Quote:Iran launched drones against Israel on Saturday that are en route, though they may take hours to arrive, according to Israeli media sources.
Barak Ravid of Axios and Walla reported the attack:
The attack is supposedly in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on April 1 that eliminated seven senior Iranian military officials, including two generals, in Damascus, Syria. Iran has been using its terrorist proxies to attack Israel for decades, and accelerated those attacks after the Hamas invasion of October 7.
In anticipation of the attack, Israel’s Home Front Command canceled school for the next two days, and ordered demonstrations in favor of the hostages still in Gaza — a Saturday night tradition in much of the country — to disperse. Other large gatherings were also banned.
A military briefing scheduled with Breitbart News for Sunday morning was also abruptly canceled due to the ongoing attack.
It is not clear whether Israel’s aerial defense system will be able to manage the drone attack, and whether Israel will — as promised — attack Iranian territory in response.
Fighter jets were heard overhead in the northern Galilee on Saturday evening.
The drone attack could mark a dramatic escalation in a conflict that has been fueled for three-and-a-half decades by Iranian radicalism against the West.
Update: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement:
Citizens of Israel,
In recent years, and especially in recent weeks, Israel has been preparing for a direct attack by Iran.
Our defensive systems are deployed; we are ready for any scenario, both defensively and offensively. The State of Israel is strong. The IDF is strong. The public is strong.
We appreciate the US standing alongside Israel, as well as the support of Britain, France and many other countries.
We have determined a clear principle: Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We will defend ourselves against any threat and will do so level-headedly and with determination.
Citizens of Israel, I know that you also are also level-headed. I call on you to follow the directives of IDF Home Front Command.
Together we will stand and with G-d’s help – together we will overcome all of our enemies.
Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday morning local time that it had intercepted the “majority” of the “dozens” of drones and cruise missiles that Iran had launched against Israel, though a few hit targets, including an IDF base.
In a statement, the IDF said:
Dozens of surface-to-surface missile launches from Iran were identified approaching Israeli territory. The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted the majority of the launches using the Arrow Aerial Defense System, together with Israel’s strategic allies, before the launches crossed into Israeli territory. A small number of hits were identified, including at an IDF base in southern Israel, where minor damage was caused to infrastructure.
Many dozens of hostile aircraft, as well as dozens of cruise missiles, were identified approaching Israeli territory from Iran and intercepted over the past few hours. Dozens of IAF fighter jets are currently operating to intercept all aerial threats approaching Israeli territory.
The IDF is deployed on all fronts, prepared, and continuing to defend Israeli territory.
In tota, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Iran had launched over 200 hostile aircraft.
Israelis were told to stay near the “safe rooms” — rooms with reinforced walls and doors — in their homes overnight. The order from Home Front Command was lifted before dawn Sunday morning, a sign that Israel believes the Iranian attack to be over. Booms continued to be heard over northern Israel.
The country was filled overnight with the sound of air raid sirens, and aircraft scrambling overhead, as well as the sound of explosions, as missile defense systems hit their targets. One injury was reported to a Bedouin Arab child in the Negev desert, hit by shrapnel.
Residents of the interior portions of Israel — including Jerusalem — heard air raid sirens and saw missile defense systems flashing overhead.
Quote:Israel intercepted missiles over one of Islam’s holiest sites, the Dome of the Rock, during the attack launched by the Iranian regime this weekend.
Video captured several missiles being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome in the sky above the Dome of the Rock, one of the world’s oldest surviving works of Islamic architecture and a sacred shrine to Muslims. Take a look:
As Breitbart News reported, Iran launched a massive drone strike against Northern Israel, most of which was intercepted by Israel’s defense systems. They launched over 200 drones and cruise missiles. The report said:
The attack is supposedly in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on April 1 that eliminated seven senior Iranian military officials, including two generals, in Damascus, Syria. Iran has been using its terrorist proxies to attack Israel for decades, and accelerated those attacks after the Hamas invasion of October 7.
“In anticipation of the attack, Israel’s Home Front Command canceled school for the next two days and ordered demonstrations in favor of the hostages still in Gaza — a Saturday night tradition in much of the country — to disperse. Other large gatherings were also banned,” it added.
Quote:Crowds of pro-regime demonstrators poured into the streets of Tehran, the Iranian capital, overnight Saturday into Sunday as Iran launched more than 200 drones and cruise missiles against Israel.
The Hindustan Times reported:
Iranians have flooded the streets in large numbers to celebrate Iran’s attack on Israel. Numerous videos and posts circulating online depict a large gathering and rally of Iranian citizens at Palestine Square in Tehran, marking the move with jubilation. The attack, launched by Iran and its proxies, involved hundreds of suicide drones, ballistic missiles, and rockets targeting the Jewish state from all sides.
...
On Saturday night, pictures and videos of Iranians celebrating in Teheran went viral. Video clips reportedly showing Palestinians celebrating in the al-Aqsa mosque in response to reports of Iran’s rocket and drone attack also surfaced online. This large-scale attack highlights the huge population gap between the two long-time rivals. Israel has a population of less than 8 million people, while Iran has an estimated population of more than 89 million people, more than 10 times the size of Israel.
Iran has refrained from attacking Israel directly, using proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iraqi militias. But the celebrations may be short-lived.
Israel has said that it would attack Iran directly in response to an attack that originates on Iranian soil.
Quote:Iran’s mission to the United Nations released a statement about the attack on Israel on Saturday evening, saying that Iran’s retaliation “can be deemed concluded,” unless Israel or the United States escalates further.
“Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the U.N. Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus,” the Iranian mission said.
“The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” the statement continued.
“It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!” the Iranian mission concluded, with capitalization in the original.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, said on Saturday that it attacked Israel with a swarm of drones and missiles in retaliation for “numerous crimes of the Zionist regime including the strike on the consulate section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and martyrdom of a number of military commanders and advisers in Syria.”
The Iranians were referring to an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 that killed the commander of the IRGC’s foreign operations unit, the Qods Force, in Lebanon and Syria, along with several other high-ranking IRGC officers. Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the Damascus strike.
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter discusses the right of member states to defend themselves against attack, although such action is supposed to be coordinated with the U.N. Security Council.
Quote:World leaders were quick to condemn the “reckless” attacks on Israel by the Islamist regime in Iran, which they said “crossed a new line” in launching dozens of drone and missile strikes against the Jewish state on Saturday.
The international community, including leaders in Britain and the European Union, swiftly condemned the strikes on Israel by the Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which marked a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Tehran and Jerusalem from previous attacks carried out by Iran’s terrorist proxies in the region to direct strikes.
Responding to the Iranian attack on Israel, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the UK condemns “in the strongest terms the Iranian regime’s reckless attack against Israel”.
Sunak warned that the attacks “risk inflaming tensions and destabilising the region” and that “Iran has once again demonstrated that it is intent on sowing chaos in its own backyard.”
“The UK will continue to stand up for Israel’s security and that of all our regional partners, including Jordan and Iraq,” the British leader continued. “Alongside our allies, we are urgently working to stabilise the situation and prevent further escalation. No one wants to see more bloodshed.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said that it has moved “several additional Royal Air Force jets and air refuelling tankers to the region” and said that any RAF jets stationed in the Middle East “will intercept any airborne attacks within range of our existing missions, as required”.
“In response to increased Iranian threats and the growing risk of escalation in the Middle East, the UK Government has been working with partners across the region to encourage de-escalation and prevent further attacks,” the MoD said.
The top diplomats in France, Germany and Italy have also expressed condemnations on behalf of their governments. French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said that Pairs “condemns” the attack, which he said had “crossed a new level” of destabilisation. “France reaffirms its attachment to the security of Israel and assures it of its solidarity,” he added.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said: “We strongly condemn the ongoing attack, which could plunge an entire region into chaos. Iran and its proxies must stop this immediately. Israel offers our full solidarity at this time.”
Deputy Italian Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, who also serves as the nation’s foreign minister, said that Rome is monitoring the situation “with attention and concern”. Tajani said that he has spoken with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and relayed that the government is “ready to manage any type of scenario.”
Leaders in the European Union also expressed outrage over Iran’s strikes on Israel, with the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell saying: “The EU strongly condemns the unacceptable Iranian attack against Israel. This is an unprecedented escalation and a grave threat to regional security.”
European Council President Charles Michel wrote on social media: “Strongly condemn the attack launched by Iran on Israel. Everything must be done to prevent further regional escalation. More bloodshed must be avoided. We will continue to follow the situation closely with our partners.”
Trump’s statement comes just before he is set to speak at a rally in Schnecksville, PA.
