, “forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges.”

Mamdani’s corollary is that the law permits rich and poor to sleep outside in the cold.

Sorry: Virtually everyone sees the value in rejecting “the frigidity of rugged individualism” in extreme cases, and the virtue of imposing the “warmth of collectivism.”

Live up to your clear promise, Mr. Mayor, and do right by the city’s most vulnerable.

Iran hit by wave of explosions

 

Iran has been hit by multiple explosions with at least four people reported killed.

The regime has moved swiftly to dismiss suggestions that a Revolutionary Guard chief was the target of the blasts.

The wave of explosions follows threats from Trump to launch strikes against the Ayatollah over the deaths of thousands of protesters.

Whether the incidents are connected to US military action remains unclear.

Four fatalities were reported following a blast in Ahvaz, a city on the Iraqi border.

A separate explosion hit Bandar Abbas, a southern port city.

An eight-storey building was struck, with dramatic images showing serious damage to its lower levels.

The official IRNA news agency reported several injured people were taken from the scene, while cars and a shop also suffered damage.

Iranian media outlets have suggested the incidents were caused by "gas explosions".

Further blasts were recorded in Shahr-e Jadid-e Parand, Karaj, Tabriz, Nowshahr, Hashtgerd and Qeshm.

Washington has increased its military footprint in the region amid mounting tensions.

Nationwide demonstrations swept through Iran during the new year period.

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Zera Shimshon Parshat Beshalach

 

What really Happened at the Weberman Hearing !

 DIN: Tznees alert!

The hearing began with the judge stating that he would be granting the motion to vacate Weberman’s original sentence. Weberman had originally been sentenced to 103 years, but that sentence had been reduced by law to 50 years because of caps on incarceration. Weberman was then given an opportunity to address the court and his victim, who was present in court with her husband, her lawyer, friends, and advocates.  

Weberman read from a prepared statement saying that he was not there to revisit the past. He said that he stood ready to take full, unconditional responsibility for the harm he caused. He said that he had misused the position of authority that was given to him and had desecrated God’s name. Turning to his victim he told her that she deserved a protector, and instead he had violated her. He told her that she had done nothing to deserved what had happened to her, that she had been an innocent child.

He then said that his time served – 13 years – had paid his debt to her, and that he stood before the court as a changed man. He pleaded to his victim, saying that he wasa truly, and deeply sorry.

The ADA, Joe Alexis, then asked Weberman to be more specific about what he was apologizing for. He asked Weberman if he accepts that his victim was 12 years old, and Weberman said he didn’t remember exactly, but that she was a child. The ADA then asked Weberman what specifically he had done to his victim. Weberman said it was sexual abuse. When asked to be more specific, Weberman bristled, saying he didn’t want to get graphic. His family was sitting in the courtroom, including two of his children.

He said that he’d been in jail for 13 years and couldn’t remember the specifics well enough to graphically say what it was, but it was sexual abuse, and that he didn’t want to think about it.  The ADA asked him if he didn’t remember anything about it, and he said that he remembered what he’d said – that it was sexual abuse, but that he wouldn’t be using graphic language and it wouldn’t be true if he said it was this or that. The ADA asked him what he did remember. Weberman said “let’s call it sexual abuse.” The ADA pushed him, saying that Weberman kept saying that, but what did it specifically mean.

The next Israel-Iran war will not look like the last one

Iran’s threat to strike “the heart of Tel Aviv" should the US attack Iran sounds less like confidence than fear. It resembles a terrified animal puffing itself up to appear larger than it is. Iran desperately needs the world to believe it remains dangerous.

Tehran’s deranged mullahs are weaker-militarily, economically, diplomatically, and internally-than they have been in years.

Israel’s stunning success in its 12-Day War with Iran in 2025 stripped away long-cultivated myths of Iranian invulnerability. Israel demonstrated that it could penetrate Iran’s largely Russian air-defense systems and identify and strike key targets almost at will.

Kosher food and no women: The IDF's new guidelines for integrating Charedim

 

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has given final approval to the General Staff orders for the integration of haredim into the military, Channel 13 reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the orders are intended to ensure that every haredi soldier maintains the same way of life he did at home before enlisting.

Among the orders that will be incorporated into IDF regulations in some tracks: an absolute ban on women entering the base, and a ban on exposing soldiers to women.

In addition, the soldiers' commanders will only be observant, and in some tracks, there will be mandatory Torah study and prayers.

The order states that soldiers will be able to receive food in several levels of kashrut, according to the practice in their homes. They will be exempt from wearing a uniform in haredi population centers, and the customary oath of allegiance to the IDF will be replaced by a declaration of allegiance to avoid the Torah prohibition on false oaths.

In addition, an external rabbinical council will be formed to oversee the implementation of the orders.

Lapid & Bennett need Arab parties to form a government

 

Lapid & Bennett sit with the Atab MK

The unification of the Arab parties negatively impacts Netanyahu’s opponents, who are unable to form a coalition without relying on the votes of the Joint List, according to a poll conducted by the "Mida" Institute for Channel 12 News.

The poll shows that if elections were held today, the Likud party would win 27 seats, and Naftali Bennett’s party would win 21.

The Joint List, if the Arab parties unite, would achieve 12 seats, the Democrats 11, Shas 9, Yesh Atid 8, Yisrael Beytenu 8, Otzma Yehudit 8, and United Torah Judaism 7.

The Religious Zionist Party does not pass the electoral threshold, but is close to it. Also, the Blue and White Party and the Reservists’ Party do not pass the electoral threshold.

The opposition bloc achieves 57 seats, while the coalition bloc has 51, with the Arab parties in the middle.

A union between Bennett, Yesh Atid, and Gadi Eizenkot does not bring any change to the bloc map. A joint party of the three would win 38 seats, with Likud maintaining its strength with 27 seats. In this scenario, the Joint List gets 12 seats, the Democrats 11, Shas 9, Yisrael Beytenu 8, Otzma Yehudit 8, and United Torah Judaism 7.

צמאה לך נפשי

 

צמאה לך נפשי

See Reb Yitzchok Dovid Grossman on the right on the 0.27 mark

Saudi Arabia’s Ugly Pivot Against Israel

 by Dinah Bucholz

Before the war in Gaza, relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel had taken a hopeful turn, as the prospect of the Arab state joining the Abraham Accords appeared to be approaching reality. 

But the Oct. 7 attack derailed that plan, which appeared to serve one of Hamas’s goals of starting the war. Still, even during the war, there was hope that Saudi Arabia would continue to soften its stance and normalize relations with Israel.

But tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have since escalated. The two countries had long enjoyed warm relations and a strong strategic partnership, but differences regarding Yemen have turned into an emerging rivalry amid increasing hostility, with Saudi Arabia demanding that the UAE withdraw from parts of Yemen, while drawing closer to Turkey and Qatar, both hostile to Israel.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia started to jack up its anti-Israel rhetoric, including anti-Jewish conspiracies, on its state-run media and its local Al-Jazeera station, as the hope for normalization with Israel receded in the rear-view mirror.

This calls into question the wisdom of the November 18 meeting between President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (also known as MBS) about the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. It also raises doubts about the reliability of Saudi Arabia as a U.S. ally, even as Trump continues to maintain a positive and warm relationship with MBS, who serves as the country’s prime minister.