Sulvor

A mother whose son is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza has accused Israel's government of “a cynical deception operation that is taken from dark regimes”, after it emerged a government spokesperson had been arrested for allegedly leaking documents that may have undermined a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

It came after a court in Rishon LeZion said Eli Feldstein and three others were under investigation for feeding stories to European newspapers.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Radio also reported a fifth arrest in connection with the probe, said to be a major in the military's intelligence branch information security department, tasked with preventing and investigating leaks. The Haaretz newspaper said all unnamed suspects were from this unit.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing by his staff, but opposition figures and hostages' families have accused his government of sabotaging negotiations.

The stories, given to Britain’s Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s tabloid Bild, were based on partial or false information and came at a crucial time for hostage negotiations.

Speaking at a protest in Tel Aviv, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held by Hamas for over a year, said the stories “supported Netanyahu’s propaganda lies to torpedo the deal".

The documents claimed Hamas was planning to smuggle Israeli hostages to Egypt - intent on scuppering any proposed ceasefire deal.

Some commentators say the revelations were politically useful for Netanyahu’s hardline position on the talks, which have made almost no progress.

Over 100 hostages out of 251 taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023 remain unaccounted for.

After the stories were published in September, the IDF launched an inquiry to discover the source of the leaks.

This eventually led to the arrest of Eli Feldstein, along with the three others, whose identities have not been revealed.

Mr Feldstein had been working as a government spokesperson and was often seen accompanying the prime minister on visits. He had previously worked for the far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and before that he served as an IDF spokesperson.

Following news of his arrest, two leading opposition politicians held a news conference.

Benny Gantz, who until recently was in Netanyahu’s war cabinet, said that if sensitive security information was used for a "political survival campaign”, it would not only be a criminal offence, but "a crime against the nation".

Speaking at the same event, the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said that if the prime minister knew about the leaks, "he is complicit in one of the most serious security offences” and that if he didn’t know, he is not fit for office.

Just kinda wondering if any other comrades have this specific thing.

I started hair pulling when I was like 8 or 9 and ended up giving myself a bald spot on my crown for a couple months. My parents noticed and scolded me, no other intervention.

Thankfully, I was able to restrain myself enough to prevent it showing on my scalp. To this day I continue on abnormally dark or coarse hairs, and now that I'm finally getting some grays it is so hard to resist spending and hour or two in the mirror getting them all.

I know this probably sounds weird or gross to most people, I've never been diagnosed with any sort of mental disorder so talking about it is a little weird to me.

I know it has overlap with OCD, and I've had other slight OCD symptoms.

I know anecdotes aren’t great evidence for climate change, and there are warm years, but normally I’d start seeing them in like late September! Just saw the first couple flocks today.

He is, in fact, a very good boy (most of the time)

Hundreds of early ballots cast for the US presidential election have been burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, exacerbating tensions ahead of next Tuesday’s knife-edge contest.

Firefighters went to the scene after smoke was reported coming from a ballot drop box in the city of Vancouver in Washington state at 6.30am on Monday, according to local media.

KATU, a local television channel, reported capturing footage of responders releasing a pile of burning ballots to the grounds. The ballots continued to smolder after the flames had been doused.

Hundreds of ballots were believed to have been inside when smoke was reported billowing from the box, which had last been emptied at 8am on Sunday. KATU reported that only a few of the ballots deposited there after that had been saved.

The elections auditor for Clark county, the local authority administering the boxes, said voters who had cast their ballots into it after 11am could seek new voting documents at a link on the county’s election web page.

“There is absolutely zero place in our democracy for political violence or interference against our fellow citizens, election workers, or voting infrastructure … Our right to vote needs to be protected under all circumstances. We can’t yield to intimidation, and we must continue to stand up against unpatriotic acts such as this one,” said local congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

Lol

She requested law enforcement be in place overnight at all ballot drop boxes in the county until election day, saying: “South-west Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence.”

The fire was reported after a similar incident in nearby Portland in Oregon, where police say an incendiary device was set off inside a ballot drop box close to a building hosting the Multnomah county elections division.

Security staff extinguished the fire before police arrived. The device was deactivated and removed by the local bomb squad.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of ballot drop box destruction in a September memo obtained by Property of the People, a public records watchdog group. The agency said in an intelligence brief that election infrastructure will be seen as an “attractive target for some domestic violent extremists”, with drop boxes as a “soft target” because they’re more accessible.

Social media posters in forums frequented by extremists have shared ideas for attacked drop boxes, the agency said, including “road flares, fireworks, petroleum fuel, linseed oil and white phosphorous, cement or expanding foam, bleach or other chemicals, and farm machinery”. Other methods could include putting up fake signs to claim a drop box is out of order, putting up decoy drop boxes or putting “timed explosives” into drop boxes. They have also discussed ways to avoid law enforcement detection.

“Damaged ballot drop boxes could temporarily decrease voting opportunities and accessibility and intimidate voters from casting votes if safety concerns arise in the vicinity of a targeted or damaged ballot drop box,” DHS wrote in the intelligence brief. “Successful ballot drop box destruction could inspire others with related grievances to conduct similar actions.”

The incidents came days after a US Postal Service mail box containing a small number of ballots was set on fire in Phoenix, Arizona, last Thursday.

Police arrested a 35-year-old man who they said admitted to the crime while he was in custody. They also said he had told them his actions had not been politically motivated and he had committed the office with the purpose of getting himself arrested.

The Guardian has reported that far-right election denial groups supporting Donald Trump have been monitoring election drop boxes as part of their activity in the run-up to next week’s poll, when officials are bracing themselves for disruption and challenges to the vote tallies.

What's up with the rate_limit_error I get in the red box at the bottom of my screen sometimes when trying to post an image? It seems pretty inconsistent for when it happens.

Is it related to ?

So I found out the other day that he is personally on a board of auditors that legitimately get to decide specific businesses for investigation. He asked me for suggestions the other day. I would love to hear some.

I would love it if people would forget these silly "material conditions" sometimes.

I think exploring your own vision of a better world is really healthy and hearing and discussing others' ideals is educational.

Yes, the world is ass and our pathways to FALGSC are basically nonexistent. I'm not saying people should be living in LaLa Land, but even with the way things are I just think it would be nice to hear people's aspirations!

So what's your unrealistic, niche, but admirable ideal?

Bro has the QAnon vote locked down too

This is cinema