Unbelievable that these were Biden's officials: He suggests that Israel 🇮🇱 should have offered H×mas a state immediately after October 7 👇
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 13, 2025
January 20th can't come soon enough...pic.twitter.com/Yvekbkj845
By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine
“I am studying airplanes!” Abd al Salam al Hilah told Osama bin Laden’s top Italian operative in the summer of 2000. “We are focusing on the air alone… It will leave them stunned… Remember, the danger at the airports. If it comes off, it will be reported in all the world’s papers.”
Al-Hilah has now boarded another plane that takes him from Guantanamo Bay to Oman.
In New Orleans, Biden wept his crocodile tears, told families of the victims about how much he had suffered when his wife died in a car accident, and then went right back to freeing terrorists.
The terrorists include Al-Hilah, an Al Qaeda facilitator, who knew about major terrorist attacks ahead of time, and conducted conversations with an Imam in Italy soliciting forged documents “for the brothers who have to go to America,” warning to, “never utter their real names.”
The Gitmo evaluation stated that Al-Hilal “had foreknowledge of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 2000 attack on the UK Embassy in Sanaa…the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a planned attack on the US or British Embassy in Sanaa that was to occur in October 2002, and probably the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack.”
The USS Cole bombing killed 17 sailors and injured 37 in the worst attack on a Navy vessel in nearly 40 years. The Gitmo report noted that Al-Hilal facilitated the travel plans of the Al Qaeda terrorists.
Now with the blood of 17 Americans on his hands, along with many others from other preventable terrorist attacks, including possibly 9/11, Democrats made Al-Hilal a free man.
And he is not alone.
Accompanying him to freedom is Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi, an Osama bin Laden bodyguard, who was listed in the Gitmo evaluations, as one of the airplane hijackers from the original expanded version of the 9/11 plot that would have also hijacked planes in Southeast Asia that was later aborted.
Adv. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, founder of the Shurat HaDin organization, which fights terrorism in the legal arena, spoke to Dudu Saada.
"Five hundred families of terror victims have asked us to represent them in a multi-billion shekel lawsuit against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, by deducting the money transferred to them – the Palestinian Authority's budget is 12 billion shekels. There is a precedent of such a lawsuit, when families of victims in the Second Intifada fought in the courts for twenty years, and won,” says Darshan-Leitner.
“Finance Minister in Naftali Bennett's government Avigdor Liberman, along with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, refused to transfer the money for fear of collapsing the Palestinian Authority. On one of my flights, I sat next to Gantz and we talked, and he said to me, 'Nitsana, you're right, but it's complicated, we'll talk about it when we get back to Israel...' Then the government fell and he was saved from making a decision. Bezalel Smotrich was appointed Finance Minister and the first thing he did when he took office was to pay 130 million shekels to the victims of terror,” she added.
On the hostage deal, Darshan-Leitner says: "Hamas is on the verge of collapse. We see that if the IDF is not in Gaza, Hamas finds a way to reestablish themselves very quickly. We entered this war not only to rescue the hostages, but to eradicate Hamas, and it will not happen if we pour new prisoners into it and withdraw from Gaza. If we leave the Philadelphi Route and allow the return of a million Palestinian residents to the northern Gaza Strip, we will lose all our achievements, and this is not what our dear soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the soil of Gaza fought for."
"We cannot achieve a complete victory this way. We should have eradicated Hamas a long time ago. Every day we pay with the blood of our soldiers because we don't stay there continuously. If the Chief of Staff can't do it, let him leave and someone else can do the job. It is inconceivable that Israel will have a terrorist organization on its border, that continues to fire missiles and murder IDF soldiers, and continues to pose a threat to the country. We have to put an end to this,” concludes Darshan-Leitner.
Several of the hostages’ families reported from outside the Prime Minister's office that they were not permitted to enter a meeting of hostage families with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eli Shtivi, father of hostage Idan, who was murdered on October 7th, said: "We were in the PM’s office, and specifically Ruby Chen (father of Itai Chen, who fell in battle on 7.10 and whose body was kidnapped) and myself were not allowed in."
