Day: December 3, 2023

Pentagon Declares U.S. Warship, Commercial Vessels Under Attack In Red Sea

The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney in Souda Bay, Greece. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. “We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon said. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Bill Dodge/U.S. Navy via AP)

The guided-missile destroyer USS Carney in Souda Bay, Greece. The American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said, potentially marking a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Bill Dodge/U.S. Navy via AP)

OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
10:25 AM – Sunday, December 3, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/pentagon-declares-u-s-warship-commercial-vessels-under-attack-in-red-sea/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Pentagon announced that a United States warship and several commercial vessels are under attack in the Red Sea.

On Sunday, the Pentagon declared that an American warship and several commercial ships have come under attack in the Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthi Rebels, which is a Shia Islamist political and military organization, announced attacks on two ships that they claimed were linked to Israel, but did not recognize targeting a U.S. Navy vessel.

The strike might have been a significant escalation in a sequence of maritime assaults in the Middle East connected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available, later,” the Pentagon announced. 

The Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, have been launching drones and cruise missiles in recent weeks at the USS Carney, a guided-missile destroyer of the Arleigh Burke-class. 

As a result, the Houthi rebels have taken credit for the strike on Sunday. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is anticipated to provide an update shortly.

Additionally, the British military earlier mentioned that there had been an anticipated drone attack and several explosions in the Red Sea, but did not elaborate further. 

The Pentagon failed to disclose where it believed the fire originated. However, as the Jewish state fights Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing missiles and drones at Israel.

A U.S. authority, speaking about intelligence-related topics while maintaining anonymity, announced that the attack started at approximately 10:00 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and went on for about five hours.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree also announced the attacks, explaining that the first vessel was struck by a missile and that the second was hit by a drone while in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that is connected to the Red Sea near the Gulf of Aden.

Additionally, Saree did not acknowledge any American warship being included in the attack. He stated that the attacks will continue “as long as Israel continues its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

Even as a temporary ceasefire brought the Israel-Hamas war to a halt and Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners, global shipping has become an increasingly prominent target of the conflict.

However, the likelihood of the seaborne attacks returning had increased with the breakdown of the truce, the restart of the Israeli airstrike, and its ground offensive.

U.S. forces in the Middle East have been struck approximately 75 times since the middle of last month. However, the Pentagon does not count attacks on American warships at sea in this amount.

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New York: 15 synagogues hit with bomb threats on Friday

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/new-york-15-synagogues-hit-with-bomb-threats-on-friday;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

“Make ready for them all that you can of force and of warhorses, so that by them you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah and your enemy…” (Qur’an 8:60)

“15 New York synagogues hit with false bomb threats on Friday,” by Luke Tress, New York Jewish Week, December 1, 2023 (thanks to the Geller Report):

(New York Jewish Week) – Bomb threats were made against 15 synagogues in New York State early Friday morning, according to a Jewish security agency in New York City.

Threats were made against five synagogues in Manhattan, two in Brooklyn, one on Long Island, two in Westchester County, and five in other parts of upstate New York, according to the Community Security Initiative, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions in the New York City area.

The threats were made as part of a campaign intended to interrupt synagogue operations by forcing law enforcement to go to a location, and there did not appear to be any actual danger to the targets, said CSI Director Mitch Silber.

The Friday morning campaign, mostly sent through synagogue websites’ contact forms, appeared similar to dozens of bomb threats that have been made against Jewish institutions since the summer. Many of those threats were sent via email and all of them were deemed not credible after investigation by law enforcement. In some cases, threats on synagogues have caused Shabbat services to be evacuated.

“There are multiple explosives inside the synagogue,” read one of the threats sent Friday via email. “These explosives will go off in a few hours and I will make history. I will make sure you all die.”

Friday’s threats also come amid a spike in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City and across the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Jews are consistently targeted in hate crimes more than any other group in New York City, with over 230 antisemitic incidents reported to police so far this year….

“None of them have been real” threats, Silber said. “They’re really just to disrupt, to intimidate.”

