Mexican investigators were working to determine the cause of a crash in which a tanker truck carrying more than 13,000 gallons (49,500 liters) of gas exploded on a major highway in the capital, killing at least four people and injuring 90. The fiery crash Wednesday that burned more than two-dozen vehicles created a gruesome scene of badly burned survivors staggering in the street in tattered clothing as first responders rushed to the scene. The injured suffered second- and third-degree burns. The tragedy drew renewed attention to the thousands of trucks that rumble through Mexico daily carrying liquid propane, which most homes and businesses rely on for cooking and heating water. Regulators said a preliminary review revealed the truck did not have up-to-date insurance allowing it to transport gas. While Wednesday’s accident involved a large tanker, rather than the smaller ones that make residential deliveries, both have been involved in deadly crashes over the past decade. In 2020, a double tanker carrying liquid propane flipped on a highway in the western state of Nayarit and killed 13 people when the fire spread to other vehicles. In 2015, a leak on a smaller propane truck making a delivery at a Mexico City maternity hospital allowed gas to leak into the building and blow most of it up, killing five and injuring dozens. “This is a horrible accident,” Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said at the site of the explosion Wednesday night. Lists of the injured showed that some suffered burns over 100% of their bodies. Among those injured were a baby and a 2-year-old child. As emergency vehicles sped by and medics attended to the injured, groups of neighbors ran helped pull burn victims from the fire and get them to safety. The crash occurred on the highway connecting Mexico City with Puebla and in the capital’s most populous borough Iztapalapa. The gas tanker laying on its side had the logo of the energy business Silza on its side, but in a call with The Associated Press a company official who did not want to be identified denied it was their vehicle. The company did not immediately respond to an email requesting for comment or more details. Later Wednesday, the federal agency charged with regulating industrial safety in the hydrocarbon sector said in a statement that Silza didn’t have updated insurance paperwork required to transport gas. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her condolences to families of those who died in a post on X and thanked emergency teams for their work. (AP)
By Rabbis Moshe & Yitzchok Fingerer Astoundingly, in the heart of Flatbush, in the vicinity of Avenue I and Bedford Avenue, is a school with hundreds of Jewish teens. It isn’t a Yeshiva or Beis Yaakov. It is a public school called Midwood High School. The shocking reality is that this is not the only such high school that has hundreds of our Jewish children enrolled. Murrow and Madison have just as many of our kids, if not more. These kids, practically next door to so many of us, are totally deprived of Torah and Yiddishkeit. A crying shame! That’s where BJX steps in. Look at the photo from this week and see students from Midwood, now attending Brooklyn, Baruch and LIU colleges immersed in learning Torah! Our neighborhood. Our kinderlach. Our sacred Achrayus. If we don’t act to save these Yiddishe Neshamos, they may be lost forever. It’s almost like we are pulling them off the cattle cars as they head to spiritual extinction and assimilation. The analogy may seem severe and jarring but it is true. There are Jews living in very close proximity to us who may not look or seem Jewish to us. However, they are just as Jewish as you and I. These unaffiliated Jews share the same ancestors as us and have the same entitlement to Torah. They should feel our love and respect. It isn’t their fault that they were deprived of a Jewish upbringing. Many of you, especially those families who immigrated to America prior to or after World War I, can relate to this vividly as you have cousins and relatives who due to assimilation are no longer observant. Can you imagine if there was a BJX that was poised and ready to save them before it was too late? On a recent Shabbos, a less observant family made BJX into their second home. We welcomed them this past Shabbos and celebrated the Bar Mitzvah of their son. They said that they felt an instant connection with everyone in the BJX Beis HaMedrash and felt right at home. That is precisely what we aim and strive for. They should feel comfortable because they are surrounded by family. They should feel at home because they are home. This is where they belong. It is their birthright just as much as it is ours. Welcome home. BJX needs your help! Support Hatzalas Neshamos and the life-saving work of BJX. Act today. Save a life. Change generations. EIN 47-2389703. Donate now: HelpBJX.com| 646-397-1544. One more Jew is waiting – help us reach them now. With decades of experience and proven success, Rabbis Fingerer have guided hundreds of families, teens, and young adults from the Frum community back to a meaningful, fulfilled life rooted in Yiddishkeit. Don’t wait for a crisis—address challenges early and see lasting results. Call 646-397-1544 to schedule your confidential appointment.
