RSS
Israel Strikes at Heart of Hezbollah’s Terror Financing System
Smoke billows after an Israeli air strike on a village in southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, October 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
JNS.org — Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah financial sites across Lebanon overnight Sunday, including in Beirut.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of facilities and sites used by the Iranian proxy to fund its terrorist activities against the Jewish state were attacked.
“These funds, which Hezbollah used for terror activities, were stored by the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which directly funds Hezbollah’s terror activities, including the purchase of weapons and payments to operatives in Hezbollah’s military wing,” the IDF said.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization stores billions of dollars in the association’s branches, including money that was directly held under the name of the terrorist organization,” the statement continued.
“We will strike a large number of targets in the coming hours, and additional targets later tonight,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday, emphasizing that in the coming days the IDF would reveal how Iran funds Hezbollah’s terror activities via civilian institutions, associations, and organizations.
The military emphasized that many measures were taken before the strikes to minimize harm to the civilian population, including issuing advanced warnings via various platforms.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a video message in Arabic to X urging residents of Lebanon to move away from infrastructure associated with the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association shortly before the wave of attacks began.
“A large portion of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities is funded by the Iranian state budget. Hezbollah uses these funds to finance its terrorist activities, including acquiring weapons, purchasing facilities for storing combat equipment, establishing launch sites and paying its members, as well as carrying out various terrorist activities,” Adraee explained.
He issued evacuation notices for at least 25 buildings in the Beirut area, in the Bekaa Valley and in South Lebanon.
“The Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association is involved in financing Hezbollah’s terrorist activities against Israel. Therefore, the IDF has decided to target this terrorist infrastructure,” Adraee said.
“The IDF continues to work forcefully to destroy Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure. Therefore, we urge people inside buildings used by Hezbollah to move at least 500 meters away in the coming hours.”
Many explosions were reported in the Dahiya neighborhood south of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli attacks were also carried out near the Beirut airport. Buildings were seen collapsing and others were on fire.
According to Lebanese media reports, there were three casualties from a drone strike on a residential building in Baalbek, and additional strikes were reported in the Beqaa Valley region.
“These strikes are part of the IDF’s ongoing efforts to degrade Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure, its military capabilities and ability to rebuild,” the IDF said.
According to Channel 12, Hezbollah’s economic institution, Al-Qard, operates about 30 branches in areas of Lebanon where Shi’ite Muslims are concentrated, with about half of the branches being in Beirut.
Most of the bank’s funding comes from Iran, totaling some $700 million per year, as well as from illegal sources such as cocaine trafficking, according to the report.
“The Shiite terror organization is under heavy sanctions, and Qard Al-Hassan allows it to operate without significant restrictions,” Channel 12 reported.
“According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), the volume of loans given by Qard Al-Hassan grew from approximately $76.5 million in 2007, the year after the Second Lebanon War, to around $480 million in 2019. The total activity of Qard Al-Hassan from the opening of the network in 1983 until 2019 is estimated at about $3.5 billion,” the report continued.
This growth occurred despite American sanctions imposed as early as 2007.
“The reason for this is that the employees of Qard Al-Hassan use private accounts in recognized banks in Lebanon, with the aim of circumventing the sanctions,” according to Channel 12.
IDF ground operations in southern Lebanon continue
The IDF said on Monday morning that over the past 24 hours, troops in southern Lebanon had located and dismantled large amounts of Hezbollah weaponry, including anti-tank missiles, launchers aimed at Israeli communities, RPG launchers, munitions, explosives, grenades, and additional combat equipment.
Soldiers also killed Hezbollah terrorists, including tactical-level commanders and a terrorist cell that had launched anti-tank missiles at soldiers.
The Israeli Air Force also struck dozens of launchers aimed at Israel, and additional Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites.
Israel’s army provided further updates on the ground activities in southern Lebanon on Monday afternoon, reporting that the 188th Brigade Combat Team under the command of the 36th Division killed terrorists and destroyed underground infrastructure and large amounts of weapons.
In recent days, soldiers destroyed a weapons storage facility located in a residential neighborhood next to a house. The facility contained dozens of long- and short-range missiles, ammunition, mortars, machine guns, explosives, and medical equipment.
Separately, Israeli forces destroyed a vehicle equipped with a rocket launcher found near a house. According to the IDF, “the vehicle was fully equipped and prepared to launch rockets towards Israeli communities.”
Hezbollah rocket attacks continue
Sirens sounded in northern Israel’s Galilee region on Monday morning, with the IDF reporting 25 launches from Lebanon crossing into Israeli territory.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, and several impacts were identified. No injuries were reported.
Alarms were again activated in northern Israel during the afternoon hours, with residents in the Haifa area and Galilee running to bomb shelters. The IDF said that a missile launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon was shot down.
The Magen David Adom emergency medical service reported that a 40-year-old man was lightly injured by shrapnel following sirens in the Upper Galilee region. The man, reportedly a foreign national, was hit in the Ayelet HaShahar area and transported to Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
Also in the afternoon, IAF fighter jets struck 15 short-range missile launchers located in Southern Lebanon that were directed toward communities in northern Israel. These included the launchers from which projectiles were fired at the Western Galilee. The terrorist infrastructure used by Hezbollah in areas of Southern Lebanon was also targeted.
