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A former Palestinian Authority cabinet minister has publicly identified himself as the mysterious intermediary who says he carried an extraordinary warning from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to Israel just weeks before the October 7 massacre — a warning that reportedly included the word “earthquake” and a threat that Sinwar was preparing a major surprise.

Dr. Sufian Abu Zaida, a former senior Fatah official and PA minister for prisoner affairs, revealed in a video posted to Facebook that he was the man previously identified only by the pseudonym “Coal Eyes” in investigative reporting about intelligence and warnings that preceded the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

“I am ‘Coal Eyes,’” Abu Zaida said, according to Israeli media reports, confirming for the first time his role in the secret contacts that took place in the weeks before the attack. Abu Zaida said he intends to disclose additional details in the coming days about the contacts and the message Sinwar asked him to transmit.

His disclosure adds a new, named source to reporting published earlier this month by Israeli journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval concerning warnings that allegedly reached senior Israeli officials before October 7.

According to that reporting, Sinwar met privately with Abu Zaida in Gaza in September 2023, at a time when Hamas and Israel were engaged in indirect discussions over a broader arrangement concerning Gaza.

The contacts reportedly involved efforts to secure the return of four Israelis then held in Gaza — the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, along with civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed. In return, Hamas sought the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well as steps involving the blockade of Gaza and the territory’s electricity and water infrastructure.

Those discussions apparently stalled in the weeks before October 7. Sinwar subsequently disappeared from the regular channels through which Israeli officials had been following the negotiations.

A senior Shin Bet official told Haaretz that Sinwar had “vanished from our radar, evaporated.”

But Sinwar had not disappeared entirely.

According to the investigation, he met privately with Abu Zaida and instructed him to transmit an ominous message to the Israelis.

“Tell the Israelis if they don’t advance, I’m preparing a huge surprise for them,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.

Sinwar also reportedly used the Arabic word “zilzal” — meaning “earthquake” — to characterize what was coming.

Abu Zaida, a longtime Fatah figure who speaks fluent Hebrew and had extensive contacts with Israelis, reportedly understood the message as an unusually serious threat.

But he faced a dilemma over how to pass it along.

According to the account provided by Eldar, Abu Zaida feared contacting the Shin Bet directly. He was concerned both for his personal safety and that direct contact with Israeli intelligence could expose him to accusations of collaborating with Israel.

Instead, the warning was relayed through a Palestinian contact close to the leadership of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Zaida is politically associated with the camp of Mohammed Dahlan, the former senior Fatah official who has lived in the UAE and developed close ties to its leadership.

The warning reportedly made its way to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

According to the earlier investigation, Mohammed bin Zayed subsequently spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu roughly a week and a half before October 7 and warned him that Sinwar was planning a major operation that could destabilize the region.

The UAE has not publicly confirmed the details of the alleged conversation. Asked about the reporting, the Emirates said it “does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders.”

Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, has strongly denied that the prime minister received such a warning from the UAE, making the question of what precisely reached Israel’s political leadership a matter of dispute. Abu Zaida’s newly released video identified him as the intermediary who received Sinwar’s message but, according to the Times of Israel, did not address the separate allegation concerning what Mohammed bin Zayed subsequently told Netanyahu.

There was reportedly another route by which the intelligence reached Israel.

Israeli reporting has said that information originating with the intermediary reached the Shin Bet in mid-September 2023. According to an N12 account of the investigation, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar recommended examining the possibility of preventive strikes in Gaza or substantially strengthening defenses along the Gaza border, but no operational decision followed from the discussions.

The information was also reportedly kept within a tightly restricted circle. As a result, senior IDF and Military Intelligence officials who were not privy to the intelligence could not combine Sinwar’s message with other warning signs that emerged ahead of October 7, N12 reported.

The precise meaning attributed to Sinwar’s “earthquake” warning at the time is also significant. Reporting by N12 said Israeli officials apparently misinterpreted some of the intelligence, believing it could relate to a possible transfer to Gaza of Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian researcher who had been kidnapped in Iraq, rather than an imminent large-scale Hamas assault.

Weeks later, on the morning of October 7, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel from Gaza, murdering approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages in the deadliest terrorist attack in Israeli history.

Abu Zaida, 66, was born in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza and spent years as a prominent Fatah figure. He previously served as the Palestinian Authority’s minister for prisoner affairs and became well known in Israel because of his fluent Hebrew and frequent appearances in Israeli media. He is associated with Dahlan’s faction of Fatah and left Gaza for Egypt after the outbreak of the war.

