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The U.S. and Philippine governments have reached a deal to create a new pathway to the United States for Afghan allies who assisted the American war effort, relying on temporary relocation to Southeast Asia as they await approval for U.S. visas and resettlement, U.S. and Philippine officials said.

The agreement is due to be announced as soon as Tuesday, days after the third anniversary of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul’s collapse on Aug. 15, 2021, following President Joe Biden’s order that April to fully withdraw U.S. troops. The ensuing crisis remains a low point of the Biden administration and a persistent electoral cudgel for Republicans.

It was not immediately clear where the Afghans initially approved for transport to the Philippines are now. Tens of thousands of Afghans who are potentially eligible for visas in the United States are spread across the globe, often settling temporarily wherever they could get approval.

In the three years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the new government has reimposed strict religious controls, curtailing almost all rights for women and girls, while hunting and killing those who helped Americans. Human rights workers have warned that such revenge killings remain a persistent problem.

The new plan will be part of Operation Enduring Welcome, the Biden administration’s ongoing effort to resettle Afghan allies. It calls for the Philippine government to process a few hundred Afghans – about 300 – for resettlement as they await approval of special immigrant visas and resettlement in the United States, U.S. officials briefed on the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

U.S. officials anticipate that the program could extend and possibly expand after the initial first few hundred Afghans move through the Philippines, effectively turning the island nation into another temporary “way station” for Afghans as they await resettlement in the United States.

“We’re going to continue to have ongoing discussions with the Philippines and we’re really hoping that we can show we are good partners in this project,” a senior State Department official said.

The temporary nature of the arrangement is a key detail for the government in Manila, U.S. officials said, with the expectation that Afghans would remain for no more than a few months. Those moving through the Philippines already have undergone vetting and received initial approval from U.S. officials. The U.S. government will provide the Afghans involved with food, housing, security, medical services and transportation at a facility outside Manila.

The United States has resettled more than 160,000 Afghans in the United States over the last three years, a figure that includes both those who directly supported the U.S. government and their spouses and children, the senior State Department official said. Those individuals made it to the United States through several different pathways, including Qatar and Albania, officials said.

The expanded effort comes three years after a U.S.-led evacuation effort in Kabul airlifted 124,000 people to safety from a single runway in 17 days, but it was marked by scenes of desperation and tragedy. Tens of thousands of people eligible for relocation were left behind. An Islamic State suicide bombing at the outskirts of the airport killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 Afghans, and an errant U.S. drone strike a few days later killed seven children and three adult civilians.

U.S. officials said that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan were among the senior U.S. leaders who helped close the deal with Manila. Biden raised the issue on several occasions, most recently during a meeting in the Oval Office on April 11, a senior administration official said.

Harris, now the Democratic nominee for president, suggested the idea to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on a visit to Manila in November 2022, a few months after he took office. She raised the proposal with him again in May 2023 during a Marcos visit to when he visited Washington, and in a November 2023 meeting in San Francisco, a senior administration official said.

Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran who leads #AfghanEvac, a coalition of organizations assisting the resettlement of Afghans, said that Harris’s engagement was key.

“My understanding is that this thing was sort of stalled, and she got it reinvigorated,” VanDiver said. “I think that it’s really notable that three years into this, we’re still doing this.”

The Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez, called the agreement “very significant,” and suggested it could be extended “if it’s something that we think is successful.” It grows out of a long humanitarian tradition dating back to World War II, he said.

It was then, he said, between the late 1930s and 1941, that the commonwealth’s first president, Manuel Quezon, welcomed more than 1,200 Jewish refugees, most from Europe, to the Philippines. Not even the United States then was accepting Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, Romualdez noted.

During the Vietnam War, Marcos’s father, then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., opened a center in northern Luzon to process 30,000 Vietnamese people fleeing their home country, Romualdez said.

“We’re doing what we can to contribute in our small way into helping people who are displaced,” he said. “I think the majority of people [in the Philippines] know that this is a good thing to do.”

