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A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for a National Rifle Association lawsuit against a former New York state official over claims she pressured companies to blacklist it following the deadly 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Giving the NRA a new chance to prove its case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “the critical takeaway is that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.” The NRA said ex-New York state Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo violated its free-speech rights during her investigation of NRA-endorsed insurance policies. The group had been working with insurance companies to offer its members Carry Guard policies that covered losses caused by firearms, even when the insured person intentionally killed or hurt somebody. Critics have called the policies “murder insurance.” In an unusual alignment, the NRA was represented in the case by the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Biden administration argued some of its claims should go forward. “This is a landmark victory for the NRA and all who care about our First Amendment freedom,” NRA attorney William A. Brewer III said, accusing New York government officials of abusing their power to silence the group. The Supreme Court ruling favoring the NRA, which is based in Fairfax, Virginia, reverses a lower-court decision tossing out the gun rights group’s lawsuit against Vullo. The decision means the NRA’s lawsuit can go forward, but it does not decide the merits of the claim. It also should not be read to shield the NRA and other advocacy groups from regulation, Sotomayor said. But, she wrote, the NRA’s complaint “plausibly alleges that Vullo threatened to wield her power against those refusing to aid her campaign to punish the NRA’s gun-promotion advocacy. If true, that violates the First Amendment.” Vullo argued that she rightly investigated NRA-endorsed insurance policies. She said she did speak out about the risks of doing business with gun groups but didn’t exert any improper pressure on companies, many of which were distancing themselves from the NRA on their own at the time. The NRA said Vullo leveraged the state investigation into the legality of NRA-endorsed insurance products to pressure insurance companies, saying she would go easier on them if they cut ties with the group. The products clearly violated state law, Vullo countered, including by covering intentional acts and criminal defense costs. The probe started before the Parkland massacre, which left 17 people dead, and the insurance providers ultimately agreed to pay multimillion-dollar fines. Vullo also sent out guidance letters to banks and insurance companies warning about the “reputational risks” of working with the NRA. The NRA said her words had significant sway because of her position and several companies cut ties with the group, costing it millions of dollars in revenue. Vullo said the letters were evenhanded, and her attorney argued that letting the lawsuit go forward would improperly muzzle public officials. (AP)

In a chaotic overnight incident in Queens, two police officers were shot, and a suspect was wounded, according to authorities. The officers were investigating a series of robberies involving mopeds and scooters in East Elmhurst when they attempted to stop a person riding a moped the wrong way near 23rd Avenue and 82nd Street. The suspect fled on foot. The officers pursued him for several blocks, and during the chase, the suspect fired at them, NYPD officials reported. One officer was struck in his bulletproof vest, while the other was hit in the leg. Both officers were transported to a hospital and are expected to be released later Monday. The suspect, identified as a 19-year-old Bernardo Castro Mata, who resides at a nearby migrant shelter, was shot in the right ankle. He was taken into custody and is receiving treatment at a hospital, where he is in stable condition. Sources say he is Venezuelan, and crossed the border at “Eagle Pass”. A firearm was recovered at the scene. Investigators revealed that the 19-year-old has no prior arrests in New York City but is a suspect in several robbery patterns in Queens. Police are currently investigating over 80 robbery patterns involving scooters and mopeds citywide, a significant increase from last year when there were no such cases. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Washington expects Israel to agree to the hostage deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden if the Hamas terror group greenlights it, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday.

“We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal—as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal—that Israel would say ‘Yes,’” Kirby told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview.

A senior advisor to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu was quoted by Britain’s Sunday Times on Saturday as saying that Biden’s Friday address on the ongoing talks was “a political speech for whatever reasons.”

Ophir Falk stressed that while Israel wasn’t happy with the proposal, it was not rejecting it. “It’s not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them,” he said, according to the report.

“It’s a deal we agreed to,” he stated, adding however that “there are a lot of details to be worked out,” including Israel’s demand that there be no permanent ceasefire declared “until all our objectives are met.”

The terms of the proposal laid out by Biden on Friday include a permanent end to hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The U.S. president claimed he wants a future “without Hamas in power,” but described a series of steps that did not include the elimination of the terror group or its surrender.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Saturday night that they will not accept an agreement that leaves Hamas still standing in Gaza.

