Day: September 28, 2023

A few years ago, I was in a cab in Boston and noticed a photo of a young girl that my driver had displayed on his dashboard. “Is that your daughter?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said with joyful pride. “I have more pictures, want to see?” I did. He handed me his phone and invited me to scroll through his photos. I “ooh”ed and “aah”ed over how adorable his four-year old girl was. We chatted. He told me she lived with her mom.

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“You don’t live with them?” I asked. “Nah,” he said. “Could I ask why not?” I continued. I knew this was nosy, so I quickly qualified it. “I’m an economist, and I study families, so I wonder about these kinds of things.” “I don’t know.” he shrugged. “We talk about it. If we save up some money, we might get married.”  

I pressed further. “I don’t mean to pry,” I said slowly, “but if you guys get along and you both love your daughter, why don’t you live together as a family?” He became flustered—not impatient or angry, but genuinely flustered. He missed the exit, looked over his shoulder to get a better look at me, and asked, “Did my mom send you or something?”

This encounter—and a million other domestic arrangements that it describes—prompt an important question: Has the social normalization of raising children outside of a two-parent arrangement led to more children being raised in a one-parent household? Surely, yes. And has this trend served the best interests of children? Based on the evidence of how beneficial two parent (especially two biological parent) homes are for children, the answer is an unequivocal no. 

This presents our modern American society with a challenge: we need to find ways to acknowledge the benefits of a two-parent family—including the important role that fathers play in their children’s lives—without coming across as shaming or blaming single mothers. By being honest about the benefits that a two-parent family home confers to children, we can break the pattern in which a desire to be inclusive of different family types too often leads to a reluctance to acknowledge the negative consequences of the rise in one-parent families and address it as a matter of public policy.

Research Shows Children Thrive in Married Parent Households

The evidence is clear, even if the punchline is uncomfortable: children are more likely to thrive— behaviorally and academically, and ultimately in the labor market and adult life—if they grow up with the advantages of a two-parent home. Numerous academic studies confirm that children raised in married parent homes are less likely to get in trouble in school or with the law; they are more likely to graduate high school and college; they are more likely to have higher income and be married themselves as adults. Research suggests that boys are especially disadvantaged by the absence of dads from their homes. These facts are indisputable. But there is disagreement among scholars about what to take away from them and what the policy implications are.

Some of these differences reflect the fact that parents who are married are already likely to be more successful and thus pass advantages down to their children. Those inclined to downplay the role of marriage often emphasize this point and conclude that we should thus not focus on marriage per se, but instead focus on shoring up government support to single-parent families. I disagree. We should be asking why it is that the most economically successful people in our society are so much more likely to be married and have the advantage of a spouse with whom to raise their children.

Read More: America Needs More Men Working In Healthcare and Education

We should not be content with marriage and married parent families becoming yet another luxury good of the college-educated class and another source of disproportionate advantage for their children. Interviews conducted with low-income unmarried couples often suggest that many of these couples aim to be married and make their relationships work, but they face barriers to doing so. It should be a policy priority to help such couples achieve stable, healthy relationships, and to promote positive approaches to co-parenting that benefit their children.

Furthermore, the gaps in outcomes between children from married and single mother homes is not just reflective of more successful adults being more likely to be married. Gaps remain when comparing outcomes across the children of mothers of the same age, race, and education level. A lot of this reflects the basic fact that homes with two adults have two potential earners, and therefore have more income. Married parents also have more collective time, energy, and emotional bandwidth to give to their children. I agree that we need more public support to economically insecure families, but a government check is never going to make up for all the income and other types of support a loving, working second parent in the home would bring. Even in countries with much more generous welfare states than the U.S., family background matters for children’s outcomes. We should have a stronger safety net in the U.S., but we should also invest directly in parents and their ability to establish strong families.

Of course, some families would not be better off if the parents lived together, and some parents are not positive influences in their children’s lives. But we are no longer in a situation in the U.S. where children are raised by an unmarried or unpartnered parent only in rare or extenuating circumstances. Only 63 percent of U.S. children live in a home with married parents. The share being raised in a home with two parents, regardless of marital status, is only slightly higher—around 70 percent. Statistics show that many of these cohabiting arrangements will break up, bringing the burden of instability to children’s lives.

The share of children living with married parents is even lower among the children of parents who don’t have a four-year college degree; this is true overall, as well as within race and ethnic groups. The interaction of education, class, and race is quite determinant. The children of non-college educated Black mothers are at an especially high risk of living with only their mother—around 60 percent of children in that group live with only their mother. The gap in family structure between education and race groups both reflects and exacerbates inequality, and it threatens to entrench advantage and disadvantage across generations.

Are Men Not Marriageable?

Some observers see these trends and object to the idea that marriage itself is something we should be focused on as a matter of social policy. A frequent line of argument is that women are not marrying the fathers of their children because these men would not be good providers or partners.

Could it really be the case that so many American children have been borne of fathers who would not be positive contributors to the family if they were part of their household? If that is even close to the reality for men in America today, then we have a terrible crisis of men.

Read More: Americans Don’t Know How Their Kids Are Doing at School

In fact, the evidence does suggest that part of the story of why marriage has declined outside the college-educated class in America—and consequently the share of children living without the benefits of two parents in their home has increased—is a response to the decade-long economic struggles of non-college educated men. Social science evidence points to an important role for the decline in the economically “marriageable male.” When a man is unlikely to be an economically reliable partner, marriage is not an attractive proposition. The decline in marriage in the U.S. since the 1980s reflects, in part, the declining economic position of non-college educated men (which is still a majority of U.S. men).

But the economic trends that have been punishing to many men in society have been amplified by a social acceptance of having and raising children outside a committed partnership—and these forces have not been good for children, or society more generally.

Social Norms Matter, and Are Malleable

It’s not just economics; social norms are also an important contributor to the rise of the single-parent household. Where social norms come from and how to change them are complicated questions. Academic evidence does give us some useful answers. For one, role models matter. Young people take inspiration and cues from trusted adults in their lives. Children, teens, and young adults will approach their own family formation in ways that are reflective of the examples and lessons they take from the adults around them.

There is also compelling evidence that people’s attitudes (and ultimately behaviors) are influenced by media content, even in the complicated sphere of family formation. For instance, economists have documented how the portrayal of family structures Brazilian telenovelas produced changes in the country’s family and fertility outcomes—a drop in fertility, a rise in divorce and separation—between 1965 and 1999. Similarly, the depictions of the difficulties associated with being a teen mom as shown on the MTV reality television show 16 and Pregnant led to a decline in rates of teen childbearing in the US.

Social messaging that comes organically in the form of entertainment and social media can have an impact on how people think and act when it comes to decisions about family and fertility.

Promoting Two Parent Households as Economic Policy

The decline in marriage, the corresponding high share of children living with only their mothers, the economic disadvantage and inequality that results is producing a cycle in desperate need of interruption. The U.S. needs to raise boys who are fit to be reliable marriage partners and nurturing, supportive fathers. We need to foster a societal expectation that fathers are present in their children’s lives and support them, financially and emotionally. I have no idea whether the cab driver I mentioned above would be a good father or partner. But he was obviously employed, and he seemed to love his daughter and her mother; he was also seemingly ambivalent about whether they should raise their daughter in a home together, and whether they were committed to each other as marriage partners.

Restoring the prevalence of marriage between parents outside the college educated class will require both economic and social changes. It will require bolstering the circumstances of men, so that they are more reliable marriage partners and fathers. In broad strokes, this will likely require heightened economic stability, but also addressing the multitude of barriers that make it hard for some men to form healthy relationships, including substance abuse, violence, criminal engagement, and other challenges. Restoring the prevalence of marriage will likely also require fostering a norm of marriage—or at least committed, long-term cohabitation—among parents. These are efforts that can be tackled on the federal, state, and local level through economic policy choices regarding married versus single people, as well as through the excellent work being done by non-profits and advocacy groups across the nation that help people learn to become stronger marriage partners and parents.

The economic data is clear: to make our nation’s economy stronger for all men, women and children, marriage and family structure must be acknowledged as a driving force of economic well-being. And we must promote positive, shame-free ways of changing our social and economic views on marriage to make improvements that help the nation now and in the decades ahead.