"We are in a situation where we will be receiving thirty-three hostages, and we do not know what will happen to the others. We are going to abandon seventy hostages. I feel neglected; all the families who are not participating this time in this round feel neglected. It is a disgrace. No one is representing us."
Chaim, father of Inbar Hayman who was murdered by Hamas in captivity, said: "I do not need to be represented; I am the only one responsible for my daughter. I am the one the Prime Minister should be meeting. Other representatives cannot speak on behalf of my daughter."
"We were not allowed to enter. There are five representatives who do not represent most of the families. There are hostages here who are worth more and others who are worth less."
Ruby Chen, father of Itai whose body was abducted to the Gaza Strip, said: "The Prime Minister has not included my son and other hostages. For most families, this deal is unacceptable. There should be a deal when we know that all the hostages will be released."
"When Yoni Netanyahu (late brother of PM Benjamin Netanyahu) went to rescue Jews in Entebbe (in 1976), he rescued everyone – he did not say he would return to rescue the others. My son is a hero and saved many people – he does not deserve to remain in Gaza."
At the same time, representatives of the hostages’ families participated in a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, including Eli Albag - the father of Liri Albag, Sharon Sharabi – brother of Yossi Hy"d and Eli Sharabi, Lishay Miran Lavi – wife of Omri Miran, and Malchi Shem Tov – father of Omer Shem Tov.
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused Israel of embedding explosives in nuclear centrifuge equipment acquired by Tehran. The discovery was made by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Zarif said in a preview of an online interview for the Hozour (Presence) program.
Although Zarif provided limited details, he linked the alleged incident to the broader security challenges faced by Iran under Western sanctions. These sanctions, he explained, force Iran and its allies to rely on third-party intermediaries for procurement, creating vulnerabilities that can be exploited by adversaries like Israel.
“Our colleagues had purchased a centrifuge platform for the Atomic Energy Organization, and it was discovered that explosives had been embedded inside it, which they managed to detect,” Zarif said. The timeline of the alleged incident remains unclear.
The accusations come against the backdrop of previous incidents involving Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. In April 2021, an explosion caused a power outage at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Iran labeled the event as an act of “nuclear terrorism,” hinting at Israeli involvement, although Israel neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. Israel has a history of cyberattacks and targeted assassinations aimed at disrupting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are for peaceful purposes.
Zarif linked the centrifuge incident to what he described as a coordinated campaign by Israel to exploit vulnerabilities in equipment procured indirectly due to sanctions. He pointed to a series of explosions in September 2024, which involved communication devices used by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The blasts reportedly killed 32 people and injured over 3,000.
“The issue with the pagers in Lebanon turned out to be a multi-year process, meticulously orchestrated by the Zionists,” Zarif said.
Mossad operatives purportedly spent a decade embedding explosives into the pager devices distributed via fake companies and intermediaries.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has suspended the use of communication devices pending inspections, while the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization has banned electronic devices, including mobile phones, on commercial flights.
Zarif admitted that sanctions have not only imposed financial hardships but also created significant security risks for Iran.
“Instead of being able to order equipment directly from the manufacturer, sanctions force you to rely on multiple intermediaries for such purchases. If the Zionist regime infiltrates even one of the intermediaries, they can do anything and embed anything they want, which is exactly what happened,” he said.
The Republican leader’s decision means that President-elect Donald Trump will not take the oath of office for his second term under a half-staff flag, a prospect that he had previously complained about.
It mirrors actions taken in recent days by some Republican governors who have announced that flags in their states would be raised on Inauguration Day to mark Trump’s second term.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee did so on Tuesday, noting in social media posts that U.S. flags across their states would be relowered on Jan. 21 in honor of Carter. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar notice on Monday.
The 30-day flag-lowering period, set into motion with President Joe Biden’s order, affects flags at federal government buildings and their grounds, as well as at U.S. embassies and other facilities abroad, including military installations and vessels. It runs through Jan. 28, which encompasses Trump’s inauguration and first week in office. In line with Biden’s order, governors throughout the country issued their own orders to govern flags in their respective states.
The incoming president has expressed consternation that flags would still be lowered when he takes the oath, and it’s possible that he could order the overall reversal of Biden’s decision once he’s installed as president on Jan. 20.
“Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about the notion that flags will be lowered on Inauguration Day, Trump wrote Jan. 3 on social media.
“Nobody wants to see this,” Trump wrote. He added that “no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump has already taken action over the flags that he can control: at his home in Florida. In the days following Carter’s burial, a large U.S. flag at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club was observed flying at its full height, despite an order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that mirrors Biden’s.
As of Tuesday, DeSantis had not made alterations to the flag order in his own state.
The U.S. flag code lays out parameters for lowering the U.S. flag to half-staff, including a 30-day period for current or former presidents to cover flags at federal government buildings and their grounds, as well as at U.S. embassies and other facilities abroad, including military installations and vessels.
Senate Democrats have yet to reveal more evidence to back up the allegations against Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to head the Pentagon, and a recently completed FBI background check isn’t moving the needle on the former Fox News host.
Only Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the ranking Democrat on the panel, have been able to review the report thus far, and it hasn’t yet caused any serious political reverberations.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key moderate swing vote, noted Monday that it’s Senate protocol on some committees for only the chair and ranking member to review a nominee’s background check.
But she said it would be “helpful” if other members of the Armed Services panel could also review the closely held report.
“Given the many questions that have been raised, I would think it would be helpful for the entire committee to be able to read it,” she said.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Trump’s choice to serve as director of national intelligence (DNI) who had been considered among the heaviest lifts to get confirmed, is winning more Republican support after backing away from her past opposition to expanded surveillance authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The lull in attention on the nominees over the winter holiday break, combined with the sheer deluge of confirmation proceedings in a short time frame, is giving Trump’s picks a lot of momentum after the embarrassing setback suffered by the president-elect’s first choice for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
All of Trump’s pending nominees now appear to have good chances of winning confirmation thanks to the comfortable 53-seat Republican majority in the Senate.
Any one of them would have to lose the support of at least four Republican senators to fail on the Senate floor.
“We’re going to have to have the hearings, but I think my impression is most of my colleagues are predisposed to let the president have his team, absent some extraordinary circumstances,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s new nominee to lead the Justice Department, and Kash Patel, his candidate to head the FBI, have also both consolidated significant Republican support and appear to be cruising toward confirmation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday he expects Bondi to have enough Republican support to advance out of committee.
He said he would wait to review Patel’s “paperwork” before scheduling a hearing.
Democrats, however, are expressing deep concerns about Patel. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said “Republicans are going to rue the day they put somebody like Kash Patel on the FBI.”
“We’re talking about dysfunction and chaos — Democrats being hunted by a radical who only believes that conservatives like him and Donald Trump should be populating the Department of Justice and FBI,” he said.
Senate Democrats could raise procedural objections to slow the progress of Trump’s most controversial nominees, but they are beginning to acknowledge they’re unlikely to score any knockout blow, barring a disastrous performance at a confirmation hearing.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s choice to head the State Department, is likely to win support from both sides of the aisle, while Sen. Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) objections to the timing of Doug Burgum’s hearing to serve as secretary of Interior haven’t sparked much public outrage.
Rubio is expected to be confirmed on Trump’s first day of office; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, predicted he would get a strong bipartisan vote.
Shaheen noted Republicans allowed the Senate to confirm Avril Haines as director of national intelligence on the same day President Biden was sworn into office.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) would like to get other nominees confirmed on Trump’s first day in office, if possible. One candidate for such a quick timeline is former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe has been tapped by Trump to head the CIA, and his confirmation hearing is slated for Wednesday.
Democrats might have a better chance of persuading a Republican to flip on one of the committees handling a particular nominee, which would leave that nominee stuck.
On the Senate Armed Services Committee, for example, a single Republican vote against Hegseth would block his path to advancing out of the committee, because Republicans hold a one-seat majority on it.
The key vote there will be Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who appeared to be shifting toward supporting Hegseth after meeting with him twice.
She discussed her conversations with Hegseth as “encouraging” and pledged to “support Pete through this process” but stopped short of promising to vote for him.
A single Republican defection would also be a problem on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has jurisdiction over Gabbard’s nomination; Republicans have a narrow 11-10 majority on that panel.