Inflation rose last month as the price of gas, groceries, hotel rooms and airfares rose, along with the cost of clothes and used cars. Consumer prices increased 2.9% in August from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, up from 2.7% the previous month and the biggest increase since January. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 3.1%, the same as in July. Both figures are above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The reading is the last the Fed will receive before its key meeting next week, when policymakers are widely expected to cut their short-term rate to about 4.1% from 4.3%. Still, the new inflation data underscores the challenges the Fed is facing as it experiences relentless pressure from President Donald Trump to cut rates. Inflation remains stubborn while the job market is weakening, diverging trends that would require polar reactions from Federal Reserve policymakers to address. Hiring has slowed sharply in recent months and was lower than previously estimated last year. The unemployment rate ticked up in August to a still-low 4.3%. And weekly unemployment claims rose sharply last week, the government also reported Thursday, a sign layoffs may be picking up. Typically the Fed would cut its key rate when unemployment rose to spur more spending and growth. Yet it would do the opposite and raise rates — or at least keep them unchanged — in the face of rising inflation. Last month, Chair Jerome Powell signaled that Fed officials are increasingly concerned about jobs. Yet stubbornly high inflation could keep the Fed from cutting very quickly. On a monthly basis, overall inflation accelerated, as prices rose 0.4% from July to August, faster than the 0.2% pace the previous month. Core prices rose 0.3% for the second straight month. Gas prices jumped 1.9% just from July to August, the biggest monthly increase since a 4% rise in December. Grocery prices climbed 0.6%, pushed higher by more expensive tomatoes, apples, and beef. The cost of travel soared, with air fares rising 5.9% just from July to August and hotel room prices rising 2.3%. Rental costs also increased, rising 0.4%, faster than the previous month. The impact of tariffs appeared to be mixed, with many imported goods rising in price but modestly. Clothing costs rose 0.5% just last month, though they are still just slightly more expensive than a year ago. Furniture costs rose 0.3% and are 4.7% higher than a year earlier. Appliance costs also rose from July to August, after falling the previous month. The inflation data arrives at the same time that Trump has sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook as part of an effort to assert more control over the Fed. Yet late Tuesday, a court said the firing was illegal and ruled that Cook could keep her job while the dispute played out in the courts. (AP)
The IDF says its 36th Division has pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of operations against Hamas and is now preparing for the next offensive in Gaza City.
The battle among billionaires for bragging rights as the world’s richest person got heated Wednesday with the surprising surge of an old contender: Larry Ellison. In a stunning few minutes after markets opened, stock in Ellison’s Oracle Corp. rocketed more than a third, enough for him to temporarily wrest the title from its longtime holder Elon Musk and hand it to the software giant’s co-founder. But the stock market is fickle, and Musk was back on top by the end of the day, at least according to Bloomberg, as Oracle gave up a bit of its earlier gains. For those keeping score, the difference now is a billion, which isn’t much given the size of the figures: Musk’s $384.2 billion versus $383.2 billion for Ellison. The dueling fortunes are so big each could fund the lifestyles of 5 million typical American families for a year, about the entire population of Florida, allowing them to all quit their jobs. Or they could just tell all of South Africa to take a vacation for year and produce nothing, based on its gross domestic product. The brief switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle powered by multibillion dollar orders from customers as the artificial-intelligence race heats up. Musk became the world’s richest person for the first time four years ago. A big reason is his stake in a hot, but now cooling, electric car maker, Tesla. Stock in the company has been moving in the opposite direction of Oracle’s, dropping 14% so far this year. Musk also controls several private companies, including rocket maker SpaceX, his artificial intelligence company xAI and the former Twitter, now called X. Ellison owns about 40% of Oracle, which means its surging stock added $100 billion to his net worth in little over a half-hour after the stock market opened. The night before, after trading had closed, the company announced in an earnings report that it had struck more than $300 billion worth of new deals, including contracts with the OpenAI, Meta, Nvidia and Musk’s xAI. It said that it now expects revenue from its cloud infrastructure business to jump 77% to $18 billion this fiscal year. then rise to $144 billion in four years after that. Ellison said in an earnings call that Oracle would not just be making money from its computing centers that help build the next chatbots, but from the day-to-day running of those AI systems to run robots in factories, design drugs in laboratories, place bets in financial markets and automate legal and sales work at companies. In other words, Ellison’s surge in wealth Wednesday morning reflected investor expectations that computers will take over many jobs now done by humans — and Oracle will benefit. Or as the 81-year-old said on the call, “AI Changes Everything.” Musk is hoping the same for Tesla and his own net worth, but he’s been struggling to convince investors. The company had been promising a big turnaround in electric car sales after they fell sharply earlier this year, but the bounce back hasn’t happened. Musk has been downplaying the bad numbers by trying to shift investors’ focus to Tesla’s other business of making robots and advances in the artificial intelligence behind its cars and robotaxis. While he keeps talking up the Tesla […]
The IDF says its 36th Division has pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of operations against Hamas and is now preparing for the next offensive in Gaza City.