With its stacks of books and its wood-paneled walls, my professor’s office was as intimidating as it was clichéd. As a young divinity school student years ago, my efforts to schedule time with the professor through email had been a bit of a chore – this was not a pop-in appointment. And as the meeting began, I immediately sensed that my professor was very busy and that we would not be having an extended conversation. I remember feeling a bit disappointed as this realization dawned on me, as I came to understand that I would not be his new star pupil. I had, in my mind, very important intellectual queries to make of my professor, ones that stemmed from my own doubt and struggles regarding the truth of my Christian faith at the time. In the end, I was underwhelmed when the conversation didn’t provide the breathtaking revelations I’d hoped for. I left, instead, with some relatively uninspiring instructions from the professor: Go to church.

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I return to this moment whenever I read the various discussions and social media arguments concerning the “de-churching” of America, the dramatic decrease of Christian interest in attending worship and joining faith communities. My professor’s advice cut against the grain of this trend, one that was started accelerating in the 1990s and was certainly a reality in the university town where I was in school.

Now, as an educator, I also think about this moment whenever I consider the places my students today seek answers to their own pressing problems. And there is increasingly no more vexing example of this than the challenge of artificial intelligence (AI). AI programs like Chat GPT have sent higher education into a tizzy over the past year and are forcing dramatic reworkings of syllabi. This concern is usually framed as worry about plagiarism. But such programs also promise users (especially students) easy answers to challenging questions. This is an intensification of democratized internet trends, one that threatens to further upend confidence in less accessible intellectual authorities—whether books, courses, teachers, and yes, even sometimes the church.

Read More: What Asbury’s Christian Revival Says About America’s Need for Connection

I wonder now what my experience would have been like as a doubting student with AI programs like Chat GPT at my disposal. I was asking the kinds of questions that many students ask, about God, human existence, and truth, and I was considering radical changes to (even abandonment of)  my old beliefs. Students today still ask these kinds of questions, though they increasingly have new options as to where to go to find answers. Indeed, there are now even AI programs designed precisely for Christians like myself who had hard questions about faith, programs that let users conveniently “text with Jesus.”

De-churching and AI seem to me to be related phenomena. Both are modern attempts to exceed frustrating limits. For one, church can be a burden. This can be true of time (we have to get ahead at work, our kids have to do travel soccer), amusement (church is often boring), and doctrine (Christians believe wild stuff, it turns out, and those beliefs can motivate some to do awful things). Similarly, AI tools promise to broaden our knowledge and democratize it for everyone, not just those who can afford a degree or take the time to wade through a complex text. Breaking away from these various constraints promises a freer life.

Especially when compared to my professor’s advice, AI tools like Chat GPT would seem to have a leg up in every way in dealing with deconstructive doubts. These tools operate at breathtaking speed and cut through jargon. Unlike my busy professor, AI is ready to talk with you anytime, about anything, including all the questions you could possibly ask about religious faith. (And Chat GPT’s responses aren’t altogether bad. Believe me, I’ve tried.) It certainly would have been much easier for me as a doubting Christian to endlessly input my various queries into a laptop on my dark nights of the soul, rather than sit down with a face-to-face meeting with my teacher. AI and its democratized technological parallels offer so much, and in that, perhaps, it shows how obsolete traditional forms of inquiry have become. This is especially true given that, in my case, the advice I was offered was to do little more than to return to my religious community, a place of mundane familiarity.

And yet, the 20 minutes in the confines of that wood-paneled room were as close to life changing as anything I had ever experienced. I had told the professor that I wasn’t sure I believed in God or could be a Christian anymore, and I sputtered through my various reasons. The professor answered, not by giving me any new information or offering an airtight, comprehensive explanation. Instead, he asked me where I felt closest to God in recent years. I said that occasionally I had felt close to God at my church, and sometimes at the prison ministry where I volunteered. Both were places where I was surrounded by people (many, though not all, Christians) who gave me strength or inspiration. But, that wasn’t of much use, I thought to myself, because I knew that collective illusions were likely influencing my understanding of reality. What I wanted, so I thought, was accessible and certain knowledge. I sought a comprehensive system for making sense of the world that would eliminate (or at least dramatically reduce) doubt and give me the intellectual stability I craved. And I wanted it to deal with problems as they came up, as I kept finding new objections to faith. AI chat tools didn’t exist then, but what they currently promise was, in effect, exactly the kind of solution I was seeking.

By contrast, my professor’s recommendation was for me to simply keep going to the places where I felt like maybe I was experiencing God, or at least where I had in the past, to be persistent there, and to trust that eventually all would be well. My professor knew, I think, that truth is something that is lived out, not simply obtained through visual perception and mental assent. And he knew that truthful living ultimately meant encounters with others, both fellow creatures and the Creator we attempt to speak about and connect to together. So, I went back to church. And, because of my professor’s advice, and because of the people who met me at church and in prison, I’m still here, somehow doubting and believing all at once.

The point I want to make here is not so much about faith amidst doubt (important though that may be), but about the alternatives set before us as people living in a moment where religious belonging matters less and technologies like AI promise more. The forsaking of church and the embrace of AI both indicate we want to exceed limits. By comparison, the professorial advice I obtained was limited in every way. My professor didn’t try to give me a giant stack of books, and he didn’t try to handle every possible question I might have had. Indeed, he didn’t tell me to doanything differently. Instead, he told me to return to a space where I was already sensing something true, some slight taste of the good life. But in that conversation, with all of its limits, and in the church I returned to, seeds were being planted that could grow in unpredictable ways.

Just as church can be endlessly disappointing, technologies like AI can be quite satisfying—but superficially so. It’s important to remember that this is not the satisfaction of knowledge gained through a life well lived. It also is not the sense of the possibility of divine presence in collective worship, or the transformative knowledge of a tradition or community that only comes through personal, persistent encounters. AI offers information but provides no relational or affective context for helping a person understand and experience why such acquisition of such data might be part of a larger process of transformation, growth, and wonder. It offers information, but not formation.

Being rightly formed in Christian community is hard. The people in our churches are broken; their doctrines are confusing and strange; and at their worst these places risk exacerbating all kinds of harmful habits and assumptions. And yet, in those spaces of gathering, with those pursuing God together, I think we somehow can find hope for truthful lives well lived.

Rebekah Kendall, a New York City public school teacher, used her February 2021 break to do something few women ever get to do: she proposed to her boyfriend, Bilig Bayar, an assistant principal at a different New York City school, on a beach at a resort in Jamaica. “I got down on one knee, did the whole thing,” says Kendall.

She had scoped the perfect spot while Bayar was at the gym, set up her phone to take pictures under the pretense she wanted vacation snaps, and bought a fancy watch to give him instead of a ring. “I really had the element of surprise on my side,” she says. “He had no expectation of it and he was just shocked and so elated and it was really special and really fun.” (He said yes.)

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She shared her plans with her friends beforehand, and their reaction was muted. “They didn’t try to talk me out of it, but they definitely didn’t have the reaction that I would have liked,” says Kendall. “They were like, ‘That’s … that’s so you!’ Like, ‘Good for you!’” She told her mother in advance but not her father: “I didn’t really know the protocol on how to ask you for my own hand in marriage to give to someone else,” she told him.

The process by which men and women meet, mate, and manufacture more humans is undergoing a radical realignment. Half a century ago two-thirds of Americans ages 25 to 50 were living with a spouse and a smattering of offspring. Today, that fraction is closer to one-third. Whereas marriage used to be an institution widely adopted across all socioeconomic levels, today it is much more prevalent among people who are wealthy and educated. About one in a hundred marriages in the U.S. are between people of the same sex. An unknown but growing fraction of them, including the former Mayor of New York City’s, are openly nonmonogamous.

But plenty of things about the process of getting married have remained stubbornly unchanged. Men still buy women expensive engagement rings, even when a couple already shares expenses. American women married to men continue to take their husband’s last names, at a rate of 80:20. After a lull during the pandemic, the wedding industry is back in the black or, um, white. And the overwhelming number of proposals are still made by men.

Data on how many women propose is not robust. But Michele Velazquez, who helps plan proposals with her company The Heart Bandits, says she has seen no increase in the number of women proposing in the 13 years she has been in business. She estimates that only three women from heterosexual couples contact her per year.

Read More: The Case Against Engagement Rings

The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau say that there are only 90 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women. More women than ever are earning money of their own and thus less reliant on men for financial stability. And most women are already living with the men they are going to marry before any proposal is plotted. These market conditions—an undersupply of men, an ability to provide, and the willing presence of a local candidate—would seem to clear the way for women to do the asking. Yet they don’t.

