EU envoys approve €90 billion for Ukraine after Hungary lifts veto

The deal was held up by Hungary for months due to Kiev’s suspension of Russian oil supplies

A €90 billion ($106 billion) EU loan to Ukraine that was the focus of a months-long stand-off with Hungary is set to be disbursed on Thursday, according to media reports.

EU ambassadors approved the move on Wednesday, paving the way for a formal sign off by 27 member states, Reuters said citing a spokesman for the Cypriot presidency in the bloc.

The green light came shortly after Ukraine reportedly resumed deliveries via the Soviet-built Druzhba oil pipeline, as demanded by Peter Magyar, the incoming Hungarian prime minister.

Viktor Orban, the outgoing head of the Hungarian government, froze the disbursement of the Ukrainian funding in retaliation for the halting of the deliveries in January. He called it a politically motivated ploy aimed to support Magyar’s party in the April 12 parliamentary election.

The EU is also poised to adopt a 20th package of sanctions against Russia, with Slovakia and Hungary, the recipients of Druzhba crude, expected to drop their opposition. Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico are critics of Brussels’ economic warfare strategy, arguing that it hurts EU members more than Russia and has no effect on the armed conflict between Kiev and Moscow.

Orban and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had an increasingly acrimonious relationship as the date of the election in Hungary drew closer. Zelensky infamously threatened the prime minister’s life, earning a rebuke from Magyar.

After his party won a landslide victory, Magyar indicated that there would be no full U-turn on Ukraine under his government. Among other things, he said Budapest will not be sending weapons to Kiev and will not contribute to the €90 billion scheme, which is required to keep the Ukrainian government running. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic had opted out of servicing the loan that was originally approved by the European Council in February.

The European Commission proposed the arrangement after its original push to bankroll Kiev by stealing frozen Russian sovereign assets failed to overcome resistance by some member states, particularly Belgium, where most of the funds are immobilized.

https://www.rt.com/news/638921-eu-envoys-approve-90-billion-ukraine/

Palantir’s Technological Republic is a blueprint for digital tyranny

The surveillance company’s unapologetically dystopian vision for the future is just 1984 updated for the AI era

Walking through the glass-and-steel corridors of the modern tech-security apparatus reveals that the telescreen is a tireless processor of our very souls.

Palantir Technologies’ vision of a “Technological Republic” arrives as a manual for the refinement of the boot, the one destined to remain on the human face, provided the boot remains equipped with the latest predictive sensors. In the spirit of a clear-eyed look at the clock striking thirteen, we must dissect the alliance between corporate algorithmic power and the Zionist state. This is a new Newspeak, where “defense” is a moral debt and “deterrence” is the silent humming of an algorithm deciding who shall disappear.

The foundation of this digital fortress is built upon the claim of a “moral debt” that the engineering elite owes to the State. In George Orwell’s world of 1984, this represents the ultimate synthesis: the Party and the Corporation becoming indistinguishable. This “affirmative obligation” to participate in national defense is literalized in Palantir’s “strategic partnership” with the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Finalized in early 2024 during a high-stakes visit by co-founders Peter Thiel and Alex Karp to Tel Aviv, this pact seeks to harness advanced data mining for “war-related missions.” The software engineers of Palo Alto have been drafted as the new Inner Party: high priests of a digital armory. Their corporate identity is so entwined with the Zionist project that Palantir held its first board meeting of 2024 in Israel, signaling that their “Technological Republic” transcends borders when it comes to the enforcement of state power.

We are told that the age of “soaring rhetoric” and atomic deterrence is fading, replaced by a “hard power” built entirely on software. Here is the transition from the clumsy violence of the truncheon to the invisible violence of the code. Reports from Gaza suggest that Palantir provides the underlying scaffolding for a system where human intuition is replaced by mathematical certainty. By synthesizing massive datasets – surveillance footage, intercepted communications, and biometric records – the software assists in the production of targeting databases that function as automated “kill lists.”

https://www.rt.com/news/638871-palantir-technological-republic-digital-tyranny/

‘Go Home and Tell Mom and Dad to Vote YES’: Fairfax County Teachers Busted Turning Students into Democrat Activists to Push Radical Redistricting Gerrymander ‘To Stop Trump at All Costs’

On Friday, I picked up my 14-year-old twin boys from school, and both jumped into the car and asked whether I was voting yes on Virginia’s redistricting measure Tuesday.

