About 40 Jewish teens on Thursday morning tried to enter the Gaza Strip via the Erez crossing to daven Shacharis. IDF forces prevented them from entering the area and at least seven minors, aged 14-15, were arrested for allegedly violating a closed military zone and disturbing public order. The teens said that they wanted to daven Shacharis inside the Gaza Strip to mark 19 years since the expulsion from Gush Katif. The group issued a statement saying: “Today we were zocheh to take part in an attempt to hold Shacharit within the Gaza Strip out of the belief that Gaza is part of the complete Land of Israel and with a clear understanding that only settlement will be considered a victory and only a Jewish Gaza will remove the threat of missiles and hostages from Gaza and bring security to the residents of the south and the country as a whole.” “Before the war, Sinwar would organize ‘return marches’ and threaten the residents of the Gaza border area with balloons and explosives. The situation needs to be reversed – Jews who demand what is theirs, a return to the Gaza Strip. We will continue to act until the entire Gaza Strip is settled by Jews.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers, watchdog organizations and journalists to monitor social media posts, notably to track how misinformation spreads on the company’s platforms. Wednesday’s shutdown, which Meta announced earlier this year, has been protested by researchers and nonprofits. In May, dozens of groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, Human Rights Watch and NYU’s Center for Social Media & Politics, sent a letter to the company asking that it keep the tool running through at least January so it would be available through the U.S. presidential elections. “This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermines Meta’s transparency efforts during this critical period, and at a time when social trust and digital democracy are alarmingly fragile,” the letter said. CrowdTangle, “has been an essential tool in helping researchers parse through the vast amount of information on the platform and identify harmful content and threats,” it added. In March, the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation sent Meta a similar letter asking it to keep the tool, which was available for free, functioning until January. That letter was also signed by several dozen groups and individual academic researchers. “For years, CrowdTangle has represented an industry best practice for real-time platform transparency. It has become a lifeline for understanding how disinformation, hate speech, and voter suppression spread on Facebook, undermining civic discourse and democracy,” the Mozilla letter said. Meta has released an alternative to CrowdTangle, called the Meta Content Library. But access to it is limited to academic researchers and nonprofits, which excludes most news organizations. Critics have also complained that it’s not as useful as CrowdTangle — at least not yet. Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said in a blog post last week that the company has been gathering feedback about Meta Content Library from “hundreds of researchers in order to make it more user-friendly and help them find the data they need for their work.” Meta said Wednesday that CrowdTangle doesn’t provide a complete picture of what is happening on its platforms and said its new tools are more comprehensive. Meta acquired CrowdTangle in 2016. (AP)
The IDF reports that a drone launched from Lebanon was intercepted and shot down by air defenses over the Western Galilee overnight. The incident, which occurred around 3:40 a.m., prompted sirens to sound in several nearby communities.
Celery was used to conceal more than 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms) of methamphetamines that federal agents discovered in a truck at a farmers market outside Atlanta, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said. In what the DEA called one of the largest seizures of its kind, agents confiscated the drugs being delivered to the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park, authorities said at a Monday news conference, WAGA-TV reported. The agency had learned about a semitrailer coming across the Mexican border and agents tracked the drugs to the farmers market, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Robert Murphy. The drugs were found inside the truck, he said. “This was contained in a cover load of celery,” Murphy said. “It was hiding in the celery. Obviously, we threw away the celery. That didn’t make it to the store.” A Mexican citizen was arrested, the Atlanta TV station reported. Details about the suspect and charges were not immediately available Tuesday. Using produce to conceal drugs has become a frequent tactic of smugglers, authorities said. (AP)
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The IDF reports that combat engineers have destroyed more than 50 tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border, known as the Philadelphi Route, over the past week. While the military did not specify how many tunnels extended into Egypt, these tunnels are believed to be used by Hamas for smuggling weapons into Gaza.