What prevents a woman who wishes to marry her partner from proposing to him? Is it mortification, the suggestion that a woman had to force the issue because she was not desirable enough to be chosen? Is it the unspoken prohibition on any act that whiffs of female aggression or ambition? Does it seem forward and loose, as if these women were throwing themselves at men? “Sometimes women are embarrassed to admit they proposed,” says Julie Gottman, co-founder of The Gottman Institute and co-author of the marriage-advice staple, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. “It makes them seem pushy and controlling, and perhaps not loved enough to receive a proposal.”

She points to the mesmerizing effect of years of saturation in romantic fairy tales. “As much as we’ve tried to establish new, more egalitarian standards for ourselves, those images and their influence have seeped into our bones,” says Gottman. “It’s nice to be begged to marry. That’s really being wanted.”

Read More: Why I Stayed in a Marriage That Was Making Me Miserable

For Aaron Renn, a conservative thinker and writer at the American Reformer, the converse is also true. To ask someone to marry you is to risk being spurned. “I think men have traditionally always just had this understanding that they have to bear the risk of rejection,” he says. Women hold the high ground in that encounter, and they may not wish to cede it. “Do you want to be the party that is in the position to decide: ‘I accept or reject,’” asks Renn, “or do you want to be the party who is at risk of being accepted or rejected?”

When New Yorkers Amy Shack Egan and John Egan decided to get married in 2017, they opted for a third alternative. They both love sunsets, so they researched the best places to see the sun set and planned a covert trip to the Grand Canyon. They flew to Los Angeles, splurged on a convertible, and drove to their chosen spot where, as the sun went down, they each read something they’d written about why they wanted to spend their lives together.

“We drove up and I remember thinking: ‘It’s that very rare moment in your life when you know everything is different when you come back to this car,’” says Shack Egan. They each bought their own engagement rings (Shack Egan’s was a chunky turquoise) and surprised each other with gifts. She bought him an outdoor couples’ massage. He bought her a couples’ skydive, because of the metaphorical leap they were taking and “because I’ve always wanted to go and he’s terrified of heights.” They had a week alone together before announcing the news to family and friends, who Shack Egan said were pleased, if a bit puzzled by the methodology.

Read More: The Hazards of Searching for ‘Marriage Material’

Did she not want the surprise proposal? “I hear proposal stories every day, and the thing I hear the most is that it’s never a total surprise,” says Shack Egan, who runs the wedding-planning company Modern Rebel. “The conversation around marriage should never be a surprise. If it’s a surprise, that’s not a great sign.” Couples who come to Modern Rebel, which calls its events “love parties,” usually want to think outside the box when planning their nuptials, but she has noticed that a proposal from a guy has proved to be a hardy perennial.

Both Shack Egan and Kendall would call themselves feminists but say their motivation was to do something romantic and meaningful and fun rather than strike a blow for equality. Shack Egan told her partner that if he had always dreamed of proposing, she was happy to fulfill that dream. Bayar also surprised Kendall with a proposal of his own a few weeks later, by a waterfall. She says that Bayar had already told her in a hundred different ways that he’d like to spend his life with her, but having had divorce in her family of origin, she was the reluctant one. “I sort of came to the realization that it just is a weird thing that we expect that, like, because he, I don’t know, has a penis, that he’s meant to be the one to prostrate himself on one knee.”

Rosemary Hopcroft, professor emeritus of sociology at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, thinks the male proposal has been deeply carved into society over millennia. Women want men to propose, with a ring, she says, because historically they needed a mate who could provide for them and their offspring. She points to studies that suggest that across different cultures, women value partners who are providers more than men do. “There’s a psychological and emotional reason why women still want their husbands to provide and that doesn’t seem to have changed,” even as women have become financially independent, she says. “It’s obviously not rational. There is no need for it. But we’re not just rational actors. We’re emotional.”

Shack Egan sees couples every day who are rewriting the rules of weddings and she thinks that’s healthy. “We still kind of hold fast to some bridal traditions,” she says. “I think if most people stop to think about it, they might realize, ‘Yeah, I want parts of this. I don’t want parts of this.’”

The challenges of expanding the European Union by up to eight countries were being discussed by governments on Thursday, with significant changes to the bloc’s decision-making, agriculture and regional aid budgets needed if it is to grow further.

The talks among EU affairs ministers of the 27 current members states in the Spanish town of Murcia are to lay the groundwork for an EU summit on Oct 5-6.

“Today is a council that prepares the summit in 10 days with a discussion on enlargement,” French Europe Minister Laurence Boone told reporters on entering the meeting.

Eight countries currently have official EU candidate status – Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – while two, Georgia and Kosovo, are potential candidate countries.

“We have to prepare ourselves to take decisions with more than 30 members,” German Europe Minister Anna Luhrmann said.

Guiding the talks will be a paper prepared by French and German scholars which calls for a radical overhaul of the EU’s decision-making and funding before it can accept more countries by a tentative deadline of 2030.

Decision-making is key because the EU now requires unanimity on foreign and security policy, taxes, EU finances, some areas of justice and home affairs and social security and protection.

This has already been criticised by some governments and experts as either substantially slowing or even blocking the EU’s development, as all decisions in these areas have to be reduced to the lowest common denominator.

Yet changes would require amendments to EU treaties, a long and difficult process that itself would require unanimity.

“It is already difficult to take decisions among the 27, so we need to reform the way we function, our institutional setup, to work properly with more member states,” Portuguese Europe Minister Tiago Antunes said.

“We also have to look at the impact of enlargement on major policies of the EU like the agriculture policy and regional policy, the impact it will have on the European budget and we will also discuss differentiated, gradual integration,” he said.

EU agriculture policy would need to be revamped because the admission of agriculture powerhouse Ukraine would dramatically change current EU direct payments to farmers.

A similarly major change would happen to the EU’s regional policy, under which poorer EU members receive money to raise their standard of living.

The agriculture and regional funds make up two thirds of the EU budget, which totals roughly 1% of the bloc’s gross national income a year. The Franco-German paper said the budget, worth around a trillion euros in 2021-27, should be bigger — a highly contested idea in the EU.

The paper, which polarised EU governments when first discussed on Sept. 19, said some countries in the EU should be allowed to form closer cooperation than others, forming four tiers of European integration.

The deepest integration would be in the inner circle similar to the euro zone using the single currency and the passport-free Schengen travel zone.

The second tier would be the EU itself, a yet larger circle would be made up of Associate Members who would participate in the EU’s single market for goods and services and adhere to the EU’s common principles.

Finally there would be the European Political Community – a forum proposed by France that was launched last year – as an outer tier for political cooperation without having to be bound to EU law, it said.

Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut

Selected Articles – The News And Times

Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut

Dozens of gold bars. Wads of cash. A black Mercedes-Benz convertible. These are just some of the bribes the Department of Justice alleges that Senator Bob Menendez received while illicitly aiding the Egyptian government of President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi. Not surprisingly, the accusations are straining the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt, as…

posted 2m ago via time.com

 

FBI: In Menendez case Egypt is just a cover. Investigate the real hypothetical culprits: Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan! – Bing

WebWed, September 27, 2023, 1:20 AM EDT · 2 min read 0 Michael M. Santiago The FBI is investigating whether Egypt’s intelligence services might have been involved in the …WebSep 23, 2023 · By Vivian Yee and Karoun Demirjian Reporting from Cairo and Washington Sept. 23, 2023 After decades as one of the world’s largest recipients of United States …Web9…

posted 9m ago via bing.com

 

FBI investigates the COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ASPECTS of the Senator Menendez case – Bing

Web1 day ago · The FBI is investigating whether Egypt’s intelligence services might have been involved in the alleged bribery scheme described in the indictment of Sen. Bob …WebSep 27, 2023 · FBI probing whether Egyptian intelligence played role in alleged bribery of Sen. Menendez: Sources By Jonathan Dienst • Published 5 seconds ago NBC …Web1 day ago ·…

posted 19m ago via bing.com

 

66,500 forcibly displaced persons enter Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh as of 10am Thursday

The primary duty of the Armenian government is to receive, in the most caring way possible, our brothers and sisters who were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, and to provide for their most urgent needs. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government. He asked Deputy Prime Minister Tigran…

posted 24m ago via news.am

 

Nagorno-Karabakh government will dissolve, half the Armenian population flee in terror from Azerbaijani rule

The unrecognised government of Nagorno-Karabakh, which de fact ruled the historically and ethnically Armenian region since the early 1990’s, announced on Thursday that it will dissolve itself on January 1, 2023. The announcement comes as more than half of the population has already fled, not wanting to live under Azerbaijan’s dictatorship of Ilham…

posted 41m ago via greekcitytimes.com

 