Gabbard assured Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that she had changed her view of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a provision defense hawks say is critical to intercepting foreign threats.
“Tulsi Gabbard has assured me in our conversations that she supports Section 702 as recently amended and that she will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI,” Cotton said in a statement released by his office.
The Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Scott Bessent, Trump’s choice to head the Treasury Department, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped to lead the Health and Human Services Department, also has a one-seat Republican margin.
If a nominee is bottled up in committee by an adverse vote, Thune could still try to bring the candidate to the floor for a vote by offering a motion or resolution to discharge the nominee under Senate Rule XVII. But it takes 60 votes on the Senate floor to override the committee vote and advance the individual, which would require significant support from Democrats.
Senate Republicans have more breathing room on the Senate Judiciary Committee and other panels, where they have two-seat majorities.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the Judiciary panel, which has jurisdiction over Bondi and Patel, hasn’t seen any sign that any Republican on his panel would vote against Bondi. But he said they want to dig deeper into her record.
“I have not received any signals one way or the other,” he said of possible Republican defectors on Bondi.
“Privately, they say they want investigations,” he added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, vented her frustration Monday with the lack of a fuller investigation by her panel into Hegseth’s background and past allegations of sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement — charges Hegseth has vigorously denied.
“We need to be able to talk to all the people in Hegseth’s background who are raising serious concerns about his fitness to serve,” she said.
A Gazan woman is asked what she thinks about Hamas.
— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) January 13, 2025
"Hamas is no problem as a leadership or anything, as long as they wipe the Jews off the map.
Oops, I meant Israel.
Eh, what's the difference".
This is what Hamas and UNRWA created in Gaza while the world watched.
🎥 2006 pic.twitter.com/WiaD7UdjpR
BREAKING NOW 🚨 Elizabeth Warren was just caught by 𝕏 scamming her 5.6 million followers
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) January 12, 2025
LET’S MAKE THIS VIRAL ON 𝕏 pic.twitter.com/ytQFJMLWyS
BREAKING 🚨
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 13, 2025
Biden Administration Restricts AI Chip Exports to Israel While Exempting 20 “Trusted” Countries
The Biden administration has announced new export controls on advanced AI chips, imposing restrictions on key allies like Israel and Singapore. Meanwhile, Twenty trusted… pic.twitter.com/tB9vVVx8nA
Ugandan judge Julia Sebutinde is to be appointed as the President of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
I’m outraged that @CBSnews’ @60minutes would air such a biased and one-sided piece, villainizing Israel and berating US support for its ally. 60 Minutes is supposed to be the gold standard for broadcast journalism, but they completely dropped the ball last night.
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 13, 2025
Where are the… pic.twitter.com/IQM2e1f49C
never thought I'd see the day where @60Minutes came out in support of Hamas. Buh bye. https://t.co/4w73t57CQ8
— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) January 14, 2025
This horrible person was once quite influential within our State Department. But within 10 days of Hamas’ brutally murdering, raping, torturing and kidnapping almost 1500 Israeli civilians, he left his job in protest because American policy supported Israel’s self defense and… https://t.co/SThr3OJOdv
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) January 13, 2025
According to the report, the suspension will take place at the end of January. During the five-day period, the trains will appear to operate as usual, but will not transport passengers, instead testing the new operating system installed by the operator, Kfir, along the entire length of the line, from Neve Yaakov to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.
Following this test period, the light rail will operate for the first time along its entire length, and the "red" line will officially increase in length from 14 kilometers to 22 kilometers, and from 23 stations to 35 stations.
The extended route was scheduled to begin operating approximately two years ago, but was delayed for a number of reasons, including that some of the testing staff, who were from Europe, left Israel in the period following the October 7 massacre.
Light rail construction in the neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel, the first neighborhood after the Mount Herzl stop (currently the end of the light rail route), began in the summer of 2010.
Approximately 180,000 people travel on Jerusalem's light rail each day, and this number is expected to increase to 250,000 after the line is extended, Walla! added, noting that the interval between trains at rush hour is expected to decrease slightly after the line is reopened and additional trains are added.
The Transportation Ministry is expected to operate buses to replace the light rail route during the test period, as well as increase the number of buses on existing routes.