“That’s a no,” I said flatly to the proposed map, which would create a 10-1 Democratic congressional delegation in a state Kamala Harris won by only 5 percentage points. However, my boys know exactly how I feel about this shameless power play by the liberals in Richmond, so why did they ask?

Turns out, in both of their civics classes that day, taught by two different teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools, they were urged to go home and persuade their parents to vote yes on the measure to make Virginia’s maps “as fair as they can be,” to “stop Donald Trump at all costs.” They used the same talking points being spewed by endless Democratic campaigns in the commonwealth to make Virginia come under one-party Democratic rule.

The ballot initiative is in blatant violation of Virginia’s Constitution. Democrats are trying to rig their congressional maps so they will represent 91% of the state’s districts, which are currently pretty evenly split with a 6-5 Democratic advantage (55%, similar to the way Virginia has voted federally). The proposed map concedes state control over the urban areas of Arlington, Falls Church and Fairfax, which cover only 5% to 10% of the commonwealth’s landmass.

As Republican strategist Brad Todd, of OnMessage Inc., questioned on social media: “Should Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay continue to be represented by a Ph.D. shellfish specialist who lives in Bay town? Or a wealthy Volvo dealer from Alexandria? That’s on the ballot. Vote NO.”

Mr. Todd was referring to Rep. Robert Wittman, a Republican who worked for 20 years with the Virginia Department of Health, serving as an environmental health specialist and a field director for the Division of Shellfish Sanitation, whose seat under the new map would be wiped out by Rep. Donald Beyer, a Democrat whose family owned several car dealerships in Northern Virginia, an area he now represents in Congress.

I asked my boys whether either of their “civics” teachers mentioned this. Each, of course, said no. That brings me back to the liberal indoctrination of our youths. Fairfax County Schools are acting like an arm of the Democratic Party, with its teachers brazenly spewing their propaganda and representing it to their pupils as “facts.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/apr/20/ahead-virginias-gerrymandering-referendum-lesson-boys-public-school/

Where is the ARRESTS and JAIL for the pedos?

Roblox Settles With 3 States Over Endangering Children, Will Pay $36 Million

Online interactive gaming platform Roblox has agreed to settle with West Virginia, Alabama, and Nevada for a combined $35.78 million, committing to strengthen children’s safety through measures such as mandatory age verification and chat restrictions.

Roblox reached an $11.08 million settlement with West Virginia. In an April 21 statement, the office of West Virginia Attorney General John B. McCuskey said that Roblox has agreed to “major child safety overhaul.” The settlement came after an investigation conducted by the office found that the platform exposed child users to sexual predators, sexual and violent content, and grooming risks.

McCuskey said there were “serious failures that left children exposed to real danger.”

Under the agreement, Roblox will verify the ages of all users before allowing chat access. This is expected to limit instances of adults contacting minors and reduce the risk of grooming. The company will block all chat until users verify their age, seeking to reduce the use of anonymous accounts by predators to target children.

Once age verification is complete, adults can contact under-16 users only through verified trusted friends, according to the statement. The accounts of all under-16 users will, by default, run on safe content mode, which will reportedly block out adult-rated material.

Roblox has also committed to recruiting an internet safety specialist in West Virginia. The settlement funds will be paid over several years.

“I have two young daughters who love Roblox, so I know how popular it is,” McCuskey said. “I am thankful that Roblox took our concerns seriously and worked with us to make these major safety changes.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced in an April 21 statement that the state has reached a $12.2 million settlement with Roblox.

Under the deal, Roblox has agreed to verify the age of users and restrict content accordingly, use facial estimation technology and government ID to verify users, and utilize behavioral monitoring to identify those whose ages may have been recorded incorrectly.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/roblox-settles-3-states-over-endangering-children-will-pay-36-million

David Scott Becomes Fifth Sitting House Member to Die Since January 2025.