During the overnight hours, sirens sounded in the Jordan Valley area due to a drone crossing into Israeli territory from the east, that was intercepted. Earlier on Sunday night, a drone approaching Israel was shot down over Syria.
Some 200 Hezbollah projectiles were launched into Israeli territory throughout Sunday.
Gallant: Hezbollah is collapsing
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday during a visit to Israel’s northern border that the offensive against Hezbollah was seriously degrading the Iranian-backed terror army.
“Not only are we defeating the enemy [Hezbollah], but we are destroying them in all the villages along the border, in the places that Hezbollah planned to use as launchpads for attacks against Israel. In those places, instead there is now a presence of IDF troops, overwhelming the terrorists,” Gallant told soldiers serving in the IDF’s 98th Division.
The minister held an operational assessment with the division commander and other senior officers, and also spoke with combat troops.
“Our goal is to completely ‘clean’ the area [of Hezbollah infrastructure] so that Israel’s northern communities may return to their homes and rebuild their lives. I believe that this is very significant — the IDF is conducting operations and we still have missions to complete,” Gallant said.
“We have Hezbollah prisoners who are sharing information. They have informed us of the great fear felt [among Hezbollah terrorists]. Hezbollah is collapsing.”
The post Israel Strikes at Heart of Hezbollah’s Terror Financing System first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘F—k the Jew, F—k the Zionist’: Former CAIR Director Launches Antisemitic Tirade in Manhattan
Noora Shalash confronting Jewish men in New York City. Photo: Screenshot
A former senior employee of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) was caught on camera launching a profane and antisemitic tirade at Jewish men in New York City in a viral video posted to social media on Thursday.
Noora Shalash, who previously worked as the director of government affairs for CAIR’s Kentucky branch, was confronted by an individual in an office building after allegedly harassing a “visibly Jewish man.” After being grilled for her alleged conduct, Shalash then went on an antisemitic diatribe.
“F—k the Jew. F—k the Zionist,” Shalash said.
Shalash then said that she “loves Jesus” and claimed Jews “dishonor the Virgin Mary and call her a ‘whore.’” She also called the man recording the video a “b—ch” and swiped her hand at his cellphone. A security guard intervened and physically pulled Shalash away while she appeared to continue attempting to assault the man.
“This is what Jews have to deal with in New York City,” the man said.
Midtown Manhattan – crazed antisemite assaults a visible Jew and gets arrested.
“F*ck the Jew … f*ck the Zionists” she says confidently. pic.twitter.com/EdmTR2UzWg
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 7, 2025
The video, which was obtained and posted on X/Twitter by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism, quickly went viral on social media, gaining nearly 600,000 views within 16 hours.
CAIR National responded to the viral incident, claiming that Shalash had not been employed by the organization for five years and currently has “no other role at our civil rights group.”
“We condemn and reject the antisemitic comments in the video, just as we condemn and reject the anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim hate,” the organization added.
A picture circulated on social media showing CAIR identifying Shalash as a senior official as of October 2020.
PHOTO: CAIR-KY met with #Kentucky Senate Pres Robert Stivers. Representing CAIR-KY were CAIR-KY Board members: Dr. Salah Shakir, Dr. Nadia Rasheed, Dr. Dina Rasheed, Noora Shalash (CAIR-KY Dir Gov Affairs) Sen. Reginald Thomas attended @kysenatepres @BGPolitics @tweet2waheedah pic.twitter.com/YtYGH7z8V3
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) October 1, 2020
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, the organization was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
CAIR leaders have also found themselves embroiled in further controversy since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage of rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis in what was the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago last November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
The post ‘F—k the Jew, F—k the Zionist’: Former CAIR Director Launches Antisemitic Tirade in Manhattan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
New ‘Gaza Encampment’ Hits Bowdoin College
Anti-Zionist Bowdoin College students storming the Smith Union administrative building on the evening of February 6, 2025 to occupy it in protest of what they said are the college’s links to Israel. Photo: Screenshot
“Gaza Solidarity Encampments” returned to American higher education on Thursday with the capture and occupation of an administrative building at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine by the group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
According to the Bowdoin Orient, the campus newspaper, SJP stormed Smith Union and installed its encampment on Thursday night in response to US President Donald Trump’s proposing that the US “take over” the Gaza Strip and transform it into a hub for tourism and economic dynamism. The roughly 50 students residing inside the building have vowed not to leave until the Bowdoin officials agree to adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
“President Trump’s recent statement suggests a potential endorsement on Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, a move that threatens the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people and undermines the prospect for a just and lasting peace,” SJP leader Yusur Jasmin said during a speech delivered to the students, who are breaking multiple school rules to hold the demonstration.