Iran’s attack on Israel is reportedly in retaliation after Israel launched an airstrike on April 1, which reportedly left seven senior Iranian military officials dead in Damascus, Syria, and destroyed the consular section of the Iranian embassy.
The attack on Israel comes after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, leaving roughly 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken as hostages.
Quote:Iran on Friday launched an attack on Israel a day after President Joe Biden warned Tehran not to.
“Don’t,” Biden had told reporters after he was asked Thursday what his message to Iran was, after it had threatened to attack Israel in response to a suspected recent Israeli strike against seven members of the Iranian military, including two generals in Syria.
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel,” he added. “We will support Israel. We will defend — help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed.”
Biden was planning on spending the weekend in Rehoboth Beach but returned earlier in the day and was slated to meet with his national security team in the Situation Room.
There were reports that he would address the nation from the Oval Office, but the White House then called a lid at 5:13 p.m. ET, according to the White House press pool.
Critics slammed Biden for weakness on Iran. Cliff Sims, a former senior Trump administration official, posted on X: “Biden reversed all the Trump policies that made Iran weaker and poorer. Now they’re spending all the money Biden gave them attacking Israel, terrorizing the world and threatening to plunge us into WWIII.”
Morgan Ortagus, former Trump State Department press secretary, said in a post: “Reminder: “Biden allowed the UN sanctions on Iran’s drones and ballistic missiles to expire less than six months ago. The very same drones and missiles en route to Israel right now.”
Quote:Saturday on Newsmax2, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani argued the correct response to Iran’s attack on Israel would have been to hit Iran at the earliest stages of the strike as possible.
Giuliani argued that was what former President Ronald Reagan would have done if he were facing similar circumstances.
“I really do think we’re missing an opportunity, a historic opportunity here — if we had a president like my old boss in the White House,” he said. “Every time [when] I was mayor and I had to make a difficult decision, I would say, ‘What would Ronald Reagan do?’ I know what Ronald Reagan would do right now. He would have hit Iran before their first missile got to Israel. And he would have taken out every nuclear facility he could. He would have been trying to look for an opportunity to do that for years.”
“Now, we take out their nuclear facilities, here’s what the traitors who run our government would say — they’ll say, ‘Oh, they’ll just build it back up again.’ That will take them 10 years to do. Also, if you really know what is going on inside Iran, if we were to hit them before they hit us, it would destroy them. They obviously are a frightened enemy. You wouldn’t do an attack like this unless you were timid. The best thing to do with a frightened enemy is knock them out. The best defense is a bold offense. This is our opportunity to end the reign of terror that we should have been looking for.”
Quote:Saturday, during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s continuing coverage of Iran’s attack on Israel, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said Iran’s direct strike on Israel now raises questions about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The Iowa Republican suggested the strike could have a chilling effect on Israel and its people.
“[T]his is unprecedented for Iran not to utilize those proxies but to strike directly against Israel and to engage with ballistic missiles,” she said. “The thoughts that I have heard coming from other colleagues, people within the space makes you wonder how close are they also to having those nuclear capabilities? They want Israelis to exist in fear, wondering what that next step will be.”
“But again, it is unprecedented what Iran has done, and we have got to assist the Israelis in any way possible to push back against this threat,” Ernst added. “Now, we do see Saudi Arabia stepping up. We see Jordan stepping up. We want to thank those Arab nations that are friends to Israel, engaged through the Abraham Accords and other partnerships. This is part of the DEFEND Act, which is bipartisan. I led that effort in the Senate many years ago. But to tie all of these nations together in an air defense mechanism so that they could protect against Iran. We see the successes when America chooses to lead. And this is what we need at this moment — is American leadership that will step forward and support Israel.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it had scored a “significant strategic achievement” after it prevented 99% of Iran’s drones and missiles from reaching their targets.
As Breitbart News reported, Iran attacked Israel overnight Saturday into Sunday with a swarm of over 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Israel’s air defense systems intercepted most of them; the U.S., U.K., and Jordan also intercepted Iranian drones.
In a statement, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said (via IDF translation):
Last night, Iran initiated an attack against Israel, launching over 300 threats of various types. The Iranian threat met the aerial and technological superiority of the IDF, along with a strong fighting coalition – which together intercepted the overwhelming majority of the threats. 99% of the threats launched towards Israeli territory were intercepted – a very significant strategic achievement.
Of approximately 170 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Iran launched, zero crossed into Israeli territory. Dozens of them were intercepted by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, our Aerial Defense Array, and the aerial defense systems and aircraft of our partners.
From the more than 30 cruise missiles Iran launched, none crossed into Israeli territory. 25 of them were intercepted by IAF fighter jets outside the country’s borders. Out of over 120 ballistic missiles, only a few crossed into Israeli territory, with the rest being intercepted. These fell at the Nevatim Air Force Base, causing only minor damage to infrastructure. As you can see, the base is operational and continues to carry out its missions. In the image, you can see the landing strip at the Nevatim base.
Iran hoped to incapacitate the base and thus impair our aerial capabilities, but it failed. IAF aircraft continue to take off and land from the base and depart for offensive and defensive missions. This includes the ‘Adir’ fighter jets, which are now returning to the base from an aerial defense mission, and you will soon see them landing.
In addition to the launches from Iran, several launches were made from the territories of Iraq and Yemen. None of them crossed into Israeli territory. In recent hours, dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanese territory toward the north; there were no casualties. Fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including Radwan targets. All this while additional aircraft continue their defense missions.
Over the past six months, we have been operating in close coordination with our partners, led by US CENTCOM, the UK, France, and other countries that operated last night. This partnership has always been robust, but last night it was exceptionally evident. Last night we conducted a complex defensive air battle, with excellent performance by the IAF and the Intelligence Directorate. The battle was directed under the command of the Chief of the General Staff from the Israeli Air Force Operations Center.
The interception capabilities of the Aerial Defense Array and the defensive abilities of the IAF aircraft, demonstrated exceptional professionalism as well as the IDF’s military and technological superiority. Thanks to all of this, the attack by Iran – was thwarted.
The only Israeli casualty was an Arab Israeli girl — a Bedouin Muslim hit by shrapnel in the Israeli city of Arad.
Analysts on Israel’s Army Radio suggested that Israel had reversed the situation of the past few weeks, when it found itself isolated in the world over the civilian cost of the war against Hamas in Gaza. One described the emergence of a Middle East “NATO,” heralded by Jordan’s effort to help protect Israel from the Iranian attack.
Quote:Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, General Hossein Salami, on Sunday applauded the drone and missile attack on Israel, lauding it as more successful than expected before warning against any retaliation from the Jewish state or its allies.
Salami’s boast came despite the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) saying it had intercepted the “majority” of the “dozens” of drones and cruise missiles sent to attack Israel, though a few hit targets, including an IDF base, as Breitbart News reported.
Overall a swarm of over 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles were used in air assault by Tehran.
Israel’s air defense systems were backed by assets from the U.S., U.K., and Jordan that also intercepted Iranian drones and helped neuter the state-on-state attack.
Salami claimed otherwise in his boast of supreme success saying:
Our information on all of the hits is not complete yet but on that part of the hits that we have accurate, documented and field-related reports show that this operation has been carried out with a success that exceeded the expectation.
The Iran-state media outlet IRNA further detailed the IRGC commander warned that Israel will “regret its past actions and take a lesson from Iran’s attacks,” claiming any reaction from Israel to Iran’s recent attacks would be met “with a much stronger response.”
As Breitbart News reported, the attack was supposedly in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on April 1 that eliminated seven senior Iranian military officials, including two generals, in Damascus, Syria.
The only Israeli casualty was an Arab Israeli girl — a Bedouin Muslim hit by shrapnel in the Israeli city of Arad.
Quote:Israel Sunday struck a Hezbollah site in Lebanon’s east near the Syrian border, the Israeli army and a source from the Iran-backed group said, as tensions soared after Iran directly attacked Israel.
The Hezbollah source told AFP that “the Israeli strike targeted an area… near Baalbek and targeted a two-storey building belonging to Hezbollah,” adding there were no casualties.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that “an enemy air strike targeted a building” in the village of Nabi Sheet and “destroyed it”.
An AFP photographer at the site saw the concrete and steel wreckage of the building, levelled in the attack.
The Israeli army said in a statement that in response to launches overnight, “fighter jets struck a significant Hezbollah weapons manufacturing site” in the Nabi Sheet area “deep inside Lebanon”.
Earlier Sunday, Hezbollah said it had twice launched barrages of Katyusha rockets towards the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, saying they were in response to Israeli attacks on “villages and towns” in Lebanon.
It has launched similar barrages in the past, but Sunday’s launches coincided with a major Iranian drone and missile attack against Israel.