His decision to reveal himself now puts a name and face to one of the more consequential claims to emerge from the continuing examination of the intelligence failures preceding October 7.

It also sharpens unresolved questions about how Sinwar’s warning was understood, who ultimately received it, and why the threat did not result in preparations sufficient to prevent the attack. Abu Zaida has said that additional details about his role in the secret contacts — including the message Sinwar personally asked him to convey to Israel — will be released in the coming days.

{Matzav.com}

Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked New York City’s 200,000th pothole repair of the year Thursday, using the milestone to promote his administration’s focus on delivering basic city services. But the celebration quickly drew criticism from political figures who accused the mayor of turning routine municipal work into a publicity event — while comparisons cited by the New York Post showed that the current pace of repairs trails a benchmark reached during Bill de Blasio’s tenure.

Mamdani joined Department of Transportation workers on Troutman Street in Bushwick, where he helped patch the pothole that City Hall designated as the 200,000th repaired in 2026. The mayor’s office said DOT crews are currently repairing roughly 3,000 potholes each week while simultaneously carrying out a major street-repaving effort.

The event gave Mamdani another opportunity to promote what his administration calls “pothole politics” — an emphasis on highly visible, everyday government services as evidence that City Hall is responding to residents’ concerns.

“Fixing the broken water fountain at the playground our kids love, upgrading the catch basin on the corner that always floods and, of course, making a bumpy road smooth again,” he said in a statement.

“That is what public service should look like.”

According to City Hall, Mamdani had previously participated in repairing the city’s 100,000th pothole in early April on Staten Island. The administration said that milestone represented the largest number of potholes repaired during the first 100 days of a year in more than a decade.

The latest appearance, however, was met with criticism from some veteran New York political figures.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who earned the nickname “Senator Pothole” during his political career, had already dismissed the earlier April event when speaking to the New York Post.

Scott Stringer, the former New York City comptroller who competed against Mamdani in the 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, was similarly dismissive of Thursday’s event.

“Mamdani wouldn’t know how to fill a pothole if he fell in one,” he said.

Stringer argued that the mayor should devote greater attention to broader problems facing New Yorkers rather than staging events around individual repairs.

“Everywhere I go in this city people are bemoaning the dirty streets, the tragedy of homelessness. He’s got to figure out to do the work and not do this performative stuff. They didn’t believe under de Blasio, they won’t under Mamdani.”

The comparison with de Blasio also complicated Mamdani’s effort to highlight the 200,000-repair milestone.

De Blasio, whom Mamdani has identified as his favorite living New York City mayor, celebrated the repair of one million potholes during his first two years at City Hall. Based on the figures cited by the New York Post from contemporaneous Daily News reporting, that worked out to approximately 1,268 potholes for every day he had been in office.

By comparison, the Post calculated Mamdani’s 2026 pace at approximately 769 potholes per day. The periods are not directly identical, however: the de Blasio figure covered his first two full years in office, while Mamdani’s 200,000 figure represents repairs from January 1 through September 17 of this year.

City Hall has emphasized that pothole repairs are only one part of its street-maintenance work. The administration said DOT has paved 757 lane miles across the five boroughs so far this year, while describing repaving as the more effective long-term method of preventing potholes from developing.

Still, Thursday’s milestone offered Mamdani another chance to put his governing philosophy on display — and his critics another opportunity to argue that City Hall’s highly publicized pothole events amount to more show than substance.

{Matzav.com}

[Video and photos below.] Approximately 100,000 people gathered at the Kosel overnight for a massive and deeply moving Selichos gathering, joined by freed hostages and families of those who were murdered in Hamas captivity. The extraordinary event also connected the Kosel plaza with Hostages Square in Tel Aviv through a live broadcast, as thousands at both locations joined together in tefillah.

Rabbonim, government ministers, public officials and tens of thousands of mispallelim filled the Kosel plaza, while thousands more participated from Hostages Square. The connection between the two locations was especially poignant following the return home of the hostages after their ordeal in Gaza.

Among the freed hostages who attended were Bar Kupershtein, Matan Angrest, Rom Braslavski, Moran Stella Yanai, Agam Berger, Omer Wenkert, Nimrod Cohen and Eliya Cohen.