Following the action, Bowdoin officials promptly moved to deescalate the situation by counseling the students to mind the “gravity of situation” in which they placed themselves, with senior associate dean Katie Toro-Ferrari warning that their behavior “could put them on the path where they are jeopardizing their ability to remain as Bowdoin students.” However, the Orient said the students continued to flood Smith Union anyway. One student, Olivia Kenney, proclaimed that “Bowdoin does not know how to handle us right now.”
Bowdoin has not conceded the fight to gain control of Smith Union. On Friday, the Orient said it ordered security to declare the building closed for the day and to deny access to all who attempt to enter it, including Orient reporters seeking interviews with the occupiers. The directive has so far blocked entry to over a dozen students who approached its doors on Friday while chanting “This institution does not scare us. To the security, you do not scare us.” The school has also stated unequivocally that refusing to end the demonstration will prompt a “disciplinary process,” the paper added.
“The demonstration that began on our campus on Feb. 6 is in clear violation of our policies, and those students who are participating will be subject to the disciplinary process. Bowdoin’s priority is to ensure that all our students, faculty, and staff feel safe and welcome on campus,” Bowdoin College told The Algemeiner on Friday in a statement.
No college or university has seen the successful establishment of a “Gaza Solidarity Encampments,” since the conclusion of the spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic school year, when anti-Zionists across the US commandeered school property and vowed to maintain control of them until school officials agreed to boycott and divest from Israel, a measure they said would signal disapproval of Israel’s prosecution of its war to eradicate Hamas from Gaza. Several attempts to do so this academic year were undertaken at the University of California, Los Angeles and Sarah Lawrence College, as well as the University of Cambridge and Munich University in Europe, but those endeavors were short lived.
Bowdoin’s encampment, equipped with tents and provisions to support an extended stay inside Smith Union, seems to be modeled directly on those which emerged last year and could be just as difficult to uproot. Some schools, such as Stanford University, failed to negotiate an end their encampments for as many as 120 days. How Bowdoin moves forward will be an early example of how college officials plan to operate in new political and legal parameters set by Trump’s second administration, which has vowed to quell campus unrest.
On Friday the National Association of Scholars, which published in 2013 a groundbreaking study — titled, What Does Bowdoin Teach? — of scholar-activism at Bowdoin College and has been a vocal critic of the anti-Zionist campus movement, called on school officials to restore order and uphold “the core mission of liberal arts education.”
It continued, “We urge Bowdoin College to reaffirm its dedication to a balanced liberal arts education by maintaining an environment where academic inquiry prevails over political activism. By doing so, the college can uphold its responsibility to educate students who are well-equipped to engage thoughtfully and constructively in civic life.”
Bowdoin College is not the only higher education institution that has been convulsed by anti-Israel activity this semester.
Columbia University was a victim of infrastructural sabotage last month, when an extremist anti-Zionist group flooded the toilets of an academic building with concrete to mark the anniversary of an alleged killing of a Palestinian child. The targeted facilities were located on several floors of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), according to Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the school, who addressed the matter, calling the behavior “deplorable, disruptive, and deeply unsettling, as our campus is a space we cherish for learning teaching, and working, and it will not be tolerated.”
Numerous reports indicate the attack may be the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia on Wednesday were shared with students.
Republicans in Washington, DC have said that such behavior “will no longer be tolerated in the Trump administration.” Meanwhile, the new president has enacted a slew of policies aimed at reining in disruptive and discriminatory behavior.
Continuing work started started during his first administration — when Trump issued Executive Order 13899 to ensure that civil rights law apply equally Jews — Trump’s recent “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism” calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.” The order also requires each government agency to write a report explaining how it can be of help in carrying out its enforcement. Another major provision of the order calls for the deportation of extremist “alien” student activists, whose support for terrorist organizations, intellectual and material, such as Hamas contributed to fostering antisemitism, violence, and property destruction.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New ‘Gaza Encampment’ Hits Bowdoin College first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Sanctions ICC, Blasts Court for Setting ‘Dangerous Precedent’ With Netanyahu Arrest Warrant
US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, in Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order imposing travel and economic sanctions against those who assist with International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations of American citizens or allies such as Israel.
Trump announced the executive order on Thursday, coinciding with the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant last year over his role in the Gaza war — to Washington, DC. Under the sanctions, ICC officials, employees, and agents, together with their immediate family members, will have their property and assets blocked and their access to the United States suspended.
“The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest,” the order reads. “This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States Government and our allies, including Israel.”
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave throughout the war.
US and Israeli officials issued blistering condemnations of the ICC move, decrying the court for drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the heads of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
The ICC responded to Trump’s executive order with a forceful condemnation, stressing that the court produces “independent and impartial” work.
“The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” the ICC said.
European Council President Antonio Costa blasted the US move, writing that “sanctioning the ICC threatens the court’s independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole.”
However, not all reactions to the executive order were negative. Israel commended Trump for his sanctions against the ICC.
“I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the so-called ‘international criminal court,’” wrote Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on X.
The post Trump Sanctions ICC, Blasts Court for Setting ‘Dangerous Precedent’ With Netanyahu Arrest Warrant first appeared on Algemeiner.com.