The New York Police Department said it had responded to threats against synagogues on the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side and in Washington Heights and Inwood. One of the calls reporting the threats came in at 5:29 a.m, a police spokesperson said.

The spokesperson confirmed police officers responded to threats against at least two Orthodox synagogues, one on the Upper West Side and one in Washington Heights. Officers swept the premises, deemed the locations safe, and both congregations resumed operations….

Hamas murders seven more Israeli captives

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/hamas-murders-seven-more-israeli-captives;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Yet this group of demonic savages enjoys the moral high ground in the eyes of the global left, and much of the right as well. I’m speaking of Hamas, not Israel, in case anyone is uncertain.

“Seven more Israeli captives confirmed murdered by Hamas,” i24News, December 1, 2023:

The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the deaths of seven hostages held in Gaza, saying their families had been informed, and the body of one of them returned to Israel.

“In recent days, the IDF (military) and Israel police notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Shortly after his statement to the press authorities also confirmed the deaths of Ofra Keidar and Guy Iluz.

Hagari also said troops had brought back the body of an additional person whom he identified as Ofir Tsarfati.

Separately the army said Tsarfati’s body had been “located in recent days” in Gaza by troops and the Shin Bet internal security service and brought to Israel for burial, with the family informed of his death on Wednesday…..

Murder Most Foul: The Bibas Jewish Family

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/murder-most-foul-the-bibas-family;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

On October 7, after their orgy of rape, torture, murder, and mutilation, Hamas operatives kidnapped 240 Israelis and took them back to Gaza. Among them was the Bibas family — father Yarden, mother Shiri, four-year-old Ariel, and 10-month-year-old Kfir. The 10-month-old was the youngest of the 240 hostages, and his baby face became the poster child, in every sense, for all of them. Now Hamas has announced that the mother, her four-year-old son, and her 10-ten-month old baby were no longer alive; they had been killed in an “Israeli bombardment.” More on this grim story can be found here: “IDF investigating ‘cruel’ Hamas claim that Bibas children, mother killed in Gaza,” Times of Israel, November 29, 2023:

Fears were raised Wednesday [Nov. 29] for the youngest hostage held in the Gaza Strip after Hamas claimed that 10-month-old Kfir Bibas had been killed alongside his brother and mother.

Israel’s military said it was assessing the claim, while relatives said they were “waiting for the news to be confirmed or hopefully refuted soon” about the family members, who have become leading faces of the hostage crisis.

During the Hamas massacre of October 7, the Bibas family, including 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel Bibas, and their mother Shiri Bibas — were kidnapped alive into Gaza,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“The barbarism and cruelty of Hamas is on full display to the world. IDF representatives spoke with the Bibas family following the recent reports and are with them at this difficult time. The IDF is assessing the accuracy of the information,” it added.

It follows a claim by the military wing of Hamas, which said earlier in the day that the three hostages had been killed in Gaza as the result of Israeli bombing.

NBC News could not verify the claim. Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

“Our family is updated on the latest Hamas publication. We are waiting for the news to be confirmed or hopefully refuted soon by military officials,” said the Bibas family in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

It added: “We thank the people of Israel for the warm embrace but ask to maintain our privacy at this complex time.” Footage of kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza border as she clutched her two young children has become one of the lasting images of the terror attack, and the subsequent plight of the hostages inside Gaza.

At 10-months old, Kfir is believed to be the youngest captive.

Shiri Bibas’ husband, Yarden, was kidnapped alongside her and their children, but there was no information immediately available about his well-being….

Why was the father separated from his wife and children? Was he killed earlier than they, or is he possibly still alive? Why won’t Hamas say?

Do you believe that the Bibas family died in an Israeli bombardment? Had that happened, wouldn’t Hamas have made that news public at once, in order to persuade the Israeli public to pressure their own government to call a halt to that bombardment? And since Hamas claimed that it had long before handed off the family to another terrorist group that it did not name — most likely Palestinian Islamic Jihad — wouldn’t Hamas have been told by that group that the Bibas family had been killed by an Israeli airstrike? Wouldn’t it have made sense for Hamas to declare that news, so demoralizing in its effect on Israelis, right away?