The deal comes amid a backdrop of strengthened diplomatic and military ties between Washington and Manila. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently announced plans to deepen defense cooperation and contribute $500 million to modernize the Philippine armed forces.

The nations have a mutual defense treaty and have grown closer since 2022, when Marcos Jr. took office, following a populist predecessor, and drove Manila’s foreign policy sharply toward Washington. He has visited the United States four times, most recently in April.

“The fact that we’re able to do this at this point really reflects where we are in the U.S. bilateral relationship with the Philippines and how strong and good the partnership is right now,” a second senior State Department official said.

This was a “big ask” of Manila, the second official said, given domestic fears that what was framed as a temporary program could become permanent. The Philippines has for decades battled Islamist insurgencies, especially in its south.

U.S. officials assured their counterparts in Manila that the processing would be done swiftly and securely. The Afghans already have received vetting and have provided “faithful, invaluable service” to the U.S. government in Afghanistan, officials said. They have gone through pre-travel security checks and medical screening at consulates and embassies around the world, the officials said.

“This does show how deep the trust and partnership is at the moment, extending beyond just the military components of the alliance to a willingness to cooperate politically, economically and diplomatically,” said Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the last year alone, officials noted, the two allies have strengthened people-to-people ties, a U.S. presidential trade mission resulted in $1 billion in investments in the Philippines, and Washington helped broker a trilateral summit with Japan and the Philippines to foster economic growth including by launching an economic corridor on the largest island of Luzon.

But Manila is also mindful of China’s rising challenge, both economically and militarily. Numerous strains between the Philippines and China have emerged in recent years, including a confrontation in June in which Chinese coast guard personnel rammed their ships into Philippine vessels and then boarded them.

Rebecca Tan contributed to this report.

(c) Washington Post

U.S. intelligence officials said Monday they were confident that Iran was responsible for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, casting the cyber intrusion as part of a brazen and broader effort by Tehran to interfere in American politics and undermine faith in democratic institutions. Although the Trump campaign and private-sector cybersecurity investigators had previously said Iran was behind the hacking attempts, it was the first time the U.S. government had assigned blame for the attack. The joint statement from the FBI and other federal agencies also indicated that Iran was responsible for attempts to hack Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, saying hackers had “sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaign of both political parties.” The goal of the hacking and other activities, federal officials said, was not only to sow discord but also to shape the outcome of elections that Iran perceives to be “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests.” “We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns,” said the statement, which in addition to the FBI was also released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The statement largely confirms the findings of private companies like Microsoft, which earlier this month issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in this year’s election, and Google, which separately said that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and Trump since May. (AP)

Appears to be new footage of sniper Thomas Matthew Crooks at the Butler rally before shooting President Trump

Protesters broke through a fence set up by police near the site of the Democratic National Convention on its opening day Monday as thousands took to the streets to voice their opposition to the war in Gaza. As the larger group marched, a few dozen who broke away tore down pieces of the security fence. Some protesters, dressed in black with their faces covered, dragged pieces of the fence back to a park near the United Center, where the convention is being held. Several protesters who had managed to get through the fence were detained and handcuffed by the police. Authorities said the inner security perimeter surrounding convention site was not breached and there was no threat to those attending the convention. Members of the crowd chanted “End the occupation now” and then “The whole world is watching!” just as anti-Vietnam War protesters did during the infamous 1968 convention in Chicago when police clashed with protesters on live television. Officers put on gas masks as some protesters tried to bring down a second fence set up in front of police. The march happened just as President Joe Biden, who has been the target of intense criticism from pro-Palestinian groups, including the marchers, was doing a walk-through of the largely empty United Center. Biden was scheduled to address the party in the evening. “Biden, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide,” the marchers chanted amid the beating of drums. They also referred to him as “Genocide Joe” and lodged similar chants at Vice President Kamala Harris. (AP)

In a recent podcast, one of the men credited with former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential victory sounded off about the GOP’s Israel policies and left-wing activists’ plans to protest the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that began on Monday.

