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Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday in a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that anti-Israel protesters “have a point.”

“Those protesters out on the street. They have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” the 81-year-old octogenarian told the United Center crowd on the first night of the convention after being introduced by First Lady Jill Biden and their daughter, Ashley Biden.

Four demonstrators were arrested after several dozen anti-Israel protesters breached an outer fence line on the north side of the indoor arena in the city’s Near West Side on Monday evening, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

The protesters attempted to disrupt Biden’s speech but were pushed back by Chicago police in riot gear backed by U.S. Capitol police.

“Officers put on gas masks as some protesters tried to bring down a second fence set up in front of police, according to the Associated Press.

“At no point was the inner perimeter breached,” the Chicago Police stated. “There was no threat to any protectees.”

 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told CNN that the breach was “brief.”

Although anti-Israel organizers said they expected some 20,000 protesters to descend on the Windy City for the DNC, only a few thousand seemed to have shown up, the AP reported, and reporters covering the event shared photos of fields of unclaimed antisemitic signs.

Footage and images circulated on social media purporting to show protesters openly supporting Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization. Protesters also accused Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, of supporting genocide, the AP reported.

At least one protester was recorded waving a Hezbollah flag, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

Inside the United Center during Biden’s speech, audience members unfurled a banner reading “Stop arming Israel.” A man is seen trying to rip it out of their hands. After the audience saw the banner, they began chanting “We love Joe.”

“We’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East. As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since Oct. 7,” Biden said.

“We’re working around the clock. My secretary of state, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war,” the president continued.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Hamas terror group to accept the latest proposal for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Israel on Monday, speaking following meetings with senior officials in Jerusalem.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it. It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” said Blinken.

“What I would say to Hamas and to its leadership is: If it genuinely cares about the Palestinian people that it purports to somehow represent, then it will say yes to this agreement, and it will work on clear understandings on how to implement it,” he told reporters.

“The single quickest, best, most effective way to relieve the terrible suffering of the Palestinians that was instigated by Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued is to complete this agreement,” he added.

Blinken arrived in Egypt on Tuesday ahead of negotiations on the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Back in Chicago, families of abductees with American citizenship met with the Harris campaign, including with Ilan Goldenberg, who was named the campaign’s liaison to the Jewish community last week.

According to Channel 12, the Goldenberg reiterated Harris’s commitment to Israel’s security alongside the efforts to reach a ceasefire deal and return the hostages. The meeting was described as good and the positions corresponding to those of the Biden administration.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a member of the progressive “Squad” and a harsh critic of Israel, made the case for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz against the ticket of Republican nominee Donald Trump and vice presidential choice Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Harris “is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home,” Ocasio-Cortez said to cheers from the crowd.

Delaware Rabbi Michael Beals, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, who Biden has affectionately called his rabbi and who has campaigned for the president, recited Birkas Kohanim in Hebrew to conclude the first night of the DNC.

The convention is in Chicago until Thursday, with events at the United Center and McCormick Place. JNS

{Matzav.com}

President Joe Biden delivered his valedictory address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, saying, “I gave my best to you” and basking in a long ovation that reflected the energy released by his decision to cede the stage to Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden, 81, received a hero’s welcome weeks after many in his party were pressuring him to drop his bid for reelection. One month after an unprecedented mid-campaign switch, the opening night of the convention in Chicago was designed to give a graceful exit to the incumbent president and slingshot Harris toward a faceoff with Republican Donald Trump, whose comeback bid for the White House is viewed by Democrats as an existential threat. On Monday, Biden insisted he did not harbor any ill will about the impending end of his tenure — despite reports to the contrary — and called on the party to unite around Harris. “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you,” Biden said. Biden relished the chance to defend his record, advocate for his vice president and go on the attack against Trump. His delivery was more reminiscent of the Biden who won in 2020 than the mumbling and sometimes incoherent one-time candidate whose debate performance sparked the downfall of his reelection campaign. Visibly emotional when he took the stage, Biden was greeted by a more than four-minute-long ovation and chants of “Thank you Joe.” “America, I love you,” he replied. He called his selection of Harris as his running mate four years ago “the very first decision I made when I became our nominee, and it was the best decision I made my whole career.” “She’s tough, she’s experienced and she has enormous integrity, enormous integrity,” he said. “Her story represents the best American story.” “And like many of our best presidents,” he added in a nod to his own career, “she was also vice president.” Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff came out after his address to embrace him and his family. “Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you’ll continue to do,” she said earlier in the evening. “We are forever grateful to you.” Following his address, the White House released a farewell video from Biden. Monday’s speakers tried to boost both Biden and Harris A long list of high-profile speakers tried to connect both Biden and Harris to what the party sees as the governing pair’s most popular accomplishments. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was greeted with prolonged applause, saluted Harris while noting her potential to break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” to become America’s first female president. Clinton was the Democratic nominee in 2016, but she lost that election to Trump. “Together, we’ve put a lot of cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” Clinton said, invoking a metaphor she referenced in her concession speech eight years ago. “On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris taking the oath of office as our 47th president of the United States. When a barrier falls for one of us, it clears the way for all of us.” Clinton also saluted Biden for stepping aside, saying, “Now we are writing a new chapter in America’s story.” Highlighting the […]