On Sunday, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) joined in the criticism, condemning what it called the “suicidal-for-Israel proposal.”

Biden’s alleged distortion of Israel’s position “appears to be yet another way to pressure Israel into a deal that would severely damage Israel’s security and ability to deter terror for years to come, lead to more Oct. 7s, and embolden Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian attacks on Israel,” said ZOA National President Morton A. Klein in a statement.

According to the ZOA, the U.S. proposal gives Hamas “everything it wants,” enabling the terror group to remain in power and “perpetrate more and more horrendous Oct. 7s as their leaders have promised.”

The U.S. State Department in December refused to rule out the possibility of Hamas terrorists retaining power or joining a Palestinian Authority-led governing body for the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria.

“Palestinians’ voices and aspirations must be at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza, unified with the West Bank under the P.A.,” a U.S. government spokesperson told JNS, adding, “Ultimately, the future of Palestinian leadership is a question for the Palestinian people.” JNS

The Israel Defense Forces’ Spokesperson’s Unit has released video footage of a drone entering a home in Rafah and finding it booby-trapped with large explosive barrels, one of which was placed next to a door.

In its war against Hamas, the IDF has faced the formidable challenge of operating in an environment where a significant percentage of buildings and homes in the Gaza Strip are filled with weapons.

While the exact proportion of buildings scanned by the IDF and found to have contained weapons isn’t known, it is considered very high according to estimates within the Israeli defense establishment.

Hamas has established one of the most fortified terror bases in the world within Gaza, with extensive military infrastructure embedded in civilian areas both above and below ground.

The practice of mass installing weapons in civilian homes is just one part of Hamas’s 17-year entrenchment program that has turned the Strip into a terror fortress that lacks any parallel in the world.

Since the start of the IDF’s ground maneuver into Gaza on Oct. 27, the Israeli military and intelligence community has worked very hard to distinguish between civilian and military targets—a line that is deliberately blurred by Hamas.

The IDF has found that it is not just the homes of known terrorists or commanders that are stocked with weapons, but a large number of civilian households as well. These homes have been repurposed into storage centers for an array of weaponry, including AK-47s, anti-tank missile launchers, RPGs, bombs, mortars, IEDs and sniper rifles.

Whether in southern Gazan districts like Rafah, where the 162nd Division is currently operating, in northern Gaza, where the 98th Division is operating (after spending four months fighting in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza), or central Gaza, where the 99th Division is operating, soldiers and officers are finding incredibly large numbers of homes prepped with weapons.

This is so terrorists can walk the streets in civilian clothes, unarmed, reducing chances of being detected by the IDF, arrive at a weapons pick-up center, and begin rapidly attacking from there.

This tactic not only endangers Israeli soldiers but also places civilians at significant risk.

According to a recent report by Ynet, large explosives have been hidden within walls, and terrorists also broke down walls between crowded homes to create passages in ways that are reminiscent of how terrorists operated in Nablus during the IDF’s “Operation Defensive Shield” in 2002.

The IDF’s divisions are learning from their own experience and from one another to deal with this trend as the ground maneuver continues.

House by house

The concealed weapons and underground networks mean the IDF must dismantle this hidden infrastructure to avoid allowing Hamas to regroup and rearm quickly, as it had already begun to do in Jabalia before the IDF returned to northern Gaza in recent weeks.

The IDF’s methodical approach involves clearing each area house by house, ensuring that all weapons are found and neutralized before moving on. The homes of terrorist commanders are often destroyed.

The presence of weapons in civilian homes highlights the involvement of Gazan civilians in various capacities within Hamas’s war machine. While some civilians may be coerced or have little choice due to the Islamists’ ability to threaten them, others are willingly involved in Hamas attacks. This complicates the humanitarian situation, as distinguishing between combatants and noncombatants becomes difficult in such cases.

Hundreds of kilometers of tunnels running under these civilian areas are part of the same operational logic of turning Gaza into one massive shield for Hamas.

Despite the IDF’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties, including through the successful mass evacuation of battle zones, the presence of weapons in homes increases the risk of collateral damage. Hamas’s tactic of embedding its military infrastructure within civilian areas serves to invite international condemnation of Israel’s actions, even as the IDF strives—more than any Western military—to conduct its operations within the bounds of international law.

