Hezbollah’s leader believed “that Israel would not take dramatic actions while Netanyahu was physically in the United States,” a senior Israeli official told the “Telegraph.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday “was part of a diversion” to lull Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah into a false sense of security, a senior Israeli official told the Telegraph.
The Israeli prime minister’s address, and visit to New York, was “intended to make Hezbollah’s leader believe that Israel would not take dramatic actions while Netanyahu was physically in the United States,” the Telegraph reported, citing the unnamed Israeli official.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) shared a post suggesting the talk was a “diversion.”
“The United Nations is finally good for something,” the congressman wrote.
A whistleblower out of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has given the American public a sobering warning about the agency and the future of the country.
Former FBI Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen issued the warning Wednesday at the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
According to the House Judiciary Committee, the hearing was intended to “examine how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has used its security clearance adjudication process to purge its ranks of conservatives and whistleblowers, and unlawfully punish those with views contrary to FBI leadership.”
Although the committee heard testimony from several other people, including Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Empower Oversight president Tristan Leavitt and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.
This was not Allen’s first time in front of the committee.
In May of 2023, he appeared before the congressional committee and spoke on partisan corruption within the federal law enforcement agency. For this, he was falsely smeared by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who alleged Allen and another whistleblower were paid by associates of former President Donald Trump.
It turns out the whistleblowers received charitable donations after the FBI suspended them without pay after coming forward, but this was not given to secure their testimony.
Allen did not back down from his original testimony during his most recent appearance in front of the congressional committee, but instead doubled down on his warnings about the out-of-control federal agency.
“In late 2021, I raised concerns about the FBI Director’s testimony about the January 6th Capitol riot, not out of political motivation, but out of a duty to truth and integrity,” Allen’s prepared testimony reads. “This act, which I believed to be in the spirit of transparency and accountability, led to unexpected and severe consequences.
“Almost exactly three years ago today, I forwarded news articles to my superiors and others within the FBI about January 6th. It was literally one of my job duties to keep my colleagues informed about open-source intelligence related to their cases. As a result simply doing my job, the FBI accused me of promoting ‘conspiratorial views’ and ‘unreliable information.’
“The FBI questioned my allegiance to the United States, suspended my security clearance, suspended my pay, and refused to allow me to obtain outside employment or even accept charity.”
Allen says his suspension lasted for 27 grueling months, during which the bureau kept him and his family in “indefinite limbo” and prevented Allen from earning an income. He says the bureau was trying to “destroy” him financially.
Allen’s security clearance was reinstated earlier this year, a development he calls “absolute vindication.” He also urged other whistleblowers to have courage and persevere through the FBI’s unmerciful treatment.
He ended his testimony with a warning to the American people, which can be seen around the 2:22:30 mark in the video below.
“This is a warning to the American people, I say: I personally have no confidence that the FBI will rein in its own conduct,” Allen said, later adding “I personally believe that there are no current, effective checks and balances against them conducting lawless action with any type of correction in a legitimate timeframe.”
Allen also pointed to ways Americans can protect themselves and their communities in an increasingly-chaotic country.
“My other recommendations are in the natural order: First, vote,” Allen said. “The second is the Second Amendment — arm yourself and know how to defend yourself. Make three to four friends in your neighborhood and promise to come to each other’s mutual aid in times of hardship.” source
Residents below Lake Lure Dam were told to evacuate to higher ground immediately.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an urgent flash flood emergency warning that a North Carolina dam is at imminent risk of failure as Tropical Storm Helene dumped heavy rainfall on the region.
“Urgent: flash flood emergency for the Lake Lure Dam! Dam failure imminent! Rsidents [sic] below the dam need to evacuate to higher ground immediately,” NWS’s office in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, wrote in an all-caps message on social media.
Lake Lure, located in Rutherford County, is one of many areas across western North Carolina that have received several inches of rain since Helene, which was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane after hitting Florida on Thursday night, impacted the region.
Helene is forecast to dump several more inches of rain across North Carolina and other southeastern U.S. states in the coming days, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). A forecast updated by the NHC on Friday at around noon shows that several inches of rain is still expected in western North Carolina, namely in the Appalachian Mountain regions of the state.
“Over portions of the Central and Southern Appalachians, Helene is expected to produce additional rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches leading to total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated totals around 20 inches,” the NHC said.
“This rainfall will result in catastrophic and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding, along with significant and record river flooding. Numerous significant landslides are expected in steep terrain across the Southern Appalachians.”
Rutherford County’s Emergency Management, in a social media post on Friday, told residents who live on certain roads in the area to evacuate to higher ground due to water overtopping the Lake Lure Dam.
It came after the county agency confirmed that “catastrophic flows along the Broad River into Lake Lure” were overtopping the Lake Lure Dam, resulting in significant flooding downstream, according to the NWS.
“Evacuations are underway downstream of Lake Lure Dam. Residents are urged to seek higher ground NOW and obey all evacuation orders from Rutherford County Emergency Management to protect your life and the lives of your family,” the weather agency wrote.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a briefing on Friday morning that there had been two storm-related deaths in the state and he expected more to come.
Close to 300 roads were closed and over 100 swift-water rescues had occurred so far, Cooper said. He added that the storm, particularly in western North Carolina, is causing life-threatening flash flooding, numerous landslides, and power outages from downed trees.
“The priority now is saving lives,” Cooper said, telling people to stay off the roads unless they were seeking higher ground.
“With the rain that they already had been experiencing before Helene’s arrival, this is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina,” Cooper said.
Portions of Interstates 40 and 26 were closed due to flooding, officials said.
It is unclear whether Hassan Nasrallah was at the compound
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut. It was immediately unclear whether the jihadist group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was hit in the strike.
Footage circulating on social media showing the aftermath of IDF strike in Beirut targeting Hezbollah headquarters