Disgraced Democratic Senator Robert Menendez is expected to resign from office on Tuesday, amidst reports that he is negotiating a pardon from President Joe Biden before the president leaves office at the end of the year. Menendez was convicted last month on 16 felony counts, including bribery and corruption, after a lengthy trial in Manhattan federal court. The charges stem from allegations that he accepted cash, gold bars, and a luxury Mercedes convertible in exchange for using his influential position to enrich and protect three businessmen and further the interests of the Egyptian and Qatari governments. He could face over 200 years in prison when he is sentenced in October. The 70-year-old senator had been running as an independent in the upcoming November election but withdrew from the race last week, effectively clearing the path for Democratic frontrunner Andy Kim to take his seat. Insiders say that Menendez’s decision to drop out was likely his last negotiating tool, as Democrats feared his candidacy could split the vote and hand the race to Republican candidate Curtis Bashaw. In addition to his own legal troubles, Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian, has been indicted on similar corruption and bribery charges. However, her trial has been postponed indefinitely while she undergoes treatment for breast cancer. Following Menendez’s resignation, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has appointed his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to temporarily fill the vacant Senate seat starting in September. Menendez’s conviction also puts his pension and health benefits at risk. Under the Stock Act, lawmakers convicted of corruption-related felonies may lose their retirement perks. Menendez currently earns an annual Senate salary of $174,000 and, due to his more than 30 years of government service, would be eligible for a pension of nearly $140,000 per year, as well as lifetime healthcare coverage for both him and his wife. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday morning recovered the bodies of six hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, from a tunnel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

In an operation involving the IDF and Israel Security Agency, the bodies of Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri and Alex Dancyg were located more than 10 months after the Hamas massacre.

The total number of hostages remaining in the hands of Hamas in Gaza now stands at 109.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said that every effort will continue to be made to return all of the abductees, both alive and dead.

“Our hearts grieve over the terrible loss. My wife Sara and I convey our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. I would like to thank the brave IDF and ISA fighters and commanders for their heroism and determined action,” the premier stated.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “We must not stop for a moment from working in every way possible to bring back all the hostages—the living to the embrace of their families, and the dead to be laid to rest. This is Israel’s highest moral duty.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called it a “daring and dangerous operation in the Hamas tunnels in Khan Younis.”

“I share in the mourning and the heavy sorrow of the families,” he said, adding, that the operation was “another expression of the determination and courage of the fighters, alongside the operational freedom of action that we have achieved all over the Gaza Strip. We will continue to expand it and realize the goals of the war—the dissolution of Hamas, and the fulfillment of our commitment to return all abductees to Israel.”

Munder, 79, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his wife Ruthi, their daughter Keren and 9-year-old grandson Ohad. Ruthi, Keren and Ohad were released in the November hostage deal. Their son, Roi, was murdered during the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7 along with some 1,200 others.

“We will always remember Munder, with his clear voice, his warm smile and his endless love for his family and the kibbutz,” the kibbutz said in a statement.

Metzger, 80, also a member of Nir Oz, was kidnapped alive and the IDF announced his death about two months ago. His wife, Tamar, who was also kidnapped to Gaza, was released in November.