The Iranian attack was in response to an April 1 air strike widely blamed on Israel that destroyed an Iranian consulate building in Damascus, killing seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.
Hamas ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Israel since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
The violence, which has largely been contained to the Israeli-Lebanese border area, has killed at least 364 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Quote:The United States is highlighting its role in helping Israel thwart Iran’s aerial attack
US works to prevent an escalation across the Mideast as Biden pushes Israel to show restraintBy ZEKE MILLER and MICHELLE L. PRICEAssociated PressThe Associated PressWASHINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Sunday highlighted its role in helping Israel thwart Iran’s aerial attack as President Joe Biden convened leaders of the Group of Seven countries in an effort to prevent a wider regional escalation and coordinate a global rebuke of Tehran.
The U.S. assisted Israel in shooting down dozens of drones and missiles fired by Iran on Saturday in what was the first time it had launched a direct military assault on Israel. Israeli authorities said 99% of the inbound weapons were shot down without causing any significant damage.
U.S. officials said that despite the high interception rate, Iran’s intent was to “destroy and cause casualties” and that if successful, the strikes would have caused an “uncontrollable” escalation across the Mideast. U.S. officials said Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an effort to contain tensions, that Washington would not participate in any offensive action against Iran, and the president made “very clear” to Netanyahu “that we do have to think carefully and strategically” about risks of escalation.
The push to encourage Israel to show restraint mirrored ongoing American efforts to curtail Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its seventh month, and to do more to protect civilian lives in the territory.
While the U.S. and its allies were preparing for days for such an attack, the launches were at the “high end” of what was anticipated, according to the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
At one point, at least 100 ballistic missiles from Iran were in the air simultaneously with just minutes of flight time to Israel, the officials said. Biden and senior official monitored the firings and interception attempts in real time in the White House Situation Room. The officials said there was “relief” in the room once they saw that the missile defense efforts had succeeded.
A senior U.S. military official said American aircraft shot down more than 70 drones and cruise missiles, while U.S. destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea downed between four and six ballistic missiles, and an American Patriot missile battery in Iraq shot down one more.
Quote:Nestled on the banks of the Rio Grande some six miles south of Eagle Pass, construction is reaching a fever pitch on one of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s latest border projects. Breitbart Texas captured the progress being made on “Forward Operating Base Eagle,” a military base camp designed to provide housing to 1,800 Texas Army National Guard soldiers deployed to the area as part of Operation Lone Star.
The video shows trucks carrying construction materials arriving at the 80-acre parcel of land acquired by the State. The video captures the groundwork on utilities and foundation preparations for the sprawling project that sits on the edge of the Rio Grande just yards from Mexico.
Abbott announced the project to house Texas National Guard soldiers who are responding to President Joe Biden’s border crisis in February. The Texas governor explained the need for the project saying:
Texas is expanding our border security capabilities by building a new Texas Military Department base camp to increase and improve border security operations in this area. This will increase the ability for a larger number of Texas Military Department soldiers in Eagle Pass to operate more effectively and efficiently.
The new operations base promises dramatic improvements to soldiers’ accommodations, including their own individual rooms, a 700-seat dining facility, a recreational center, laundry facilities, and WiFi access. According to the Texas Military Department, the camp will also provide chaplaincy programs and medical and psychological health facilities.
According to state officials, the Texas National Guard soldiers are currently staying at multiple locations across the region in cramped quarters, apart from fellow soldiers, and sometimes traveling long distances to reach their assigned posts. When completed, the facility will be able to accommodate a surge force of 500 additional soldiers, bringing the total capacity to 2,200 troops.
According to Texas Military Department contracting documents, the state will pay Team Housing Solutions Incorporated, a company in New Braunfels, Texas, $131 million in operating costs through September 2024.
The construction comes as the region has experienced a drastic slowing in migrant crossings in recent months. As reported by Breitbart Texas, migrant apprehensions dropped across the southwest border from nearly 250,000 in December to less than 125,000 in January after a series of late-December meetings between the United States and Mexico. The drop in apprehensions in Eagle Pass was more significant, with arrests dropping from 4,000 to 5,000 per day in December to less than 300 per day, according to CBP sources.
Quote:Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that President Joe Biden was “being influenced by the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.”
Kennedy said, “I think my position is pretty clear. I love Israel. I despise Putin. I despise the Communist Party of China and I despise the Ayatollah in Iran. I don’t want America to be the world’s policeman, but I don’t want those guys to be the world’s policeman either. And with with those guys, if you turn the other cheek, you just get it in the neck. More sheep is not going to solve the wolf problem . I expect, I don’t know, but I expect the speaker of the House probably next week to put an Israel bill, Israel support bill on the floor of the House. I think it will be followed by a bill to support Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific and number three, i think he will put a bill to support Ukraine.”
He continued, “The big issue on those bills will bot be Ukraine, the big issue will be Israel because It is clear that President Biden is being influenced by the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.”
Kennedy added, “Let me say it again, more sheep is not going to solve the wolf problem. My advice to the president today — for what it’s worth — Mr. President, don’t stop it. Support Israel. With respect, go to Amazon and buy a spine online. Peace through weakness never works, not with these hard armed men.”
Quote:Over two dozen barges broke loose from a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania marina Friday night, causing “extensive damage” as they floated down the Ohio River without control.
Both the McKees Rocks Bridge and the West End Bridge have been temporarily shut down after 26 Campbell Transportation Company vessels, mostly loaded with “dry cargo,” began heading downstream, CNN reports.
While 11 barges have been found and pinned against the river’s bank, 14 continued down the river and six have gone over a dam, the city said in a press release.
At 11:25 p.m., Pittsburgh Fire, EMS, and Police were dispatched for reports of barges breaking loose and floating uncontrolled down the Ohio River.
In total, 26 barges broke loose; 23 were loaded and three were empty. Those that were loaded had dry cargo such as coal, and no hazardous materials on board. There have been no reports of people injured, but Peggy’s Marina sustained extensive damage.
Eleven of the barges have been located and pinned against the river bank by Brunot Island and currently being held by a tugboat. Fourteen continued down the river and six have gone over the Emsworth Dam.
Officials added that both local bridges will be reopened “when it is determined that it is safe to do so.”
“[The barges] may or may not come into contact with sub-structure but we are not willing to take the risk,” police said.
The incident comes just two weeks after Baltimore, Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was destroyed in a cargo vessel collision, which tragically killed six construction workers.
Quote:The U.S. and U.K. will begin restricting the trade of new Russian-origin metals – including aluminum, copper and nickel – on global metal exchanges and in derivatives trading.
The announcement is meant to follow up on the Group of Seven nations’ commitment in February “to reduce Russia’s revenues from metals” as its invasion into Ukraine has dragged on for more than two years.
Russia is a key exporter of metals like aluminum, steel and titanium – but British and American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the economic impact from the ban would be negligible for consumers and producers.
The intent is to limit Russia’s revenues from metals, they say, as metals have earned the nation $40 billion in the past two years, according to British officials.
“Our new prohibitions on key metals, in coordination with our partners in the United Kingdom, will continue to target the revenue Russia can earn to continue its brutal war against Ukraine,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a news release.
“By taking this action in a targeted and responsible manner, we will reduce Russia’s earnings while protecting our partners and allies from unwanted spillover effects,” she said.
The officials said new Russian metals will not be allowed to be traded on the exchanges, including the London Metal Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. However, metals produced before midnight Saturday in London will be permitted.
Quote:Ukraine is facing a potential outright defeat by the Russians this year, the former commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command has warned.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine continuing into its third year, the badly outnumbered and outgunned Ukraine is facing a “serious risk” of having to admit defeat to Russia, General Sir Richard Barrons told the BBC. there is “a serious risk” of Ukraine losing the war this year.
The former head of the Joint Forces Command, now known as Strategic Command (StratCom), warned that pessimism may set in among the people of Ukraine and that the public may come to feel that the country “can’t win”.
“And when it gets to that point, why will people want to fight and die any longer, just to defend the indefensible?” Gen Barrons questioned.
Off the backs of the failures of the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive last year to take back a meaningful amount of its territory occupied by Russia, despite expending vast resources and manpower during the mission, there are growing concerns that Russia used the time merely to regroup for another incursion to take more land.
“At some point this summer,” Gen Barrons said, “we expect to see a major Russian offensive, with the intent of doing more than smash forward with small gains to perhaps try and break through the Ukrainian lines.
“And if that happens we would run the risk of Russian forces breaking through and then exploiting into areas of Ukraine where the Ukrainian armed forces cannot stop them.”
The former JFC commander said that first, the Russians will need to break out of the Donbas region, solidifying their hold on “annexed” territories but then, they will likely have their “eye” on the “major prize” of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and the former capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Losing such an economically and historically important city would serve as a significant blow to the morale of the war-weary Ukrainian people.