Also present were members of the families of Yonatan Samerano, Guy Iluz, Tamir Adar, Omer Neutra and Eliya Toledano, who were abducted on October 7 and murdered while being held by Hamas in Gaza.

The gathering opened with remarks from Mordechai “Soli” Eliav, director-general of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, who spoke about the special bond that developed between the Kosel and Hostages Square during the long period in which the hostages were being held in Gaza.

Eliav recalled that throughout the period of captivity, and particularly during last year’s Selichos gatherings, approximately 1.5 million mispallelim joined in tefillah for the hostages to return home. Now, with the hostages back, the two locations were linked live for an emotional tefillah of gratitude.

During the gathering, Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, rov of the Kosel and the holy sites, offered a special tefillah of thanksgiving for the return of the hostages.

“Tonight, from the Kosel and Hostages Square, I want to say to You, Ribono Shel Olam: Look down from Shomayim and see how, during the most difficult time, we stood together,” Rav Rabinowitz told the enormous crowd.

Rav Rabinowitz continued by reflecting on the achdus that emerged during the long and painful period of captivity.

“We did not always agree on the path, but we all shared the worry, the tefillah and the hope,” he said. “For such a long period, the heart of all of us was held captive — until the last of the hostages returned. In the merit of this Kiddush Hashem, the brotherhood and the courage of the hostages, who sanctified Shem Shomayim in the darkest places and continue to sanctify Shem Shomayim even now — open for us the gates of Shomayim and send us a good and blessed year.”

Throughout the Selichos, the rabbonim led heartfelt tefillos for the safety of IDF soldiers and members of Israel’s security forces, for a refuah sheleimah for the wounded, and for peace, security and achdus throughout Klal Yisroel.

The massive turnout extended far beyond the Kosel plaza. With the area filled to capacity, thousands of additional mispallelim who could not enter gathered along the approaches to the Old City.

To allow the overflow crowds to participate, the Selichos were broadcast live on enormous screens erected along the walls of the Old City and at Shaar Yaffo. Thousands standing outside the Kosel area were thus able to join the tefillos together with the crowd inside the plaza.

The broadcast was arranged at the initiative of Yerushalayim Mayor Moshe Lion, together with the Yerushalayim Municipality, the Yerushalayim Development Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

Meanwhile, preparations have already been completed for the final major Selichos gathering of the year at the Kosel, which will take place this Motzoei Shabbos.

The gathering will begin at midnight with Hataras Nedarim and Hataras Klalos, followed by the recitation of Selichos.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation is urging the tens of thousands expected to attend to arrive early due to the enormous crowds anticipated and to follow the instructions of Israel Police and event personnel throughout the night.

VIDEO AND PHOTOS:

A 23-year-old Israeli tourist was killed Thursday in a paragliding accident in Colombia after the tandem paraglider he was riding in crashed into a wooded ravine. The local flight instructor accompanying him was critically injured and rushed to a hospital.

The fatal accident occurred at approximately noon in the San Félix area of Colombia’s Antioquia Department, along the Medellín-San Pedro de los Milagros road. The two-person paraglider reportedly lost control before plunging into a heavily wooded area.

According to local officials and witnesses, strong winds and difficult weather conditions were reported in the area at the time and may have contributed to the crash.

Emergency personnel, including firefighters, ambulances and rescue vehicles, were dispatched to the scene. Rescuers recovered the body of the Israeli victim and evacuated the badly injured instructor, who was reported to be in critical condition.

Colombian prosecutors opened an investigation and began collecting evidence at the crash site in an effort to determine precisely what caused the paraglider to go down.

Local authorities also inspected the paragliding company involved in the flight and reportedly found its operations to be in order. The investigation nevertheless remained ongoing as officials sought to establish the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

Following news of the accident, Rabbi Levi Vanunu, the Chabad shliach in the area, began working closely with the Israeli Embassy and Colombian authorities to assist with arrangements.

Rabbi Vanunu and Israeli diplomatic officials were working around the clock to expedite the necessary bureaucratic procedures and arrange for the victim’s aron to be returned to Eretz Yisroel for kevurah as soon as possible.

{Matzav.com}

A former senior official in Bashar Assad’s Syrian regime was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in federal prison for his role in the brutal torture of political prisoners, a punishment that will almost certainly keep the 74-year-old behind bars for the remainder of his life.