Representative David Scott (D-GA) has become the fifth House member to die in office since January 2025, raising concerns about the health and age of current lawmakers.

Scott had served in Congress for more than two decades, representing Georgia’s 13th District since 2003. He was known for his work on agricultural policy and food assistance programs, as well as for his role in the Blue Dog coalition. Before his time in Congress, he served in the Georgia state legislature, beginning his political career in the 1970s. At the time of his death, he was seeking a 13th term despite facing primary challengers and questions about his health. His death slightly widens the Republican majority in the House ahead of the midterms in November. The cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.

Scott’s death highlights ongoing concerns about the age and health of current lawmakers, as the number of deaths in office continues to rise. The worsening situation is likely to prompt discussions about the need for younger representation in Congress.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2026/04/22/david-scott-becomes-fifth-sitting-house-member-to-die-since-january-2025/

Can a twitterfag sauce this please?

https://www.antiwar.com/

Long-Time Washington Post Editor Found Dead in His Home

An awful tragedy struck one of the nation’s leading legacy media outlets this week which has left colleagues in deep mourning.

The Washington Post revealed this morning that Dan Eggen, a reporter and editor at the paper for nearly three decades, was discovered dead in his home on Tuesday. He was 60 years old.

Murray’s ex-wife, Stephanie Armour confirmed his passing. Police officials do not suspect that foul play was involved, but an autopsy is still needed to determine the cause of death.

Post executive editor Matt Murray mourned Eggen’s passing in a newsroom announcement:

“A sharp editor with a keen story sense, Dan was involved in hiring, editing and mentoring dozens of politics writers across the years,” Murray said.

He added that Eggen’s “news muscle and instincts were integral to our coverage.”

The Post notes that Eggen was part of several groundbreaking stories over the past few decades. This included his role as part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for investigations into the terror network behind 9/11.

He also covered the Russia Collusion Hoax and J6.

More from the Post:

Mr. Eggen was at the center of much of The Post’s most sensitive and high-profile stories and projects during his nearly three decades at the paper. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for investigations into the network behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and he later was a key editor on the paper’s Pulitzer-winning reporting on Russian election interference in 2016 and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

While covering the Justice Department in 2001, Mr. Eggen helped examine the financing and organization of the terrorist cells that flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Northern Virginia.

Less than three weeks later, he and Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote: “U.S. investigators have determined that at least four of the 19 suspected hijackers were trained at camps in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network is believed responsible for the assaults on New York and Washington.”

Eggen was laid off in February along with hundreds of other Post reporters, but he had recently found his footing. He had successfully landed a job as an editor at NOTUS, a Washington news organization that is being renamed as the Star.

But he died before he could begin his new job.

Eggen is survived by his two children, Madeleine and Max Eggen, and a sister.

https://www.stationgossip.com/2026/04/long-time-washington-post-editor-found.html

IDF investigating after 2 journalists reportedly wounded by Israeli strike in southern Lebanon

Today, 8:52 pm

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The military says it is investigating after two journalists were reportedly wounded by an Israeli strike in the IDF-held security zone in southern Lebanon earlier today.

According to the IDF, the incident began when troops identified two vehicles setting out from a building known to be used by Hezbollah in the Tayri area.

“The terrorists crossed the forward defense line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the military says.

The IDF says the Israeli Air Force struck one of the vehicles and then a building “to which the terrorists fled.”

The military says it then received reports that two female journalists were injured as a result of the strike.

“The IDF is not preventing rescue forces from reaching the area at this stage,” the military says, after Reuters reported that an Israeli drone dropped a grenade on rescuers trying to lift one wounded journalist from rubble.

The IDF says that the “details of the incident are under review.”

The military also says that it “does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them while maintaining the safety and security of its troops,” while adding that “the map of the forward defense line has been published and the area has been evacuated.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-investigating-after-2-journalists-reportedly-wounded-by-israeli-strike-in-southern-lebanon/

The American People Should Not Be Forced to Fund Israel’s Atrocities

Today is tax day. It’s a day where Americans everywhere are forced to reflect on all the income we’ve been forced to hand over to the government. Unpleasant as that is by itself, it’s also worth going a step further and using the occasion to reflect on what the government is using our money for.

