Bill Clinton reveals why the CIA told him not to take out bin Laden before 9/11

 

Former President Bill Clinton revealed on Sunday that the CIA abandoned a plan to take out Osama bin Laden before 9/11 over fears that innocent civilians could die if the risky operation went sideways.

Clinton, 80, spoke about the spy agency’s reasoning during a radio interview on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” show with host John Catsimatidis — and reflected on how he “immediately” knew the al Qaeda leader was responsible for the terror attacks while watching them unfold.

“I had authorized the CIA to try to take him out,” Clinton told Catsimatidis, adding that he told the agency it would have been good to capture bin Laden alive, but the main priority was to stop him.

“I was scared, and I was mad because we tried to get him before, and the CIA at the last minute killed the plan that I think might well have succeeded,” the former Democratic president said.

“But they were afraid that if they missed, they’d kill a lot of innocent civilians. They didn’t want to run the risk. I didn’t second-guess them, but I think, in the end, [bin Laden] was determined to do what he did, and he had lots of money and lots of capacity,” Clinton reflected.

“I wish we had done even more to get him. I always thought he was our biggest threat … I wanted to get him, and I did what I could to do that,” he said.

Clinton also recalled knowing that bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as soon as he watched the second plane hit the Twin Towers on television, remembering that the terror mastermind had long been planning to hit US soil.

“At the time, I was in Australia. Hilary was in Washington. But our daughter was in Lower Manhattan, and we were worried to death about her. She was one of the thousands of people who were told to just walk north. We couldn’t get in touch with her,” Clinton told Catsimatidis.

“I was watching television in Australia when the second plane hit. I immediately said that bin Laden did this. They all looked at me and said, ‘How do you know this?’ I said, ‘Well, because the only adversaries we have with the capacity to do this are Iran and bin Laden,” he recalled.

“And the Iranians wouldn’t do it because we could wipe them off the face of the Earth immediately. And bin Laden is holed up in a cave in Afghanistan.’ I just knew it had to be him. I also knew that he had been planning to do what he did to hit us for a long time.”

Bin Laden was later killed in a targeted, secret raid on his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound led by US Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011, under Barack Obama’s presidency.

Clinton added that he believes that it’s possible that New York City could face another terrorist attack, but maintained the US is “much better prepared” for an attack of that scale.

“I think it’s entirely possible. I think we have to stay on guard about that. We have to make sure we’re getting all the intelligence we can on the issue. I think there is a chance that will happen,” Clinton said when asked if New York could be targeted by terrorists again.

“We’re much better prepared [now] than we were… [But] you only have to miss once, and then you’re screwed. It’s just something that has to be a continuing part of our national security plan,” he said.

“If you’re running the country, you want to make big good things happen, and stop big bad things from happening … That’s where I think we are as a country, and where I think we can maybe find unity again.”

Israel Moving to revoke Citizenship of Self-Hating Jews Rahel Shor and Yuval Avraham Creators of Disgraceful Naza Film

 

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar on Sunday evening condemned a film that won an award at the Venice Film Festival, accusing its creators of damaging Israel’s reputation and announcing that he would work to revoke their citizenship over what he called “treason against the state."

“The disgraceful Naza film winning at the Venice Film Festival is shocking," Zohar said. “The burning self-hatred of the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland in order to receive applause from antisemites around the world, is a betrayal of the state. I will act to revoke the citizenship of these contemptible creators."

Ganz called them a "bunch of liars"

Ben from Ben & Jerry's receives a award from the Muslim Brotherhood on Rosh Hashanah

 

Ben from Ben & Jerry's receiving a major award from the Muslim Brotherhood on Rosh Hashanah has got to be the most "as a Jew" thing I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/44xwsLwoNa

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) September 13, 2026

TV Station Surprises Lone Soldier with her parents

 

Israel Made Britain ‘Wince,’ says Middle East Expert

 

A Middle East expert and former official from three Republican administrations said Israel succeeded in making Britain “wince.”

Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. official in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations, said that Israel’s retaliatory measures were meant to make Britain “wince,” and he believed that Israel had succeeded.

After Britain imposed a ban on goods produced in Judea and Samaria to punish Israel for its planned construction in Section E1, Israel retaliated by giving the British government 30 days to close its consulate in Israel, ordering British officials at the U.S.-led International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat to cease operations, and canceling the British Support Team that trains Palestinian Authority police in Ramallah.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Abrams said, “The British, like the French, think of themselves as a global power. Okay, not a superpower, but a country with a global role.”

He explained that Israel has now essentially told Britain, “You just lost your role here.” This will make it harder to exert influence in Ramallah or Gaza, which is important to the British.

He also said that despite 10 other European countries joining the sanctions, the majority of European countries did not join, showing that Israel’s actions did create deterrence. The strong Israeli reaction, he added, signaled to other countries that there is a cost to joining this movement.

Abrams said that Israel meted out the punishment particularly to Britain for taking the lead in getting other countries to join its initiative.

“It was the British who not only did it, but then went out and tried to convince others to join them,” he said. “And I think the Israelis particularly resent that.”

Abrams pointed to Norway as an example of a country that lost its influence when it lost its neutrality. Israel expelled the Dutch representatives, and Norway subsequently lost its influence as a mediator.

He took Norwegian diplomats to task over this. “What have you achieved?” he said he asked them. “Nothing for the Palestinians, and you diminished your own influence.”