“He worked at the Nirlat factory and in recent years in a garage. Member of the Kibbutz Winery. Father of three sons and grandfather of seven grandchildren. Yoram will be remembered in all of our hearts as a pleasant and smiling man, who always made everyone feel immediately at home,” the kibbutz said.

Peri, 80, was also kidnapped from Nir Oz, of which he was a member.

“Chaim was 80 years old, father of five children and grandfather of 13 grandchildren. An entrepreneur, humanist and peace activist. On the day of the massacre at the kibbutz, Chaim managed to save his wife Asanat before being kidnapped himself. He survived in inhumane conditions in the Hamas tunnels for months, until he was brutally murdered in captivity,” the kibbutz said.

Buchshtav’s death was announced on July 22. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim, where the 34-year-old resided. His wife, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, was abducted with him and then released on Nov. 28 as part of a ceasefire agreement.

Dancyg, 76, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The IDF announced his death in late July, along with that of Buchshtav.

“Alex Dancyg was a historian, educator and farmer. Born to Holocaust survivors, he became one of the founders of educational delegations to Poland. Alex worked at Yad Vashem for about 30 years, where he trained thousands of guides in Holocaust education,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a volunteer group focused on bringing the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel, said at the time.

“Hostages who were held captive with him reported that Alex spent his time in captivity giving history lectures to fellow captives. Alex was an avid reader with a passion for history and enjoyed various sports. Yesterday would have been his 76th birthday,” the statement continued.

Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan paid tribute to Dancyg, saying, “Alex’s essence embodied both in spirit and substance his love for the land and thirst for knowledge. His vast library at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz reflected his deep connection between his cherished Israeli and Jewish identity and his Polish birthplace.

“Alex successfully integrated these perspectives into his teaching of the events of World War II in general and of the Holocaust in particular. The news of his tragic death strengthens our commitment to ensure that Alex’s legacy and the stories he passionately preserved are never forgotten.”

The forum said of Buchshtav that he “was a humble and unassuming man who loved life in Kibbutz Nirim. A sound technician by profession, Yagev had a deep passion for music. From a young age, he played guitar and flute, later expanding to other instruments, some of which he built himself. Together with his wife Rimon, Yagev cared for five dogs and five cats, several of which they had rescued and rehabilitated.”

Popplewell’s death was announced on June 3. The 51-year-old British Israeli was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nirim by Hamas terrorists. His mother, Channah Peri, 79, was released in November. JNS

{Matzav.com Israel}

A German court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by a 99-year-old woman who was convicted of being an accessory to more than 10,000 murders for her role as a secretary to the SS commander of the Nazis’ Stutthof concentration camp during World War II. The Federal Court of Justice upheld the conviction of Irmgard Furchner, who was given a two-year suspended sentence in December 2022 by a state court in Itzehoe in northern Germany. She was accused of being part of the apparatus that helped the camp near Danzig, now the Polish city of Gdansk, function. She was convicted of being an accessory to murder in 10,505 cases and an accessory to attempted murder in five cases. At a federal court hearing in Leipzig last month, Furchner’s lawyers cast doubt on whether she really was an accessory to crimes committed by the commander and other senior camp officials, and on whether she had truly been aware of what was going on at Stutthof. The Itzehoe court said that judges were convinced that Furchner “knew and, through her work as a stenographer in the commandant’s office of the Stutthof concentration camp from June 1, 1943, to April 1, 1945, deliberately supported the fact that 10,505 prisoners were cruelly killed by gassings, by hostile conditions in the camp,” by transportation to the Auschwitz death camp and by being sent on death marches at the end of the war. Prosecutors said during the original proceedings that Furchner’s trial may be the last of its kind. However, a special federal prosecutors’ office in Ludwigsburg tasked with investigating Nazi-era war crimes says three more cases are pending with prosecutors or courts in various parts of Germany. With any suspects now at a very advanced age, questions increasingly arise over suspects’ fitness to stand trial. Germany’s main Jewish leader welcomed the ruling. “For Holocaust survivors, it is enormously important for a late form of justice to be attempted,” Josef Schuster, the head of the Central Council of Jews, said in statement. “The legal system sent an important message today: even nearly 80 years after the Holocaust, no line can be drawn under Nazi crimes,” he added. The Furchner case is one of several in recent years that built on a precedent established in 2011 with the conviction of former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk as an accessory to murder on allegations that he served as a guard at the Sobibor death camp. Demjanjuk, who denied the allegations, died before his appeal could be heard. German courts previously required prosecutors to justify charges by presenting evidence of a former guard’s participation in a specific killing, often a near-impossible task. However, prosecutors successfully argued during Demjanjuk’s trial in Munich that helping a camp function was enough to convict someone as an accessory to murders committed there. A federal court subsequently upheld the 2015 conviction of former Auschwitz guard Oskar Groening on the same reasoning. Furchner was tried in juvenile court because she was 18 and 19 at the time of the alleged crimes, and the court couldn’t establish beyond a doubt her “maturity of mind” then. In the ruling, presiding Judge Gabriele Cirener wrote that the fact that Stutthof wasn’t always a death camp that existed for the sole purpose of extermination, such as Auschwitz or Sobibor, wasn’t legally […]