There are, of course, the big-ticket items. The programs the government spends the most money on: entitlements and war. The federal government spends trillions of dollars on generational wealth transfers like Social Security, demand-side healthcare subsidies like Medicare and Medicaid that have caused the price of healthcare to skyrocket for everybody (including those dependent on government support), and a massive war-making apparatus that is constantly creating new enemies by attempting to maintain a costly global empire—not to mention, by the way, all the wealth siphoned away from us by the government through inflation.

There’s plenty there to get upset about. But, these days, there’s another use of our tax dollars that, while not as quantitatively dramatic, is quickly, understandably, and rightfully coming under a lot of scrutiny: foreign aid to the Israeli government.

This is not a new spending program. The US government has been sending money to the Israeli government for decades. In total, Israel has received far more “foreign aid” from the US than any other government. And most of that money—especially in recent years—has gone to the Israeli military.

Also, much of this transfer has taken the form of recurring annual payments. So it’s not really accurate to think of this as foreign aid as most people understand it. It’s more accurate to say that a portion of Israeli government programs are funded by American taxpayers and have been for a long time.

This setup has been remarkably uncontroversial with the American public for nearly its entire existence. It’s remarkable because these are literally taxes being paid to a foreign government and because that government has carried out abhorrent atrocities since its founding—the exact kinds of atrocities Americans have prided themselves on opposing.

There are a lot of reasons for that persistent public and institutional support, ranging from tribalism to apathy. But a primary reason has been the success of the Israel lobby.

As I explained a few weeks ago, the massive war-making apparatus in DC was not built up to current levels because that was in the interest of the American people, but because it was in the interest of all the government bureaucrats and officials making up the “national security state” and the weapons companies and other “defense” contractors who stood to benefit.

These groups are perpetually lobbying heavily for more money, more power, and more foreign interventions. But their interest in growth is constant and largely indifferent to geopolitics. As long as the warfare state keeps growing and never shrinks, they will be happy.

The specific directions and objectives of American foreign policy are primarily determined by domestic and foreign interest groups that lobby to steer Washington’s war-making apparatus to serve their own ends.

https://mises.org/mises-wire/american-people-should-not-be-forced-fund-israels-atrocities

Biden Official: Biden Was Preparing To Bomb Iran If Re-Elected

These moves were planned years in advance, and would have been rolled out regardless of what impotent meat puppet happened to be wheeled into office in January 2025.

https://youtu.be/1Mo6_S265GY

Israel Continues Relentless Attacks in Gaza, Killing Seven Palestinians in 24 Hours

Since the so-called 'ceasefire' deal was signed in early October 2025, the IDF has killed at least 784 Palestinians in Gaza

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Tuesday said that Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians and wounded 21 over the previous 24 hours as the IDF continues its relentless attacks and constant violations of the US-backed ceasefire deal.

Attacks in Gaza over the past day included an overnight bombing in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, that killed three Palestinians. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, one of the victims, a man named Darwish al-Attal, had been married just a few days earlier. Middle East Eye reported that the strike targeted a police checkpoint.

Israeli warships on Tuesday targeted tents in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, killing at least one woman. Al Jazeera reported that at least one person was killed by an Israeli attack in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, and Israeli drones dropped explosives on tents in the Shujayea area, setting the camp on fire.

Also on Tuesday, a child who was wounded in a previous Israeli attack succumbed to his wounds. According to Al Jazeera, the child, Abdullah Dawas, was shot in the head near Jabalia, northern Gaza, about 10 days ago.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that since the ceasefire deal was signed in early October, the IDF has killed at least 784 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,214, nearly 3,000 total Palestinians casualties.

The Trump administration has offered no criticism of the constant ceasefire violations, which also include restrictions on aid entering Gaza. Vice President JD Vance recently said that the administration had “solved” the problem in Gaza.