Nagorno-Karabakh Government Will Dissolve, Half The Armenian Population Flee In Terror From Azerbaijani Rule – GreekCityTimes.com

Nagorno-Karabakh Government Will Dissolve, Half The Armenian Population Flee In Terror From Azerbaijani Rule  GreekCityTimes.com

posted 1h ago via “Zangezur Corridor” – Google News

 

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ARMENPRESS NEWS AGENCY Հետևեք մեզ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/armenpress Telegram – https://t.me/armenpress Արմենպրեսի պաշտոնական կայք – https://armenpress.am/

posted 59m ago by Armenpress via Armenpress

 

Menendez Investigation Is Said to Involve Questions About Luxury Gifts

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, has said he is confident the inquiry will “end up in absolutely nothing.”

posted 11h ago via nytimes.com

 

The Dumbest Details From the Menendez Indictment

After nearly a year of anticipation, the most shocking thing about the federal indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez that dropped Friday is how clumsy it makes the senator and his co-conspirators look.According to the indictment, the Democrat, his wife, and their alleged accomplices left fingerprints—literal, digital, and figurative—all over the purported…

posted 11h ago via thedailybeast.com

 

Israel’s opposition calls for Ben-Gvir’s firing after daylight murder

The opposition railed against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Wednesday after six people were killed in Arab-sector crime incidents, five in the northern Bedouin town Basmat Tabun, and a sixth man, Ataf Abu Kalib, 50, was shot dead in broad daylight in Haifa.In Basmat Tabun, the victims were all members of the same Delaika family: the…

posted 11h ago via jpost.com

 

Top senator said to warn Netanyahu that having Ben Gvir in gov’t would harm US ties

Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, recently warned opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that including extreme-right lawmakers in a potential future government would harm US-Israel relations, according to a report Saturday. According to the Axios report, Menendez made the comments during a visit to Israel last…

posted 12h ago via timesofisrael.com

 

Ben Gvir says ‘deeply concerned’ by criticism from US Senator Menendez

Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir issues a statement responding to reports that Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, recently warned opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that including extreme-right lawmakers in a potential future government would harm US-Israel relations. “I am deeply concerned…

posted 12h ago via timesofisrael.com

 

Ben-Gvir cancels TLV prayer service following pressure across the board

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled the prayer service he had planned for Thursday after being pressured to do so by his fellow coalition members.In a statement released by the minister’s office, the claim was that Ben-Gvir had changed his mind as a result of “an announcement by the far-left protest leaders saying they wouldn’t repeat…

posted 13h ago via jpost.com

 

The Senator Menendez case raises major questions for US intelligence

The indictment unveiled on Friday against Sen. Robert Menendez marks another chapter in a series of troubling allegations that have dogged the New Jersey Democrat for years, marking the second time in a decade that he has faced corruption charges. The question the indictment leaves unanswered is, did the Egyptian…

posted 14h ago via edition.cnn.com

 

NPR News: 09-27-2023 11AM EDT

NPR News: 09-27-2023 11AM EDT

posted 17h ago by NPR via NPR: Hourly News Summary Podcast

 

Former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh arrested by Azerbaijan – The Guardian

Former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh arrested by Azerbaijan  The Guardian

posted 17h ago via “Nagorno-Karabakh” – Google News

 

Сontinuous illegal presence of Armenian military forces in Azerbaijan couldn’t go on endlessly – official

There is no way that this continued illegal presence of Armenian armed forces in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, as well as fake “state structures” could continue to exist, Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov told BBC, Azernews reports.

posted 17h ago via AzerNews – News from Azerbaijan, Business, Energy, Analysis

 

Azerbaijan Arrests Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan … – Asbarez Armenian News

Azerbaijan Arrests Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan …  Asbarez Armenian News

posted 17h ago via “lachin corridor” – Google News

 

BBC reports from Nagorno-Karabakh border amid panic – BBC

BBC reports from Nagorno-Karabakh border amid panic  BBC

posted 17h ago via “Armenia” – Google News

 

Hakan Fidan mulls regional issues with Armenian FM

A telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Armenia, Hakan Fidan and Ararat Mirzoyan

posted 17h ago via Report News Agency

 

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Menendez Indictment Sparks Calls for Aid to Egypt to Be Cut

posted at 09:09:20 UTC via time.com

Dozens of gold bars. Wads of cash. A black Mercedes-Benz convertible. These are just some of the bribes the Department of Justice alleges that Senator Bob Menendez received while illicitly aiding the Egyptian government of President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi. Not surprisingly, the accusations are straining the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt, as Congress considers whether to hold the country accountable for purportedly bribing one of their own through various intermediaries.

After the news of Menendez’s indictment broke, prominent members of Congress called for a recently greenlit tranche of $235 million in military aid to Cairo to be put on ice. The funding was approved by the Biden administration via a national security waiver in spite of Congressional concerns about Egyptian human rights abuses.“I would hope that our committee would consider using any ability it has to put a pause on those dollars, pending an inquiry into what Egypt was doing,” Senator Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters on Tuesday.

But despite the outrage on the Hill, Middle East experts doubt that the allegations will lead to a lasting shift in the close relationship between Egypt and the U.S. that has lasted for over 40 years. Egypt is the third-largest recipient of American military aid after Israel and Ukraine, receiving about $1.3 billion annually. “Egypt is in the dog house already with Congress on human rights and dalliances with Russia. The Menendez affair surely won’t help their image here,” says Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But the administration will likely continue to do business as usual, which is to protect most of the military assistance and the bilateral relationship.”

The loudest calls for Egypt to face consequences are coming from the human rights community. “This money is tainted,” says Seth Binder, an official at the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington. His organization is among the groups pressing lawmakers to withhold military aid to Egypt in light of the allegations of Egyptian inference in U.S. policymaking. “This is an Egyptian government that is meddling in U.S. politics and foreign policy in an illegal way.” Binder says that Congress should look at whether to make changes to the federal budget for 2024 in light of the allegations and Egypt’s human rights violations. “They could consider topline reductions, removing the national security waiver on the portion that’s conditioned on human rights or increasing the portion that’s conditioned on human rights.”

As ranking member and then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2021, Senator Menendez has been in a position to influence aid, weapons and diplomatic assistance to Egypt for years. According to the indictment, Menendez allegedly ghost wrote a letter for an Egyptian official to convince U.S. senators to approve $300 million in assistance to Egypt. He also reportedly passed on sensitive nonpublic information about the number and nationality of U.S. embassy personnel in Egypt, which could have been used for intelligence purposes. The indictment alleges that he repeatedly intervened in favor of Egypt on human rights issues, foreign military sales and Egypt’s dispute with Ethiopia about the Nile River’s waters. 

On Sept. 27, Menendez pleaded not guilty to the charges. “If you look at my actions related to Egypt during the period described in this indictment, and throughout my whole career, my record is clear and consistent in holding Egypt accountable for its unjust detention of American citizens and others, its human rights abuses, its deepening relationship with Russia, and efforts that have eroded the independence of the nation’s judiciary,” Menendez said at a press conference on Sept. 25.

The backlash against Menendez and Egypt has come from both sides of the aisle. “The Biden administration should revisit its military assistance determination made earlier this month and withhold much more of that funding,” says Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia and “we will be having those conversations as we process the indictment and other information in the days and weeks ahead.” GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement that Congress should “immediately open a formal congressional investigation into Senator Menendez’s questionable conduct and his purported interactions with foreign agents from Egypt in an alleged quid pro quo scheme.” Some Republicans including Rep. George Santos, who is himself facing charges, offered Menendez rhetorical support, defending the politician’s right to continue to serve as long as he has not been found guilty.

For all the outrage, however, the administration may be reluctant to come down on Egypt too hard, experts say. “I don’t imagine a sharp break at all. I just imagine a much scratchier relationship, which is what the Egyptians were trying to head off,” says Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center For Strategic and International Studies. “The Biden administration doesn’t want an adversarial relationship with Egypt. But it does want to send a message of displeasure and it does want to change Egypt’s behavior. I think things like meetings between the Presidents, which were never easy, are going to get much harder.”

The State Department declined to comment on the backlash against Egypt, citing the ongoing legal case against Menendez.