Walla! also reported that during the summer, part of the light rail line will not operate for a period of about a month, to allow for construction of the "green" line scheduled to begin operating in early 2026; the light rail in Givat Shaul, which ends at the entrance to Har Nof, is scheduled to begin operating in 2027.
A new toll on drivers entering the core of Manhattan brought modest but measurable traffic reductions to New York City’s heavily-gridlocked streets in its first week of operation, according to preliminary data released Monday by the state’s transit authority.
Known as “congestion pricing,” the first-in-the-nation program launched on Jan. 5, collecting $9 from most passenger cars entering the city below Central Park during peak hours and higher fees on trucks and other vehicles. In the days since, total traffic in the tolling zone has dropped by 7.5% — or roughly 43,000 cars per day — compared to the equivalent period last year, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said.
“Just look out the window: there is less traffic, quieter streets, and we think everyone has seen it,” said Juliette Michaelson, the MTA deputy chief of policy and external relations. “Traffic patterns are already changing and they will continue to change.”
First proposed decades ago, the program is intended to raise billions of dollars in revenue for the cash-strapped MTA while easing congestion on the city’s streets. It follows similar initiatives in London, Singapore and Stockholm, which also saw immediate reductions in traffic after their tolls went live.
The effect in New York has been most pronounced during the morning rush hour period, with travel times over certain crossings — including the typically traffic-choked Holland and Lincoln tunnels that run under the Hudson River from New Jersey — falling by 40% or more, Michaelson said.
Despite anecdotal reports of more crowded train cars, she said the agency had not clocked a noticeable increase in subway users, largely because the baseline number of riders — over 3 million daily — is so high. However, a handful of bus routes originating in Brooklyn and Staten Island had seen an increase in ridership the previous week.
Within the congestion zone, the immediate impact has been more mixed. While certain thoroughfares have seen traffic reductions, others routes have stayed largely the same. A Midtown crosstown bus widely derided as New York’s slowest saw its runtime shaved by only a minute, according to MTA data. And there has been little noticeable change during the overnight hours, when the toll for passenger cars goes down to $2.25, officials said.
Bob Pishue, an analyst with INRIX, a traffic-data analytics company, said the MTA’s initial data matched the findings of the firm, which has been comparing drivers’ GPS data before and after the program launched.
“Fewer people are coming into Manhattan, but we’re not seeing a significant impact on speeds within the zone yet,” he said. “Some trips are faster, some are slower.”
He cautioned against drawing broad conclusions after barely a week, noting that many drivers were likely taking a “wait and see” approach.
Congestion pricing has sharply divided residents of New York and neighboring areas, touching off protests from many drivers, along with threats of sabotage and viral videos on how to evade the fee.
Proponents of congestion pricing, meanwhile, have hailed its launch as a transformative moment for a city contending with worsening traffic and aging public transportation infrastructure desperately in need of upgrades.
Initially slated to begin in June, the program was halted at the last moment by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. A one-time supporter of the program, the Democrat said her position changed following conversations with “ordinary” New Yorkers, including a Manhattan diner owner concerned the toll would disincentivize customers driving in from New Jersey.
Hochul later revived the program but at the lower price of $9 for most drivers, down from the $15 fee initially approved by the state.
Tarek Soliman, the owner of Comfort Diner in midtown Manhattan, said he had spoken directly with the governor about his fears of losing New Jersey customers. While he said it was too early to tell if the program had hurt business, the new fee was already having at least one impact on him.
“Every weekend, I used to drive to the garage next to the diner,” Soliman, a resident of Astoria, Queens, said by phone Monday. “Now I don’t drive. I take the subway.”
In a video message, Lior says that protesting is important to try and “thwart the designs of all those who want to cut off parts of our land, those who release terrorists with blood on their hands as if this will bring peace with them.”
Adds the rabbi in his video message: “There was no peace, there is no peace and there will be no peace. We need to strive to clean the land of all terrorists so that the entire Land of Israel will belong to the rule of the Jewish people alone.”
Lior has called for Jewish settlements in Gaza to be rebuilt following the October 7 Hamas invasion, along with ultranationalist members of the cabinet Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Lior backed Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party in the 2022 elections.