The IDF says its 36th Division has pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of operations against Hamas and is now preparing for the next offensive in Gaza City.
The IDF says its 36th Division has pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of operations against Hamas and is now preparing for the next offensive in Gaza City.
Americans are marking 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with solemn ceremonies, volunteer work and other tributes honoring the victims. Many loved ones of the nearly 3,000 people killed will join dignitaries and politicians at commemorations Thursday in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Others choose to mark the day at more intimate gatherings. James Lynch, who lost his father, Robert Lynch, during the World Trade Center attack, said he and his family will attend a ceremony near their hometown in New Jersey before spending the day at the beach. “It’s one of those things where any kind of grief, I don’t think it ever goes away,” Lynch said as he, his partner and his mother joined thousands of volunteers preparing meals for the needy at a 9/11 charity event in Manhattan the day before the anniversary. “Finding the joy in that grief, I think, has been a huge part of my growth with this,” he said. The remembrances are being held during a time of increased political tensions. The 9/11 anniversary, often promoted as a day of national unity, comes a day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a college in Utah. The reading of names and moments of silence Kirk’s killing is expected to prompt additional security measures around the 9/11 anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York, authorities said. At ground zero in lower Manhattan, the names of the attack victims will be read aloud by family and loved ones in a ceremony attended by Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance. Moments of silence will mark the exact times when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center’s iconic twin towers, as well as when the skyscrapers fell. At the Pentagon in Virginia, the 184 service members and civilians killed when hijackers steered a jetliner into the headquarters of the U.S. military will be honored. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend the service before heading to the Bronx for a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers Thursday evening. And in a rural field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a similar ceremony marked by moments of silence, the reading of names and the laying of wreaths, will honor the victims of Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit. That service will be attended by Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins. Like Lynch, people across the country are also marking the 9/11 anniversary with service projects and charity works as part of a national day of service. Volunteers will be taking part in food and clothing drives, park and neighborhood cleanups, blood banks and other community events. Reverberations from attacks persist In all, the attacks by al-Qaida militants killed 2,977 people, including many financial workers at the World Trade Center and firefighters and police officers who had rushed to the burning buildings trying to save lives. The attacks reverberated globally and altered the course of U.S. policy, both domestically and overseas. It led to the “ Global War on Terrorism ” and the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and related conflicts that killed hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians. While the hijackers died […]
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged Thursday to push ahead with a “great modernization program” for his country’s military, a day after Russian drones crossed into Poland and amplified international tensions around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including what the Kremlin’s future territorial ambitions might be. European officials described Wednesday’s incursion, which occurred during a wave of recent unrelenting Russian strikes on Ukraine, as a deliberate provocation, forcing the NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in its airspace for the first time. It deepened longstanding fears that the three-year war between Poland’s neighbors could precipitate a wider conflict. U.S.-led efforts to steer Moscow and Kyiv toward a peace settlement have so far failed to get traction. The Polish Air Navigation Agency announced Thursday morning that Poland was introducing air traffic restrictions in the eastern part of the country. It said the step was taken at the request of the Polish army for national security reasons but did not elaborate. Poland said some of the drones that entered its airspace Wednesday came from Belarus, where Russian and local troops have begun gathering for war games scheduled to start Friday. Poland is closing its border with Belarus at midnight Thursday, a planned move also associated with the military exercises. Underscoring the global repercussions of the war, China on Thursday urged Poland to keep open a section of the Belarus border for a China-EU freight track that crosses it. The rail line is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade with other countries. Tusk addressed Polish troops at an air base in the central city of Lask, praising their quick action and that of NATO allied forces from the Netherlands that responded to the multiple Russian drone incursions. The response also brought questions, however, about the wisdom of using advanced fighter jets to shoot down relatively cheap drones. Poland expects to receive its first F-35 fighter jets from the United States next year, he said. It will be the first delivery of some of the 32 aircraft expected by 2030 as part of a support package finalized five years ago, Tusk said. Polish President Karol Nawrocki