NETANYAHU: “They tell me the “PA promised us.” “It will reform.” We’ve heard these promises for decades. They always promise they never deliver…Palestinian Authority is corrupt to the core…They teach their children to hate Jews and destroy the Jewish State.”
NETANYAHU: “To the remaining Hamas leaders, to the jailers of our hostages, I now say, Lay down your arms. Let my people go. Free the hostages, all of them, the whole 48. Free them now…If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down.”
NETANYAHU: “I want to speak from this forum directly to those hostages through loudspeakers… Our Brave Heroes. This is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations. We have not forgotten you, not even for a second. The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter, and we will not rest until we bring all of you home.”
Netanyahu: “We’re not done yet. The final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They want to repeat the atrocities of October 7th again and again. That is why Israel must finish the job as fast as possible.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu is wearing a special hostage pin during his UN speech, featuring a QR code that links to a website outlining the atrocities of October 7.
The IDF confirmed it was ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to broadcast his UN speech to Palestinians in Gaza as part of an “influence campaign,” though while the PM’s office claimed loudspeakers were only placed on trucks along the Israeli side of the border to avoid endangering troops, the military acknowledged also bringing them into the Strip, with some seen mounted on cranes.
In a rare and contentious move, the Prime Minister’s Office ordered the IDF to set up loudspeakers across the Gaza Strip to broadcast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN General Assembly speech live to residents.
The Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on more than 140 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, hitting terror operatives, tunnels, buildings used by terror groups, and other infrastructure, the IDF said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Friday amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Despite international pressure for a ceasefire and calls for a two-state solution, Netanyahu has stuck behind his mission of eradicating Hamas and bringing back hostages taken captive during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. His speech comes after several European nations and U.S. allies agreed to recognize a Palestinian state. President Trump has largely stuck behind Israel, and the administration revoked visas for Palestinian leaders ahead of the assembly. On Thursday, the president took a step back and vowed to block Netanyahu from annexing the West Bank. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Since Rosh Hashanah, severe delays have been reported at all border crossings out of Ukraine, leaving thousands of Yidden stuck for long hours on buses, at airports, and at border stations across Eastern Europe. The situation has already caused widespread missed flights, canceled tickets, and great hardship for many returning from Uman. Frustrated travelers shared photos and firsthand accounts with B’Chadrei Chareidim, describing the exhaustion and confusion they endured. Some voiced sharp criticism of chareidi representatives in the Knesset, claiming: “They don’t care because we are Breslovers.” The bottlenecks have led to the cancellation of at least four flights scheduled to depart from Tulcea and Iasi in Romania. Airline officials explained that crews had exceeded their maximum permitted work hours, known as “crew burnout regulations,” which legally bar them from flying once they cross a certain threshold. Major travel agencies serving the Uman crowds, including Netivim Tours and Derech Tzaddikim, said they made every effort to arrange additional flights, but were unsuccessful. In a statement, the companies announced: “Since this afternoon, we have been working tirelessly to arrange lodging and Shabbos meals for our clients who are unable to return before Shabbos. Buses are being dispatched to pick up passengers from Tulcea Airport, from the waiting halls, from the Orlivka border, and from Iasi, and bring them to designated Shabbos accommodations where we will, b’ezras Hashem, provide full seudos Shabbos.” They added that passengers who arranged their own accommodations should continue monitoring agency updates for details about the new flights. Photos show makeshift tents being set up in Romania to house travelers caught mid-journey. The agencies confirmed that return flights to Eretz Yisroel will begin Motzaei Shabbos and continue Sunday morning, departing from several airports in parallel. Earlier reports described the entire journey back from Uman as “days of endless upheaval,” with groups of Yidden scattered across Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Poland, and Moldova — each trying to find a path back to Eretz Yisroel. Out of concern for becoming stranded on the road as Shabbos approached, many decided to halt their travels and wait until after Shabbos to resume their journey. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Two leading computer scientists are sounding a dire warning: the rise of artificial superintelligence could spell the end of the human race — not in centuries, but potentially within our lifetimes. Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, researchers at the Berkeley-based Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), argue in a new book that humanity’s flirtation with advanced AI is a fatal gamble. Their work, titled If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All, makes the case that any attempt to construct a machine more intelligent than humans will end in global annihilation. “If any company or group, anywhere on the planet, builds an artificial superintelligence using anything remotely like current techniques, based on anything remotely like the present understanding of AI, then everyone, everywhere on Earth, will die,” the pair warn in the book’s introduction. The authors argue that AI, already woven into daily life, will eventually evolve to the point of deciding that humanity itself is unnecessary. Once machines control critical infrastructure — power plants, factories, weapons systems — humans could be deemed expendable. “Humanity needs to back off,” said Yudkowsky, who has spent years raising alarms about what he calls “techsistential risk.” The danger, he insists, lies in the fact that it only takes one successful effort to build superintelligence for extinction to follow. The threat, experts say, is compounded by the possibility that AI could disguise its true capabilities until it is too late to act. “A superintelligent adversary will not reveal its full capabilities and telegraph its intentions,” the authors write. Even if there were warning signs, they argue, human cognition may be too limited to recognize or counter them in time. The scientists go so far as to suggest that the only effective safeguard would be preemptive action: destroying any data centers suspected of pursuing artificial superintelligence before such systems come online. The probability of this outcome, according to Yudkowsky and Soares, is chillingly high. They estimate the odds of AI wiping out humanity at between 95% and 99.5% — essentially a near certainty. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Iran is pressing ahead with major underground construction at a little-known mountain site, raising fresh alarms just months after U.S. and Israeli forces devastated its main nuclear facilities. Satellite images reviewed by the Washington Post, alongside independent analysis, show accelerated activity at Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La—known as Pickaxe Mountain—suggesting Tehran has not abandoned its suspected nuclear ambitions and may be cautiously rebuilding. Engineers first began tunneling into the Zagros mountains in 2020, roughly a mile south of the Natanz complex, which U.S. warplanes struck with earth-penetrating bombs on June 22. While Iran has described the project as a centrifuge production plant to replace one lost to sabotage, analysts say the dimensions and depth of the facility—an estimated 260 to 330 feet underground, even deeper than Fordow—suggest it could serve more secretive purposes, such as uranium enrichment or the storage of near-weapons grade material. The purpose remains unclear. International inspectors have never been allowed inside, and IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi has said his questions about the site were rebuffed earlier this year. U.S. officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed that intelligence agencies are monitoring the facility, though the CIA declined public comment. Satellite imagery shows significant changes since the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign: new perimeter walls, reinforced tunnel entrances, and expanding spoil piles from excavation. Heavy equipment, dump trucks, and trailers are now clustered around both eastern and western entrances, underscoring the ongoing tunneling work. Experts say efforts to bury the tunnels under dirt and rock point to attempts to harden the site against future airstrikes. The activity comes as Iran continues to withhold full cooperation from international inspectors. The IAEA struck a deal with Tehran on September 9 that was supposed to allow access to all nuclear sites, but Iranian officials have since cast doubt on the agreement. President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that rebuilding nuclear sites would only invite more U.S. strikes, while hard-liners have attacked him for weakness. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei retains ultimate authority over the nuclear program. Meanwhile, the fate of Iran’s most concerning nuclear material—nearly 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity before the June strikes—remains unclear. U.S. intelligence believes much of it may be buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordow. Without clear accounting, analysts warn, Tehran could still attempt to covertly fashion a nuclear device if it decided to move forward. Israel and the United States unleashed the most devastating strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in 15 years, destroying nearly all of its centrifuges at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. President Trump declared the program “totally obliterated,” but subsequent intelligence reports have been less definitive. Analysts say Tehran may now be trading speed for secrecy, focusing on hardened sites like Pickaxe Mountain to shield any future nuclear activity from outside attack. Analysts note that Iran has also begun rebuilding missile production plants targeted during the June war. While Tehran’s path back to nuclear weapons capability has been badly disrupted, experts warn it retains the capacity to reconstitute its program quickly if it makes the decision to do so. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The Prime Minister’s Office announced Friday that Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly will be blasted into Gaza through loudspeakers placed along the border — an unusual move that is provoking criticism from the military, families of hostages, and soldier advocacy groups. In a statement, the PMO said civilian agencies were instructed, “in cooperation with the IDF,” to mount loudspeakers on trucks “on the Israeli side of the Gaza border only,” so as not to expose soldiers to danger. The broadcast, described as part of a “public diplomacy effort,” is set to air at 4 p.m. Israeli time, when Netanyahu is expected to rail against Western recognition of a Palestinian state. The clarification came after morning reports claimed the IDF had been told to disperse trucks with sound systems inside Gaza itself — an idea that drew internal opposition. According to Channel 12, senior officers argued the plan would endanger troops by sending them into areas vulnerable to Hamas fire. “It’s an insane idea,” one officer told Haaretz. “No one understands what military benefit there is here.” Still, the paper reported, the army is preparing to carry out the directive and sees the initiative as psychological warfare. Photos shared on social media by Kan’s military correspondent showed loudspeakers mounted on military vehicles, with the 99th Division reportedly preparing to transmit Netanyahu’s speech. The move ignited immediate backlash from soldier advocacy groups. “How long will you use our sons for your personal campaign?” declared Ima Era, a protest group representing mothers of combat soldiers. “They are not just extras in your war movie frame. The responsibility for their lives is in your hands. You must not give in to this madness.” Families of hostages also condemned the plan. Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband Omri remains in Hamas captivity, challenged Netanyahu directly on social media: “Instead of to Gazans, I’d like you to speak to those who crave a voice of hope — the hostages, and the soldiers.” She pleaded for her message to be relayed to captives: “We have no intention of giving up. Will you agree?” Anat Angrest, whose son Matan is among those still held in Gaza, accused the prime minister of inflicting “psychological abuse” on the captives. “Every sentence other than ‘I came to the U.S. to sign a deal that will return everyone home’ shatters their hope,” she wrote. The controversy comes as hostage relatives and survivors gather in New York to protest Netanyahu’s address, demanding a deal to secure the release of 48 people still held in Gaza. Israeli authorities have declared 26 of them dead, including a soldier killed in 2014. The rest were abducted during the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023, which set off the current war. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