Throughout the years that Hamas turned homes, hospitals, mosques, schools, United Nations installations and more into its bases, its planners did not likely believe that the IDF would one day arrive and take on this unprecedented challenge.

As such, at least at the operational level, this entrenchment approach has failed in its goal of preventing the IDF from accessing Hamas’s core zones of operations. JNS

Reports of a rare nervous system disorder were “more common than expected” in older U.S. adults who got the new RSV vaccines, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday that’s similar to what the organization said earlier this year. Government officials still say the benefits of the shots still outweigh the risks. The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say they’re evaluating any risks, but do not plan to change their recommendation for the RSV shots, which is that patients 60 and older should talk to their doctor and then decide whether to be vaccinated. More than 10 million older adults have gotten either Pfizer or GSK single-dose shots since early August to protect against respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms and can be dangerous for infants and older people. Health officials have estimated about two cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome in every 1 million people who receive the RSV vaccine within three weeks of getting the shot. The new CDC report focused on 28 cases of the syndrome in people who were vaccinated, and all but one developed symptoms within 21 days. That translated to 1.5 cases per million in people who got the GSK RSV vaccine, and five cases per million in recipients of the Pfizer shot. CDC officials presented similar findings on the RSV shots and Guillain-Barre syndrome at a February public meeting. An estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop Guillain-Barre syndrome in the U.S. each year — either after being infected by a virus or linked to a vaccination — and it’s more common in older people, according to the CDC. Most people fully recover, but some have permanent nerve damage. (AP)

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage moved back above 7% this week, a setback for home shoppers at a time when the U.S. housing market is already slowing under the strain of elevated home loan borrowing costs and rising prices. The rate rose to 7.03% from 6.94% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.79%. This is the first increase after a three-week pullback. Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing options. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, pushing up the average rate to 6.36% from 6.24% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.18%, Freddie Mac said. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. Yields climbed earlier this week on worries about tepid demand for Treasury bonds following several U.S. government auctions and a surprising report showing confidence among U.S. consumers is strengthening. Economists had been expecting it to show a drop in confidence. The Fed has been holding the federal funds rate at the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of grinding down on the economy enough to get high inflation fully under control. The central bank has maintained it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has greater confidence that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. “This reality, as well as economic signals that have moved sideways over the last few weeks, have resulted in mortgage rates drifting higher as markets continue to dial back expectations of interest rate cuts,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. After climbing to a 23-year high of 7.79% in October, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage stayed below 7% this year until April. Even with the declines earlier this month, the rate remains well above where it was just two years ago at 5.09%. The overall uptick in rates have been an unwelcome development for home shoppers in the midst of the spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest time of the year for home sales. On average, more than one-third of all homes sold in a given year are purchased between March and June. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March and April as home shoppers contended with rising mortgage rates and prices. Sales of new homes also slowed in April, falling 7.7% from a year earlier, as borrowing costs slowed. New data on contract signings for U.S. homes, a bellwether for future home sales, point to potentially further slowing of home sales. The National Association of Realtor’s pending home sales index fell 7.7% in April from the previous month, the trade group said Thursday. April’s drop in pending home sales is the first since January. “The impact of escalating interest rates throughout April dampened homebuying, even with more inventory in the market,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. “But the Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate cut later this year should lead to better conditions, with improved affordability and more supply.” A lag of a month or two usually exists […]