This school year, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools. Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this month bans physical punishment in private schools while reiterating a prohibition on the practice in public schools implemented 30 years ago. When the ban takes effect in January, Illinois will join New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland and New York in prohibiting paddling, spanking or hitting in every school. State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Chicago Democrat, was inspired to take up the issue after an updated call by the American Association of Pediatrics to end the practice, which it says can increase behavioral or mental health problems and impair cognitive development. The association found that it’s disproportionately administered to Black males and students with disabilities. “It was an easy thing to do. I don’t want a child, whether they are in private school or public school, to have a situation in which corporal punishment is being used,” Croke said. Croke was also disturbed by the Cassville School District in southwest Missouri. After dropping corporal punishment in 2001, it reinstated it two years ago as an opt-in for parents. Croke wanted to send a clear message that “it never was going to be OK to inflict harm or pain on a child.” Much of the world agrees. The World Health Organization has decreed the practice “a violation of children’s rights to respect for physical integrity and human dignity.” In 1990, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established an obligation to “prohibit all corporal punishment of children.” The U.S. was the convention’s lone holdout. Americans seemingly take a pragmatic view of the practice, said Sarah A. Font, associate professor of sociology and public policy at Penn State University. “Even though research pretty consistently shows that corporal punishment doesn’t improve kids’ behavior in the long run — and it might have some negative consequences — people don’t want to believe that,” Font said. “People kind of rely on their own experience of, ‘Well, I experienced corporal punishment. I turned out fine.’ They disregard the larger body of evidence.” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, last year introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, to ban corporal punishment in any school receiving federal funds. It was assigned to a Senate committee for a public hearing in May 2023 but has seen no further action. The U.S. Supreme Court has also rejected constitutional claims against the practice. When junior high pupils in Dade County, Florida, filed a lawsuit challenging physical discipline, the court ruled in 1977 that Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment was reserved for people convicted of crimes; it did not apply to classroom discipline. Today, 17 states technically allow corporal punishment in all schools, although four prohibit its use on students with disabilities. North Carolina state law doesn’t preclude it but every school district in the state blocked its use in 2018. Illinois lawmakers in 1994 stopped the practice in public schools. Among states that have completely outlawed it, New Jersey took the unusual step of barring corporal punishment in all schools in 1867. Iowa eliminated it in private schools in 1989. Maryland and New York stopped private school use in 2023. Private school […]