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/04/21/israel-continues-relentless-attacks-in-gaza-killing-seven-palestinians-in-24-hours/

Max Blumenthal : The Islamabad Negotiations Are a Hoax

https://youtu.be/qp3w4eYn2a8

Trump when asked about how many times you've won this war🤣

https://twitter.com/i/status/2046304381579194815

The Trump presidency is one big comedy act. Here is the proof:

https://twitter.com/i/status/2046702706115465256

WOW Iranians taken the LEGO movies to the next level and explained the Epstein 😭 This will literally make Trump crazy 😭🤣😂

https://twitter.com/i/status/2046595783202349352

Lindsey Graham talking about Israel’s right to flatten Gaza:

“Just Flatten it, we flattened Berlin, we flattened Tokyo”

“We flattened Germany, we flattened Japan”

https://twitter.com/i/status/2046559632701702571

'I know everything': Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, Paolo Zampolli, and how the Epstein Network Brought Them Both to Trump's White House

Flown to New York on Epstein's jet at 17, partnered for two decades with the man who brought Melania to the US, deported before she could post bail after a single phone call to a federal official, Amanda Ungaro speaks out.

In 2002, a seventeen-year-old girl from Londrina, Brazil boarded Jeffrey Epstein's private jet in Paris. Her agent was Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modelling scout and human trafficker who over three decades built a procurement and trafficking network that delivered girls and women to Epstein. On the flight from Paris to New York, there were approximately thirty girls. Some sat on Epstein's lap. Ghislaine Maxwell moved through the cabin with the ease of someone who had seen all of this before, because she had.

"I was a little scared when I saw all those girls," Amanda Ungaro told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo in April 2026. "I was like, 'Guys, where am I?' It didn't seem like a chance meeting. Those people had not just met, as was my case." "Some of them sat on his lap, stayed close, playing," Ungaro said of Epstein. "It gave the impression that she already knew those girls," she said of Maxwell.

Ungaro arrived in New York and got out of that world. Twenty-four years later she is back in Brazil. Her former partner, the man who claims to have introduced Donald Trump to Melania Trump, called a federal immigration official and had her deported before she could post bail. His name is Paolo Zampolli. He was thirty-two when they met. She was seventeen.

Jean-Luc Brunel##

Brunel had been scouting models since the 1970s, first through Karin Models in Paris. Allegations of rape and coercion followed him from the beginning of his career, publicly enough that CBS's 60 Minutes named him in 1988 in accusations of drugging, assaulting, and raping models. The industry ignored the victims and moved on. Among the girls he signed during this period was Christy Turlington, whom he discovered at fourteen.

His relationship with Epstein strengthened through the 1990s. Between 1998 and 2005, Brunel appears in Epstein's flight logs on twenty-five separate trips. After Epstein's 2008 conviction on charges of soliciting sex with a minor, Brunel visited him in jail at least seventy times during the thirteen months he served. In 2005, Epstein had wired Brunel at least a million dollars to launch MC2 Model Management, a new agency with offices in New York and Miami. The name is widely understood as an internal reference to Epstein: E=mc2. Employees of MC2 later testified they were paid to obtain U.S. visas for young girls living in condos Epstein maintained at 301 East 66th Street. Brunel's former bookkeeper for both Karin Models and MC2, Maritza Vasquez, confirmed in a 2010 sworn statement that Brunel routinely housed models in those condos.

Virginia Giuffre, in sworn civil depositions, described Brunel as the central recruiter of Epstein's network: he identified girls, approached them with modelling promises, transported them internationally, and delivered them. In a 2015 affidavit, Giuffre claimed Epstein told her he had "slept with over 1,000 of Brunel's girls." A 2007 court complaint alleged that Epstein, Maxwell, Brunel, and others had "deliberately engaged in a pattern of racketeering that involved luring minor children through MC2, mostly girls under the age of 17, to engage in sexual play for money."

More

https://www.yacnews.com/amanda-ungaro-epstein-melania-trump-deportation-leavitt-2026/

Great clip shared by @iamthecat69 yesterday.

Extremely well explained break down of the psychological brainwashing techniques via the media and Hollywood propaganda machine to obfuscate from their true nature and intentions.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2046346916045205668

MoD splashes millions of your cash on luxuries – insulting taxpayer and failing on defence

Shocking expenditure figures over the course of just one month are an insult to our brave soldiers.