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The IDF spokesperson said on Monday morning that Israel’s Arrow missile defense system intercepted a surface-to-surface air missile on the way to Israel from the Red Sea. The missile, which was launched by the Houthis in Yemen, was headed toward Eilat, triggering sirens in the city. The Houthis have fired several missiles and drones at Eilat since October 7th. All of them were shot down by Israel’s air defense sytems except for one long-range cruise missile that landed in an open area north of Eilat in March. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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Claudia Sheinbaum was elected by a landslide on Sunday as the first Jewish and first female president in Mexico’s 200-year history. The climate scientist and former Mexico City mayor said Sunday night that her two competitors had called her and conceded her victory after she won around 58-60% of votes, according to a preliminary count. Sheinbaum, formerly the mayor of Mexico City and a scientist by training, was born to a Jewish family in Mexico City. Her paternal Ashkenazi grandparents emigrated from Lithuania to Mexico City in the 1920s, while her maternal Sephardic grandparents emigrated there from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in the early 1940s to escape the Holocaust. She celebrated all the Jewish holidays at her grandparents’ homes. The governing party candidate campaigned on continuing the political course set over the last six years by her political mentor President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. His anointed successor, the 61-year-old Sheinbaum led the campaign wire-to-wire despite a spirited challenge from Gálvez. This was the first time in Mexico that the two main opponents were women. “Of course, I congratulate Claudia Sheinbaum with all my respect who ended up the winner by a wide margin,” López Obrador said shortly after electoral authorities announcement. “She is going to be Mexico’s first (woman) president in 200 years.” If the margin holds it would approach his landslide victory in 2018. López Obrador won the presidency after two unsuccessful tries with 53.2% of the votes, in a three-way race where National Action took 22.3% and the Institutional Revolutionary Party took 16.5%. The main opposition candidate, Gálvez, a tech entrepreneur and former senator, tried to seize on Mexicans’ concerns about security and promised to take a more aggressive approach toward organized crime. Nearly 100 million people were registered to vote, but turnout appeared to be slightly lower than in past elections. Voters were also electing governors in nine of the country’s 32 states, and choosing candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of mayorships and other local posts, in the biggest elections the nation has seen and ones that have been marked by violence. The elections were widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico. His Morena party currently holds 23 of the 32 governorships and a simple majority of seats in both houses of Congress. Mexico’s constitution prohibits the president’s reelection. Sheinbaum promised to continue all of López Obrador’s policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays youths to apprentice. Gálvez, whose father was Indigenous Otomi, rose from selling snacks on the street in her poor hometown to start her own tech firms. A candidate running with a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her ire on López Obrador’s decision to avoid confronting the drug cartels through his “hugs not bullets” policy. She pledged to more aggressively go after criminals. The persistent cartel violence and Mexico’s middling economic performance were the main issues on voters’ minds. Beyond the fight for control of Congress, the race for Mexico City mayor — a post now considered equivalent to a governorship — is also important. Sheinbaum is just the latest of many Mexico City mayors, including López Obrador, who went on to run […]

The IDF spokesperson announced on Monday morning that the remains of Dolev Yehud, H”yd, 35, were located on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yehud, H’yd, a resident of the kibbutz, served as a volunteer paramedic for Hatzalah and MDA. After the Hamas assault began on October 7th, he left his house to help save lives but was murdered by Hamas terrorists. Yehud was initially thought to have been abducted to Gaza but when no indications were discovered of his abduction, authorities reevaluated and began to attempt to identify his remains. Following an identification procedure carried out by medical officials at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the HaTzvi Institute in Shura, IDF representatives informed the family. Yehud was married with three children and his wife, Sigal, gave birth to their fourth child while he was thought to be in captivity. His sister, Arbel Yehud, 28, is still in captivity in Gaza. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Scaling back treatment for three kinds of cancer can make life easier for patients without compromising outcomes, doctors reported at the world’s largest cancer conference. It’s part of a long-term trend toward studying whether doing less — less surgery, less chemotherapy or less radiation — can help patients live longer and feel better. The latest studies involved ovarian and esophageal cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma. Thirty years ago, cancer research was about doing more, not less. In one sobering example, women with advanced breast cancer were pushed to the brink of death with massive doses of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants. The approach didn’t work any better than chemotherapy and patients suffered. Now, in a quest to optimize cancer care, researchers are asking: “Do we need all that treatment that we have used in the past?” It’s a question, “that should be asked over and over again,” said Dr. Tatjana Kolevska, medical director for the Kaiser Permanente National Cancer Excellence Program, who was not involved in the new research. Often, doing less works because of improved drugs. “The good news is that cancer treatment is not only becoming more effective, it’s becoming easier to tolerate and associated with less short-term and long-term complications,” said Dr. William G. Nelson of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was also not involved in the new research. Studies demonstrating the trend were discussed over the weekend at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago. Here are the highlights: OVARIAN CANCER French researchers found that it’s safe to avoid removing lymph nodes that appear healthy during surgery for advanced ovarian cancer. The study compared the results for 379 patients — half had their lymph nodes removed and half did not. After nine years, there was no difference in how long the patients lived and those with less-extreme surgery had fewer complications, such as the need for blood transfusions. The research was funded by the National Institute of Cancer in France. ESOPHAGEAL CANCER This German study looked at 438 people with a type of cancer of the esophagus that can be treated with surgery. Half received a common treatment plan that included chemotherapy and surgery on the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach. Half got another approach that includes radiation too. Both techniques are considered standard. Which one patients get can depend on where they get treatment. After three years, 57% of those who got chemo and surgery were alive, compared to 51% of those who got chemo, surgery and radiation. The German Research Foundation funded the study. HODGKIN LYMPHOMA A comparison of two chemotherapy regimens for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma found the less intensive treatment was more effective for the blood cancer and caused fewer side effects. After four years, the less harsh chemo kept the disease in check in 94% of people, compared to 91% of those who had the more intense treatment. The trial included 1,482 people in nine countries — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand — and was funded by Takeda Oncology, the maker of one of the drugs used in the gentler chemo that was studied. (AP)