also visited a military air base Thursday, striking a defiant tone in a statement that said Poland “doesn’t get scared by Russian drones.” Nawrocki described the incursion as “an attempt to test our abilities, the ability to react.” He was visiting a base in Poznan-Krzesiny, in western Poland. The Kremlin said it had nothing to add to a Wednesday statement by Russia’s Defense Ministry, which insisted that Russian forces had not targeted Poland and that it was open to discuss the incident with Polish officials. It also dismissed talk of the incursion being a provocation. “The statements we hear from Warsaw: well, they’re nothing new. This rhetoric is typical of almost all European capitals,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. The European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, concluded that Putin is testing Europe’s resolve as it endeavors to address the threat from Moscow while the United States demands it shoulder more of the financial burden. “Inconsistency between words and deeds seem to have eroded Europe’s credibility in Russia’s eyes,” it said in an analysis published Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia’s drone incursion. “What’s with […]
24 years have now passed since the trajectory of history was forever altered by the 9/11 attacks. Of course, when it happened, many of us knew we’d never forget that day. Yet time dulls even the most painful memories. Among the heroes of 9/11, which included the FDNY, NYPD, PAPD, EMS and other agencies, were the volunteers of Hatzolah. Chevra Hatzalah played a pivotal role in the World Trade Center rescue operations. The very first ambulance to arrive at the World Trade Center following the first plane crash on September 11, 2001 was a Hatzalah ambulance. By the time the second airplane crashed into the second tower, there were two dozen Hatzalah ambulances at the scene, including Hatzalah’s Communications and Command Center trailer, and more than 100 Hatzalah EMTs, paramedics, and doctors on scene. Before the buildings came down, ambulances had arrived from Hatzalah of Rockland County, 40 miles to the North, with additional medics and EMTs. During the first hour, over 125 patients were transported to area hospitals by Hatzalah ambulances. At the south end of the Twin Towers, Hatzalah was the predominant ambulance service covering the disaster scene. Hatzalah ambulances transported numerous victims, including firefighters and police officers. The following footage was released in 2015 for the first time to the public by YWN. In addition, Hatzalah assisted in the rescue of thousands of men, women and children who escaped to the docks near the Holocaust Museum in Battery Park, and helped evacuate them onto boats headed for New Jersey. Some Hatzalah volunteers went missing for periods of time throughout the day, but, b’chasdei hashem, there were few casualties amongst the Hatzalah team, and miraculously, all Hatzalah members survived. Tragically, there have been multiple Hatzalah members who were since Niftar from 9/11-related diseases. Listen below to the frightening radio transmissions of frantic Hatzalah members screaming for help as the World Trade Center collapsed on top of them. Fast forward to 8:00 to hear the collapse of the first tower. Perhaps the most frightening moment is at 12:20 – when a member tells the dispatcher “tell my wife at least I said Shema.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday fired the country’s ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, over his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said the decision came in the wake of the publication this week of emails Mandelson sent to Epstein in the 2000s, in which he gave his support to the disgraced financier even when he was facing jail. Doughty said the emails showed that the “depth and extent” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was “materially different” from what was known when he was appointed ambassador to Washington last year in the wake of the Labour Party’s election victory. Mandelson, who took up his post in February this year after what the government described as an “extensive” vetting process, has voiced his deep regret over his previous links with Epstein and said he knew nothing about his criminal activities. “In light of the additional information in the emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States,” Doughty said. In particular, he pointed to Mandelson’s suggestion that Epstein’s first conviction in 2008 was “wrongful and should be challenged.” On Wednesday, The Sun newspaper published emails that it said showed Mandelson telling Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. “I think the world of you,” Mandelson told him. The decision to fire Mandelson comes just a day after Starmer said he had “confidence” in him. It’s the latest blow to the prime minister ahead of a state visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to the U.K. next week, which is likely to be met with protests and some controversy. Last week Starmer also saw his deputy, Angela Rayner, quit over a tax error on a home purchase. The government said James Roscoe, the U.K. deputy head of mission in Washington, will serve as interim ambassador and oversee Trump’s state visit. Roscoe is a career diplomat and former communications chief to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Starmer’s judgment is being increasingly questioned, particularly over his appointment of Mandelson, who is no stranger to controversy, having twice resigned from former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government in 1998 and 2001. In the wake of his second resignation from Blair’s government, Mandelson became a European Commissioner when Britain was still in the European Union, before returning to front line British politics in 2008 to serve under Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown. Mandelson’s trade expertise was considered a major asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to slap heavy tariffs on British goods, and seemed to pay off when the countries struck a trade deal in May, though some details of the agreement have yet to be finalized. He is also a skilled – critics say ruthless – political operator whose mastery of political intrigue brought him the nickname “Prince of Darkness.” It’s rare for a politician, rather than a career civil servant, to be given a key U.K. ambassadorial post. The center-left former lawmaker was not an obvious emissary to the Trump administration. Mandelson once called Trump a “danger to the world” — words he later said were “ill-judged and wrong.” The focus on Mandelson […]