“The reason I suspect that most of these people describe themselves as pro-Israel is because the Jews are whiter than the Palestinians,” Democratic political consultant and strategist James Carville said of Republicans’ Israel positions on the Aug. 15 episode of the podcast “Politics War Room.”

Carville told co-host Al Hunt amid repetitive vulgarities that “it’s really about the misogyny and the racism that drives the thing, and we got to recognize that. It’s not about any policy prescription.”

Relaying what an unnamed activist had told him, Carville said anti-Israel protests at the DNC originated in the belief that Democrats “would be more open-minded about this.”

(JNS)

As the 2024 presidential race heats up, some of the far-right’s most prominent voices are beginning to turn against former president Donald Trump’s campaign, signaling a potential fracturing of his base. Key influencers, once staunch supporters, are now threatening a digital “war” against Trump’s aides, warning that his campaign is veering too far from the hard-right positions that galvanized their support. Nick Fuentes, a neo-Nazi white supremacist and podcaster, has been one of the most vocal critics. Fuentes, who dined with Trump in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago, blasted the campaign on X, claiming that Trump’s strategy was “blowing it” by not embracing more extreme views on race and immigration. His post criticizing the campaign has been viewed 2.6 million times. Laura Loomer, another far-right activist, echoed the sentiment, arguing that Trump’s “weak” surrogates have derailed his momentum and warning that his strategy needs to shift quickly. Candace Owens, another antisemitic far-right commentator with millions of followers, described the growing division within the Trump movement as a “MAGA Civil War.” While Owens stressed her support for Trump, she expressed frustration with his campaign staff, accusing them of diluting his message in a bid for mainstream appeal. These attacks from far-right influencers pose a new challenge for Trump’s campaign, which has relied heavily on online support from these figures in previous elections. Their backing helped build a groundswell of digital support in 2016 and 2020, driving Trump’s appeal with key voter groups. Now, their criticism threatens to undermine efforts to unify the Republican base ahead of the election. The far-right figures’ dissatisfaction centers on what they perceive as Trump’s shift away from the hardline stances that initially propelled him to power. They’ve been particularly critical of his campaign’s leadership, calling for the ouster of co-managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. Despite these criticisms, many still claim to support Trump himself, with their ire aimed squarely at his staff. The discontent comes as Trump retools his campaign, including the recent rehiring of his former 2016 campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Fuentes called this a “first victory” but warned that he and his followers would continue pressuring the campaign to adopt more extreme positions. The far-right provocateurs have vowed to ramp up their efforts, both online and at Trump rallies. Fuentes has urged his followers to escalate their tactics, using guerrilla-style methods to push the campaign further to the right. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the more extreme elements of its base to avoid alienating voters. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The US Embassy in Yerushalayim has published a statement from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in which Blinken announced that Israel has accepted the proposed ceasefire and hostage deal. Blinken said that they are now waiting for Hamas to do the same.

Blinken said: “There is a real sense of urgency in the region to get the deal to the finish line and the US is deeply committed to getting the deal done now.”

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu spoke after meeting with Blinken earlier today, saying: “I had a good and important meeting today with Secretary of State Blinken. I greatly appreciate the efforts that the US is making in regional defense against the Iranian axis. This is important, of course, for the State of Israel.”

“I also greatly appreciate the understanding that the US has shown for our vital security interests as part of our joint efforts to bring about the release of our hostages.” I would like to emphasize: The efforts to release a maximum number of living hostages – already in the first stage of the deal.”

Blinken also met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, with Gallant emphasizing the importance of US pressure on Hamas to get a deal done. The pair also spoke about the security challenges in the region, and Gallant thanked Blinken for US support of Israel.