The former top British general said that the Ukrainian frontline in the east of the country is currently being “battered away” by the Russians, whom he said are displaying a “five-to-one advantage in artillery, ammunition, and a surplus of people reinforced by the use of newish weapons.”
Such weapons include so-called “dumb bombs” from the Soviet Era which Moscow has retrofitted with guidance fins and GPS systems. A report from The Guardian this week claimed that upwards of 500 converted UMPC bombs were being launched at Ukrainian targets every week and that they “played a key role in the destruction of [the eastern city of] Avdiivka and the seizure of its ruins by Russia”.
Quote:The top commander of the Ukrainian armed forces has admitted that the situation along the eastern front with Russia has “significantly worsened” amid a renewed push from Moscow’s forces.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi — who took over the top post in February following the ousting of Valerii Zaluzhnyi after calling the war a “stalemate” — wrote on Telegram on Saturday that his forces are struggling to cope with escalating assaults being waged by Russia, which he claimed have intensified amid improving weather conditions and the recent “election” in Russia which cemented Vladimir Putin’s hold on power for at least another six years.
“The situation on the Eastern Front has significantly worsened in recent days. This is primarily due to the significant intensification of the enemy’s offensive actions after the presidential elections in the Russian Federation,” Syrskyi wrote during his visit to the Donetsk region.
The commander-in-chief said that Russian forces, with the use of “dozens of tanks” and other armoured military vehicles, are actively trying to “breakthrough” Ukrainian defences in Bakhmut, Lyman Raion, and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk Oblast, which Moscow announced the annexation of in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, but still does not fully control.
Syrskyi said the Russian assault has been “facilitated by warm, dry weather, which has made most of the open areas of the terrain accessible to tanks.”
After a largely successful effort to fend off Ukraine’s much-hyped “counteroffensive” last year, there are growing concerns in Kyiv and in Washington that Moscow is planning a major offensive this year to fully capture the entire contested Donetsk region and potentially this historically and strategically significant Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and the former capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Quote:Ukraine is to become a giant testing ground for a revolutionary new laser weapon which, if successful, promises to radically alter the economics of warfare, the British government says.
The “sovereign” British Dragonfire laser was successfully tested at an Army range in Scotland earlier this year. Now, defence procurement rules are being changed to rush it to deployment five years early, and perhaps to the front line in Ukraine even sooner. British Defence Minister Grant Shapps said the rollout of the anti-air laser to the Royal Navy warships was being brought forward five whole years, from 2032 to 2027, but made clear it could be seeing action earlier yet.
Speaking during a visit to the national Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), Shapps said: “Let’s say that it didn’t have to be 100 per cent perfect in order for Ukrainians perhaps to get their hands on it”. Even for British deployment on warships, he said it would be better to get to “70 per cent” complete and then field-test it to learn from real-world experience, rather than wait a decade for it to reach “99.9 per cent” completion.
Shapps said in a statement: “[Dragonfire is] the UK’s first laser weapon. Able to shoot down drones and missiles with incredible accuracy, it could revolutionise how we fight wars. And this isn’t an idea decades away, we’re building it right now to fit onto our warships in just three years time.”
The weapon’s revolutionary aspect — beyond obviously being a laser weapon — is how cheap it promises to be. Shooting down missiles and drones over Ukraine today is an extremely expensive business, with Patriot Missiles batteries coming in at a billion dollars apiece and each attempted shootdown launching a $4 million missile into the sky. By contrast, using the Dragonfire laser is claimed to cost just around £10 ($12) in electricity per shot.
This, if it works, would radically rebalance the economics of warfare as seen in Ukraine, where Russia — for instance — is able to blanket Ukraine with cheap, mass-produced explosive drones costing just a few tens of thousands of dollars each, but which would have to be shot down with missiles costing hundreds of thousands or millions. This attritional form of warfare becomes less appealing if Ukraine is able to shoot down drones with a $12 energy burst.
While limited to line-of-sight, the UK government claims the Dragonfire will be good for an accuracy level of hitting a “coin from a kilometre away” with an “intense beam of light”. That beam, it is claimed, can “cut through the target, leading to structural failure or more impactful results if the warhead is targeted”. Demonstrations displayed by DSTL include a melted commercial drone and a hole burnt into a mortar shell.
Quote:Vatican prosecutor has filed charges against an Italian Catholic journalist, accusing him of “defamation” of Pope Francis as well as divulging confidential documents.
Marco Felipe Perfetti, a conservative Catholic who writes the blog Silere Non Possum (“I cannot be silent”), has called the charges against him an attempt at “intimidation.”
“It is no secret that within the Vatican City State there is no protection of freedom of the press and the activity of Silere non possum has annoyed and continues to annoy those who have always acted to the detriment of this State and for their own personal interests,” the editors of the site wrote this week.
The site of the news outlet alleges that the Vatican initiated criminal proceedings against Marco Felipe Perfetti by communicating the charges to the press rather than to the interested party.
Perfetti has also noted that Silere non possum is managed by an Italian citizen and resident in the Italian Republic, and thus, the jurisdiction over him should fall to his place of residence rather than to the Vatican City State.
The Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that in recent years, Silere non possum has become an important “point of reference for those who want to know secrets and affairs of the Holy See.”
Perfetti himself is a Roman lawyer with “many connections” within Vatican walls, the article stated, yet he has not yet received any official notification of the judicial process against him even though the hearing was to begin this week.
According to the popular U.S.-based Catholic news outlet The Pillar Catholic, in essence, “The man behind a well-known, well-read, and well-informed Church news website” has been charged with “doing journalism.”
Quote:German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in China on Sunday on a visit focused on the increasingly tense economic relationship between the sides and differences over Russia´s invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz’s first destination was the industrial hub of Chongqing, where he and his delegation of ministers and business leaders were to visit a partially German-funded company and other sites in the vast city, which is a production base for China’s auto and other industries.
Scholz is also scheduled to visit the financial hub of Shanghai during his three-day visit, before traveling to the capital, Beijing, to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
German companies such as BMW and Volkswagen are highly reliant on the Chinese market, but Beijing’s support for Russia creates frictions with the West.
Germany’s economy has benefited from China’s demand for investment and manufactured items from cars to chemicals, but those ties have frayed amid increasing competition from Chinese companies and tightened regulations. Political interference has also been blamed for a sharp drop in foreign investment.
German companies have argued they face unfair market barriers in China and the government has pushed for a policy of “de-risking” to reduce reliance on the Chinese market and suppliers.
Despite that, China remained Germany’s top trading partner for the eighth straight year in 2023, with 254.1 billion euros ($271 billion) in goods and services exchanged between the sides, slightly more than what Germany traded with the U.S. but a 15.5% contraction from the year before. German exports to China totaled 97.3 billion euros ($104 billion), according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, although figures have varied depending on exchange rate fluctuations and rounding of numbers.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Scholz descending from his plane in Chonqing and leaving in a motorcade, but did not carry any comments made to the welcoming delegation.
Prior to his arrival, Scholz posted on social platform X that he had discussed the “massive” Russian air attacks on civilian energy infrastructure with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, and declared that Berlin will “stand unbreakably by Ukraine´s side.”
Quote:British authorities have accused China of attempting to flood the country with fake postage stamps, a form of industrial sabotage and “economic warfare” often associated with the days of the Second World War.
A sudden rise in detected forgeries of postage stamps in the United Kingdom — and complaints from unsuspecting customers being charged £5 to receive a letter posted with a fake — has been traced to Chinese companies offering to print a million stamps a week for just pennies apiece.
In the United Kingdom stamps can be bought through the Post Office or other retailers, and it is claimed the forgeries are being supplied to small shops by wholesalers who then sell them on to customers, honestly or dishonestly. The scandal of fake stamps comes just two years after the Royal Mail introduced QR-code type tracking data on stamps to fight counterfeits, and it may be this new system that has made the otherwise perfectly printed fakes detectable.
A spokesman of the Communication Workers Union accused the Royal Mail of “inertia” and said they were punishing the recipients of fraud stamps rather than trying to stop the stamps from getting into the system in the first place. He said per The Telegraph: “This appears to be a scam on quite an unprecedented scale… Royal Mail has an obligation not to penalise the customer and to stop it at source and get it sorted rather than pass the burden of the blame to the customer.
“There is a sense of inertia about this from Royal Mail. I wonder if they are in denial about the scale of this [scam] and they are hoping it goes away.”
Royal Mail, meanwhile, has blamed the hapless UK Border Force — which has been at the heart of the failure to wrest some control over the nation’s borders — for being responsible for the flood of stamps, arguing it is their job to intercept contraband.
Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society said that the mass printing of fake stamps would be happening with, at least, the tacit approval of the Chinese Communist Party. As such, he said, the stamps are “an obvious form of economic warfare and should be called out for what it is with economic repercussions for China if it does not rein it in”.
A Chinese government figure dismissed the claims it was involved in any way as “baseless” and “low-level”.
Quote:At least six people were killed and multiple people were sent to hospital with injuries after a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia on Saturday.
UPDATE 1330: Police have confirmed that a 38-year-old mother was among the six killed in a mass stabbing in a Sydney shopping mall on Saturday and that her nine-month-old has undergone surgery after suffering stab wounds, Nine News reports. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed that four other women and a man were killed during the attack. Webb said that police have yet to “formally” identify the slain suspected stabber, but that they believe he was “known” to law enforcement. No motive for the attack has been made public as of this reporting.
The original story continues as follows…
Police shot a male suspect after going on a rampage with a knife at a shopping mall in Bondi Junction, Sydney at around 4 pm local time. Police have so far not released any suspected motive for the attack, which saw six killed and at least nine sent to hospital.
“From preliminary inquiries, it would appear that this person has acted alone,” Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said per the Sydney Morning Herald. “I am content that there is no continuing threat.”
“There is nothing that we are aware of at the scene that would indicate any motive or any ideology.”
Cooke said that the suspected stabber was confronted by a female police inspector, who shot and killed the man, saying: “He turned, faced her, raised a knife. She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Senior NPR business editor Uri Berliner admitted in an explosive op-ed published Tuesday that the public radio station’s RussiaGate reporting was a bust, and that it did not fess up to that after no “Russian collusion” was found between the Trump campaign and Russia. Furthermore, Berliner admitted that then-California Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) became the news outlet’s “guiding hand” in this fruitless endeavor, and expressed regret in hitching its wagon to him. Schiff was the main pusher of the Russia collusion hoax in Congress and had repeatedly insisted there was “circumstantial evidence” of collusion.
Quote:NPR suspended a top editor who ripped the network last week over its left-leaning bias – but the journalist doubled down on Tuesday, saying its new, controversial CEO is the “opposite” of what the embattled radio outlet needs.
Uri Berliner – who published a bombshell essay last week claiming NPR has “lost America’s trust” by reporting the news with a left-wing slant – was sidelined for five days without pay beginning last Friday after his article ignited a firestorm.
Nevertheless, Berliner in a Tuesday interview ripped NPR CEO Katherine Maher over a trove of past posts unearthed on X. Those included calling Donald Trump “racist” in 2018 and blasting Hillary Clinton for using the terms “boy” and “girl,” saying she was “erasing language for non-binary people.”
“We’re looking for a leader right now who’s going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about,” Berliner told NPR media scribe David Folkenflik Tuesday. “And this seems to be the opposite of that.”
Folkenflik, who reviewed a copy of the suspension letter from NPR brass, said the company told Berliner he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets — a requirement for NPR journalists.
NPR called the letter a “final warning,” saying Berliner would be fired if he violated its policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR’s newsroom union, but Folkenflik reported that the editor is not appealing the punishment.
Berliner, a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has worked at NPR for 25 years, called out journalistic blind spots around major news events, including the origins of COVID-19, the war in Gaza and the Hunter Biden laptop, in an essay published last Tuesday on Bari Weiss’ online news site the Free Press.
Last week, Maher defended NPR’s journalism, calling Berliner’s article “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning,” The 42-year-old exec added that the essay amounted to “a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are.”
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The fiasco has also put the spotlight on NPR CEO Maher, whose own left-leaning bias came to light in a trove of ultra woke tweets she penned on X over the years.
In January, when Maher was announced as NPR’s new leader, The Post revealed her penchant for parroting the progressive line on social media — including since-deleted Twitter posts like “Donald Trump is a racist,” which she wrote in 2018. She also called HBO’s Bill Maher a “racist bigot” in tweet that year.
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Berliner’s essay sparked outrage from the network’s left-leaning colleagues. Late Monday afternoon, NPR chief news executive Edith Chapin announced to the newsroom that executive editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.
Berliner said that among editorial staff at NPR’s Washington, DC, headquarters, he counted 87 registered Democrats and no Republicans. He wrote that he presented these findings to his colleagues at a May 2021 all-hands editorial staff meeting.
“When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile,” Berliner wrote. “It was worse. It was met with profound indifference.”
Up is down, left is right and sideways is straight ahead. - Cord "Circle of Iron", 1978 (written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn... really...)
Quote:House Republicans’ dissatisfaction with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is rapidly growing as Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA) and Jim Banks (R-IN) are sharing their frustrations about what Banks called “insanity” in Johnson’s foreign aid framework, which includes over three times as much money for Ukraine as it does for Israel while neglecting the U.S. Southern border.
Perry took to X Tuesday to share an image of the framework, showing the bills allocate $48.83 billion to Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, $2.4 billion for “Red Sea Operations,” $2.58 billion for “INDOPACOM,” and $3.3 billion for a “Submarine Industrial Base.”
“Notice anything missing?” wrote Perry. Speaker Johnson “failed to incorporate any border security into any of the FOUR of the bills he’s going to ram down our throats this week.”
“On more than half a dozen occasions in the last six months, he promised the American People this wouldn’t happen,” Perry added.
Sharing Perry’s tweet, Banks called the package “Insanity,” emphasizing the plan would send three times as much money to Ukraine as it does Israel while simultaneously neglecting the U.S. Southern border.
Perry and Banks’ criticism of the four bills comes as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who filed a motion to vacate against Johnson ahead of Easter break, and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) signaled opposition to the multiple-impact reentry vehicles rule (MIRV) that Johnson seeks to merge the bills.
“Israel funding should not be held hostage by Ukraine funding. The American people deserve to know where their senators stand on each funding component,” Biggs wrote in a post on X
Quote:A defiant House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared Tuesday at a press conference he would not resign after being urged to do so by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who is now cosponsoring Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to oust him from the speakership.
Johnson addressed reporters hours after Massie told the Republican conference he was sponsoring Greene’s motion to vacate and asked Johnson to resign, so as to avoid a conundrum similar to weeks of chaos that unfolded after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was booted from the position.
One reporter asked Johnson to respond to “Republicans who say this move should cost you your job, and if you don’t resign, they will try to oust you?”
By “move,” the reporter seemed to be referencing the multiple-impact reentry vehicles (MIRV) rule Johnson seeks to use to bundle separate foreign aid bills for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, which multiple Republicans, including Greene and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), object to.
“I am not resigning, and it is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion when we are simply here trying to do our jobs,” Johnson declared.
“It is not helpful to the cause. It is not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda, which is in the best interest of the American people here: a secure border, sound governance. And it’s not helpful to the unity that we have in the body,” Johnson added.
Quote:Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday seemed to soften his support for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as conservatives have moved to remove him.
During a visit to Harlem, Trump was asked about efforts by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) to remove Johnson from office.
He simply responded, “We’ll see what happens.”
This is a different tune than when Trump spoke highly of the Speaker during a press conference last week at Mar-a-Lago.
“We’re getting along very well with the Speaker, and I get along very well with Marjorie. We have a Speaker, he was voted in, and it was a complicated process,” Trump said.
“I think he’s doing a very good job. He’s doing about as good as you’re going to do, and I’m sure that Marjorie understands that, and she’s a very good friend of mine, and I know she has a lot of respect for the Speaker,” Trump continued.
Trump’s comments follow as Greene spoke to Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, saying that she is prepared to force Johnson out of his position as leader of the House.
The Georgia conservative cited Johnson’s backing of continued Ukraine aid, his spending plans, and reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as some of the many reasons to remove Johnson.
Quote:Roughly 1,300 African migrants gathered outside New York City Hall on Tuesday over what some believed were promises of a green card or work visa if they appeared.
“Only 250 people were allowed inside for the 10 a.m. hearing, while the hundreds of others who flocked downtown were left outside in a park, where footage showed them chanting and cheering,” noted the New York Post.
The migrants were mostly from countries in West Africa and Guinea. Speaking to the NY Post, some say they were lured to city hall by an activist group promising they’d receive work visas or green cards if they appeared.
“They told me that they would help me to get a work permit and a green card if I came here today,” said 44-year-old Amadou Sara Bah, who migrated from Guinea in November.
Bah had applied for a work permit in March but became stressed over the five-month waiting period. He and his friends had been waiting on a bench near city hall for several hours.
“There are many people here and we don’t know how to get the help they told us would be here,” he told the NY Post. “I came here for a green card. I’m looking for help.”