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Federal Reserve officials have said they’re increasingly confident that they’ve nearly tamed inflation. Now, it’s the health of the job market that’s starting to draw their concern. With inflation cooling toward its 2% target, the pace of hiring slowing and the unemployment rate edging up, the Fed is poised to cut its benchmark interest rate next month from its 23-year high. How fast it may cut rates after that, though, will be determined mainly by whether employers keep hiring. A lower Fed benchmark rate would eventually lead to lower rates for auto loans, mortgages and other forms of consumer borrowing. Chair Jerome Powell will likely provide some hints about how the Fed sees the economy and what its next steps may be in a high-profile speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the Fed’s annual conference of central bankers. It’s a platform that Powell and his predecessors have often used to signal changes in their thinking or approach. Powell will likely indicate that the Fed has grown more confident that inflation is headed back to the 2% target, which it has long said would be necessary before rate cuts would begin. Economists generally agree that the Fed is getting closer to conquering high inflation, which brought financial pain to millions of households beginning three years ago as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession. Few economists, though, think Powell or any other Fed official is prepared to declare “mission accomplished.” “I don’t think that the Fed has to fear inflation,” said Tom Porcelli, U.S. chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income. “At this point, it’s right that the Fed is now more focused on labor versus inflation. Their policy is calibrated for inflation that is much higher than this.” Still, how fast the Fed cuts rates in the coming months will depend on what the economic data shows. After the government reported this month that hiring in July was much less than expected and that the jobless rate reached 4.3%, the highest in three years, stock prices plunged for two days on fears that the U.S. might fall into a recession. Some economists began speculating about a half-point Fed rate cut in September and perhaps another identical cut in November. But healthier economic reports last week, including another decline in inflation and a robust gain in retail sales, have largely dispelled those concerns. Wall Street traders now expect three quarter-point Fed cuts in September, November and December, though in December it’s nearly a coin-toss between a quarter- and a half-point cut. Mortgage rates have already started to decline in anticipation of a rate reduction. A half-point Fed rate cut in September would become more likely if there were signs of a further slowdown in hiring, some officials have said. The next jobs report will be issued on Sept. 6, after the Jackson Hole conference but before the Fed’s next meeting in mid-September. Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed’s Atlanta branch, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press that “evidence of accelerating weakness in labor markets may warrant a more rapid move, either in terms of the increments of movement or the speed at which we try to get back” to a level of rates that no longer restricts the economy. Even if hiring stays solid, the Fed is set […]

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Russian authorities struggled Tuesday to put out a massive fire in the southern Rostov region for a third consecutive day after an oil depot was hit by Ukrainian drones as Ukrainian forces push into Russia’s Kursk region. The fire at the depot in the town of Proletarsk burned across an area of 10,000 square meters, according to Russian state news agencies. There are 500 firefighters involved in the operation, and 41 of them already have been hospitalized with injuries, according to the Russian state-owned news agency TASS, citing local officials. Ukraine’s Army General Staff claimed responsibility Sunday for attacking the oil depot, which was used to supply the needs of Russia’s army, calling it a measure “to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the daring Kursk incursion has allowed his army to capture a significant number of prisoners who could be used in exchange for captured Ukrainians, expanding on Kyiv’s objectives for the mission launched two weeks ago. He earlier said that Ukraine sought to create a buffer zone that might prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border, especially with long-range artillery, missiles and glide bombs. “Overall, this (Kursk) operation became our largest investment in the process of freeing Ukrainian men and women from Russian captivity,” Zelenskyy told diplomats Monday, according to a statement published on Telegram late in the day. “We have already captured the largest number of Russian prisoners in one operation.” Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army has captured 1,250 square kilometers (480 square miles) and 92 settlements of Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, the largest attack on Russia since World War II, has exposed Russian vulnerabilities. “Our defensive actions across the border, as well as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s inability to defend his territory, are telling,” Zelenskyy said. “Our proactive defense is the most effective counter to Russian terror, causing significant difficulties for the aggressor.” But as he hailed successes in Kursk, his troops face a bleak situation in the Donbas region, where Russia is bearing down on the city of Pokrovsk and forcing Ukrainian forces to pull back and Ukrainian civilians to flee their homes. Russia’s relentless six-month slog across Ukraine’s Donetsk region following the capture of Avdiivka has cost Ukraine heavily in troops and armor. Ukrainian defenders have no choice but to pull back from positions blown to pieces by Russian artillery, missiles and bombs. Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region. Russia wants control of all parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas industrial region. (AP)

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Kibbutz Nir Oz has confirmed that Avraham Munder HY’D, 79, who had been held captive by Hamas, has been killed. The Gaza-border community reported that Munder endured severe physical and psychological abuse over several months before his death. Munder, who was employed at a paint factory, is remembered fondly as a warm-hearted individual with a love for singing. Tragically, his son Roy was killed on October 7, and Munder himself was kidnapped along with his wife, Ruti, daughter Keren, and grandson Ohad. His wife, daughter, and grandson were released in a hostage exchange in November. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who has fallen from grace, is expected to step down from his position on Tuesday. Discussions are reportedly underway for a potential pardon from President Joe Biden before the president’s term concludes at the end of the year, according to insights from political analysts and close allies of the senator.

