An overnight fire at the Reform Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Mississippi — the city’s only Jewish synagogue — is under investigation by city, state, and federal officials after a suspect was taken into custody.
The fire ignited just after 3 a.m. Shabbos, inflicting heavy damage on portions of the historic building. Crews from the Jackson Fire Department responded quickly and succeeded in bringing the flames under control. No injuries were reported.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn denounced the incident, saying it struck at both religious liberty and public safety. In a statement, he warned that antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred pose a danger to the entire community and will be addressed as such, while affirming the city’s support for the Beth Israel congregation and the broader Jewish community.
Officials have not disclosed the suspect’s identity or outlined potential charges. Authorities also have not yet determined whether the fire will be officially designated a hate crime.
The probe is being conducted jointly by the Jackson Fire Department’s Arson Investigation Division and the Jackson Police Department, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Investigators say the inquiry is ongoing.
Founded more than a century ago, Beth Israel Congregation is the oldest synagogue in Jackson. The building was previously targeted in a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing that damaged synagogue offices and the rabbi’s home. No one was killed in that earlier attack.
{Matzav.com}
Israeli police last week arrested an Arab resident of Ramallah suspected of defrauding 100 Israelis of a total of some 3 million shekels (~$950,000) by purchasing their products online and making it appear he had paid them.
A Special Operations Unit raided the suspect’s home and arrested him. The suspect’s detention has been extended until this Wednesday.
The Arab, in his 50s, is suspected of pretending to be an Israeli living in the country’s north, the police investigation revealed. He would contact his victims to purchase goods they posted on various online sites, including Yad2, a popular secondhand site that sells everything from home goods to health products.
The suspect would negotiate a price with the sellers and send a phony confirmation showing transfer of payment. He would then send a taxi to pick up the product from the victim’s home. The product would be transferred to another taxi in Samaria and eventually reach the seller in Ramallah, Ynet reported.
The suspect purchased laser hair removal machines and photography equipment, among other items.
By the time the victim learned that the money transfer confirmation was fake, it was too late.
The investigation showed that between 2024 and 2025, about 100 Israelis lodged complaints against the Ramallah resident. JNS
{Matzav.com}
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has threatened to attack the U.S. military and Israel should President Donald Trump authorize strikes against the regime for harming protesters amid growing unrest in the country, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that the two allies were “legitimate targets,” according to the news agency, making the threat as lawmakers rushed to the dais in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran’s Baharestan district, shouting: “Death to America!”
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory [i.e. Israel] and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Ghalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
Trump has made recent public comments and social media posts warning of consequences if the regime cracks down on nationwide protests, on Saturday writing on his Truth Social platform that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
The State Department also warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, reported on Saturday: “Mr. Trump has not made a final decision, but the officials said he was seriously considering authorizing a strike in response to the Iranian regime’s efforts to suppress demonstrations set off by widespread economic grievances.
“The president has been presented with a range of options, including strikes on nonmilitary sites in Tehran, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations,” the report continued.
An official told The Wall Street Journal on Saturday that one option under consideration is a large-scale aerial assault on Iranian military positions. Another official noted that no consensus has been reached and that no troops or equipment have been mobilized in preparation for such an operation.
The officials emphasized that the talks are part of routine military planning and stressed there are no indications of an imminent strike on Iran.
The Israel Defense Forces said over the weekend that it is maintaining high operational readiness and closely monitoring developments in Iran, following a series of security assessments led by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
The army stressed that the ongoing protests are “an internal Iranian matter,” but noted that Israel’s defenses are reinforced and its capabilities constantly being upgraded.
“We are prepared on defense and will know how to respond forcefully if required,” the IDF said, adding that it “will do whatever is necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel.”
Demonstrators filled the streets of Tehran and Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, again on Sunday, extending into a third week protests challenging the country’s Islamic theocratic rule. At least 116 people have been killed in the unrest, according to activists, as authorities struggle to contain some of the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday that “rioters and terrorists” must not be allowed to disturb public order, accusing Israel and the United States of fomenting unrest.