{Matzav.com} 

More than 17,000 AT&T workers in nine states across the Southeast are on strike after accusing the company of unfair labor practices during contract negotiations this summer. The Communications Workers of America — the union representing the striking employees — said workers walked off the job Friday in response to AT&T’s failure to bargain in good faith. Workers have been attempting to reach a new contract since June. The labor organization said AT&T did not send representatives to the bargaining table who had authority to make decisions and that the company has reneged on agreements made in bargaining. “Our union entered into negotiations in a good faith effort to reach a fair contract, but we have been met at the table by company representatives who were unable to explain their own bargaining proposals and did not seem to have the actual bargaining authority required by the legal obligation to bargain in good faith,” Richard Honeycutt, vice president of CWA District 3 in the Southeast, said in a statement. The strike involves AT&T technicians, customer service representatives and others who install, maintain and support AT&T’s residential and business wireline telecommunications network. It involves workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee The union said it filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. AT&T denied the union’s accusations. “CWA’s claims of unfair labor practices are not grounded in fact. We have been engaged in substantive bargaining since Day One and are eager to reach an agreement that benefits our hard-working employees,” the company said in emailed statement. AT&T said it reached three separate agreements this year covering more than 13,000 employees. The labor union on Monday also accused AT&T of “sending undertrained managers and contractors to perform highly technical work” during the strike. AT&T said it has “various business continuity measures in place to avoid disruptions to operations and will continue to provide our customers with the great service they expect.” (AP)

The giant budget airline Ryanair has now canceled all of it’s flights to Tel Aviv through the end of September, over security concerns as the threat of a larger war looms. Ryanair was joined by the Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, which also announced it would be cancelling it’s flights to Israel in September.

Additionally, Delta Airlines announced it will extend it’s flight cancelations from NY to Israel until August 31st. United on the other hand, has paused it’s flights to Israel indefinitely, while American Airlines announced it will not be resuming flights until at least March 2025.

Latvia’s national airline Air Baltice announced all flights to Israel are canceled, while Italy’s ITA Airways won’t resume flights until at least August 22nd. The national airline of India, Air India, will not resume their flights to Israel until October 24th.

Additional cancelations include LOT from Poland, which canceled it’s flights to Warsaw through August 26th, Iberia of Spain which canceled flights through August 20th, Aegean Airlines of Greece which canceled it’s flights through August 22nd, Romania’s TAROM which canceled it’s flights for at least a few days, and the British budget airline EasyJet also canceled it’s flights to Israel until April 2025. EasyJet has not flown to Israel since October 7th.

On the other hand, the Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air is continuing all of it’s flights to Israel. The company recently made headlines for selling out it’s new ‘all you can fly’ passes in only a matter of hours. The passes, which were sold for an introductory price of $549, allows users to book seats for a small flat fee on flights on 780 routes, starting in September.

Additionally, Flydubai is continuing their 6 daytime flights to Israel, and is looking to add another through a codeshare with Emirates. However the company did cancel their 2 nighttime flights to Israel.

{Matzav.com}

Republican George Santos, who was expelled from Congress last year, pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.

Sentencing guidelines indicate that Santos could face more than six years in prison, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said during an afternoon court hearing. She sent a sentencing date of Feb. 7.

Santos was accused of defrauding donors to his 2022 campaign by taking their money for his personal use and charging thousands of dollars on their credit cards without authorization, among other charges. In all, he faced 23 charges.

As part of his agreement, he pleaded guilty to two charges – wire fraud and identity theft – and prosecutors said they would ask the judge to dismiss the remaining counts at his sentencing. He admitted in court to wrongfully claiming unemployment benefits for nearly a year and making false statements to Congress on his required disclosure statements.

Santos is required to repay more than $300,000 to the donors and others he defrauded. He also must refund the government for the $24,000 in unemployment benefits he stole.

“I understand that my actions have betrayed my supporters and constituents,” Santos said during the court hearing, his voice emotional. “I am committed to making amends and learning from this experience.”

Santos also apologized in a news conference outside the courthouse after he pleaded guilty.

“I allowed ambition to cloud my judgment,” he said. “You also trusted me to represent you with honor and to uphold the values that are essential to our democracy, and in that I failed you.”

Santos, now 36, had just been elected to Congress in 2022 when news reports began exposing a slew of lies he had told about his background. He claimed to have studied at educational institutions he never attended for high school, college and business school. He said he worked at the Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; he did not. He falsely said that his mother was inside the World Trade Center during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.