Menendez was found guilty last month on 16 felony charges, including bribery and corruption. These charges stemmed from his acceptance of money and gold in exchange for leveraging his influential role to benefit three businessmen, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

“He’s likely trying to get a pardon or a reduction in his sentence,” a New Jersey political insider who requested anonymity told the NY Post.

“Bob Menendez doesn’t do things without getting something back, and at this point, I would think he would want to get out of the way to spare his kids the embarrassment, and maybe even help his wife,” the source added.

{Matzav.com}

After Lebanon’s national power outage due to a lack of fuel to run the country’s last remaining power plant, Hezbollah is facing criticism over it’s role in Lebanon’s energy crisis.

The power outage in recent days had a huge impact on Lebanese infrastructure, with power being needed for critical facilities such as sewage and water, with Lebanon’s water authority urging users to conserve water.

A report on the Saudi network “Al Arabiya highlighted how Hezbollah’s influence has deeply entrenched itself in the energy sector in Lebanon. Hezbollah has controlled the Ministry of Energy in Lebanon since 2005. The Hezbollah affiliated LIQUIGROUP company in Lebanon has conducted operations to smuggle fuel into Syria and evade US sanctions. The company has also engaged in money laundering, and has operated in a cartel like manner with approval from the Lebanese authorities.

While ordinary Lebanese citizens dealing with the effects on an economic crisis , Hezbollah undoubtedly has vast quantities of fuel saved up in it’s terror facilities and terror tunnels, for use in a war against Israel.

{Matzav.com}

An Israeli bus driver sustained light wounds on Monday night when suspected Palestinian terrorists threw rocks at cars traveling on a main highway in Yehuda and Shomron near Yerushalayim, rescue forces said.

“During the last hour, stones were thrown at a bus south of Givat Asaf. There is damage, and light wounds were caused by shrapnel,” Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Yehuda and Shomron) stated.

The town of Givat Asaf is located in the Binyamin region of the Shomron, some nine miles or a 15-minute drive on the Route 60 throughway from Yerushalayim’s northernmost entrance.

A man in his 30s was reportedly wounded to his face and limbs due to the shattering windshield. He is said to have received treatment from a United Hatzalah paramedic.

‘Deteriorating in alarming way’

Also on Monday, Israeli security forces neutralized an improvised roadside bomb near the town of Chavat Gilad in northern Shomron.

“Earlier today, terrorists rolled a tire with a gas cylinder inside towards an axis near the village of Madama in the Shomron Brigade,” an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson stated.

There were no casualties in the attempted terrorist attack, the military said. It added that troops were “working to track down the terrorists.”

The Fighting for Life NGO, which organizes protests against terrorism, told Channel 14 that “it started with lone rock-throwing attacks, became a terrorist routine of Molotov cocktails and stones every day, and has now come to an explosive device in the middle of a main road in Shomron.”

“In recent weeks, the security situation in the Samaria sector has been deteriorating in a dangerous and alarming way,” the group added.

Yehuda and Shomron saw more than 500 monthly Palestinian terror attacks on average in the first half of 2024, per Rescuers Without Borders data. In the first six months of this year, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing.

On Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist murdered an Israeli civilian and stole his weapon during an attack in the Bar-On Industrial Park, located near Kedumim in northern Shomron. The terror suspect has yet to be caught.

(JNS)

Sixty-two people have died of West Nile virus in Israel during this summer’s outbreak, the Israeli Health Ministry announced on Monday.

Overall, 858 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the past three months.

West Nile virus has affected Israel for years, usually appearing in June through November and not usually infecting large numbers of people.

Eighty percent of those infected do not develop symptoms, but the rest, especially elderly and immune-compromised people, display flu-like symptoms including fever, general malaise, headaches and general body aches.

Neurological complications will appear in less than 1% of those infected.

The virus is primarily transmitted to humans via mosquitoes—particularly, species that feed on birds—and does not spread from person to person.

People in central Israel and greater Tel Aviv are especially at risk of contracting the disease as the high humidity creates a good breeding ground for the mosquitoes that spread it, according to the ministry.

Israeli authorities have urged health officials to increase mosquito monitoring and extermination efforts while calling on the public to take preventative measures.