Samir Othman al-Sheikh, a retired Syrian brigadier general and former head of Damascus’ Adra Central Prison, is the highest-ranking Assad regime official to have been prosecuted and convicted outside Syria. A federal jury found him guilty on all six charges against him, including conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, immigration-document fraud and attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship through fraud.

The federal judge in Los Angeles who imposed the sentence described al-Sheikh’s conduct as “despicable, cruel to a degree that is difficult to imagine, and so violent that there are almost no words to describe it.” Prosecutors had sought a sentence of at least 80 years, while al-Sheikh’s attorneys said they planned to appeal the conviction.

Al-Sheikh served as director of Adra Central Prison in Damascus from 2005 until 2008. The facility contained an underground punishment section known as “Wing 13,” where political prisoners and other inmates were subjected to severe abuse.

Evidence presented at trial, including testimony from former prisoners, showed that al-Sheikh ordered inmates sent to the underground section, monitored torture sessions through surveillance cameras and, on some occasions, personally participated in the abuse.

Former prisoners described being confined in filthy, freezing cells and shackled to pipes suspended from the ceiling. They testified that inmates were beaten with electrical cables and subjected to a notorious torture device known as the “flying carpet,” which folded victims’ bodies in ways that caused extreme pain and, in some cases, spinal fractures. In one incident described during the proceedings, al-Sheikh himself stepped on the device while a prisoner was restrained inside it.

Years after leaving Syria, al-Sheikh sought permission to immigrate to the United States. He applied for an immigrant visa in 2018, entered the country in March 2020 and subsequently obtained permanent-resident status.

Prosecutors said he secured that status by concealing significant portions of his past, including his position at Adra prison and his connections to Syria’s ruling Ba’ath Party.

His presence in the United States was uncovered in 2022 after a Syrian woman recognized al-Sheikh in a photograph posted on social media. She contacted Syrian human-rights activist Omar Alshogre, setting in motion the events that eventually led authorities to investigate him.

Federal agents arrested al-Sheikh in July 2024 at Los Angeles International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Beirut.

Four days after the Assad regime collapsed in December 2024, federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment adding the torture charges to the immigration-fraud case already pending against him.

The prosecution placed al-Sheikh among a very small group of defendants charged under a U.S. federal statute permitting American authorities to prosecute certain acts of torture committed outside the United States. He became only the fifth person to be prosecuted under the law.

Following the sentencing, the U.S. Justice Department said the case was intended to send a broader message to individuals accused of serious human-rights abuses around the world: perpetrators who conceal their pasts should not expect to find a safe haven in the United States.

{Matzav.com}

Former CIA Director John Brennan leveled a sweeping accusation against President Donald Trump and his administration on Thursday, claiming that what he described as corruption involving the President and his family had reached a level comparable to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Brennan made the comments during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Deadline,” amid renewed scrutiny of Donald Trump Jr.’s relationship with Russian businessman Umar Kremlev.

The discussion centered on recent reporting about Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association, who helped finance post-wedding celebrations for Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump in the Bahamas. Trump Jr. and his wife have confirmed that Kremlev hosted two nights of festivities for them, describing him as a friend and rejecting suggestions that the arrangement had improper political implications. Kremlev has ties to Putin and was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship in April.

Host Nicolle Wallace said, “If they’re not hiding a deep and intimate relationship with someone who is right now, this isn’t like an old-school Russian oligarch before the war with Ukraine started, this is someone who left Putin’s entourage to fly to Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding, what does that mean?”

Brennan responded by pointing to Kremlev’s connections with the Russian president and arguing that such a relationship would ordinarily attract scrutiny from American counterintelligence agencies.

“He clearly is very close to Putin. He was given the order of friendship, which is a very high order, two months ago and a month ago. And he traveled with Putin to China as part of his delegation. And he has publicly announced that he owes his wealth and his professional success to Vladimir Putin. So it would raise all sorts of counterintelligence flags for everybody, whether it be at the CIA or the FBI, and also at the White House. But clearly, Don Jr. didn’t really care about that. But I know that the Russians use individuals like this, again, to try to develop relationships and then to extract over time, either information or favors or whatever else. So yes, it raises so many questions.”

Reporting about the wedding festivities has said that Kremlev paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for expenses associated with the Bahamas celebrations, including private-island accommodations and fireworks. Trump Jr. and his wife subsequently acknowledged Kremlev’s role, saying that he “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us after our wedding, for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”

Kremlev’s connections to the Russian government have become a focal point of the controversy. Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship earlier this year, and Kremlev was reported to have been in China as part of a delegation accompanying Putin shortly before the wedding celebrations. Ukraine has sanctioned Kremlev, citing his ties to Putin and Russian security officials.