An environmental activist was detained Saturday after sticking a protest sign to a Monet painting in Paris’ famed Orsay Museum. It was the latest of several actions by protesters with the group Food Riposte to target artworks in France in calls for action to protect food supplies from further damage to the climate. The museum, known in French as the Musée d’Orsay, is a top tourist destination and home to some of the world’s most-loved Impressionist works. The activist targeted “Poppy Field” by Claude Monet, affixing a sticker that covered about half the painting with an apocalyptic, futuristic vision of the same scene. The group said it’s supposed to show what the field would look like in 2100, “ravaged by flames and drought,” if more action isn’t taken against climate change. The woman was detained pending investigation, according to Paris police. It was unclear whether the incident damaged the painting. The museum did not respond to requests for comment. (AP)

Groundbreaking testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci reveals that he simply made up the six-foot social distancing rule and other measures to “protect” Americans from COVID-19.

Republicans released the complete transcript of their January interview with Fauci, just days ahead of his eagerly anticipated public testimony on Monday.

They intend to question him about the COVID-19 restrictions he implemented, which he admitted did little to “slow the spread” of the virus.

The learning loss and social challenges faced by children have been extensively documented, with a National Institute of Health (NIH) study describing the impact of mask usage on students’ literacy and learning as “very negative.”

Another NIH study found that social distancing led to “depression, generalized anxiety, acute stress, and intrusive thoughts.”

In a conversation with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this year, Fauci informed Republicans that the six-foot social distancing rule “sort of just appeared” and he couldn’t remember how it originated.

“You know, I don’t recall. It sort of just appeared,” he said according to committee transcripts when questioned about the rule’s origin.

He also mentioned he “was not aware of studies” supporting social distancing, admitting that such studies “would be very difficult” to conduct.

In addition to not recalling evidence supporting social distancing, Fauci also told the committee’s counsel that he couldn’t remember reviewing anything that supported masking children to prevent COVID-19.

“Do you recall reviewing any studies or data supporting masking for children?” he was asked.

“I might have,” he replied, adding “but I don’t recall specifically that I did.”

Fauci also testified that he did not follow any studies regarding the impacts of forced mask-wearing on children, despite numerous such studies existing.

Ironically, he commented, “I still think that’s up in the air,” regarding whether masking children was an effective way to prevent transmission.

Furthermore, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) acknowledged that the lab leak theory—the notion that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)—is a legitimate “possibility.”

“I think people have made conspiracy aspects from it,” he said, adding “it could be a lab leak.”

“So I think that in and of itself isn’t inherently a conspiracy theory, but some people spin off things from that that are kind of crazy.”

His admission that COVID-19 may have originated at the WIV comes four years after he supported the publication of a paper dismissing the lab leak theory, known as the “Proximal Origin” paper.

The coronavirus committee has spent months investigating the origins of the virus that disrupted so many lives and resulted in the deaths of 6 million people worldwide.

Recently, they discovered that Fauci’s former top aide, Dr. David Morens, frequently conducted work on his personal email account and deleted files to circumvent government transparency laws under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Morens’ disregard for FOIA requests was so blatant that he bragged in emails to colleagues about learning how to make official correspondence “disappear” and that he would delete things he didn’t “want to see in the New York Times.”

Emails from Morens, uncovered by the committee, revealed that he boasted about having a “secret back channel” to Fauci, allowing him to covertly communicate with the former NIAID director.