But that bombardment story by Hamas is almost certainly false. It’s to cover up the cold-blooded murder of the Bibas family, either by operatives of Hamas or of another group. Why would they kill them? Because they could. They’d just murdered 1,200 Israelis. Why would killing a few more trouble them? Perhaps some of the family’s captors were sick and tired of the baby’s constant crying, killed him, and the ensuing uncontrollable weeping from his mother and his brother so infuriated them that in order to shut them up, too, they decided to kill those other family members as well. Why wouldn’t they? What’s a few more murdered Israelis to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

I suspect that Hamas and PIJ have probably killed many more of the hostages than the Bibas family and the three hostages whose bodies the IDF has so far discovered on the grounds of the Shifa Hospital. Their deaths will soon become apparent as the hostage-prisoner exchange continues, and several dozen hostages who were known to have been taken alive will turn out to have been killed, so Hamas will claim, “in Israeli bombardments.” Murder, however, will out. And this news about the Bibas family has so enraged the Israelis that nothing will now stop them — not the UN, not the Bidenites, not the OIC, and certainly not the army of “two-state-solution” boys — from resuming their attacks with even greater ferocity than before the hostage-prisoner exchange started, in order to wipe out Hamas once and for all.

Speaker Johnson: We Have The Votes to Launch Full Impeachment Inquiry into Joe Biden

MATT MARGOLIS | 12:27 PM ON DECEMBER 02, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2023/12/02/speaker-johnson-we-have-the-votes-to-launch-full-impeachment-inquiry-into-joe-biden-n4924422;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Despite months of investigations uncovering the secrets of the Biden Crime Family, a full-fledge impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden has been in doubt, as several Republicans have expressed reluctance to move forward with an inquiry, claiming, among other things, that not enough evidence has been uncovered yet.

Well, I guess enough wobbly Republicans have become convinced by the evidence because, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson, the GOP appears to have the votes to launch a formal inquiry.

“I believe we will,” Johnson said during an interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Fox News. “I suspect no Democrats will assist in this effort, but they should.”

Johnson argued that the inquiry is a "necessary step" and that he thinks it is "something we have to do at this juncture."

"Elise [Stefanik] and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes," Johnson explained. "We decried that use of it. This is very different. Remember, we are the rule-of-law team. We have to do it very methodically."

   Related: Democrats Know the Evidence Against Joe Biden Is Solid

Upon winning the majority in the House, Republicans swiftly started investigating allegations of bribery and influence-peddling by Joe Biden, which has financially benefited him and his family. The House Oversight Committee has been uncovering a trove of evidence against Joe Biden over the past few months, including a network of Biden family shell companies used to launder foreign payments, an unclassified FBI document detailing how Joe Biden and his son Hunter “coerced” Burisma co-founder and CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to pay them a $10 million bribe, incriminating text messages, wire transfers from Communist China to Joe Biden's home, and so much more.

Recent polling shows that increasing numbers of Americans have become convinced that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden did something illegal in connection with Hunter’s foreign business dealings. A Fox News poll from October showed a significant increase in the percentage of people who believe Hunter Biden may have engaged in illegal activities related to his business dealings in Ukraine and China since last year, going from 39% in December 2022 to 52% now. This shift is noticeable across the political spectrum, with independents (+18 points), Democrats (+13), and Republicans (+11) all becoming more likely to suspect Hunter of criminal behavior since December of last year. Thus, an impeachment inquiry, though it may help unify Democrats behind Joe Biden, it is also a political problem for Joe Biden, as Americans are already convinced that he was involved in influence-peddling and bribery schemes. A public airing of the evidence against him may not result in his conviction by the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate, but it could further damage Biden before the presidential election next year.

"Our three committees of jurisdiction—Judicial, Oversight, Ways and Means—have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads," Johnson continued. "But now we're being stonewalled by the White House, because they're preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward—a former White House counsel, the national archives...the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence."