Months into his term, in May 2023, he was charged with 13 counts of defrauding donors and falsely claiming unemployment benefits. Prosecutors accused him of spending donors’ money on designer clothes for himself and telling the state of New York he was unemployed for almost a year starting in the summer of 2020, when he was in fact working for a Florida investment firm.

He allegedly collected more than $24,000 in public benefits to which he was not entitled.

The Florida investment firm, Harbor City Capital, was forced to shut down in 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which called the company “a classic Ponzi scheme.” Santos has said he was unaware of any wrongdoing at Harbor City.

In his brief time in Congress, where he represented Queens and Long Island, Santos co-sponsored legislation cracking down on abuse of unemployment insurance – one of the crimes with which he was later charged.

In October, prosecutors expanded the indictment to include aggravated identity theft, allegedly that Santos used the personal information of his family members without their permission to make it appear to the Federal Election Commission that his campaign had more donors than it had. Prosecutors also alleged that Santos repeatedly charged his campaign donors’ credit cards without their permission.

Nancy Marks, who was treasurer of Santos’s campaign, pleaded guilty earlier to related charges.

Santos was expelled from Congress in December by a vote of 311-114. It was a rare action taken only five times in history: Three members were expelled in 1861 for supporting the Confederacy, and one each in 1980 and 2002 for bribery convictions.

(c) Washington Post

Eden Dabas, 30, a resident of Ramat Gan, was formally indicted Monday on charges of allegedly collaborating with an Iranian foreign agent. According to the prosecution, Dabas had been in contact with the foreign agent for the past four months, using the encrypted messaging app Telegram to communicate. In exchange for completing a series of tasks, Dabas reportedly received $12,000 in cryptocurrency payments. Among the tasks he allegedly carried out were printing and hanging posters advocating for a military coup in Israel and promoting a Telegram group called “The People’s Army,” which seeks to recruit more Israeli citizens for similar efforts. Prosecutors further revealed that Dabas documented his activities by sending video proof to the foreign agent to secure payment. The agent allegedly instructed Dabas to purchase a separate phone and SIM card, along with wigs, gloves, and a hat for concealment. Dabas was also reportedly directed to delete all communication between them to erase evidence of the collaboration. Alongside the charges of contacting a foreign agent, Dabas is also being indicted for possession of illegal drugs, including MDMA (Ecstasy) and cocaine, which were found to be for personal use. Authorities are requesting that Dabas remain in custody until the legal proceedings are completed. The case comes amid rising concerns over Iranian espionage efforts targeting Israeli citizens. Earlier this month, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency exposed a network of fake online profiles created by Iranian operatives to lure Israelis into espionage activities. The Shin Bet reiterated that Iran’s intelligence agencies have been actively using social media to approach Israeli citizens under false identities, seeking to exploit them for espionage. In July, three Israeli citizens were arrested on suspicion of endangering national security on behalf of the Iranian regime. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Joe Biden on Monday took his first flight aboard the modern VH-92A helicopter that serves as Marine One after years of delays to the program to replace the aging aircraft that carry the president and vice president. Biden boarded the Sikorsky-made helicopter after arriving on Air Force One in Chicago where he is speak Monday evening at the Democratic National Convention. The maiden presidential voyage carried him from O’Hare International Airport to the parking lot of Chicago’s Soldier Field, often used as a landing zone for presidential travel. It marked a crucial milestone in a two-decade-long process to replace the Vietnam-era helicopters that have been in use carrying presidents, in some cases, since the 1970s. An initial effort to purchase new helicopters was kicked off by the Bush administration in an effort to improve communications and mission capabilities in the post-September 11, 2001 environment, but it was scrapped by President Barack Obama after rampant cost overruns. The new program was started by the Obama administration, and the helicopter, branded the “Patriot” by its manufacturer, made its public debut during the Trump administration. But issues with the secure communications system on board — required so that the president can carry out classified conversations and make military decisions in an emergency — as well as a tendency to scorch the White House South Lawn led to years of delays to the program. The Marine Corps reported last year that the communications issues had been resolved, but it was not clear whether modifications to the exhaust system have eliminated the threat to the White House grass. Marine Helicopter Squadron One, which operates the aircraft, has been using the VH-92 helicopters for several years in regular service, including test flights around Washington, D.C. and to carry White House staff and security personnel. The final VH-92A helicopter was delivered earlier this month, giving the USMC 21 operational aircraft and two for testing. The total program cost for the 23 aircraft was about $5 billion. The new helicopters are based on the commercially-available Sikorsky S-92 and are larger and have longer range than the older VH-3D and VH-60N models. (AP)