FBI: In Menendez case Egypt is just a cover. Investigate the real hypothetical culprits: Israel, Turkey, Azerbaijan! – Bing

posted at 09:01:56 UTC via bing.com

1. WebWed, September 27, 2023, 1:20 AM EDT · 2 min read 0 Michael M. Santiago The FBI is investigating whether Egypt‘s intelligence services might have been involved in the …

2. WebSep 23, 2023 · By Vivian Yee and Karoun Demirjian Reporting from Cairo and Washington Sept. 23, 2023 After decades as one of the world’s largest recipients of United States …

4. Web9 hours ago · By Mathias Hammer September 27, 2023 7:03 PM EDT D ozens of gold bars. Wads of cash. A black Mercedes-Benz convertible. These are just some of the bribes …

5. WebSeptember 27 2023, 2:07 p.m. Donate Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., rejects the charges brought against him by federal prosecutors during a press conference in Jersey City, on …

6. WebSep 27, 2023 · The FBI says Hana bribed Menendez to win a controversial and exclusive business deal with the Egyptian government. Hana was allegedly paying bribes to …

7. Web1 day ago · CNN — The indictment unveiled on Friday against Sen. Robert Menendez marks another chapter in a series of troubling allegations that have dogged the New …

8. Web09/22/2023 12:09 PM EDT Updated: 09/22/2023 01:17 PM EDT The indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Friday accuses one of the most powerful senators shaping …

9. Web2 days ago · Add Topic Bribing for access: Menendez indictment raises questions about Hunter Biden case – and DOJ While President Biden’s son is accused of trying to peddle …

10. Web2 days ago · On Friday, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife were accused by federal prosecutors of accepting bribes in exchange for using his position to increase …

11. WebOct 28, 2022 · Federal agents have been asking about IS EG Halal, a New Jersey firm that Egypt made its sole certifier for meat exports from America, an inquiry that appears to include Senator Robert Menendez of …

13. Some results have been removed

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FBI investigates the COUNTERINTELLIGENCE ASPECTS of the Senator Menendez case – Bing

posted at 08:51:49 UTC via bing.com

1. Web1 day ago · The FBI is investigating whether Egypt’s intelligence services might have been involved in the alleged bribery scheme described in the indictment of Sen. Bob …

2. WebSep 27, 2023 · FBI probing whether Egyptian intelligence played role in alleged bribery of Sen. Menendez: Sources By Jonathan Dienst • Published 5 seconds ago NBC …

4. Web1 day ago · On the latest allegations, as someone who worked at the FBI, in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the New York Police Department’s Intelligence …

5. Web6 hours ago · The charges of alleged bribery against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez made for sensational headlines, with accusations of gold bars and wads of cash being …

6. WebSep 22, 2023 · In June 2022, FBI agents executed search warrants on Menendez’s home and found more than $480,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in …

7. WebSep 22, 2023 · WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Menendez on Friday vowed to remain in the Senate while he fights federal charges of bribery and extortion announced earlier in the …

8. WebSep 22, 2023 · Menendez and his wife accepted gold bars and wads of cash. According to the indictment, when the FBI raided the Menendez home in 2022, they found over …

9. WebSep 23, 2023 · When federal agents searched the home of a US senator, they found “a lot of gold”, more than $480,000 (£390,000) in hidden cash, and much more, according to …

10. WebOct 26, 2022 · Sen. Bob Menendez is facing a new federal investigation after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his 2017 trial for corruption, an adviser to the New Jersey Democrat said in a statement…

11. WebOct 26, 2022 · Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is under federal investigation, his advisor confirmed Wednesday, seven years after the senator was previously indicted for alleged bribery and corruption—which…

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66,500 forcibly displaced persons enter Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh as of 10am Thursday

posted at 08:47:00 UTC via news.am

The primary duty of the Armenian government is to receive, in the most caring way possible, our brothers and sisters who were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, and to provide for their most urgent needs. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government.

He asked Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan to present the currently available statistics on those forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

The deputy PM noted that as of 10am today, the total number of forcibly displaced people was 66,500.

“In addition, I would like to draw attention to the fact that most of these people were displaced to Armenia especially yesterday and the day before yesterday. In general, if a total of 9,000 people were displaced during the first two days, on September 24 and 25, then only on the 26th of the month, the number of displaced was 22,800, and yesterday—26,600, and from midnight to 6am today—8,100. The intensity of arrivals is very high,” Khachatryan emphasized.

According to him, about 10,967 persons displaced from Karabakh have received shelter in Armenia, and the distribution of lodgers is almost the same throughout the country, but only there were a little more in Kotayk and Syunik Provinces.

“We are working to identify those persons who at that moment turn to our respective agencies for need,” added the Armenian deputy premier.

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Nagorno-Karabakh government will dissolve, half the Armenian population flee in terror from Azerbaijani rule

posted at 08:29:55 UTC via greekcitytimes.com

The unrecognised government of Nagorno-Karabakh, which de fact ruled the historically and ethnically Armenian region since the early 1990’s, announced on Thursday that it will dissolve itself on January 1, 2023.

The announcement comes as more than half of the population has already fled, not wanting to live under Azerbaijan’s dictatorship of Ilham Aliyev.

Indigenous Armenians began fleeing after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over the region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the government dissolve itself.

A decree to that effect was signed by the Nagorno-Karabakh’s President Samvel Shakhramanyan, AP reported.

The document cited an agreement reached last week to end the fighting under which Azerbaijan will allow the “free, voluntary and unhindered movement” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents and disarm troops in Armenia in exchange.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but that came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in fighting once again started by Azerbaijan but that ended in 1994.

During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had controlled during the earlier conflict.

Azerbaijan says it has detained the former head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s government as he tried to cross into Armenia following Azerbaijan’s 24-hour blitz. The arrest of Ruben Vardanyan was announced by Azerbaijan’s border guard service.

Following the latest offensive and a cease-fire agreement brokered by Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities have begun talks on “reintegrating” the region back into Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani authorities have pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade.

Many local residents, however, fear reprisals and have decided to leave for Armenia, especially as Azerbaijan’s suppression of other ethnic minorities, such as the Talysh, are well noted.

By Thursday morning, more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population — over 65,000 people — had fled to Armenia, according to Armenian officials.

The massive exodus began on Sunday evening, and the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia quickly filled up with cars that created an hours-long traffic jam.

On Monday night, a fuel reservoir exploded at a gas station where people seeking to leave were lining up for gas that due to the blockade had been in short supply. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, with over 100 more still considered missing.

It is not immediately clear if any of the indigenous Armenians that populate the region will remain there.

Shakhramayan’s decree urged Nagorno-Karabakh’s population — including those who left — “to familiarise themselves with the conditions of reintegration offered by the Republic of Azerbaijan, in order to then make an individual decision about the possibility of staying in (or returning to) Nagorno-Karabakh.”

READ MORE: The USA and Russia want the “Zangezur corridor” but there can only be one “winner” while Armenians continue to suffer.

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Nagorno-Karabakh Government Will Dissolve, Half The Armenian Population Flee In Terror From Azerbaijani Rule – GreekCityTimes.com

posted at 08:10:28 UTC via “Zangezur Corridor” – Google News

Nagorno-Karabakh Government Will Dissolve, Half The Armenian Population Flee In Terror From Azerbaijani Rule  GreekCityTimes.com

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Menendez Investigation Is Said to Involve Questions About Luxury Gifts

posted on Sep 27 2023 21:58:31 UTC via nytimes.com

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, has said he is confident the inquiry will “end up in absolutely nothing.”

The Dumbest Details From the Menendez Indictment

posted on Sep 27 2023 21:54:34 UTC via thedailybeast.com

After nearly a year of anticipation, the most shocking thing about the federal indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez that dropped Friday is how clumsy it makes the senator and his co-conspirators look.

According to the indictment, the Democrat, his wife, and their alleged accomplices left fingerprints—literal, digital, and figurative—all over the purported plot to take bribes in exchange for local, national, and international favors. So far, Menendez and two of the other defendants have denied wrongdoing.

None has yet disputed U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ evidence. And that evidence, if accurate, would appear to indicate that not only is Menendez a crook, but an incredibly bad one.

Here’s a rundown of the most ridiculous tidbits from the criminal complaint.

The envelopes

Envelopes are all over Williams’ indictment, just like they were allegedly all over Menendez’s home when the FBI paid a visit last summer. Among other locales, the feds reported finding them inside the pockets of two jackets with the senator’s name stitched on them—one appearing to be a Congressional Hispanic Caucus windbreaker.

On the envelopes themselves, the feds say they found the fingerprints and DNA of alleged co-conspirator Fred Daibes and his chauffeur—and, on one, Daibes’ return address.