Biden pressuring Israel to prolong ceasefire, Son of Hamas warns that Hamas is buying time

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/biden-pressuring-israel-to-prolong-ceasefire-son-of-hamas-warns-that-hamas-is-buying-time;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Hamas is infamous for violating ceasefires. Any ceasefire in the Gaza war against Hamas ignores this fact, as well as Hamas’ documented goal to destroy Israel. A ceasefire agreement buys Hamas desperately needed time to regroup. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, advocates for Israel’s resolve in destroying Hamas.

Yousef also “called on Israel to set a time limit for the terror group to release all its hostages and to assassinate his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and other Hamas leaders if they don’t.”

Yet America continues to meddle in favor of Hamas:

Blinken is set to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss extending the temporary truce that has seen Hamas terrorists free hostages and Israel release Palestinians from its jails, and how to further boost humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Biden is trying to please both the Israelis and Palestinians. He pays lip service to the fact that Israel is an historic American ally whose very existence is perpetually threatened by Hamas, and more broadly by the global jihad. On the other hand, he serves Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups in America. I discuss this with Frank Gaffney HERE, continued HERE.

Biden thus ends up playing both the sides for votes, to the detriment of Israel.

Muslim Brotherhood supporting Qatar was also part of “intense negotiations” in the ceasefire agreement for the release of 50 hostages in exchange for the release of 150 imprisoned Palestinian jihadists.

“Pressure Grows on Israel to Prolong Cease-Fire With Hamas,” by Paul Wallace, Alisa Odenheimer, and Henry Meyer, Bloomberg, November 27, 2023:

Israel is coming under increasing pressure to agree to an extension of a four-day pause in its war with Hamas.

US President Joe Biden said he wants to prolong the cease-fire in the devastating war, which has killed thousands of people since it erupted seven weeks ago and inflamed tensions in the Middle East and beyond. The halt in fighting — part of a deal for Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza and Israel to release Palestinian prisoners — is due to end on Tuesday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said negotiations were continuing on Monday afternoon over the list of people to be freed next.

“We are aware of the stress that families are under, and we will add information when it becomes possible,” his office said.

The temporary halt began last Friday after intense negotiations brokered by Qatar, with the help of Egypt and the US. Hamas and Israel agreed the Iran-backed militant group would free 50 captives in stages in return for the Israeli government releasing 150 Palestinians….

Israel-haters inhabit the top levels of Biden’s pro-Iran regime

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SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/israel-haters-inhabit-the-top-levels-of-bidens-pro-iran-regime;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The regime is thoroughly compromised and beholden to America’s enemies.

“Meet the Israel-haters at the top of Biden’s pro-Iran government,” by Benjamin Weingarten, New York Post, November 29, 2023:

Americans have looked on in horror as pro-Hamas sympathy and genocidal Jew-hatred have erupted across college campuses, on city streets and up to Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the jihadist group’s monstrous Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

But perhaps even more horrific is how prevalent the “buttoned-up” version of this worldview is at the highest echelons of the US national-security and foreign-policy apparatus — and how the Biden administration’s Middle East agenda reflects it.

For the latest example, look to the social-media accounts of the CIA’s associate deputy director for analysis.

Amy McFadden, a decorated intelligence officer once responsible for overseeing the production of the all-important President’s Daily Brief, shared Palestinian propaganda on her Facebook page just two weeks after the Black Sabbath massacre, the Financial Times reports.

The woman who serves as one of three officials “responsible for approving all analysis disseminated inside the agency” changed her cover photo to an image of a man waving a Palestinian flag in a keffiyeh-patterned shirt — a design euphemistically referred to as a symbol of Palestinian “solidarity” popularized by the late Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat.

McFadden previously posted “a selfie with a sticker saying ‘Free Palestine’ superimposed on the photograph,” FT says.

It is bad enough for an American official to share a domestic political message on social media.

It’s infinitely worse when not just any official but a senior intelligence hand publicly promotes a foreign political cause — in this instance, Palestinian nationalism, right after Hamas’ Nazis executed a catastrophic and savage attack overwhelmingly supported by Palestinian Arabs against one of America’s foremost allies.