This revelation stunned the committee’s chairman, Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, who demanded that Fauci turn over his personal email and phone records to the investigative body.

Equally surprising was Fauci’s January admission to the committee that he “never” reviewed the grants he approved, some of which amounted to millions of taxpayer dollars.

“You know, technically, I sign off on each council, but I don’t see the grants and what they are. I never look at what grants are there,” he told the committee’s counsel.

Moreover, he stated he was “not certain” that foreign labs receiving U.S. grant money, such as the WIV—studying coronaviruses with U.S. taxpayer dollars at the pandemic’s onset—operated under the same standards as American labs.

Fauci also said the funds he distributed as part of the NIAID grant process did not undergo any national security reviews.

Additionally, the former director claimed he was unaware of any conflicts of interest among his staff, including his senior advisor Dr. Morens.

However, Morens testified before the committee on May 22 that he assisted his “best friend,” EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak, with his nonprofit’s work.

Morens said he helped edit press releases for EcoHealth and worked to restore grant funding for the nonprofit after its funding was terminated following the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

The NIH, which employs Morens, funded Daszak’s EcoHealth to the tune of millions of dollars.

Still, Fauci claimed he was unaware that Morens had any conflicts of interest.

The committee will likely seek to clarify Fauci and Morens’ “secret back channel” of communication during the June 3 hearing.

{Dov T. Heller – Matzav.com}

Iran’s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered Sunday as a possible candidate for the presidential election, seeking to regain the country’s top political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation’s president. The populist former leader’s registration puts pressure on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In office, Ahmadinejad openly challenged the 85-year-old cleric, and his attempt to run in 2021 was barred by authorities. The firebrand, Holocaust-denying politician’s return comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its arming of Russia in its war on Ukraine and its wide-reaching crackdowns on dissent. Meanwhile, Iran’s support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Mideast have been in increased focus as Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Ahmadinejad is the most prominent candidate to register so far. Speaking after his registration, he vowed to seek “constructive engagement” with the world and improved economic relations with all nations. “The economic, political, cultural and security problems are beyond the situation in 2013,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the year he left the presidency after two terms. After speaking to journalists in front of a bank of 50-odd microphones, Ahmadinejad said, his finger in the air: “Long live the spring, long live Iran!” Before his arrival at Iran’s Interior Ministry, his supporters chanted and waved Iranian flags. They quickly surrounded Ahmadinejad, 67, shouting: “Allahu Akbar!” He descended the stairs at the ministry, showing his passport as is custom to dozens of photographers and video journalists on hand for the registration process. As a woman processed his candidacy, he sat, turned to the journalists, nodding and smiling for the cameras. He was expected to give remarks after concluding his registration. An election is planned June 28 to replace Khamenei’s hardline protégé President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May along with seven other people. Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative with strong ties to Iran’s former relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, has already registered, as has former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, who also ran in 2021. Who else will seek to run remains in question. The country’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, previously a behind-the-scenes bureaucrat, could be the front runner because he has already been seen meeting with Khamenei. Also discussed as a possible aspirant is former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, but, as with Ahmadinejad, whether he would be allowed to run is another question. The five-day registration period will close on Tuesday, and the Guardian Council is expected to issue its final list of candidates within 10 days. That will allow for a shortened two-week campaign before the vote in late June. Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms from 2005 to 2013. Under Iranian law, he became eligible to run again after four years out of office, but he remains a polarizing figure even among fellow hardliners. His disputed re-election in 2009 sparked massive “Green Movement” protests and a sweeping crackdown in which thousands of people were detained and dozens were killed. Abroad, he became a caricature of the Islamic Republic’s worst attributes, including denying the Holocaust and hinting Iran could build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so. But Ahmadinejad remains popular among the poor for […]

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted an operational meeting on Sunday at the Southern Command headquarters, accompanied by Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Bachar, and other command staff officers.

During the meeting, Gallant was updated on the military’s efforts to dismantle Hamas battalions throughout the Gaza Strip, with a particular focus on Rafah.

“I just finished a situational assessment at the Southern Command, the operation in Rafah is progressing above and below ground, the forces are fighting with great determination and are destroying the oxygen tube connecting the Gaza Strip with Egypt. We are choking Hamas and are not letting it continue to exist – it won’t have the ability to overcome, get stronger, and rearm,” Gallant stated.