The total value of the cash on the premises came to almost $500,000. And that’s without getting into the allegedly gifted Mercedes convertible in the garage, or…

The gold bars

The FBI also reported recovering more than $100,000 in gold bars of different sizes from the Menendez residence. The thing about gold bars is that they come with unique serial numbers, and the indictment asserts these numbers let them trace 11 of the bars at the home to Daibes, and two more to Wael Hana, the Egyptian-American businessman behind the mysterious exporter IS EG Halal.

Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announcing that U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted on corruption charges charges.

The Google searches

It’s unclear whether the feds got the info from Menendez’s internet service provider, or whether he just didn’t clear his browser history, but shortly after receiving one of the alleged deliveries of gold bars, the indictment claims the senator Googled “kilo of gold price.”

It’s not the only time he allegedly left a trail online. Elsewhere, the complaint claims Menendez did a Google search for the state agency whose investigation of an employee and relative of co-defendant Jose Uribe he allegedly attempted to interfere in.

The photos

Maybe it’s too much in this era to suggest somebody not pictorially document every waking moment of their life. But you might want to at least crop some of your shots.

The Menendez couple, Uribe, and an associate let somebody photograph the four of them at a “celebratory dinner” shortly after the senator interceded to resolve some of Uribe’s legal issues.

The married pair also had their photo taken during a private dinner at the home of an Egyptian intelligence official allegedly in on one of the bribery schemes, while the feds said they found a picture of two gold bars on the senatorial spouse’s phone—with the serial numbers linking them to Daibes plainly visible.

Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine Arslanian.

The text messages

The only thing more irritating than a partner who texts absolutely constantly is one who can’t stop texting about a criminal conspiracy you’re implicated in—creating a mass of evidence for investigators to grab.

But that’s allegedly exactly what the senator’s wife did. And despite her alleged efforts to delete the texts, the Justice Department recovered some doozies. For instance, on one occasion, she allegedly texted Daibes to complain Hana hadn’t paid her, prompting the businessman to respond “Nadine I personally gave Bob a check for September.”

While awaiting that payment from Hana, she messaged her husband “I am soooooo upset,” and added “I thought Fred [DAIBES] would make sure it’s there and the second day in a row there is nothing.” She did eventually get $30,000 from IS EG Halal, the indictment notes.

Nadine Menendez did not keep her texting to her fellow Americans either. She allegedly wrote the Egyptian intelligence official “anytime you need anything you have my number and we will make everything happen.”

She also left a text message record of Uribe’s alleged underwriting of her Mercedes, sending Hana “I’m so excited to get a car next week. !!” and writing to her husband “Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.” Uribe wrote her “are you happy,” to which she responded “I will never forget this.”

And on multiple occasions, she responded to Daibes’ alleged bribes with “Christmas in January” and “THANK YOU Fred” with a string of emojis. She also texted to tell the businessman, facing bank fraud charges, that her husband was sleeping better due to Daibes’ trial date getting temporarily adjourned—after the senator purportedly intervened repeatedly with the Justice Department on his behalf.

“He was amazing in all he did. He’s an amazing friend and as loyal as they come,” Daibes responded. “Let me know if I can get him a recliner. It helped me sleep.”

Of course, the senator himself appears to have implicated himself by texting government information to his partner—once about an impending ammunition sale—that she then forwarded to Hana, who passed it along to his Egyptian government contacts. According to the indictment, in response to the ammo news, a Cairo military official “replied with a ‘thumbs-up’ emoji.”

Then there’s the occasion detailed in the indictment when the senator sent his bride a news article about his colleagues’ intention to raise the Middle Eastern autocracy’s abysmal human rights, which she promptly passed to yet another Egyptian official. That anonymous operative responded, “Thanks you so much, chairman [Menendez] also raised it today, we appreciate it.”

“I just thought it would be better to know ahead of time what is being talked about and this way you can prepare your rebuttals,” she allegedly wrote back.

Israel’s opposition calls for Ben-Gvir’s firing after daylight murder

posted on Sep 27 2023 21:47:34 UTC via jpost.com

The opposition railed against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Wednesday after six people were killed in Arab-sector crime incidents, five in the northern Bedouin town Basmat Tabun, and a sixth man, Ataf Abu Kalib, 50, was shot dead in broad daylight in Haifa.

In Basmat Tabun, the victims were all members of the same Delaika family: the parents and their three children. Police suspect a connection between the two murders and are investigating.

Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at Basmat Tabun pronounced their deaths, while evacuating another man at the scene with moderate injuries to the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. “A redline was crossed here,” said police chief Kobi Shabtai at the scene. “The people who carried out this attack, from our perspective, are terrorists; this is a terrorist act,” he added, vowing to bring the killers to justice.

Medics who arrived in Haifa found Abu Kalib lifeless. Three masked men, armed with automatic weapons, rained fire on him, killing him instantly, and immediately exited the scene. Abu Kalib is the cousin of Omar Abu Kalib, a member of the Hariri criminal group.

These latest victims bring the death tally in Arab sector violence this year to 188, compared to 80 at this point last year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a nonprofit that deals with Arab-Israeli dialogue and tracks the murder rate in the sector. The organization pointed the responsibility to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he must “fire the national security minister immediately and implement a welfare plan to deal with sector crime. This is an emergency.”

The Abraham Initiatives added that of the 188, 171 were shot, 87 were under the age of 30, and 12 were women. 

Benny Gantz calls for Ben-Gvir to be fired

After the Haifa murder, various opposition members spoke out against Ben-Gvir with some calling for him to be fired.

Earlier in the day, after the Haifa murder, National Unity leader Benny Gantz said, “The murder today shows just how severe the neglect is and how widespread and deep the treatment must be. The current government, which appointed Ben-Gvir, who is busy with provocations instead of saving human life, is not qualified to handle this problem. The prime minister must fire Ben-Gvir not only because of his actions, but mainly because of his neglect.”Yesh Atid MK Ron Katz voiced a similar sentiment alongside a screenshot of footage from the murder.

Head of the Otzma Yehudit party MK Itamar Ben Gvir at a special committee in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on December 18, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“This morning, a man was assassinated in the North,” he wrote. “And the idle minister is busy with interviews, TikTok videos, and planning prayer services to divide the people. In what other country would this minister be kept in his position? How can it be that there is no price for failure in the State of Israel?”

He ended by telling Netanyahu that he is responsible for the issue, an accusation echoed by National Unity MK Yifat Shasha-Biton.

“We cannot deal with Ben-Gvir with tweets, it’s time for action,” she said. “There’s no governance, there’s no security, there are more and more victims, more and more crime, and there’s no light at the end of the darkness that has befallen us. Israel’s citizens are living in fear on [Netanyahu’s] watch. You cannot blame the appointed minister, who suffers from delusions of grandeur and who is busy being the neighborhood bully. You were chosen to lead. The responsibility is on you. It’s time to do it.”

After the Basmat Tabun murders, Ben-Gvir made his way to the scene.

“I’m expressing deep shock from the violence and the bloodbath in the Arab sector that claimed another six lives today,” he said. “In the last few months, we gave the police a lot of resources and passed legislation that will help police to eradicate the murders, and we are continuing to work to pass laws, like the option of using biometric cameras, that could save lives.”

The last time a murder of this scale in the sector took place was three months ago in Yafia. Five people were shot in a shooting at a car wash. An investigation found that the shots were fired from automatic weapons.

A woman who resides in the regional council told Maariv that she was at home “when we heard police sirens on the street. We went out not understanding what was happening, and then we heard about the horrific murder of the Delaika family in their home. People cried and screamed. This situation cannot continue; we are being neglected every day. There is no knowing who will be the next victim.”

Top senator said to warn Netanyahu that having Ben Gvir in gov’t would harm US ties

posted on Sep 27 2023 21:01:49 UTC via timesofisrael.com

Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, recently warned opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that including extreme-right lawmakers in a potential future government would harm US-Israel relations, according to a report Saturday.

According to the Axios report, Menendez made the comments during a visit to Israel last month. Citing two unnamed American sources familiar with the meeting, the report said Menendez raised his concerns over Netanyahu’s cooperation with far-right parties, specifically mentioning Otzma Yehudit and its leader Itamar Ben Gvir.

Former prime minister Netanyahu recently brokered a deal to get Otzma Yehudit and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party to run together in a bid to improve his chances of returning to power.

Ben Gvir has reportedly been offered a senior ministerial position if a Netanyahu-led government is established.