Belarus has freed 52 prisoners, and they have crossed into Lithuania, the Lithuanian president said Thursday. As the release became public, Belarusian state media posted a video of a U.S. envoy announcing that Washington had lifted sanctions on Belarus national air carrier, Belavia. Among those released were 14 foreigners — six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Poles, two Germans, one French national and one U.K. national — according to the Belarusian presidency’s press service. In June, Belarus freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a rare visit by a senior envoy from the Trump administration. “I am deeply grateful to the United States and personally to President @realDonaldTrump for their continued efforts to free political prisoners. 52 is a lot. A great many. Yet more than 1,000 political prisoners still remain in Belarusian prisons and we cannot stop until they see freedom!” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda wrote on X. Nauseda said the prisoners left “behind barbed wire, barred windows and constant fear.” Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Belarus’ authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, about the release of more prisoners. John Coale, Trump’s deputy Ukraine envoy, met with Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital on Thursday, and announced the lifting of sanctions. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, relentlessly cracking down on the opposition and independent media. But his rule was challenged in the aftermath of Belarus’ presidential election in August 2020. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets to protest Lukashenko’s reelection in a vote widely seen as rigged, triggering the largest protests in the country’s history. In the ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Almost 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, according to human rights group Viasna. Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition called a farce. Since July 2024, he has pardoned nearly 300 people, including imprisoned U.S. citizens, seeking to mend ties with the West. (AP)
Two Arab-Israeli bus drivers were arrested within 24 hours after the Ramot terror attack for posting incitatory messages in an internal WhatsApp group of drivers from their public bus company, celebrating the murders of the victims. According to the investigation, the first driver, 31, expressed disappointment at the deaths of only four victims (at the time of his message), writing in the group, “May Allah not forgive the terrorist; only four were killed. What a pity for his soul…there should have been at least 50.” The second driver, 25, responded to a photo of one of the victims by sending an emoji of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah raising a toast. Police stated that the messages distributed in the group were reviewed by the relevant authorities, and it was decided that the case constitutes suspected offenses of incitement to commit a terrorist act and public identification with a terrorist organization. “We will act resolutely and with full severity against any expression of incitement, support, or encouragement of terrorist organizations, and we will bring those involved to justice,” an Israel Police spokesperson stated. As YWN reported on Tuesday, two Arab criminals serving sentences in prisons in central Israel were transferred to a security prison after expressing joy about the attack. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The deadly shooting attack that took place on Monday morning at the Ramot Junction in northern Jerusalem highlights the harsh reality that the Ramot neighborhood has become a hotspot for terror attacks, a resident of Ramot said following the attack, warning that the area is not adequately secured. Speaking in a special broadcast on Kol Chai Radio, Meni Gira Schwartz, the deputy CEO of Kol Chai and resident of Ramot, warned, “Three attacks in three years—Ramot has become a deliberate target for terrorists aiming at Chareidi areas.” Schwartz called on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of National Security to take urgent action to protect the thousands of people who pass through the Ramot Junction every day. Schwartz pointed to a troubling pattern: in the past three years, Ramot has endured three major attacks, including a double bombing at the same junction three years ago that lightly injured five and a car-ramming attack two years ago on Golda Meir Boulevard that killed three people, including the two Paley children, H’yd. “The terrorists are targeting Chareidi population centers,” he asserted, explaining that the Ramot Junction has become a central hub for the Chareidi public because of the Arazim Egged terminal located there, at which most bus lines serving Chareidi areas begin and end their routes. “This is a neighborhood the size of a city, and the junction is filled with hundreds of people during the morning rush, and that’s why terrorists choose it as a target,” he added. Schwartz called for the municipality to treat the neighborhood like a community on the