(JNS)

British tech magnate Mike Lynch and five other people were missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily early Monday, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. Lynch, who was acquitted in June in a big U.S. fraud trial, was among six people who remain unaccounted for after their chartered sailboat sank off Porticello, near Palermo, sometime after 4 a.m. A tornado over the water known as a waterspout had struck the area overnight, said Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency. One body was recovered, and police divers spent the day trying to reach the hull of the ship, which was resting at a depth of 50 meters (163 feet) off Porticello where it had been anchored, rescue authorities said. They returned to the site after 10 p.m. to see if it would be possible to search through the night, when weather conditions were expected to worsen, said Luca Cari, spokesman of the fire rescue service. The ship had a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers, the Italian coast guard said. A sudden fierce storm had battered the area overnight, and a waterspout struck precisely where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian had been moored. “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Cocina, noting that another big ship nearby, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, wasn’t as badly damaged and helped rescue the 15 survivors — including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares. The Bayesian was notable for its single 75-meter (246-feet) mast — one of the world’s tallest made of aluminum and which was lit up at night, just hours before it sank. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week. One of the survivors, identified as Charlotte Golunski, said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, said Cocina. Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, said he had noticed the Bayesian nearby during the storm but after it calmed he saw a red flare and realized the ship had simply disappeared, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported. Borner said he and a crew member boarded their tender and found a lifeboat with 15 people, some of them injured, who they then took aboard and alerted the coast guard. Eight of those rescued were hospitalized while the others were taken to a hotel. One body believed to be the cook was found near the wreck, but six others were unaccounted for and believed inside the hull, said Cari, the fire rescue spokesperson. The rescue operations, which were visible from shore, involved helicopters and rescue boats from the coast guard, fire rescue and civil protection service. Fisherman Fabio Cefalù said he had seen a flare from shore at around 4:30 a.m. and immediately set out to the site but by the time he got there, the Bayesian had already sunk, with only cushions, wood and other items from the superyacht floating in the water. “But for the rest, we didn’t find anyone,” he said […]

The anti-Israel protest in Chicago outside the Democratic National Convention featured a crowd only half the size as expected on Monday, according to the NY Post.

The protest, which received significant media attention leading up to the start of the DNC, appears to have a turnout of less than 20,000, significantly lower than the 40,000 people organizers expected. Reports from the site suggest there are thousands of protest signs littering the grass with no protesters to hold them.

The protest also drew criticism after it was revealed that over 150 extremist groups were involved, including communist, terror supporters and groups with ties to enemy foreign governments.

The protests on Monday included one speaker who said: “You struggle to be included in the US imperial war machine. We struggle to destroy it,” and who led the crowd in the antisemitic call to destroy the state of Israel “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”

{Matzav.com}

Fred Trump III, the nephew of former President Donald Trump, has raised concerns about his uncle’s mental health, suggesting that the 77-year-old might be showing signs of dementia. In a recent interview on The Dean Obeidallah Show, Fred Trump III spoke about the potential decline in Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities, which he believes could be linked to a family history of dementia. “I know the warning signs from both of my grandfathers,” Fred said during the interview, referencing his grandfather Fred Trump Sr., who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before his death. He noted that dementia runs in the family, citing other relatives, including Donald Trump’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, who also showed signs of cognitive decline in her later years. During the interview, host Dean Obeidallah asked Fred Trump III if he had noticed any similarities between Donald Trump’s current behavior and that of his grandfather during the onset of dementia. Fred responded: “Donald said, ‘Oh, my father was tiptop until the end.’ I can assure you that was not the case.” Fred went on to explain that he has observed concerning changes in his uncle’s behavior, pointing to his inability to stick to a consistent message and a tendency to return to past talking points, such as crowd sizes at his inauguration. “He used to be able to stick to a message. Now… he just can’t stick to a message,” Fred said. He added that these issues were becoming apparent during recent campaign events. He recalled a rally in North Carolina where Donald Trump, despite being expected to focus on economic issues, veered off course, delivering a disjointed speech. “He goes to play the old merry tunes of craziness,” Fred noted, observing that even some of Trump’s loyal base seemed to be growing weary of his rhetoric. Fred also expressed concern for his own future, given the family’s history of dementia. “I’m not happy about it because guess what? I worry about it myself,” he admitted. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)