An IDF chief warrant officer was killed and a combat officer was seriously wounded on Monday morning when a drone launched from Lebanon slammed into Moshav Ya’ara in the Western Galil, the army confirmed.

At least three others were injured in the attack.

The death of Chief Warrant Officer Mahmood Amaria, 45, from Ibtin, brings the total military death toll on all fronts since the start of the war to 691. Amaria was a soldier in the Bedouin Trackers Unit in the Border Defense Corps’ 300th Brigade.

The severely injured officer, also from the 300th Brigade, was evacuated to the hospital and his family was notified.

The injuries were caused by a fire that broke out after the UAV impacted in the area, hitting at least one building.

Along with the drones, 10 rockets were fired across the border at the Upper Galil during the barrage. No injuries or damage were reported.

“Following the hostile aircraft infiltration sirens that sounded a short while ago in the Western Galil, multiple suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted some of the targets, and others fell in the area of Ya’ara,” the IDF confirmed.

The UAV and rocket barrage came shortly after the IDF targeted Hezbollah “military” structures in the areas of Aita al-Sha’ab, Beit Leaf and Khula in Southern Lebanon. At least one Hezbollah operative was killed in the attack on Khula, Ynet reported.

The IDF confirmed on Monday afternoon that earlier in the day the Israeli Air Force “struck Hezbollah terrorists” in the area of Khula.

Hezbollah confirmed that two members of Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy were killed in the Israeli strike on Khula.

The terror army named them as Abbas Melhem from Majdal Selm and Muhammad Qaddouh from Ghandouriyeh, raising Hezbollah’s death toll since the start of the war to at least 414.

In addition, the IDF said that a launcher was struck in the area of Ayta ash Shab and Hezbollah “military” structures were hit in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Hanine.

(JNS)

A District of Columbia councilmember known for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories accepted over $150,000 in bribes in exchange for pressuring D.C. employees to extend city contracts for violence intervention services, authorities alleged in court records unsealed Monday. Trayon White Sr., a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2022, was arrested Sunday on a federal bribery charge and ordered released from custody after a brief court appearance Monday. His attorney declined to comment on the allegations against him. White agreed in June to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government agency employees to extend two companies’ contracts worth over $5 million, authorities alleged in an FBI affidavit. White, 40, also accepted a $20,000 bribe payment to help resolve a contract dispute for one of the companies by pressuring high-level district officials, the affidavit alleges. An FBI informant who agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges reported giving White gifts including travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas along with paying him bribes, the FBI said. White put his hand to his heart as he entered the courtroom and acknowledged his supporters who attended the hearing. One supporter held her hand to her mouth and sobbed from the gallery. White answered routine questions from the judge but did not comment on the allegations. The magistrate judge warned White he could be jailed before trial if he violates any conditions of his release. White, who has served on the D.C. council since 2017, represents a predominantly Black ward where the poverty rate is nearly twice as high as the overall district. He is running for re-election in November against a Republican challenger. White was one of two D.C. council members whom Mayor Muriel Bower defeated two years ago in the Democratic primary. White, a former grassroots community activist, was a protégé of former Mayor Marion Barry, who also represented the same ward as White on the council. In March 2018, White posted a video on his Facebook page claiming that an unexpected snowfall was because of “the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters.” The Rothschilds, a Jewish family that was prominent in the banking industry, are a frequent subject of conspiracy theories. At the time, White said he was unaware that the weather-related conspiracy theory is antisemitic. A video later surfaced of White pushing a similar conspiracy theory during a meeting of top city officials. He posed a question based on the stereotypical premise that the Rothschilds controlled the World Bank and the federal government. (AP)

Trayon White, who said in 2018 that Rothschilds control the weather, has been arrested by the FBI, multiple news outlets reported on Sunday.