seam line. He suggested placing permanent security guards at bus stops, especially during peak hours, and easing gun licensing requirements for its residents. “Ramot residents pay the highest property taxes in Jerusalem but don’t receive the same level of security as neighborhoods near the Knesset or the Prime Minister’s residence,” Schwartz stressed, noting that after the previous attack, bollards (traffic barricades) were installed to prevent car rammings. But Monday’s attack, carried out with guns, proves that additional measures are needed. “This was not a random attack; it was targeted,” he said. “The authorities must not let this pass as just another incident.” It should be noted that the terrorists may have also targeted the area because of its geographical proximity to their villages in the Ramallah area. They crossed into Israel in the northern Jerusalem area via a “known” breach in the security fence and were driven by an accomplice to the Ramot Junction. Many Chareidi journalists posted photos of the Ramot Junction on Tuesday morning, with no security presence in sight. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Israeli security officials are still uncertain of the results of Tuesday’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Israeli media reported on Thursday morning. Security officials assess that Hamas leaders were present in the targeted villa at the time of the strike, but they were not killed or significantly harmed, or at least not all of them, Army Radio reported. The possibility that one or more were seriously injured or killed is still being examined. One of the possibilities being considered is that the munitions used in the strike were too small. The Air Force launched about 10 bombs, but the building was not completely destroyed, with some parts remaining intact. The munitions used in the strike were specifically chosen to mitigate the risk of harming Qatari civilians in the area. Security officials estimate that it will take several more days to fully assess the results of the attack. Some reports quoted sources who assessed that Israel carried out the strike in Doha as “an alternative to a targeted operation it had previously planned in Turkey.” The sources explained that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his senior advisers believe the Trump administration can resolve the fallout from the strike with Doha, while an operation in Ankara—given Turkey’s NATO membership—would have carried severe diplomatic and economic costs for Israel. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Both Israel and the US had expressed commitments to Qatar last week that Hamas terrorists would not be harmed on Qatari soil, Washington Post journalist David Ignatius reported on Wednesday, citing sources in Israel and the US. According to the report, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stated on August 31 that “the bulk of Hamas’s ruling leadership that remains is abroad, and we will reach them too.” Qatar expressed concerns about Zamir’s comments, and senior Mossad officials promised that Israel will not carry out a strike on its soil. The report quoted a Qatari official as saying that the strike was a “total surprise.” Following the strike, Israeli media reported that the Mossad was opposed to the attack. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was quoted on the front page of the Qatari daily Al-Sharq as saying, “We will take all measures against this criminal attack. This reckless assault is a blatant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and security.” BBC reported on Wednesday that Qatar is considering pursuing international legal action against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the strike. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Zohran Mamdani is proving nearly impossible to shake. A new Siena Research/New York Times survey finds that the socialist assemblyman would still beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November’s general election, even if the crowded four-way field somehow collapsed into a one-on-one showdown. Mamdani leads Cuomo 48% to 44% in a hypothetical head-to-head, the poll shows. That scenario depends on two major “ifs”: Mayor Eric Adams and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa exiting the race. Absent that, Mamdani dominates a fractured field. In a four-way contest, the Queens progressive pulls 46% of likely voters. Cuomo lags far behind at 24%, while Sliwa and Adams trail at 15% and 9% respectively. “The big question is what happens if Adams and Sliwa are out,” said Siena poll director Don Levy. “Cuomo would capture most of their support and consolidate older voters. But right now, Mamdani is in control of this race.” Cuomo, running as an independent after losing June’s Democratic primary, has yet to find traction. Adams, also pursuing an independent line, is rumored to be eyeing a federal role — with Trump officials reportedly exploring ways to ease him off the ballot. Sliwa, meanwhile, insists he’s not going anywhere, swatting down chatter about a potential Trump administration appointment. Mamdani, who has built his campaign on affordability, rent freezes and taxing the wealthy, hasn’t cracked 50% in any survey. But the issues are breaking his way. Nearly half of voters say he’s best positioned to address affordability. A plurality — 43% — trust him most on Gaza, despite his sharp criticism of Israel. And nearly 70% back his plan to freeze rents on New York’s million rent-stabilized apartments, while more than 70% favor higher taxes on the city’s richest households. “Mamdani holds a huge lead among younger voters, while voters 45 and older are split between him and Cuomo,” Levy said. “Unless the field changes dramatically, Mamdani is positioned to ride that coalition straight to Gracie Mansion.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