Britain's defence is becoming more exposed by the day. Global threats are rising, alliances are under strain, and the nature of warfare is evolving faster than ever. Yet instead of urgency, discipline and focus, but what we see from defence secretary and within the Ministry of Defence is complacency - and worse, a culture of indulgence. In recent days it was revealed that Ministry of Defence staff racked up £16.3 million on taxpayer-funded procurement cards in a single month.

These cards are meant for “low risk, low complexity” purchases - capped at £12,000. Yet dozens of transactions blew straight past that limit. One payment hit nearly £50,000. Another hotel bill came in at over £37,000. This is not an administrative oversight. It is a systemic failure and an insult to every taxpayer.

The details are staggering. Over £133,000 spent on restaurants and bars. Fourteen separate transactions at pubs and nightclubs. One evening alone costing nearly £4,000. Thousands more spent at a snooker hall, a cosmetics shop, even a florist.

And then there are the hotels. £1.4 million in a single month, spread across more than 700 transactions. The Ritz-Carlton. The Four Seasons. Hyatt. Hilton. Five-star luxury, all funded by the British taxpayer.

All of this within the month of March…

This is not what a country serious about its defence looks like. While officials are enjoying fine dining and luxury accommodation, the reality on the ground is starkly different. The British Army is shrinking. The Royal Navy is stretched thin. The RAF faces growing capability gaps. Recruitment is struggling. Retention is faltering. Equipment programmes are delayed and over budget.

Britain is trying to operate as a global military power with declining manpower, constrained resources, and an increasingly dangerous strategic environment.

And yet, within the system, there appears to be no sense of urgency. No recognition of the moment we are in. This is more than waste. It is a mindset.

A culture that has lost sight of its core purpose. A culture that treats public money as a convenience, not a responsibility. A culture that is simply not serious about defence.

At a time when adversaries are rearming, when conflict in Europe continues, and when instability in the Middle East threatens to escalate further, Britain should be sharpening its edge - not dulling it through complacency and excess. The contrast could not be more stark.

On one hand, we are told that resources are tight. That difficult choices must be made. That capability must be prioritised. On the other, we see millions being spent on what can only be described as indulgence.

This is not just mismanagement. It is a profound failure of priorities. And it goes to the heart of a much bigger problem.

For decades, successive governments have allowed Britain’s defence capability to erode. Numbers have fallen. Readiness has declined. Procurement has become synonymous with delay and overspend. The result is a military that is increasingly stretched - and a nation that is increasingly vulnerable.

Against that backdrop, this kind of spending is not just indefensible - it is insulting. Insulting to the servicemen and women who are asked to do more with less.

Insulting to the taxpayer who is footing the bill. And insulting to the idea that Britain still takes its own security seriously. You cannot rebuild a credible defence posture while tolerating this level of irresponsibility.

You cannot ask the public to accept higher taxes, tighter budgets, and greater risk - while allowing this culture to persist unchecked.

We need a fundamental reset of the culture. Discipline. Accountability. A ruthless focus on priorities.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2196988/mod-splashes-millions-your-cash

In Video: Dozens Of Israeli Settlers Storm Southern Syria

Dozens of Israeli settler activists stormed southern Syria on April 22 before being escorted out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) amid complete silence from Damascus.

The activists, who called themselves the Bashan Pioneers, barricaded themselves in a building on the outskirts of the town of Hader in the governorate of al-Qunitra, and stated that they would stay there until the Israeli government approves settlements in Syria.

According to the IDF, some 40 activists traveled about half a kilometer inside Syria. Troops then took the activists back to Israel and handed them over to the police.

The military added it “strongly condemns this incident and emphasizes its severity, which constitutes a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF troops.”

Hader is mainly populated by Druze. The town has been under the de facto control of the IDF since the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad more than a year ago.

The IDF occupied the entire buffer zone adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in al-Qunitra shortly after the collapse of the regime, and has been conducting operations in the area, including setting up checkpoints and arresting people, on a regular basis.

The Bashan Pioneers, a far-right, religious-nationalist Israeli settler movement, was formed last year. It seeks to establish Jewish settlements in southern Syria. The group advocates for the annexation of the region, which they refer to by the biblical name “Bashan” as a part of wider plan to establish “Greater Israel”.