The arrest “appeared to take other city officials by surprise,” the Washington Post reported. “The circumstances of the arrest and the nature of the allegations against White, a Democrat who represents Ward 8 in Southeast Washington and appeared on track to win a third term in November, were not immediately clear.”

The lawmaker apologized for his 2018 remarks, but when he toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2018, he left the visit early, per the Post.

White said “he did not realize Jews might consider his comments offensive. He attended a Passover Seder and a bagels-and-lox breakfast with local Jewish leaders at city hall,” per the Post. “He did not publicize his visit to the museum off the Mall in Southwest Washington.”

“Moments later, White was nowhere to be seen,” the Post reported, noting that Batya Glazer, of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, who was involved in White’s rehabilitation, “texted him to ask his whereabouts.”

“He wrote back that he hoped to see her outside the museum but he had to leave soon for an event in Ward 8,” per the Post. “The tour, scheduled to last 90 minutes, was halfway done.”

Glazer was “perplexed by his abrupt exit,” the Post reported, and said “I do not know what happened, and I find it confusing.”

(JNS)

Two security sources informed Reuters that no one was killed in the recent Israeli airstrikes targeting a Hezbollah weapons depot in northern Lebanon. However, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that eight people were injured in the incident, including six Lebanese citizens and two Syrian children.

Congo will receive the first vaccine doses to address its mpox outbreak next week from the United States, the country’s health minister said Monday, days after the World Health Organization declared mpox outbreaks in Africa a global emergency. Mpox cases have been confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen African countries, and a new form of the virus is spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent. Congo has the vast majority of the mpox cases and currently needs 3 million vaccine doses. The U.S. and Japan have offered to donate vaccines, Health Minister Roger Kamba told journalists. He did not say how many doses would be sent or when the ones from Japan would arrive. The WHO has reported over 17,000 mpox cases and over 500 deaths worldwide this year. More than 96% of all cases and deaths have been in Congo, whose health system has long struggled to contain disease outbreaks over the country’s vast area and poor infrastructure. Children under 15 account for more than 70% of the cases and 85% of deaths in Congo. Scientists are also concerned by a new version of mpox in Congo that might be more easily transmitted. Last week, Sweden reported its first case of the new version. Officials said the risk to the general public was considered “very low” and that they expected sporadic imported cases to continue. Unlike in previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. That makes it harder to detect, meaning people might sicken others without knowing they’re infected. Mpox is not airborne and typically requires close, skin-to-skin contact to spread. The WHO has said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of those outbreaks were linked to the epidemic in Congo. (AP)