Dial Lochitlio, a 19-year-old from Guinea, said that “elders in the community” told him to come to city hall in search of an asylum.
“They told us to be here at this time on this date and they would give us more information,” he said
Assitan Makadii of the organization African Communities Together said he went to city hall after learning migrants were lured there under false pretenses.
“They received some miscommunications, so we are here to provide clarification,” Makadii said.
Potential Juror Dismissed, Another One Allowed to Stay
Quote:As day two of former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial continued, attorneys for the former president had a potential juror dismissed after they found posts calling for Trump to be put in jail.
As New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, Trump’s attorneys, and prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office continued the process of questioning potential jurors about posts made to social media, and their private lives, Trump’s legal team had a juror dismissed over a post about Trump, calling to “lock him up.” Another social media post from the same juror reportedly said, “Get him out.”
The first seven jurors, who will sit on a 12-person bench, were selected.
The Associated Press (AP) writes:
Over two days, dozens of potential jurors have been excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Trump’s lawyers challenged a handful of people over social media posts, and one person was dismissed over a 2017 post about Trump that said “Lock him up!”
Merchan reportedly acknowledged that the quote about locking Trump up was not good and he did not think he could let the potential juror “remain” in the trial, according to the Daily Mail.
Quote:New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan reportedly allowed a juror who celebrated former President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss on social media to remain in the jury pool.
Trump’s unprecedented trial began Monday morning with jury selection, the first day of a process that could span two weeks. The trial could last until June.
During Tuesday’s jury selection, Trump’s defense attorneys tried to prevent a potential juror from staying on the case because she celebrated Trump’s 2020 loss, Fox News reported.
“They wanted to have a peremptory challenge to excuse the juror because they thought that she said she could be impartial, but had social media posts that apparently had her celebrating Trump’s loss in 2020,” Trace Gallagher reported, “and so they challenged her. The judge said, ‘Nope, she can be impartial. She stays.'”
Six jurors were seated Tuesday with six more prospective jurors needed.
Thirty-four of the 96 potential jurors remain from the first pool in the juror selection process for Trump’s criminal trial, courtroom journalists reported Monday.
The remaining potential jurors progressed to the next stage on Tuesday of filling out a questionnaire, which asks what media they consume, where they live, and their political activities.
After the questionnaire, lawyers for both sides will scrutinize the potential candidates. The lawyers will likely investigate the jurors’ social media and ask more personal questions to screen for biases.
Quote:The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is a Biden donor, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
Discussing the case involving Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying business records in relation to a “hush money” payment made to Stormy Daniels, Binnall reminded listeners that the entire case “is based on the word of Michael Cohen,” an “admitted perjurer.”
“That’s the kind of the best they have. That’s what they’re building their case around is someone who … has lied to courts and factually, this case is just absolutely baseless,” he said, reminding listeners that Judge Merchan is a Biden donor.
“Let’s remember that Judge Merchan is a Biden donor. Let’s remember that his family has a vested financial interest in this case, or … the fact that the case is ongoing. They’re going to try to drag this case out I think as long as possible in order to affect the presidential election,” Binnall said.
Indeed, Judge Merchan made three donations to Democrats in 2020, opening the door for an ethics investigation.
When asked how a judge can be a donor and how that can even be allowed, Binnall said it is not.
“There are very specific instances when judges are supposed to take themselves off cases,” he explained, noting that this is “most important” when there was either bias by the judge or the appearance of bias against a criminal defendant.
Quote:Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was grilled by Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) during a hearing over an alleged flyer that the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project claims asks migrants to vote for President Joe Biden in November.
On Tuesday, officials with the Oversight Project posted an alleged flyer from Resource Center Matamoros which they said was discovered by independent journalists in Mexico working with a website known as Muckraker.
The flyer asks migrants to “… vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.” The flyer has not been verified by Breitbart News and does not appear on the Resource Center Matamoros website.
Bishop raised the issue with Mayorkas at a budget hearing on Tuesday, questioning DHS’s role in ensuring migrants are not voting in local, state, and federal elections after they are released into the nation’s interior.
“The Heritage Foundation Oversight Project has released this document that is allegedly a flyer distributed by a non-governmental organization in Mexico called the Resource Center Matamoros … which is said to read, in part, if translated, ‘Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open,'” Bishop said during the hearing:
I understand that RCM has denied that this is authentic. There are competing reports about it. Let me ask you this, what actions is the Department of Homeland Security taking to ensure that, especially given the millions of illegal entries including the two million got-aways, noncitizens are being prevented from registering and voting unlawfully? [Emphasis added]
Mayorkas responded, saying “individuals who are not citizens of the United States cannot vote in federal elections” and suggested DHS does “not oversee the election enrollment process. What we do is enforce our borders.”
And when exactly did he start enforcing those borders? :sarcarsm:
Quote:The White House on Monday denied reports Iran gave President Joe Biden advance warning of its massive weekend attack on Israel, and even obtained Biden’s tacit approval for a limited assault on a vital U.S. ally.
“Iran never gave us a message giving us the time or the targets. This whole narrative out there that Iran passed us a message about what they were going to do is ridiculous,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing on Monday.
Kirby was referring to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s claim on Sunday that Iran gave all of its neighboring countries, plus the United States, 72 hours’ notice that it would attack Israel.
Officials from Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq confirmed they were notified in advance by Iran, and Turkey said it passed its warning along to the United States, a fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
A Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday that the Biden administration asked Turkey to pass a message back to Iran, implicitly approving Iran’s attack plan provided its actions were kept “within certain limits.”
“In response, Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this,” the Turkish source said.
Unnamed administration officials immediately pushed back against Amirabdollahian’s statement, although they seem more reluctant to claim Turkey is lying about forwarding its warning to Washington.
“We received a message from the Iranians as this was ongoing, through the Swiss. This was basically suggesting that they were finished after this, but it was still an ongoing attack. So that was (their) message to us,” one Biden administration official claimed on Sunday.
Quote:Nihad Awad, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), reportedly justified Iran’s massive drone and missile attack on Israel over the weekend as a legitimate act of “self-defense” – a talking point provided by the Iranian regime that instantly became ubiquitous among pro-Palestinian activists.
Politico on Tuesday quoted Awad as one of several Muslim activists who said Iran’s massive but ineffectual attack was justified as “responding in self-defense” to a suspected Israeli airstrike on April 1 in Damascus that killed several high-ranking officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
A group tied to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated one of the slain IRGC officers, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, as a “martyr” who played a “strategic role” in the “planning and execution of Al-Aqsa Flood” – the name given by Palestinian terrorists and their supporters to the inhuman rape and murder spree Hamas perpetrated against Israeli civilians on October 7.
Awad threatened that President Joe Biden would “lose support of American Muslim and Arab communities,” according to Politico, if he did not take stances more opposed to Israel. Awad claimed that Biden also risked the loss of “a growing movement of Jewish Americans and others, including young people” as supporters without a stronger anti-Israel approach.
CAIR has been fairly influential in U.S. politics over the past two decades, even though it was declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-funding operation.
The group’s public statements have turned increasingly extreme since the Hamas atrocities of October 7, which Awad also excused as an act of “self-defense.”
Quote:Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Sunday evening that it was time for “regime change” in Iran, due to the threat that the Iranian government posed to the Middle East and the world.
Dershowitz appeared on Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM Patriot 125, during a special broadcast from northern Israel, just hours after the Israeli military and its allies had intercepted a massive Iranian missile and drone attack.
“This will just be repeated over and over again, unless there’s regime change in Iran,” Dershowitz said, noting that Iran has exported war with impunity for decades. “And this is the perfect opportunity — legally, morally, politically, and diplomatically, for Israel and the United States to bring about regime change. And it should be done. And it will require, obviously, some degree of military action.”
He noted missed opportunities to depose Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Dershowitz had opposed regime change in Iraq during the Iraq War, and reiterated that stance on Sunday, saying that it had been “none of our business” how Saddam Hussain treated his own people.
But the Iranian regime was different, he said. “The big difference is Iran is exporting terrorism, and attacking the United States.”
He said that regime change in Iran would be applauded by the Iranian people, citing the Iranian crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, who has encouraged protests against the regime.
Regime change in Iran would benefit the entire region — and it would be legally justified, he said, after Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend. If it wanted to, he said, Israel could legally destroy the entire Iranian military in response.
Dershowitz, who has been critical of President Joe Biden’s policies in the Middle East, said he is considering voting Republican in 2024 for the first time in decades, as are many other pro-Israel voters in the Jewish community, many of whom had been reliable Democratic Party voters — until now.
Quote:The U.S. Supreme Court sounded skeptical of the Biden Justice Department during oral arguments Tuesday regarding whether a man involved in events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, can be charged under a law that severely punishes obstructing an official proceeding.