Activists from the movement stormed Syria on many occasions over the past year, with the IDF escorting them out every time.

The Syrian government has repeatedly condemned the Israeli occupation of the buffer zone in al-Qunitra, but it has taken no actual measures against it.

Over the past year, several rounds of talks between Israel and Syria were held, with the United States leading mediation efforts.

The talks failed to produce a security agreement. Still, the Syrian government continues to honor the red lines set by Israel when it comes to the southern region. For example, its forces do not challenge IDF movements, or attempt to deploy any heavy weapons there.

In fact, Syrian government forces are preventing anyone from challenging the IDF. Just earlier in the week, the forces foiled an attempt by a cell allegedly linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah to launch rockets from al-Qunitra.

There is no doubt that Israel’s influence over southern Syria is growing by the day, and while movements like the Bashan Pioneers are now not being taken seriously, their project is a very serious one. Settlement movements had major success in the Golan Heights, which is now recognized by the U.S. as a part of Israel.

https://southfront.press/in-video-dozens-of-israeli-settlers-storm-southern-syria/

Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen says all the US needs to do to get a deal with Iran is "kill the [Iranian leaders] that don't want a deal."

Thiessen urged Trump to kill Iranian diplomats to secure a deal in a deranged Post column earlier this month.

https://x.com/i/status/2046939976814756241

Jewish leaders in NYC want X censored to protect their delicate feelings.

X needs to be looked at from a "policy perspective" because "you can see something extremely hurtful…and you can cite it as an example of anti-Semitism," but X won't take it down because it's free speech, Manhattan Borough Pres. Brad Hoylman-Sigal tells NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin and Comptroller Mark Levine.

"[It's] shocking and wrong and something that needs to be fixed," Hoylman-Sigal insists.

Levine concurs and begs the 92NY audience to post positive comments in the replies to their posts, as right now they're "90% negative."

https://x.com/i/status/2046962434687095268

Is this what Trump found on the Chinese ship?

Israel's Dependence on Chinese Drones Exposes the IDF's Soft Underbelly

The latest tender to acquire new military drones reveals that, although the Israel Defense Ministry pays a low price for Chinese drones, the soldiers on the battlefield might be the ones paying the price

Israel is moving to acquire a new generation of attack drones as its forces remain heavily reliant on Chinese-made models, a dependence that has triggered growing concerns within the security establishment over potential espionage and data leaks from battlefield operations.

The Defense Ministry recently issued a new tender for the procurement of FPV (first-person view) attack drones, which allow the operator to experience the flight from the drone's perspective, in search of more advanced capabilities than those currently in the military. Also specified are the requirements for the drones to be immune to jamming systems and efficient to use at night.

The bids for the tender were submitted at the end of February, and the companies that competed in it are currently awaiting the results. The number of drones that the winner will be asked to supply in the first phase is approximately 1,000.

The current round of fighting by the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon against Hezbollah once again highlighted the military's immense need for drones. "We keep a drone in the air all the time. Forces do not sit in a defensive position or enter houses without a drone overhead. The need is great," a reservist who served in southern Lebanon for the past month and a half told Haaretz.

Most of the drones used by the military are still manufactured in China. The Defense Ministry carries out "sterilization" processes for these drones, intended to protect them from external breaches or from information leaks. However, despite this sterilization, in the past year, the ministry has already blocked the use of some drones after identifying a risk of them being breached.

A manager in the Israeli drone industry said that Chinese drones are high-grade in terms of both material quality and operational efficiency, as opposed to the Israeli and American drones. Certainly not at the price point at which they supply it. He did, however, warn about their use.

"Chinese drones are great because someone at the end of the chain, in China, subsidizes them, so that our military uses them. And the Israel Defense Forces cannot truly sterilize them and completely control the information that flows from them."

He also remarked that Israel turns a blind eye, given that today the army is dependent upon this technology, so you cannot send a reservist into the field without these drones. "But it's not a good situation when someone in China knows what each of our forces is doing everywhere. If Israel has already shown that it knows how to hack pagers, one cannot assume the Chinese are foolish."