Netanyahu said ahead of previous elections that he did not believe the extremist Ben Gvir was fit to be a minister. However, without Ben Gvir’s support, Netanyahu likely has little to no chance of leading the next government.

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The report said Menendez told Netanyahu he had “serious concerns” about including “extremist and polarizing individuals like Ben Gvir” in a future government, citing the unnamed US sources.

Likud party and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu attends Kikar HaShabbat conference at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem Hotel, September 12, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“The senator told Netanyahu he needed to realize the composition of such a coalition could seriously erode bipartisan support in Washington, which has been a pillar of the bilateral relationship between the US and Israel,” one of the sources cited by Axios said.

One of the sources said Netanyahu was “pissed off” by Menendez’s comments.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Senators including Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez (right) in Jerusalem on September 5, 2022. (Via Twitter, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the report, the news site said, and US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration does not interfere in Israel’s internal politics.

Ben Gvir, meanwhile, responded by blaming Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who also serves as foreign minister, for “destroying” Israel’s foreign relations, accusing him of “dragging” Menendez into interfering in the Israeli election process.

Ben Gvir is an admirer of late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated transferring Israel’s Arabs out of the country. He was convicted of incitement to racism in 2007 for holding a sign at a protest reading “Expel the Arab enemy.”

MK Itamar Ben Gvir of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party tours the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on July 22, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In recent public remarks, he has sought to downplay his extremist views, saying he isn’t in favor of expelling all Arabs — only terrorists or those he deems disloyal. However, analysts have pointed out that he regularly refers to many Arab public figures with no history of terror-related activities, including elected lawmakers and party leaders, as “terrorists.”

Until it began to harm him politically, Ben Gvir also kept on a wall of his Hebron home a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 massacred 29 Palestinians at prayer in Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. During a recent visit to a high school in the central city of Ramat Gan, Ben Gvir said he no longer considers Goldstein a “hero.”

Ben Gvir frequently stirs up friction between Jewish and Arab Israelis and was reportedly accused by the national police chief of abetting the worst inter-communal violence in recent Israeli history in May of last year.

He has additionally allied with some of Israel’s most extremist Jewish movements and activists — including Lehava, a Jewish supremacist anti-miscegenation group, and the virulently homophobic Noam.

Responsibly covering this tumultuous time

As The Times of Israel’s political correspondent, I spend my days in the Knesset trenches, speaking with politicians and advisers to understand their plans, goals and motivations.

I’m proud of our coverage of this government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary, including the political and social discontent that underpins the proposed changes and the intense public backlash against the shakeup.

Your support through The Times of Israel Community helps us continue to keep readers across the world properly informed during this tumultuous time. Have you appreciated our coverage in past months? If so, please join the ToI Community today.

~ Carrie Keller-Lynn, Political Correspondent

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Ben Gvir says ‘deeply concerned’ by criticism from US Senator Menendez

posted on Sep 27 2023 20:48:06 UTC via timesofisrael.com

Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir issues a statement responding to reports that Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, recently warned opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that including extreme-right lawmakers in a potential future government would harm US-Israel relations.

“I am deeply concerned by reports that Senator Menendez has aimed incorrect and mistaken criticisms at the millions of Israelis who will soon vote in favor of a center-right government and me personally,” Ben Gvir says in an English language statement.

According to a recent Axios report, Menendez made the comments during a visit to Israel last month. Citing two unnamed American sources familiar with the meeting, the report said Menendez raised his concerns over Netanyahu’s cooperation with far-right parties, specifically mentioning Otzma Yehudit and its leader Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir is No. 2 on the Religious Zionism, slate, which is projected to win between 12 and 14 seats in the November 1 election, positioning himself to receive a senior cabinet posting if  Netanyahu manages to form the kind of hard-right, religious coalition on which he has been campaigning.

“Everyone knows that the senator is a true friend of Israel and a champion of the US-Israel relationship, and more importantly, he is a man of integrity. Therefore, my sense is that he would not have made the statements reported had he been correctly informed of the positions I hold, as well as those I do not hold,” Ben Gvir says.

“The enemies of a strong Israel besmirch me; calling me and my party racist. But the truth is that we are anti-racist — we are fighting against the racist antisemitism fomenting within the boundaries of our homeland. We believe that Israel needs to uproot terror organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, just as the United States defeated al-Qaeda,” Ben Gvir says.

“Like millions of Americans, we believe that peace comes through strength and that Israel’s policies should be based upon the firm enforcement of our right to sovereignty and self-defense,” he says, adding that he would work to ease soldiers’ rules of engagement and reform the justice system.

Responsibly covering this tumultuous time

As The Times of Israel’s political correspondent, I spend my days in the Knesset trenches, speaking with politicians and advisers to understand their plans, goals and motivations.

I’m proud of our coverage of this government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary, including the political and social discontent that underpins the proposed changes and the intense public backlash against the shakeup.

Your support through The Times of Israel Community helps us continue to keep readers across the world properly informed during this tumultuous time. Have you appreciated our coverage in past months? If so, please join the ToI Community today.

~ Carrie Keller-Lynn, Political Correspondent

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You’re a dedicated reader

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

That’s why we started the Times of Israel eleven years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

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Ben-Gvir cancels TLV prayer service following pressure across the board

posted on Sep 27 2023 20:08:51 UTC via jpost.com

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled the prayer service he had planned for Thursday after being pressured to do so by his fellow coalition members.

In a statement released by the minister’s office, the claim was that Ben-Gvir had changed his mind as a result of “an announcement by the far-left protest leaders saying they wouldn’t repeat the antisemitic activity they led on Yom Kippur.”

“I’m happy the extreme Left understood that there is no place for antisemitism against Jews in the heart of Tel Aviv,” said Ben-Gvir. “We have one Jewish nation where Jews can pray in public spaces whenever and wherever they want.”

Ben-Gvir had announced the service following the events of Yom Kippur in which protesters disrupted a Kol Nidrei prayer service in Dizengoff Square as the holiday began because the congregants set up a partition to divide men and women despite the Tel Aviv Municipality and the High Court of Justice banning it.

A counter-prayer on Thursday was announced by the Kaplan Force protest organization soon after Ben-Gvir’s invitation for people to join his. The Kaplan Force’s service was set for an hour-and-a-half after Ben-Gvir’s and was supposed to take place in Dizengoff Square as well but was moved to Habima Square instead on Wednesday.

Jews pray while activists protest against gender segregation in the public space during a public prayer on Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and the holiest of Jewish holidays, September 25, 2023. (credit: ITAI RON/FLASH90)

“Ben-Gvir’s provocation is staying in Dizengoff,” the announcement said.

Protests groups celebrate the win

After Ben-Gvir announced that he was cancelling the service, protest groups took credit for the decision.

“What led the national danger minister to cancel his ‘prayer’ provocation in Dizengoff was the decision of the protest organizations to ignore it,” they said. “Let this be a lesson to anyone who gives a stage to the public relations tricks of an incapable pyromaniac who only wants to divide people and make them hate each other.”

The view that Ben-Gvir was creating a provocation by holding his prayer service was held throughout the coalition as well, with many urging Ben-Gvir to cancel his event or move the service to a synagogue in the area.

“I want it to be clear to everyone that Jews are allowed to pray anywhere in the world without disruptions,” said Economy Minister Nir Barkat on Wednesday morning. “The truth is that [the Yom Kippur incident] broke my heart. I see the extremists in the State of Israel pulling us to the edges and ripping the extremely important social fabric that connects us.

“We need to work toward unity and love and work on our common denominators while not allowing extremists to lead us to the crumbling of our social fabric. Therefore, I call on Ben-Gvir as well not to provoke and not to go to Dizengoff. I call on everyone to focus on what connects us and not on the edges.”

When asked if he would attend the prayer service, Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis said that Ben-Gvir would do better to move it to a synagogue so as to avoid a provocation in a public space.

Pressure to cancel the service had also come from the Religious Zionist Party with whom Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party had run in the last elections. RZP leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that the event would be playing into the hands of the protest and that this wasn’t the time for “unnecessary provocation.”

Some reports indicated that Ben-Gvir had been met with pushback even within his own party.

The cancellation of the event, however, was praised by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.

“I’m happy that sanity won out,” he said. “In these days, there is no place for stoking the flames and hate among brothers. Tel Aviv will continue to respect the traditions and the religion alongside democratic values. The two together are an important basis for the State of Israel.” 