The Free Beacon adds that McFadden had in recent days liked a LinkedIn post from the International Crisis Group promoting an article critical of Israel for “making the utter defeat of Hamas its top priority.”

Another senior Biden national-security official once led that very conflict-resolution-focused nonprofit.

His name is Rob Malley.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama sidelined Malley as an adviser when it was revealed that while leading the ICG’s Middle East program, the Hamas apologist had met with the group’s members.

Nevertheless, Malley resurfaced as President Obama’s lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal, a pact that enriched and empowered the world’s leading state sponsor of jihad — including its proxy Hamas.

Today, Malley has been sidelined again, this time from the Biden State Department, where he was working as special envoy to Iran to reprise the nuclear deal.

Malley had his security clearance pulled, went on leave and is under FBI investigation.

Why? Perhaps because evidence indicates the ICG hired analysts — serving under Malley while he was its president — who participated in an Iranian influence operation against America.

Malley recruited one alleged agent of influence, Ariane Tabatabai, to serve on his Biden administration Iran team.

She would leave and become chief of staff to the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations.

As The Post’s Miranda Devine reports, Tabatabai also recently became a US reserve naval intelligence officer.

Despite being rumored to be under investigation, Tabatabai has somehow retained her high-level security clearance….

Biden Threatens to Veto Bill That Would Send 3,000 Criminals Back to Prison

RICK MORAN | 1:49 PM ON DECEMBER 01, 2023
SEE: https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2023/12/01/biden-threatens-to-veto-bill-that-would-send-3000-criminals-back-to-prison-n4924406;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
When the pandemic was at its height, the Trump administration allowed around 13,000 non-violent federal prisoners to serve their sentence from home, largely because COVID-19 deaths spiked in prisons as a result of the close quarters and generally unhealthy condition of many prisoners.

Before Trump left office, his Justice Department released a memo demanding that the inmates be returned to serve the rest of their sentences in prison once the pandemic emergency was over.

It didn't work out that way. The Biden Justice Department issued an order that allowed the prisoners to serve the rest of their sentences in home confinement.

Admittedly, most of the prisoners were convicted of non-violent drug offenses. "It would be a terrible policy to return these people to prison," Attorney General Merrick Garland said, "after they have shown that they are able to live in home confinement without violations."

But Senate Joint Resolution 47, introduced by Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and co-sponsored by 28 Republicans, disagreed. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton wrote that the proposed veto by Biden "betrays victims and law-enforcement agencies that trusted the federal government to keep convicted criminals away from the neighborhoods that the offenders once terrorized." 

The administration issued a statement of policy defending the president's action.

"Of the over 13,000 people released to home confinement under the CARES Act, less than one percent have committed a new offense—mostly for nonviolent, low-level offenses—and all were returned to prison as a result," the statement says. "Moreover, since home confinement is less than half the cost of housing someone in prison, this program has saved taxpayers millions of dollars and eased the burden on BOP staff so they can focus on the higher risk and higher need people in Federal prison."

Reason.com:

Criminal justice advocacy groups began pressing the Biden administration to reverse that decision, arguing that the program had been an unqualified success and that it would be bizarre and cruel to send back people who had thrived on the outside. The White House initially declined to do so, instead announcing a clemency initiative that would have targeted only nonviolent drug offenders, leaving thousands of others, such as white-collar offenders, to return to prison regardless of their conduct. But last December, the Justice Department reversed course and issued a new memo finding that the BOP had the discretion to leave them under house arrest for the remainder of their sentences.

Not that it matters much to the left, but allowing these prisoners to remain in home confinement weakens the rule of law and makes a mockery of individual responsibility. Instead of a blanket ruling for all released convicts, shouldn't it be on a case-by-case basis? Some of the offenses these criminals are serving time for may be considered "non-violent" by the criminal justice system but by definition are outside the bounds of behavior in a civil society.

I'm with Sen. Cotton. Biden's veto "betrays victims and law-enforcement agencies," and the president shouldn't do it.