Directing his words to London, Abrams said it risks the same thing: “What you did will not help one Palestinian, but it will diminish British influence.”

Houthis seize Yemen's Red Sea coast, Bab al-Mandab and three strategic islands, threatening a vital trade route

 

The Iran-backed Houthis on Friday took control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline and captured three strategic islands, dramatically expanding their control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical maritime passage connecting Europe and Asia, reported AFP.

The takeover followed a week-long offensive in which hundreds of people were killed and gives the Houthis control of the Yemeni side of the strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the route leading toward the Suez Canal. The development comes months after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted shipping in the region.

A local official from Yemen's Saudi-backed government said Friday that the Houthis had "completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island". A Yemeni military official subsequently said the group had also captured Greater and Lesser Hanish, the two remaining islands in the narrow waterway that had not been under Houthi control, along with the entire adjacent Red Sea coastline.

"Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen," the military official said, as quoted by AFP.

Mayyun Island, located in the center of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, is particularly significant because its capture strengthens the Houthis' ability to target Saudi tankers. The group has been attacking Saudi vessels since July.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has increasingly depended on the Red Sea for shipments after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz restricted its traditional route through the Gulf.

Despite the takeover, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said maritime traffic through Bab al-Mandab would remain open, with an exception for Saudi vessels.

"Maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi ships, which have already been banned," Saree said in a statement.

The latest territorial gains came one day after the Houthis captured the Red Sea port city of Mokha. Earlier in the week, the group also launched attacks against four cities in southern Saudi Arabia: Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran. The attacks wounded 73 civilians, including women and children.

The rapid Houthi advance has also prompted Saudi Arabia to seek greater US involvement. Axios reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Donald Trump twice on Thursday to request US strikes against the Iran-backed group.

Trump rejected the request, according to two US officials cited by Axios. MBS initially called Trump to update him on the deteriorating situation as Houthi forces advanced toward Mokha and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces retreated. Several hours later, he called again and urged the president to authorize American military action.

Trump refused Saudi Crown Prince’s request to strike Houthis

Washington again declined. Instead, a US official said the United States would provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence on Houthi positions and targeting information.

Around 200 US military personnel are already in Saudi Arabia providing non-kinetic support, according to the official, in line with an earlier CNN report.

The Saudi embassy in Washington and the White House declined to comment.

Zera Shimshon Rosh Hashana

 

Chasam Sofer Minhagim for Rosh Hashana

by EMAILIM BATORAH

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הנהגות ופסקי חתם סופר 

 for ראש השנה

1) The  חיוב of טהרה במקוה before YomTov (ר"ה ט"ז ע"ב) is 

 only for ערב שלש רגלים and not ערב ר"ה.

2) He made התרת נדרים on  ערב יו"כ and not on ערב ר"ה.

 3) He insisted the חזן say   נקדש, - נעריצך at the end  of the Piyut  דרי מעלה עם דרי  מטה  

 (Most מחזורים start with ככתוב​). To  be מקיים the מצוה דאורייתא  of  ונקדשתי the Chazzan needs to invite (נקדש) the ציבור to  be 

מקדש השם. 

4) For תשליך all he said was 3x the Pasuk מי אל כמוך

and  no  other תפילות

5) He was מקפיד   not to eat nuts only on Rosh Hashana

​ ​(not on the rest of  עשרת ימי תשובה)

SHAVE OFF YOUR BEARD ON ער"ה

 ​ The טור (O.Ch. 581) quotes the מדרש .

"The מנהג of the world is that when a person has a court case, he dresses in black, wraps himself in black, and grows his beard, etc.The בני ישראל are different. They dress in white; they wrap themselves in white and shave their beards. ומגלחין זקנם*

 גילוח = shaving not trimming

The words "באהבה וברצון" are added

to the שמונה עשרה and at קידוש when Yom Tov falls on Shabbos.

The מטה משה writes "Yomim Tovim were given on הר סיני.

and were originally accepted forcefully כפה עליהם הר כגיגית. 

Shabbos was given in מרה (before מתן תורה) and was

accepted באהבה וברצון with love & favor.

That is the reason why we add באהבה וברצון on Shabbos.

Charedi critics keep asking the New Charedie Party "where are your endorsements from the Gedolim?" Here is your answer!!

 

YOU’RE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION

Since Hatzibbur HaCharedi entered the Israeli political arena, one question has come up again and again — where are your endorsements from senior Rabbonim? Where are the Gedolim?

It is a fair question, and it deserves a proper answer rather than a defensive one. To be clear, the party does have rabbinic endorsements, rabbinic leadership, and a Va’ad Rabbanim involved in every policy they adopt. Some have given their approval quietly, for reasons I will come to; others have been public.

But the assumption buried inside the question also deserves to be taken seriously. Charedi Judaism is built around deference to Torah authority, and we do not treat Da’as Torah as a decorative slogan to be wheeled out whenever it is convenient.

But there is also a second Torah concept, no less fundamental, which has a curious habit of going missing from these conversations at precisely the moment it becomes inconvenient. That concept is achrayut — responsibility.

Which is why, if we are going to be totally honest, the question is being asked in the wrong order. People have been trained to ask about the endorsement first, and everything else afterwards, if at all.

Mamzarani, the Temple Mount & the Hilltop Heroes