Protesters rallied outside the Democratic National Convention on its opening day Monday, saying they were determined to voice their opposition to the war in Gaza and other issues. Despite predictions of 30,000 attendees, fewer than half that number showed up at the “March on the DNC” rally held at Union Park. Protesters said their plans have not changed since President Joe Biden left the race and the party quickly rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the Democratic nomination this week. Activists said they were ready to amplify their progressive message before the nation’s top Democratic leaders. “We have to play our part in the belly of the beast to stop the genocide, to end U.S. aid to Israel and stand with Palestine,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC, which includes hundreds of organizations. Mayor Brandon Johnson said authorities were well prepared. “The city of Chicago is really good at things like this,” he told a news conference. “We are ready.” The Chicago area has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the nation, and buses were bringing activists from all over the country. Organizers said they hoped the turnout for Monday’s rally and march would be at least 20,000 people, but only a few thousand were there at the start of the march. City officials declined to give a crowd estimate. Taylor Cook, an organizer with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, traveled from Atlanta for the march. Cook said the group was pushing all Democrats to call for an end to aid to Israel, with a particular focus on Harris. “We’re saying to Kamala, she has been complicit in this. People think it’s just Joe Biden, but she is vice president,” Cook said. “So we’re saying, you need to stop if you want our vote.” Medea Benjamin, who traveled to Chicago from Washington, D.C., with a women-led group of protesters calling for peace, said she was shocked that the Biden administration recently approved an additional $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel. “There’s an incredible discrepancy in what people are calling for in this country and what the administration is doing,” she said ahead of the rally in Union Park. “We’re so disgusted by this.” Activists say they learned lessons from last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Pro-Palestinian supporters descended on the park, west of the Loop business district, for the rally. They planned to march a short distance to a site near the United Center, where the convention is taking place. Independent presidential candidate Cornel West addressed the crowd, which welcomed him with cheers. “This is not about some Machiavellian politics or some utilitarian calculation about an election,” he yelled into a microphone. “This is about morality. This is about spirituality.” Around 40 pro-Israel supporters walked around the park during the rally. Remaining mostly silent while waving Israeli flags, they were accompanied by about 20 police officers on bicycles. Although tensions flared at times, there were no physical altercations. Josh Weiner, co-founder of Chicago Jewish Alliance who walked with the pro-Israel group, said their intent was to “make our presence felt.” Weiner said the group applied for permits that were not approved by the city. “The pro-Palestine protesters have gotten multiple permits, including a march, which seems […]

A resident of Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, was indicted on Monday for allegedly being in contact with an Iranian foreign agent who offered him payment for performing various tasks.

Eden Dabas, 30, is being charged with contacting a foreign agent and possession of various types of drugs for personal use, including MDMA (Ecstasy) and cocaine.

According to prosecutors, over the past four months Dabas was in contact with the agent via Telegram and was paid $12,000 in cryptocurrency for performing the tasks, which included printing and hanging posters encouraging a military coup and helping to promote a Telegram group called The People’s Army aimed at recruiting more Israeli citizens.

Prosecutors said that Dabas sent the agent videos as proof of his activities to receive the payments.

In addition, the agent ordered him to buy a separate phone and SIM card and wigs, gloves and a hat and eventually requested he delete all of their communications.

Prosecutors are requesting his detention be extended until the end of the proceedings.

Earlier this month, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) published a list of fake online profiles Iran set up to lure Israelis into conducting espionage.

In a statement made previously, the agency said, “The use of the method of contacting Israeli citizens through social media networks, under the false pretense of the identity of the person making the request, is a well-known method of operation of the Iranian intelligence agencies.”

Three Israeli citizens were arrested in July on suspicion of harming the country’s national security on behalf of the Iranian regime. JNS

Vice President Kamala Harris faced mockery on social media after delivering an extended monologue on the “duality of democracy” during a campaign event in Rochester, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. The speech, which appeared to be unscripted, touched on the strength and fragility of democracy and quickly became the subject of online ridicule. Speaking alongside her running mate, Tim Walz, Harris described democracy as both “incredibly strong” and “incredibly fragile.” She told attendees, “Our election is about understanding the importance of this beautiful country of ours in terms of what we stand for around the globe as a democracy. As a democracy, we know there’s a duality to the nature of democracy. On the one hand, incredible strength when it is intact. What it does for its people, to protect and defend their rights. Incredibly strong. And incredibly fragile. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. And that’s what this campaign is about.” The comments, which echoed a similar speech she made in 2022, sparked a wave of criticism, with many Republicans using her remarks as further evidence of what they have termed Harris’s tendency to deliver “word salads” when off-script. “They took Kamala off the teleprompter today in Pennsylvania. It didn’t go well,” wrote Outkick.com founder Clay Travis, sharing a clip of the speech. Conservative radio host Buck Sexton weighed in, saying, “Kamala is uniquely awful. She’s not smart, charming, or talented. The more voters hear her voice, the less they’ll want to support her.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)