The landmark case could upend around 350 cases in which defendants – around 100 of which have been convicted or pled guilty – were indicted on similar charges under the same provision.
The decision will almost certainly have major implications for the Biden Administration’s prosecution of Donald Trump, resulting in the most serious charges against him being thrown out of court.
That statute carries a potential 20 years in federal prison.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued Tuesday that Fischer and others engaged in “a deliberate attempt to stop the joint session of Congress from certifying the results of the election” and “obstructed Congress’ work in that official proceeding.”
Jeffrey Green, an attorney for Fischer, said the charge was inappropriate. “Attempting to stop a vote count or something like that is a very different act than actually changing a document or altering a document,” he said.
But conservative Justices questioned if the government went too far with the charge, expressing concerns over interpretation of the terms “obstruct” and “impede” and that the statute could be used to prosecute those engaging in sit-ins and other demonstrations.
“We need to find out what are the outer reaches of this statute under your interpretation,” Justice Samuel Alito questioned.
Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned, “Would a sit-in that disrupts a trial or access to a federal courthouse qualify? Would a heckler in today’s audience qualify, or at the State of the Union address? Would pulling a fire alarm before a vote, qualify for 20 years in federal prison?”
Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Monday it was “vital” to “immediately restrain Israel” in response to Iran’s unprecedented missile assault on the Israeli homeland on April 13.
Erdogan’s office published a readout of the conversation on Monday in which the Islamist leader reportedly “stressed that the Islamic world should increase its efforts in unity to stop Israel’s brutal attacks and hold Israel to account for its crimes against humanity.”
The “brutal attacks” referenced are Israel’s ongoing self-defense efforts in Gaza against the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas, which executed a brutal massacre killing 1,200 people, abducting 250 others, and executing widespread acts of torture, gang rape, infanticide, and desecration of corpses on October 7, 2023.
The readout did not indicate that Erdogan condemned Iran’s attack or called for “restraint” for the world’s most prominent state sponsor of terrorism. Erdogan has repeatedly defended Hamas in the aftermath of October 7.
“President Erdoğan stated that it is of vital importance to immediately restrain Israel and act with common sense in order to prevent the tension from spreading across the region,” the readout noted.
Erdogan’s comments followed a direct attack by the Iranian military on Israel on Saturday featuring the launch of over 300 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. While unprecedented in scale, the attack was a high-profile failure. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel blocked 99 percent of the threats, including all UAVs and cruise missiles. Only one casualty, an Arab Bedouin girl injured by shrapnel, was documented.
Iranian authorities claimed the attack was a response to an airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) terrorist organization. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
Quote:Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi threatened a “fierce, widespread, and painful” attack on Israel or any other perceived enemy of Iran’s in remarks on Monday, disregarding widespread international calls for “restraint” in the Middle East.
Top Iranian officials echoed Raisi’s belligerence. A top Foreign Ministry official bellowed on Tuesday that Iran would respond “in seconds” to any attack by Israel, while a top Iranian Army general warned of a “stormy and unified” attack on Iran’s neighbor.
The threats are part of an extended victory lap the Iranian terrorist regime has been taking since Saturday, when Tehran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel featuring over 300 missiles and drones. The attack was a spectacular failure. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the country intercepted “99 percent” of the strikes, stopping all of the drones and cruise missiles. Only a small number of ballistic missiles crossed into Israel, the IDF said, causing minimal damage. Israel documented one casualty: an Arab Bedouin girl injured by shrapnel.
Iranian leaders nonetheless called the attack a “success” and made the dubious claim that Tehran had launched “hypersonic missiles” at Israel, hitting “a large intelligence base.” Iran has not provided evidence that its missiles hit any intelligence base or other target and Israel has denied the claim.
Iran struck Israel directly, rather than using its stable of international proxy terrorist organizations, in response to an airstrike against an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1 that eliminated seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and official wing of the Iranian military. The most prominent target of the airstrike was IRGC Quds Force commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who a regime-affiliated organization claimed this week was involved in the “planning and execution” of the October 7 Hamas siege of Israel. Israel has not formally claimed the Damascus strike at press time.
The United Nations and much of the world has weighed in on the exchanges between Iran and Israel, demanding “restraint” and urging deescalation. Iranian allies such as communist China have called for “calm and restraint” alongside free states.
Iranian leaders appeared to entirely disregard those calls in comments on Monday and Tuesday. Raisi, speaking to Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in a telephone call on Tuesday, urged the Muslim world to unite against Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas, an Iranian proxy, following the massacre on October 7. He also warned that Iran would not hesitate to attack Israel again.
“The smallest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a fierce, widespread and painful response against all its perpetrators,” Raisi said, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.
Quote:Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) praised Iran on Sunday for attacking Israel, describing the massive but largely ineffectual wave of drones and missiles as “brave,” “legal,” and “natural.”
Iran’s state-controlled PressTV on Sunday described the two terrorist organizations as “resistance groups” and insisted the Iranian attack inflicted major damage on Israeli military targets, contrary to all reports from Israel. PressTV used Iran’s preferred nomenclature of “Operation True Promise” for the Saturday night assault.
Hezbollah likewise pretended the attack “precisely achieved its specified military targets despite the participation of the United States, its international allies and regional tools in repelling the sudden attack.”
“Regional tools” might have been a smear at Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Jordan, which reportedly helped to repel Iran’s attack.
Israel and its allies were able to intercept almost all of Iran’s drones and missiles on Saturday night. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) hailed this combined response as a “significant strategic achievement.” As of Monday morning, the only known casualty of the assault was a young Bedouin Muslim girl who was severely injured by shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian drone.
“The political and strategic objectives of this significant development will gradually become apparent over time and will lay the groundwork for a new phase regarding the entire Palestinian cause and the historical struggle with this enemy on the path to the inevitable victory for our Arab and Islamic nation and the resisting and oppressed Palestinian people,” Hezbollah insisted.
Hezbollah defended Iran’s attack as “brave,” “wise,” and “natural and legal.”
Quote:Iranian opposition activist Vahid Beheshti on Monday exposed a confidential letter written by a high-ranking officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, that revealed Iran has been secretly supporting anti-Israel rallies around the world.
“The IRGC is very clearly organizing and promoting these actions aimed at destroying our modern society, all the while our politicians continue to appease them, placing our values, stability and public order under great jeopardy,” Beheshti said on Monday:
When I have said from day one that the October 7th brutal massacre by Hamas received its order from Tehran, this is what I mean. When I have said from day one that the IRGC are behind the weekly protests in all major cities around the world under the pretext of supporting the Palestinians, this is exactly what I mean.
To support his allegations, Beheshti published an alleged leaked confidential letter from IRGC Intelligence Security Organization (IRGC-IO) commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kazemi.
Kazemi is one of four senior Iranian officials that the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned in April 2023 for wrongfully detaining U.S. nationals in Iran. According to the Treasury Department, Kazemi also oversaw “the regime’s brutal crackdown against protests across the country in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini.”
In the alleged confidential letter, Kazemi discussed working with pro-Palestinian protest movements worldwide to politically isolate Israel. His correspondent was Col. Mohammad Sajedifar, a “cultural and psychological operations” officer of the IRGC.
Kazemi reportedly wrote:
Given the recent developments in the issue of Palestine and the psychological impact of the Al-Aqsa Storm operation on Palestinian communities in European and American countries, it was determined to implement significant support measures for April 15 and other rallies with the aim to achieve political isolation.
“Al-Aqsa Storm” is the name Hamas gave to its barbaric rape and murder spree against Israeli civilians on October 7.
“April 15” refers to a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Monday that illegally blocked roads, bridges, and airports in the United States and other countries. The organizers described their stunt as an “economic blockade to free Palestine.”
“In each city, we will identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact,” said the organizers, a group called A15 Action.
Quote:Israel’s public broadcasting corporation, known colloquially as “Kan,” interviewed an unnamed Saudi royal official on Sunday who said Iran “engineered the war in Gaza to destroy the progress in relations” between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“Iran’s behavior is irresponsible. We all know that Iran is a country that sponsors terrorism, and it should have been stopped a long time ago,” the Saudi official said.
Several other sources have made the same allegation, including U.S. President Joe Biden, who said two weeks after the October 7 atrocities that Hamas “moved on Israel” because “the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel.” Others have suggested Hamas also wanted to wreck Israel’s improving relations with other major Muslim countries, such as Indonesia.
Hamas’s bloody gambit seemed to work, at least temporarily, as Saudi Arabia froze relations with Israel on October 13 after Israel’s response to the atrocities commenced. Saudi sources said they would press for Israel to make more concessions to Palestinian statehood when and if normalization talks resumed, another indication that Hamas’s alleged terrorism strategy was successful.