He further explained, “At the same time as the important military operation, the defense establishment is preparing an alternative to Hamas leadership, as we will cut off areas, remove Hamas men from them, and bring in other forces that will allow for another leadership that threatens Hamas.”

Gallant emphasized that, “These two actions – on the one hand military action and on the other, the ability to bring an alternative leadership will bring to the achievement of two of the war’s objectives: to topple Hamas’ leadership and military might and to bring back the hostages.”

The minister concluded, “At every step, in the entire process of ending the war, we will not accept Hamas leadership in Gaza.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Israel forces on Sunday continued their “precise, intelligence-based targeted operations” in Gaza’s Rafah city, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Troops have seized large caches of weapons and killed armed terrorists in the city, Hamas’s last stronghold in the Strip, the military said.

Ground forces remain active elsewhere in Gaza, including the central Strip, where IAF fighter jets struck more than 30 terror targets over the past 24 hours, including military infrastructure, weapons storage facilities and armed terrorist cells.

On Saturday, IAF aircraft attacked a structure belonging to the Al-Noor organization in the area of Dajar Tuffah in Gaza City, according to the IDF. Al-Noor is responsible for funding Hamas terrorist attacks, the military said.

In addition, IAF fighter jets killed Salame Barake, a Hamas operative in the eastern Khan Yunis Battalion and head of finance in the Hamas Police. The IDF provided video documentation of the strike.

Three other key Hamas terrorists were killed in the past week, including a “significant” operative in Hamas’s Aerial Array, the army said. He was a member of the terrorist group’s Nuseirat Battalion who directed and carried out attacks against Israelis, as well as the head of the terror group’s internal security force’s technology department.

The IDF released a video on Saturday of a booby-trapped home in Rafah, “just one out of many examples where Hamas embeds itself within civilian population and infrastructure.”

Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on May 7 at the start of the operation, which began in the eastern section of the city but has since expanded to other areas, with the IDF last week capturing the entire Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile-long border area between Gaza and Egypt.

Cairo has refused to work with Jerusalem on facilitating the entry of aid via the Rafah crossing. Under pressure from the Biden administration, the Egyptians began allowing aid trucks to enter Gaza via Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing on May 26.

According to a report in the Saudi Al-Hadath TV channel on Sunday, Cairo will present a document to the United States with its demands for reopening the Rafah crossing, which includes an unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the crossing and the surrounding areas and the entry of unlimited aid into Gaza.

Eastern Jabalia mission completed

The IDF announced on Friday that Israeli forces had completed a weeks-long mission in eastern Jabalia in northern Gaza.

The operation involved combat teams from the 7th and 460th Armored Brigades and the 98th Paratroopers Division.

“Hamas turned the civilian space into a fortified combat complex, fired at the forces from shelters and schools, and established underground infrastructure in civilian buildings,” the military said.

Israeli forces killed hundreds of terrorists in “intense battles and close-quarters encounters,” while also destroying dozens of terrorist sites and compounds and confiscating hundreds of weapons. Several “significant” IED production workshops were also destroyed, as were rocket-launching sites and ready-to-use launchers were destroyed.

More than 10 kilometers (6 miles) of an underground tunnel were also destroyed. Weapons and intelligence were located in the tunnel, which had been set with explosives, according to the IDF.

The bodies of seven Israelis taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7 were retrieved during the operation and returned to Israel for burial.

More than 200 airstrikes were carried out during the operation, in which dozens of terrorists were killed, mostly at the command level, the IDF said.

Maternity complex established in Deir al-Balah

The IDF said on Saturday night that a new maternity complex had been established at the IMC field hospital in the Deir al-Balah area in the central Strip.

The complex was set up in coordination with the Israeli Defense Ministry’s COGAT unit.

Two additional generators had been set up as part of the expansion of the hospital, allowing a four-fold increase that can be treated at a time, according to the military.