Speaking to state broadcaster IRIB, Pezeshkian said Iranians should trust that authorities seek to “establish justice” and not allow agitators to “disrupt society.” He claimed that foreign adversaries aim to “sow chaos and disorder” in the Islamic Republic by instigating the ongoing protests.
With internet access disrupted and phone lines cut, verifying details of the turmoil has grown increasingly difficult. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said the death toll continues to rise and that regime security forces have detained more than 2,600 people since the protests began.
Ghalibaf sent a stern message to the protesters in his speech praising the response of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Basij paramilitary volunteers, saying that “the people of Iran should know that we will deal with them in the most severe way and punish those who are arrested.”
The army said Saturday that it would “resolutely defend national interests, strategic infrastructure, and public property,” accusing Israel and what it described as terrorist organizations of fueling the unrest and pledging to “foil the enemy’s schemes,” the Journal reported.
Nationwide protests, the largest in three years, erupted on Dec. 28 over soaring inflation and a plunging currency, with the rial falling to a record low of 1.46 million to the dollar on Tuesday.
The protests have widened to include calls to overthrow the Islamist government. Strikes have also been a part of the movement.
The theocratic dictatorship is also dealing with the reimposition of economic sanctions over nuclear violations along with water and electricity crises. JNS
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The operation that resulted in the capture of Nicolas Maduro is now being described as a turning point in modern combat, with claims that an unfamiliar and extraordinarily powerful weapon was deployed during the mission.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt amplified those claims, urging the public to pay attention as she shared a disturbing eyewitness narrative on X. “Stop what you are doing and read this… ,” she wrote while circulating the account.
According to the testimony, Venezuelan troops were incapacitated almost instantly, with soldiers collapsing to the ground, “bleeding through the nose,” and throwing up blood. The account was attributed to a Venezuelan guard who said he personally witnessed the events.
The guard said the attack began with something unfamiliar and impossible for him to identify. “At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it,” he said in the account posted on X.
He explained that what followed felt overwhelming and physically crushing. “It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly, I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.
“It was like a very intense sound wave.”
As a result, he said, the Venezuelan forces were rendered helpless and unable to mount any resistance.
According to the guard, the technological gap made fighting back impossible. “We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons,” he said. “I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was.”
He went on to claim that American forces eliminated hundreds of fighters on the ground without losing a single soldier during the engagement.
Describing the moments leading up to the assault, the guard said Venezuelan defenses suddenly went blind. “We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,” he said. “The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.”
He said that shortly afterward, only “barely eight” helicopters arrived, unloading roughly 20 U.S. troops. Despite their small number, he said, their technological superiority proved decisive.
Those developments, he said, resulted in a massacre.
“We were hundreds, but we had no chance,” the guard said. “They were shooting with such precision and speed; it felt like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute.”
He repeated that the outcome was lopsided and devastating. “Those 20 men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us,” he said. “We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The White House did not respond to a New York Post request seeking clarification on whether Leavitt’s repost meant the administration had independently confirmed the account.
Venezuela’s Interior Ministry, meanwhile, asserted that roughly 100 members of the country’s security forces were killed during the operation.
Separately, a former U.S. intelligence source told the Post that the United States has possessed directed-energy weapons for years, including systems capable of causing effects such as “bleeding, inability to move or function, pain and burning.”
The guard said he decided to speak out as a warning to anyone considering confrontation with the United States. “they have no idea what they’re capable of. After what I saw, I never want to be on the other side of that again. They’re not to be messed with.”
He added that the incident is already reverberating far beyond the battlefield. “Everyone is already talking about this,” he said. “No one wants to go through what we went through. What happened here is going to change a lot of things — not just in Venezuela, but throughout the region.”
{Matzav.com}