The Senator Menendez case raises major questions for US intelligence

posted on Sep 27 2023 18:12:20 UTC via edition.cnn.com

The indictment unveiled on Friday against Sen. Robert Menendez marks another chapter in a series of troubling allegations that have dogged the New Jersey Democrat for years, marking the second time in a decade that he has faced corruption charges. The question the indictment leaves unanswered is, did the Egyptian government target an influential United States senator to do its bidding on Capitol Hill?

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are charged along with three businessmen in a complicated plot to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes including cash, gold bars, a Mercedes convertible, even mortgage payments. According to the indictment, Menendez accepted these payoffs in return for using his position as a United States senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because he agreed to use “his influence and power and breach his official duty in ways that benefited the Government of Egypt.”

It is alleged that Menendez used his political position to attempt to break a State Department “hold” on US aid to Egypt, push for the delivery of ammunition and weapons systems to the Egyptian military, and passed sensitive information about American and Egyptian personnel assigned to the US Embassy in Cairo. It should be noted that some of these actions are things that the senator could have done legally if they were not allegedly in return for cash and gold.

“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,” Menendez said in a statement on Friday. “They have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the longstanding friendships she had before she and I even met.”

The Egyptian government has not commented on the indictment and Menendez and his wife, as well as the others charged, have strongly denied the charges.

Following a mistrial on previous corruption charges in 2017, Menendez was acquitted on several charges in 2018 with the Department of Justice dropping those that remained.

On the latest allegations, as someone who worked at the FBI, in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Bureau, I am struck by the elephant that seems to be missing from the room: Nothing in the indictment describes what investigators know, if anything, about the role of Egyptian officials and whether they had direction or knowledge over the bribery scheme. Why is this important? Because the possible subtext of this story is that Cairo may have used agents in the US to try and recruit the top elected legislative official with influence over foreign policy to be its puppet. Yes, when you say it out loud it is shocking.

The use of foreign nationals, expats, dual citizens, or even Americans, who have a loyalty to a foreign country is a proven tactic in the spy game. Does Egypt, a country that has received billions in US aid, conduct sophisticated intelligence operations on US soil?

Another recent case suggests they might. In January of 2022, Pierre Girgis, an Egyptian-American banker, based in New York was charged by federal prosecutors who say he “acted in the United States as an agent of the Arab Republic of Egypt.” The indictment charged that Girgis “operated at the direction and control of multiple employees of the Egyptian government in an effort to further in the United States the interests of the Egyptian Government.” It alleged that Girgis cultivated close relationships with members of US law enforcement including members of the NYPD in an effort to gather information on opponents of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the United States.

After the indictment was unsealed, Girgis pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. The case is awaiting trial.

The Egyptian government has been known to arrest, imprison, even torture those it considers enemies of the regime. Indeed, the very reason the US State Department had put holds on some aid to Egypt, the same holds Menendez was asked to break, was to press Egypt on human rights reforms relating to crackdowns on dissent. While Girgis has been charged with being an unregistered agent of Egypt, Wael Hana, the businessman charged with bribing Menendez to advance Egyptian interests, has not. Hana and two other businessmen are charged with bribery.

Wael Hana, who has pleaded not guilty, is described in the indictment as being “originally from Egypt” and having “maintained close connections with Egyptian officials.” It was Hana, investigators say, who was friends with Nadine Arslanian “for many years before she began dating Robert Menendez,” whom she eventually married. The indictment charges that after Nadine began a romantic relationship with Menendez, she and Hana spent years working “to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to Menendez.” The indictment details how Nadine Menendez acted as the go-between who passed messages and picked up bribes.

This is where we come to another uncomfortable question, but one a trained intelligence officer would have to at least consider: Did Wael Hana have anything to do with his old friend Nadine Arslanian entering into a romantic relationship with the senator and marrying him?

Among the things an intelligence officer considers in planning the targeting of an asset is finding someone who has the access they need but also vulnerabilities they can compromise. It was widely publicized that Menendez had been the target of corruption charges and a senate ethics probe involving allegations of accepting free gifts, trips, and rides on private planes in return for using his influence to aid Dr. Salomon Melgen who was convicted on separate health care fraud charges in 2017. The criminal case against Menendez resulted in a hung jury and prosecutors did not pursue a second trial but the Senate Ethics Committee found that Menendez violated Senate rules and multiple laws. Menendez maintained his innocence.

Another thing an intelligence officer would grapple with is the sheer boldness of such a move. Targeting a staff member working on the Foreign Relations Committee team would be a logical plan but turning the chairman into an asset would be shooting for the moon. For a long-term, United States ally, like Egypt, a country that has played critical roles over the last 50 years in US Middle East policy, targeting and recruiting the United States senator who chairs the foreign relations committee would be an extraordinarily provocative move.

How will the Menendez case and the fallout from it affect US-Egyptian relations? As prosecutors prepare for a trial, will any connections between the businessman and others tied to the Egyptian government be revealed?

These are very sensitive issues that crossover from the Justice Department into the interests of the State Department and the White House. The lines may have to be drawn very carefully between the prosecution, US diplomatic interests and whether any larger story to come has larger implications for a vital diplomatic relationship.

NPR News: 09-27-2023 11AM EDT

posted on Sep 27 2023 15:37:02 UTC by NPR via NPR: Hourly News Summary Podcast

NPR News: 09-27-2023 11AM EDT

 audio/mpeg NPR5173739250.mp3?p=500005&e=nsv2-1695826800000-s1-long&d=300&t=podcast&size=5617530

Former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh arrested by Azerbaijan – The Guardian

posted on Sep 27 2023 15:40:01 UTC via “Nagorno-Karabakh” – Google News

Former state minister of Nagorno-Karabakh arrested by Azerbaijan  The Guardian

Сontinuous illegal presence of Armenian military forces in Azerbaijan couldn’t go on endlessly – official

posted on Sep 27 2023 15:43:13 UTC via AzerNews – News from Azerbaijan, Business, Energy, Analysis

There is no way that this continued illegal presence of Armenian armed forces in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, as well as fake “state structures” could continue to exist, Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov told BBC, Azernews reports.

 image/jpeg elchin_emirbeyov_200923.jpg

Azerbaijan Arrests Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan … – Asbarez Armenian News

posted on Sep 27 2023 15:51:44 UTC via “lachin corridor” – Google News

Azerbaijan Arrests Former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan …  Asbarez Armenian News

BBC reports from Nagorno-Karabakh border amid panic – BBC

posted on Sep 27 2023 15:57:43 UTC via “Armenia” – Google News

BBC reports from Nagorno-Karabakh border amid panic  BBC

Hakan Fidan mulls regional issues with Armenian FM

posted on Sep 27 2023 16:06:22 UTC via Report News Agency

A telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Armenia, Hakan Fidan and Ararat Mirzoyan

 image/jpeg 963ec2fd-f1bd-3bac-90bf-1280276ada39_490.jpg

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The areas targeted in the attack included Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kirovohrad.

Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, said on Telegram there were no casualties there. He said there was no destruction, only a few small grass fires from falling debris.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Wednesday that his country’s fighters “need more means of destroying Russian missiles, Shaheds and other combat drones, as well as Russian aircraft.”

Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to “everyone in the world who is already helping and is willing to ramp up assistance to our country with the means that can provide more protection against Russian terror.”

Wagner fighters

About 500 Wagner mercenaries who fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine before fleeing to Belarus after a short-lived mutiny in June have now returned to the front lines to again fight Kyiv’s forces, a Ukrainian Army spokesperson said Wednesday.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in Russia last month, raising questions about the future of his forces. Some, possibly as many as 6,000, have been in Belarus for three months, while others had been deployed to Africa, where Wagner also has had ongoing operations.

Now, about 500 of the Wagner troops have resumed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, Ilya Yevlash, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Eastern Grouping of Forces, told Ukrainian broadcaster RBC-Ukraine. He said the Russian Defense Ministry had renegotiated contracts with the returning mercenaries.

“These individuals are indeed among the most well-trained in the Russian army, but they will not become a game-changer,” Yevlash said. 

Most of the Wagner forces that had previously fought in Ukraine had taken part in the brief mutiny but moved to Belarus under a deal the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, negotiated with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yevlash said the camps in Belarus are now being disbanded.

The cause of the plane crash that killed Prigozhin and other Wagner leaders has not been determined but many Western officials believe it was Putin’s retribution for the uprising Prigozhin led, a troop movement toward Moscow that he abruptly called off.

In the weeks that followed, Prigozhin met with Putin at the Kremlin and traveled freely in Russia before the plane crash.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.