Trump Jr. and his wife have rejected suggestions that Kremlev’s involvement represented anything improper, characterizing the festivities as a personal gesture from a friend. Kremlev has likewise denied improper motives or political discussions in connection with his relationship with Trump Jr. President Trump has said he does not know Kremlev and did not attend the Bahamas festivities.

Brennan went considerably further during his television appearance, expanding his criticism beyond the questions surrounding Trump Jr. and Kremlev to make a broader accusation about the Trump administration and the President’s family.

“I think the extent of the corruption now that we see in this Trump administration, it’s on the scale of Vladimir Putin, it really is. I mean, it has reached such a level in terms of the wealth of the president himself as well as his family members.”

Brennan did not present evidence during the quoted portion of the interview establishing that the Trump administration’s corruption was equivalent to Putin’s government; the comparison was his characterization. His remarks came as Democratic lawmakers have called for investigations into Kremlev’s financing of the wedding-related festivities, while Trump Jr. and his wife have defended the relationship and denied that the arrangement carried the political significance their critics have attributed to it.

{Matzav.com}

Warren Buffett has stepped down as executive chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, bringing another chapter of his six-decade leadership of the investment powerhouse to a close and handing the chairman’s role to his son, Howard Buffett.

The 96-year-old billionaire, who relinquished the CEO position at the beginning of this year, indicated in a letter to Berkshire shareholders that his advancing age was a major factor behind his latest decision.

“Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me,” Buffett wrote Friday.

“He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead. The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you.”

Buffett was immediately given the title of chairman emeritus. Howard Buffett, who has served as a Berkshire director since 1993, will succeed his father as chairman. The younger Buffett has also held board positions at several other major corporations over the years, including The Coca-Cola Company.

Warren Buffett, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at approximately $144.7 billion, spent roughly 60 years building Berkshire into one of the world’s most formidable corporate empires. When he took control in 1965, Berkshire was a struggling textile manufacturer. Today, the company is valued at approximately $1.16 trillion.

Buffett became one of the most celebrated investors in modern history through an investment philosophy centered on purchasing strong businesses at attractive prices and holding them for the long term.

Although he is surrendering the chairman’s position, Buffett will not be severing his formal ties with Berkshire.

“As Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Buffett will remain a member of the Board of Directors and will continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective,” Berkshire said in a statement.

The chairman transition follows another historic leadership change at Berkshire earlier this year, when Buffett stepped aside as chief executive and turned the CEO position over to his longtime deputy, Greg Abel.

“Warren’s impact on Berkshire and its owners is without parallel in the history of American business,” Abel said in a statement Friday.

“The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian.”

Buffett had already spoken openly about the effects of aging when he announced in 2025 that Abel would eventually succeed him as CEO. Although Buffett said at the time that his overall health remained good, he acknowledged that age was beginning to affect his ability to operate at the pace he once had.

He said his balance had occasionally become unsteady, his eyesight was deteriorating, and remembering people’s names had become more difficult. Buffett also acknowledged that Abel was able to accomplish more during a working day than he could.

Buffett publicly revealed Abel as his successor during Berkshire Hathaway’s 2025 annual shareholder meeting, the enormous Omaha gathering that has long been nicknamed the “Woodstock for Capitalists.”

Abel, a Canadian who previously served as Berkshire’s vice chairman, had been widely viewed as Buffett’s eventual successor since 2021. Before taking over as CEO, he played a major role in developing Berkshire’s sprawling energy operations.

Berkshire today owns more than 60 businesses across a broad range of industries. Its companies include Geico, Duracell and Dairy Queen, among many others.

The conglomerate also maintains enormous investments in some of America’s best-known corporations, with major holdings that include American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Chevron.

Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1930 and has maintained unusually deep ties to his hometown throughout his extraordinary business career. Berkshire’s headquarters remain in Omaha, and its annual shareholder gathering brings enormous crowds of investors and business executives to the city each year.

Despite becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world, Buffett has famously continued living in the comparatively modest Omaha house he purchased in 1958 for $31,500. The property has become such a recognizable part of Buffett lore that it is regularly pointed out on guided tours through the city.