The Saudi official who spoke to Kan on Sunday did not deny reports that Saudi Arabia assisted with intercepting the drones and missiles launched by Iran against Israel on Saturday night.
“Every suspicious object that enters Saudi airspace is intercepted. It is a sovereign matter,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claimed on Monday that “half a dozen other countries” joined the United States and Israel to mount a highly effective defense against the Iranian attack.
Jordan’s cabinet stated on Sunday that Jordanian forces intercepted several objects that entered its airspace, with some of the interceptions occurring close to the Iraqi-Syrian border. Eyewitnesses reported seeing multiple interceptions within 40 miles of Jordan’s capital, Amman.
According to the WSJ’s sources, Saudi Arabia and its close ally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), shared intelligence with the United States and Israel on Thursday about the impending Iranian attack.
Quote:Israel shooting down “99 per cent” of the missiles and drones sent by Iran over the weekend shows what it possible when a nation has the full support of its allies, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said as Kyiv pleads for Israel-like air defence from its Western supporters.
Iran launched a massive barrage of over 300 missiles and drones against Israel on Sunday, very nearly all of which were shot down by Israel’s indigenous air-defence systems, along with support from allies including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Jordan. Ukraine has been quick to point out the similarities in its own position — noting even the Iranian-designed Shahed drones launched at Israel are the same type Russia launches at its cities daily — and call for additional support.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who has been fully engaged in whistle-stop tours around Western capitals drumming up military support since the war began, was speaking alongside his Norwegian counterpart on Monday morning and compared missile attacks on Ukraine to this new strike on Israel. Even if the Western allies don’t want to open fire on Russian missiles themselves — as the U.S. and UK had on Sunday in support of Israel — Kuleba said Ukraine would gladly do the job for them, if only more missile systems would be handed over.
He said: “… the joint efforts of Israel and its allies, which, by the way, are also our allies, were very successful. We see that when allies act together and remain really coordinated, not a single missile hits the target in Israel. Not one missile! And all we ask of our partners is, even if you cannot act the way you act in Israel, give us what is needed, and we will do the rest ourselves.”
In contrast to Israel’s near totally successful defence against the large wave of attacks on Sunday, Russian missiles and drones in far smaller numbers frequently land hits in Ukraine. Last week one of the nation’s largest power stations was totally destroyed, leading to the possibility of blackouts.
Pushing the point Ukraine still deserves greater support even as attention is grabbed by events in the Middle East, Ukrainian state media asserted Russia’s freequrent assaults on Ukraine using Iranian technology was a learning exercise, teaching Tehran how to assault Israel. It was said: “During the Russian attacks against Ukraine, the Iranians are training how to attack Israel. Russia and Iran cooperate closely, in particular, they use similar samples of Shahed drones… Israel’s experience shows that due to a sufficient number of modern weapons, in particular fighter aircraft, it is possible to effectively repel massive attacks. This is an additional argument why it is necessary to provide Ukraine with additional air defence systems and F-16 aircraft.”
Quote:The Vice-President of Germany’s parliament has faced calls to step down after she said Israel “provoked” Iran’s enormous missile attack on Sunday.
Aydan Özoğuz, a Turkish-heritage left-wing politician of Germany’s SPD (Social Democrat) party, who now serves as the nation’s Bundestag Vice-President (parliament deputy speaker) faced a barrage of criticism from politicians and Jewish groups after she wrote Israel had provoked the Iranian missile and drone strike. Critics have called for political “consequences” for the comments and its subsequent retraction and non-apology, for her to resign, with some even sardonically noting Özoğuz’s previously publicised familial links to Islamic extremism.
Writing on Sunday as the barrage of projectiles headed towards Israel from Iran, a massive strike which Israel would subsequently report had been “99 per cent” shot down, Özoğuz wrote, “Why did this situation have to be provoked? Bombing of Iran embassy further endangers the Middle East”.
Apparently noticing the outburst was generating controversy online, Özoğuz then deleted the post but stopped short of acknowledging her assertion that Israel brought the strike upon itself was at fault. Instead, she said, her tweet was causing arguments online: “That’s why I deleted my post. The war is bad enough.”
Several political and civil society figures jumped upon the messages, saying they made a mockery of Özoğuz’s senior — and constitutionally impartial — position as vice-president of the nation’s parliament. Professor Stefan Liebig, a professor at the Free University of Berlin, said Özoğuz was using an “old anti-Semitic trope” that Jewish people bring punishment upon themselves through their own actions.
This statement is “unworthy of a representative of a constitutional body” and if Özoğuz had “an ounce of decency” she would resign, the professor said.
Volker Beck, a high-profile former politician who was a top parliamentarian for the left-wing Green Party, a leader of the German lesbian and gay association, and who is now leader of the German–Israeli Society, was biting in his sarcasm when he wrote: “Israel was attacked by Iran tonight. And you said Israel was provoking? Did your brothers hack your account?”.
As widely discussed when Aydan Özoğuz first gained prominence in German politics and became the government’s integration minister, she was born to Turkish ‘guest worker’ migrants who came to Europe in the 1970s — reportedly from a middle-class Turkish family who had lived in an “elite” Istanbul neighbourhood — but rather than drifting into German politics like herself, Özoğuz’s German-born brothers had gravitated to Shia Islamic extremism.
Quote:Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have identified the assailant who stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center on Saturday afternoon before he was shot dead.
Australia-born Joel Cauchi, 40, was responsible for the attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city’s eastern suburbs, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters at a media conference on Sunday Cauchi suffered from yet unspecified mental health issues and police investigators weren’t treating the attack as terrorism-related.
“We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved,” Cooke said.
“There is still, to this point… no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation – ideology or otherwise,” he added.
The attack at the shopping center, one of the country’s busiest and which was a hub of activity on a particularly warm fall afternoon, began around 3:10 p.m. and police were swiftly called, as Breitbart News reported.
Quote:Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have declared Monday’s stabbing at a Sydney church a religiously motivated “terrorist act” while declining to publicly state the faith of the alleged attacker.
The definition means counter-terrorism investigators – a joint team comprising NSW and federal police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) – now have extraordinary powers under NSW laws to investigate the attack, the BBC reports.
They can also conduct searches to prevent any further suspected attacks.
As Breitbart News reported, a 16-year-old boy was arrested after a bishop, a priest and churchgoers were attacked during mass at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the west of the city.
At least four people suffered “non-life-threatening” injuries, police say. The attacker was also hurt.
The incident was captured on a church livestream and quickly triggered unrest in the suburb of Wakeley as locals rushed to support those under attack.
ABC News reports the boy was charged with a range of offences, including possessing a knife, in November last year after an incident at a Sydney train station.
The boy was found in possession of a flick knife and charged with being armed with a weapon with intent to commit and indictable offence, stalking and/or intimidation and recklessly destroy or damage property.
He was on bail until his last court appearance in January, where his case was “proven” but dismissed with a good behaviour bond.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel sustained lacerations to his head during the attack.
The 53-year-old underwent surgery and a 39-year-old man also sustained cuts and a shoulder injury while attempting to intervene, NSW Police say.
Quote:The government of Australia lost its showdown with terrorist sympathizers on Sunday, as thousands ignored government orders to join unauthorized pro-Palestinian rallies across the country, including a huge gathering in Sydney that officials specifically urged citizens to avoid.
The government of New South Wales (NSW) had a very awkward week as it struggled to explain why Hamas sympathizers were allowed to stage an ugly rally at the Sydney Opera House last Monday night, replete with cries to “Gas the Jews!”
The only person arrested at this hateful spectacle was a Jewish man who showed up to express support for Israel, even though the “Gas the Jews” rally was held without proper permits and featured illegal use of incendiary devices. The man was told his presence could be a threat to public order, even though the opera house was lit with the colors of Israel in sympathy for the victims of Hamas.
NSW premier Chris Minns eventually apologized to the Jewish community and urged Jews to “feel that they can have full access to this city, that they can enjoy its life, that they can be part of its culture, that they can commemorate together during solemn occasions.”
Minns scoffed at the notion that Hamas sympathizers would “commandeer Sydney’s streets” with future demonstrations, while police officials promised that permission for another “Free Palestine” rally on Sunday would be denied.
The rally went off anyway, with an estimated 2,000 attendees flooding the streets of Sydney to wave Palestinian flags, only a week after Hamas butchered thousands of Israeli civilians and took dozens of hostages, including women and children.
“We saw earlier this week the premier of New South Wales said don’t come to this protest. Well, there are thousands of people here,” demonstration organizer Farhad Ali said.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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