Looking at the bottom line, four years after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, which made it clear that the drone revolution on the battlefield is here to stay, the Defense Ministry has still not formulated a clear policy for acquiring drones and continues to carry out its purchase slowly, tender after tender.

At the end of 2025, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a plan to achieve American drone dominance, under which the United States will acquire 300,000 drones with an investment of $1 billion by the end of 2028. Israel is still far from this, despite a thriving Israeli startup industry in the field and despite it being an area that does not require massive investments and where Israeli high-tech capabilities could particularly shine.

https://archive.md/Dqpai

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2026-04-22/ty-article/.premium/israels-dependence-on-chinese-drones-exposes-the-idfs-soft-underbelly/0000019d-b4a8-d11d-a9bf-b4fa62e20000

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IRGC seizes Israeli ship, second vessel for violations in Strait of Hormuz

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy says it has intercepted and transferred to Iranian territorial waters two vessels for having committed violations in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the IRGC identified the vessels as the MSC-Francesca, which it said belongs to the Israeli regime, and the Epaminodes.

The vessels, it said, were operating without authorization, committing repeated violations, tampering with navigation aid systems, and endangering maritime security in an attempt to exit the strait covertly.

“With the intelligence dominance of the forces, these vessels were identified and stopped in order to uphold the rights of the noble Iranian nation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC Navy said.

It added that the vessels have now been transferred to Iranian territorial waters for inspection of their cargo and documents.

The IRGC Navy reiterated that any attempt to disrupt the implementation of laws announced by Iran for transit through the Strait of Hormuz, or any activity inconsistent with safe passage through this strategic waterway, will be continuously monitored and met with decisive and legal action against violators.

The operation came amid ongoing tensions over the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, which Tehran has condemned as an act of aggression and a violation of international law.

Iran has placed special controls on the strategic waterway days after the start of the US-Israeli war on February 28, rolling out a new regulatory framework that requires all vessels to secure authorization before transiting.

A draft bill currently before parliament would codify these rules, including a ban on Israeli‑linked ships, mandatory clearance for vessels from “hostile countries,” and the imposition of transit fees.

https://vtforeignpolicy.com/2026/04/irgc-seizes-israeli-ship-second-vessel-for-violations-in-strait-of-hormuz/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/22/iranian-gunboat-fires-on-container-ship-off-oman-coast

Stop mass immigration rally Sunday at Parliament House

On Sunday 26 April 2026, Australians from across the country will gather on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, for the Australia Marches rally – a major national demonstration calling on the federal government to overhaul Australia’s immigration policy and put Australians first.

The event, organised by Australia Marches and officially supported by The Australian Lobby Group (ALG), marks the launch of a national tour spanning eight cities and key regional centres throughout 2026, building sustained political pressure on the issue of mass immigration.

Australia Marches organiser Scott Challen says the timing is deliberate.

“ANZAC Day is when the nation reflects. The day after is when responsibility begins,” he said.

“Australia currently holds one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. This is not a question of culture or character – it is a question of capacity.”

“With housing affordability at crisis levels, infrastructure under strain, and cost-of-living pressures mounting, Australians are calling on their government to act.”

Challen says the rally calls specifically for:

• A meaningful reduction in annual immigration intake

• Policy that reflects Australia’s housing and infrastructure capacity

• Genuine government accountability on migration numbers

• A national conversation on sovereignty and long-term planning

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the support for the rally, and many people wanted to take part but couldn’t afford the trip to Canberra.”

“We didn’t want people to feel like they were missing out, so we’re planting Australian flags for them. More than 2,000 have been sold ahead of the rally, representing Australians who wanted to attend but are unable to make the journey to Canberra. Each flag will be planted at Parliament House on the day, ensuring their voices are present and visible.”

Confirmed Speakers Include:

Ed Schuller

Scott Challen

Kangaroo Jack

Croc Turnbull

Senator Matt Canavan

Senator Pauline Hanson

Bob Katter

And further speakers to be announced

This rally would be much more successful and achieve an outcome if those present called for a double dissolution of parliament.

https://cairnsnews.org/2026/04/21/stop-mass-immigration-rally-sunday-at-parliament-house/

It is all so boring Trump has done very little to help most American's

He's done a lot for Israel