In recent weeks, the residents of the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem have been suffering from a rash of bicycle robberies. On Wednesday at 12:25 p.m., the Mishmar Har Nof received an alert from security cameras that a wanted bike thief had entered the neighborhood. Mishmar Har Nof volunteers launched a dramatic chase through the streets of the neighborhood while blocking the escape routes until the thief was arrested by the police. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign suffered a blow this week when a judge in New York invalidated his petition to put his name on the state ballot, a ruling that could potentially create problems for the candidate as he faces challenges elsewhere. Kennedy’s attorneys filed an appeal Wednesday to a ruling this week from Justice Christina Ryba, who said the residence listed on his nominating petitions was a “sham” address he used to maintain his voter registration and to further his political aspirations. The judge ruled in favor of the challengers, who argued Kennedy’s actual residence was the home in Los Angeles he shares with his wife, the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines. New York is just one of more than a half-dozen states where challenges have been made to Kennedy’s petitions from Democrats and their allies. Some of the challenges allege he falsely listed the same New York address that was the subject of litigation in that state, or that there were problems with petition signatures. In Pennsylvania, challengers contend that papers filed by Kennedy list an incorrect address in New York and that he and his running mate demonstrated “at best, a fundamental disregard” of state law and the process by which signatures are gathered. An attorney for Kennedy said the challenge contained specious allegations. A court will conduct an evidentiary hearing next Tuesday in Harrisburg. Kennedy’s campaign says it has collected enough signatures for ballot access in all 50 states and that it is officially on the ballot in 17 states. His candidacy has at various times drawn concerns from both Democrats and Republicans who think he could siphon votes from their candidates. National Democrats in particular have been active in trying to undercut his candidacy, while former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has alternated between criticizing Kennedy as liberal and courting his endorsement or the backing of some of his supporters. Here’s a look at what is happening in New York, what it might mean and other ballot access challenges Kennedy faces. What happened in New York? What’s next? The ruling Monday followed a short trial in state court over whether Kennedy falsely listed a New York residence on his state nominating petitions. The candidate listed a residence in the well-off suburb of Katonah, where he said he rents a bedroom in a friend’s house. Kennedy testified that he moved to California a decade ago so he could be with his wife, and that he always planned to return to New York, where he is registered to vote. The lawsuit bought by several voters and backed by Democrat-aligned Clear Choice Action claimed Kennedy’s actual residence is in Los Angeles. Days after the non-jury trial ended, Ryba ruled that using “a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law.” In announcing the appeal Wednesday, the environmental lawyer and scion of a famous political family said the current Democratic Party was unrecognizable to him. “The party of my father and uncle’s time was committed to expanding voters’ rights and understood that competition at the ballot box is an essential part of American Democracy,” he said in a statement. Kennedy’s legal team also promised to seek injunctive relief in federal court in […]
A Palestinian migrant whose name is on the US terror watchlist for using explosives/firearms was caught at the southern border on Monday, the New York Post revealed on Thursday in an exclusive report. According to the report, Border Patrol agents caught Omar Shehada, 35, at the border in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The incident comes only weeks after three other suspected Palestinian terrorists were caught at the California border. Following the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, the Border Patrol sent a memo to its agents warning about Palestinian terrorists trying to infiltrate the border. The memo stated: “Individuals inspired by, or reacting to the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border.” Since Biden-Harris entered office, the number of migrants on the terror watchlist caught at the border has increased dramatically. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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Hunter Biden asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help regarding an energy project a Ukrainian gas company was pursuing while his father was vice president, according to The New York Times. Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, wrote a letter to the ambassador in 2016 seeking assistance for Burisma, which had been working on a geothermal project in Italy, the newspaper reported, citing newly released records and interviews. At the time, Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma, which was having trouble getting regulatory approval for the project, a businessman involved in the project told the newspaper. The revelation is likely to fuel Republican criticism of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which have been the center of GOP investigations into the president’s family. The report comes weeks before Hunter Biden is set to stand trial on federal charges alleging he failed to pay taxes on money he received from Burisma and other foreign businesses. Prosecutors indicated last week in court papers they want to introduce evidence at trial about Hunter Biden’s other business dealings, including an arrangement with a Romanian businessman who was trying to “influence U.S. government policy” during Joe Biden’s term as vice president. Hunter Biden’s lawyer said his client’s outreach to the ambassador on behalf of Burisma was a “proper request” and that he had asked “various people” to help arrange an introduction between Burisma and the president of Italy’s Tuscany region. “No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested,” attorney Abbe Lowell said. The records suggest that embassy officials were uneasy about Hunter Biden’s request, according to the newspaper. One official wrote: “I want to be careful about promising too much.” A White House spokesperson told The Times that the president was not aware when he was vice president that his son had reached out to the embassy on Burisma’s behalf. “He’s not in business with his son,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday of the president. “He’s certainly not aware of this and this is something that Hunter Biden has to speak to. He’s a private citizen, it is something for him to focus on.” Pressed on whether Biden was satisfied with how his son conducted himself, Jean-Pierre told reporters: “I can’t speak to this. This is something that is an ongoing process.” John R. Phillips, the U.S. ambassador to Italy at the time, said he received a lot of letters and did not remember Hunter Biden reaching out to him. “I certainly would pay attention to it” if the younger Biden had contacted him, Phillips told the newspaper. “Out of courtesy, I’d probably make sure he got a response of some sort, but not necessarily from me. And I wouldn’t even want to encourage it, because I wouldn’t get us involved in something like that.” Burisma’s project never materialized, and it’s not clear whether the embassy ever agreed to help the company. Hunter Biden’s trial set to begin in Los Angeles in September alleges a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes during a time in which the president’s son has acknowledged struggling with a drug addiction. Hunter Biden’s lawyers have indicated they will argue at trial that drug […]
A court in the Russian capital on Wednesday handed a 15-day sentence to a U.S. citizen on charges of minor disorderly conduct. Moscow’s District Court ordered the American, identified as Joseph Tater, to spend 15 days under administrative arrest on “petty hooliganism” charges. Earlier Wednesday, Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, said that it had opened a criminal case against an unidentified U.S. citizen accused of attacking a police officer. Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti said that the American became abusive after being asked to show his documents at an upscale hotel on Monday evening. They claimed that the American “behaved aggressively” and used profanities when the hotel refused to accommodate him, citing a lack of required documents. The reports said that the man attacked a police officer when he was taken to a police precinct. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said they were aware of the reports, but wouldn’t make further comments because of privacy restrictions. Several Americans are serving sentences in Russia on drug or theft convictions. A U.S.-Russian dual national, Ksenia Khavana, is expected to be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty in a closed trial to raising money for Ukraine’s military. Prosecutors called for a 15-year term. In the largest Russia-West prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War, Russia this month released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom were imprisoned on espionage convictions. Russia also released U.S.-Russian dual national Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe journalist sentenced to 6½ years for spreading “false information” about the Russian military. (AP)
New York City has spent over $5 billion on services for migrants, with nearly $2 billion allocated for housing, according to city data. The financial burden is expected to double, reaching $10 billion by June 30, 2025. Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has acknowledged the crisis, with Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack stating, “This is not a New York City issue or even a United States issue, this is a worldwide issue.” The city is currently caring for over 63,900 migrants across 210 shelter sites. Despite efforts to move migrants out of hotels and into other locations, many hotels remain converted into emergency shelters. Adams has expressed cautious optimism, saying, “The worst is behind us” but warning, “We’re not out of the woods.” He credits shelter limits and decreased border crossings for reducing the migrant influx and associated costs. The mayor emphasized the need for resilience, saying, “We need to document this story… This is a real New York story.” However, he also acknowledges ongoing challenges, including monitoring violent gang members in the city. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited troops securing the Gaza-Egypt border area and said that the military can continue to operate against Hamas even if required to leave the Philadelphi Route under a hostage deal. Halevi emphasized that soldiers will maintain surveillance on the border area, a key smuggling route, and conduct pinpoint incursions when necessary. He noted that the decision on troop movement rests with the political leadership. “If we stay in Philadelphi, we’ll know how to stay strong. If we need to monitor and carry out raids, we’ll do it,” Halevi said. He highlighted the importance of holding the Philadelphi Route, which Israel claims Hamas uses to smuggle arms from Egypt into Gaza, saying it hinders Hamas’s force build-up. Halevi warned Hamas that “every day it holds our hostages, it will be more bitter for it than the previous day. We will act harder until we return the hostages, and after that, we won’t allow Hamas to raise its head.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Former Fox News host Dan Bongino has accused Kellyanne Conway and other Republicans of undermining Donald Trump’s campaign, particularly regarding his choice of running mate, JD Vance. During Wednesday’s episode of The Dan Bongino Show, Bongino dismissed media reports suggesting Trump regrets picking Vance as his vice-presidential candidate, calling them fake news. He speculated that the rumors were fueled by leaks from within Trump’s own team. Bongino specifically referenced a Daily Mail article that claimed Trump was having a “meltdown” over Vance. “There’s a lot of internal sabotage going on right now that I honestly did not want to highlight because I like to stay focused on the Democrats and I was hoping it would go away. It’s not,” Bongino said. He suggested that some Republicans are upset with Vance’s cautious stance on Ukraine, contrasting it with the more aggressive approaches favored by others. “I suspect strongly this was a leak from people who wanted another candidate for vice president,” Bongino added, pointing to the “Kellyanne Conway camp” as a possible source. Bongino praised the Trump-Vance ticket as “great” but expressed frustration with those he believes are undermining it. “Instead of just shutting up and trying to win now with this great ticket, there are people out there sabotaging the ticket right now,” he said, addressing Conway and others directly with, “You’ve been warned. I’ve had about enough.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Social media influencers got the royal treatment at the White House on Wednesday as President Joe Biden gave a nod to their ability to hold sway with millions of loyal followers. The White House played host to a group of more than 100 influencers, also known as content creators, across a range of media platforms — from chefs and makeup artists to fitness gurus and medical students — to talk about issues including mental health, pay equity and the abuse of artificial intelligence. Biden stopped by to tell the influencers gathered in the Indian Treaty Room in the White House complex: “The fact is, you are the future.” “You’re the source of the news,” he said. “You are the new possibilities. You are the new breakthrough in how we communicate.” Biden added, to laughter: “And that’s why I invited you to the White House, because I’m looking for a job.” Those in attendance included makeup artist Jackie Aina, chef My Nguyen and medical student Joel Bervell. Together, the influencers count millions of followers. In showcasing the importance and heft of the content creator economy — valued at roughly $250 billion worldwide — the White House is also recognizing the youth vote that will be a crucial constituency for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November election. In late July, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed the vice president. The youth-led progressive organizations had warned for months that Biden, 81, had a problem with young voters, pleading with the president to work more closely with them to refocus on issues most important to younger generations or risk losing their votes. They’re hoping Harris can harness a new explosion of energy among young voters. Trump has also spent time courting influencers. Notably, his campaign is counting on younger male voters to give him the edge in November. Trump participated in an interview last week with Twitch streamer and online personality Adin Ross, who has more than 7 million Instagram followers. The internet personality ended his interview with the former president by gifting him a Tesla Cybertruck wrapped in images of Trump raising his fist after the assassination attempt against him. The White House event comes as the Biden administration is embroiled in a legal battle with TikTok over a federal law that will determine the future of the platform in the U.S. Many creators who earn income on TikTok have opposed the law, which requires TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to sell the popular platform to a U.S.-approved buyer or face a ban. In May, TikTok and ByteDance sued to block the law, arguing divestment isn’t commercially, legally or technologically possible and that they would have to shut down the platform in the U.S. by January 19 if the law were to go into effect. The measure was passed after it received bipartisan backing in Congress and by top-level administration officials who expressed concerns about how the Chinese government could influence ByteDance. TikTok was previously in negotiations with the Biden administration to resolve some of those concerns. However, those talks fizzled out before the two sides reached a deal. (AP)
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