“We will continue to act in accordance with international law in order to enable the passage of all humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza,” read the IDF statement. JNS

The White House is finalizing plans for a U.S.-Mexico border clampdown that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold, with President Joe Biden expected to sign an executive order as early as Tuesday, according to four people familiar with the matter. The president has been weighing additional executive action since the collapse of a bipartisan border bill earlier this year. The number of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border has declined for months, partly because of a stepped-up effort by Mexico. Still, immigration remains a top concern heading into the U.S. presidential election in November and Republicans are eager to hammer Biden on the issue. The Democratic administration’s effort would aim to head off any potential spike in crossings that could occur later in the year, as the fall election draws closer, when the weather cools and numbers tend to rise, two of the people. They were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The move would allow Biden, whose administration has taken smaller steps in recent weeks to discourage migration and speed up asylum processing, to say he has done all he can do to control the border numbers without help from Congress. The talks were still fluid and the people stressed that no final decisions had been made. The restrictions being considered are an aggressive attempt to ease the nation’s overwhelmed asylum system, along with a new effort to speed up the cases of migrants already in America and another meant to quicken processing for migrants with criminal records or those who would otherwise be eventually deemed ineligible for asylum in the United States. The people told the AP that the administration was weighing some of the policies directly from a stalled bipartisan Senate border deal, including capping the number of encounters at an average of 4,000 per day over a week and whether that limit would include asylum-seekers coming to the border with appointments through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app. Right now, there are roughly 1,450 such appointments per day. Two of the people said one option is that migrants who arrive after the border reaches a certain threshold could be removed automatically in a process similar to deportation and would not be able to return easily. Migrants were able to more easily return to the border if they were expelled under the pandemic-era policy known as Title 42. Under that arrangement, Mexico agreed to take back some non-Mexican nationalities, including migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Migrants, especially families, claiming asylum at the southern border are generally released into the U.S. to wait out their cases. But there are more than 2 million pending immigration court cases, and some people wait years for a court date while they live in limbo in the U.S. Anyone can ask for asylum regardless of whether they arrive illegally at the border, but U.S. officials are increasingly pushing migrants to make appointments, use a legal pathway that avoids the costly and dangerous journey, or stay where they are and apply through outposts in Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. The Biden administration has grown ever more […]

The US Department of Defense (DOD) is being roasted online for posting a rainbow LGBTQ pride graphic on X, in a post recognizing PTSD Awareness Month.

The federal government has recognized June as the official PTSD awareness month since 2014.

To commemorate the month, the DOD posted saying: “June is PTSD Awareness Month and the DoD is committed to supporting service members and veterans affected by PTSD,”. The post continued: “If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. “You are not alone,”.

The problem? Instead of posting a graphic in support of veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, the DOD posted an image of the “Progress Pride Flag” along with the phrase “Celebrate Pride Month 2024” to its 6.5 million followers.

The pride post was later deleted and replaced, but it was too late.

“I’ve got PTSD from having LQBTQ propaganda shoved in my face for the same month,” said one commenter.

Another commentator said: “Yea, and this is why no one is joining the service. My dad [is] a veteran can’t even get his medicines on time from the VA and you concentrate on this,”.

A user wrote: “America doesn’t subscribe to your WOKE ideology, @DeptofDefense,”, and many others commented along the same lines.

Summing it up, one commentator simply wrote: “Shame!”.

{Matzav.com}

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, has warned that nations backing Israel could soon face legal repercussions in international courts.

Speaking at a mosque in Claremont, Cape Town, a speech later published by the MEMRI institute, Minister Pandor expressed: “I feel that I’m doing what I’m doing from too safe a position. I wish I were shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and women in Rafah. That’s where I feel I should be. We have been denied that opportunity by the circumstances of geography and thus we must do what we can.”

Pandor cautioned that “those countries and officials who continue to arm and fund Israel’s war machine will be liable for prosecution as well.”

She emphasized that “Civil society organizations will certainly take up such cases and hold those who facilitated genocide accountable by taking them to court.”

She also revealed that a class action lawsuit is being prepared “against all foreigners who have been serving in the IDF. A group of 140 international lawyers are working on this case. They are very carefully identifying each of these non-citizens of Israel, including South Africans, who have been fighting in Israel.”

Pandor pointed out the troubling reaction of the US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to the ICC prosecutor’s decision, quoting him: “America should punish the ICC and put Karim Khan back in his place.” She added, “He said that if the ICC can threaten Israel’s leaders, then we know America will be next. Our answer is: ‘Of course!'”

{Matzav.com}