Buffett has also spent years steadily giving away much of the fortune he accumulated through Berkshire. Through annual charitable contributions, he has laid out plans aimed at ultimately donating 99% of his wealth, with much of the remaining fortune slated to be distributed through four family-run foundations by 2034.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

As Lakewood prepares for Yom Tov, dozens of local Kollel families are facing a very different kind of Tishrei — wondering how they will cover even the basic expenses for their families.

For Keren Zichron Tzipora (KZT), the calls have been coming nonstop. The organization exists with one mission: to financially support and uplift Lakewood’s devoted Yungeleit and their families, with a simple message: “We are honored to support your Torah.”

For some families, the clothing gift cards provided by KZT will mean the only new clothing their children receive all year. Baruch Hashem, 20 families were assisted this past week alone — but dozens more are still waiting.

With Erev Yom Kippur quickly approaching, KZT is turning to the Lakewood community to help close the gap.

$500 can sponsor a Kollel family’s Yom Tov, but every amount can make a meaningful difference.

As the Yom HaDin approaches, it is an opportunity to bring tremendous relief to a local family — and enter the new year with the zechus of supporting Torah right here at home.

Who will tip the scales this Tishrei? 

Please Donate Here

Other ways to partner:
Call 24/7: 732-702-8100

Zelle / Venmo / Paypal: kerenzichrontzipora@gmail.com

Mail a check to:
Keren Zichron Tzipora
1511 Newport Drive
Lakewood, NJ 08701

All donations are tax-deductible. Tax ID 87-3452793

Thank you for standing with our Yungeleit. Wishing you a Gmar Chasima Tova.

The Department of Homeland Security is intensifying enforcement against immigration attorneys accused of filing fraudulent or legally baseless asylum applications, warning that lawyers could face substantial financial penalties and other sanctions as the government seeks to reduce a massive backlog in the immigration court system.

DHS General Counsel James Percival issued the warning this week in a letter to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. According to figures cited by DHS, nearly 3.5 million cases were pending in immigration courts as of July, including approximately 2.3 million asylum claims. The department contends that a significant portion of those applications lack a sufficient legal basis.

Percival said that many of the applications DHS considers meritless are contributing to the enormous caseload and slowing the adjudication of claims from migrants who may qualify for asylum. The department says claims based on circumstances including generalized gang violence, domestic violence, economic hardship and broad conditions within an applicant’s home country frequently fail to satisfy the legal requirements for asylum.

DHS further alleged that some applications are being submitted for reasons unrelated to obtaining protection from persecution. According to Percival, “meritless asylum applications are filed to obtain work permits, to delay deportation, and to force a release from custody,” and applications without a reasonable factual or legal foundation “will be dealt with accordingly.”

The warning comes as the Trump administration has moved aggressively to reduce the immigration-case backlog and tighten enforcement against fraud within the asylum system. DHS has said its efforts are intended both to deter fraudulent filings and to allow legitimate asylum applications to be processed more efficiently.

The administration has also increasingly focused on the attorneys who prepare and submit immigration filings. DHS maintains that lawyers who knowingly participate in fraudulent applications can themselves face penalties rather than enforcement being limited to their clients.

That policy was demonstrated in July, when Homeland Security Investigations sought a fine of more than $470,000 against immigration attorney Suraj Raj Singh. The government alleged that Singh filed 118 fraudulent documents across 54 immigration cases, including asylum declarations that authorities said contained nearly identical language and substance. Those allegations remain government claims associated with the enforcement action.

At the time, Percival made clear that DHS intended to pursue attorneys it believes are knowingly participating in immigration fraud.

“Fraudulent asylum claims threaten the safety of the American people, undermine our immigration system, and delay the removal of dangerous criminal illegal aliens.”

“ICE is seeking a fine of more than $470,000 from attorney Suraj Raj Singh. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, we will hold attorneys like this accountable and put an end to the practice of defrauding and abusing our immigration system,” Percival said.

The Singh case was not the first such action. DHS previously announced that Homeland Security Investigations was seeking more than $255,000 in fines against immigration attorney Vinod Doddamani. The government alleged that Doddamani prepared and filed 64 fraudulent documents in 32 immigration cases.

Following that enforcement action, Percival issued another warning to immigration attorneys.

“Fraudulent asylum claims threaten the safety of Americans by overwhelming our burdened immigration system and delaying the removal of dangerous criminal aliens.”

Percival added: “Your days of abusing and defrauding our immigration system are over.”

Federal immigration law already contains potentially severe consequences for knowingly filing frivolous asylum applications. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1158(d)(6), an applicant who has received the required notice and is determined to have knowingly filed a frivolous asylum application can become permanently ineligible for most immigration benefits. Federal regulations also provide mechanisms for disciplining attorneys for frivolous filings and other forms of professional misconduct.

The latest DHS letter signals that the department intends to make greater use of those enforcement tools against attorneys as well as applicants. Percival warned that lawyers responsible for false or frivolous filings could face penalties and said DHS will “vigorously pursue all available remedies” in cases involving immigration fraud.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday, declaring that if anyone should face arrest ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, it should be Mamdani rather than Netanyahu.

The comments came days before Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in New York, reviving controversy over Mamdani’s past pledge to have the Israeli prime minister arrested on the basis of an International Criminal Court warrant accusing Netanyahu of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The United States is not a member of the ICC, and Mamdani’s own administration subsequently concluded that New York City lacked independent legal authority to carry out the warrant.

Mamdani said in July that he had directed the city’s Law Department to examine the legal questions surrounding the warrant. After that review, he acknowledged that City Hall could not independently order Netanyahu’s arrest, while continuing to argue that the warrant should be honored and calling on the federal government to act.

Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, Danon assailed Mamdani over his rhetoric concerning Netanyahu and Israel.

“I think he already incited by putting the ridiculous claim that he can or he should arrest the prime minister,” Danon told reporters.

“If someone should be arrested, it’s Mayor Mamdani for inciting, for actually collaborating with the enemy of the United States. He sends these officials to meet with the Iranian ambassador here at the U.N.”

Danon was referring to controversy surrounding a proposed July meeting between a member of Mamdani’s administration and an Iranian representative in New York. Mamdani has disputed the characterization that his administration initiated such contact, saying that the request came from the Iranian side and that, once he learned about it, he made clear that the meeting would not take place.

“I hope that he realizes he has a responsibility,” Danon said of Mamdani, “not to call for people to demonstrate but to take care of the city and to make sure that next week will be a quiet, functioning week for the thousands of people that will come from all around the world to participate in the U.N. high-level week.”

Security preparations are already intensifying around the United Nations, with thousands of visitors and foreign dignitaries expected in Manhattan and numerous demonstrations planned in connection with the General Assembly. City officials have announced a broad security operation involving the NYPD and federal agencies.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Sept. 24, two days after President Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance.

Mamdani pushed back Wednesday against suggestions that he had encouraged New Yorkers to protest Netanyahu. His position, he said, has been that New Yorkers have a constitutional right to demonstrate, while the decision whether to do so belongs to them.

“To New Yorkers, I have never encouraged them to protest. What I have always told them is that they have the right to do so in this city,” he said.

“We respect that right, and this is a city that is proud of the Constitution, proud of the First Amendment, and will continue to do so.”

Mamdani has continued to be a vocal critic of the Israeli government since becoming mayor in January. His critics have accused him of contributing to an increasingly hostile climate for Jewish New Yorkers, an accusation Mamdani and his allies have disputed. NYPD figures nevertheless show a continued high level of anti-Jewish hate crimes: during the first seven months of 2026, police confirmed 205 anti-Jewish hate crimes, compared with 189 during the same period in 2025, an increase of 8.5%. Anti-Jewish incidents represented 56.9% of all confirmed hate crimes during that period.

At a security briefing Thursday, Mamdani was also asked whether NYPD officials had urged him to tone down his rhetoric concerning Israel or Netanyahu as police prepare for protests surrounding the General Assembly.

“The conversations that I’ve had with the police department have been purely on standard preparations for this event, as well as standard preparations for keeping New Yorkers safe,” he said. “And I’m fully confident in our police department’s ability to do so, and I’m fully confident in their ability to do so each and every day, even outside of the General Assembly.”

The mayor also said his administration was arranging meetings with foreign officials visiting New York for the annual gathering, though he would not say whether he planned to meet President Trump.

“I will have a few meetings that we’re in the process of setting up at this time, that we’ll share more details about soon,” Mamdani said.

“When it comes to the president, we continue to have a conversation about how best to deliver for this city, and that is a conversation that has been done in person, has been done over the phone, and it will continue so long as either of us have the ability to deliver for the city.”

{Matzav.com}