KOENIG

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a group of settlement mayors Wednesday night that the establishment of a Palestinian state was becoming a “tangible danger” due to international efforts advancing the cause.

He also informed them of his efforts to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene a key administrative body in order to authorize new construction plans in the Israeli West Bank settlements.

The United Nations General Assembly voted 143-9 to upgrade the Palestinian's status as a non-member observer state, granting it all but voting rights with regard to all activities related to its plenum.

Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Papa New Guinea, Palau, and the United States opposed the resolution.

Among those countries that supported the text were many European Union members,  Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

Australia also supported the resolution, while Canada, Great Britain, and Ukraine abstained.

NOAA: Space Weather Prediction Center: First G4 Watch Since 2005

The alert read: ‘NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)- a division of the National Weather Service – is monitoring the sun following a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that began on May 8. 

On Thursday, May 9, 2024, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch.

G4 conditions were observed by SWPC around 12:37 p.m. EDT today and significant; to severe geomagnetic storming is likely to continue.

A Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm is still likely this weekend.

Senator Grahams questions of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: 

“What’s Israel interested in?” the senior senator from South Carolina bellowed. “Do you believe Iran really wants to kill all the Jews if they could? The Iranian regime. Do you believe Hamas is serious when they say we’ll keep doing it over and over again? Do you agree that they will if they can?”

Sheepishly, Austin answered, “I do.”

“OK. Alright,” Graham continued. “Do you believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization also bent on the destruction of the Jewish state?”

Leaving out the bit about the Jewish state, Austin retorted, “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.” Graham responded with a one-two punch.

“OK, so Israel’s been hit in the last few weeks by Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, dedicated to their destruction,” he said. “And you’re telling me you’re going to tell them how to fight the war, and what they can and can’t use when everybody around them wants to kill all the Jews? And you’re telling me that if we withhold weapons in this fight—the existential fight for the life of the Jewish state—it won’t send the wrong signal?”

Graham concluded his diatribe by declaring, “If we stop weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the State of Israel at a time of great peril, we will pay a price. This is obscene. It is absurd. Give Israel what they need to fight the war. They can’t afford to lose. This is Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids.”

Russia’s leadership and military have been out in force for the annual “Victory Day” military parade on Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was flanked by veterans as he watched thousands of Russian troops, tanks, armored vehicles and weaponry parade through a mostly rainy Red Square in Moscow.

Amid the Biden administration’s decision to withhold arms from Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reaffirmed Jerusalem’s resolve to defeat Hamas, even if it has to fight without U.S. backing.

Sharing a clip of his May 5 speech at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, the premier sought to reiterate that “no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself.”

S​evere thunderstorms have produced widespread wind damage and hail between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina, and have produced a few tornadoes. Numerous tornadoes have caused damage in Middle Tennessee and northern Alabama, including the Columbia, Tennessee, area. Rivers and creeks are also rising rapidly, especially north of Nashville, where a flash flood emergency was issued Wednesday evening. 

Wednesday morning, storms dumped hail up to the size of apples in the Kansas City metro and up to tennis ball size hail in Pettis County, Missouri, and Rutledge, Tennessee. A tornado was sighted by a park ranger late Wednesday morning west of Meramac State Park, Missouri. Flash flooding was also reported in parts of Missouri and Tennessee, including some of the northern Nashville suburbs. 

• Severe thunderstorms will continue to hit parts of the Midwest, South and East through Thursday.
• Tornadoes, damaging straight-line winds and very large hail are all concerns.
• Strong tornadoes are possible in some areas.
• Flash flooding from heavy rainfall is also a concern. 

Senior Israeli officials have expressed "deep frustration" with the Biden administration over its decision to pause a weapons shipment to Israel, warning the move could jeopardize hostage negotiations, two sources briefed on the issue told Axios.

Why it matters: The unprecedented move by the Biden administration, first reported by Axioson Sunday, was a way for the U.S. to signal its concern over Israel's plans for a possible ground invasion of Rafah, U.S. officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted CIA Director William Burns at his office in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon for talks on the ongoing indirect hostage negotiations with Hamas.

Burns first held a private discussion with Mossad head David Barnea before they both joined the meeting with Netanyahu.

Israel sees no signs of a breakthrough in Egyptian-mediated negotiations on a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal, a source in Jerusalem told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.

The Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday evening that it would withhold a large shipment of bombs from being sent to its intended destination in Israel.

An anonymous official told Reuters that the United States began a review of the bomb shipment back in April.

"As a result of that review, we have paused one shipment of weapons last week,” the official said, confirming that the shipment consisted of 1,800 units of 2,000-pound bombs and another 1,700 units of 500-pound bombs.

Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday that Hamas will still pose a threat even after a military operation in Rafah city, its last stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at the Ynet and Yediot Ahronot “People of the State” conference at Expo Tel Aviv, Hagari said, “I want to tell the public, so that they do not delude themselves: Even after we deal with Rafah, there will be terror. Hamas will move northwards and try to reconstitute itself, even in the next few days. In every place Hamas returns to, including in northern and central Gaza, we will return to operating.”

The Biden administration has held up the delivery of thousands of precision weapons to Israel amid the Jewish state’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which entered a new phase overnight Monday as Israeli forces began to push into Rafah city.

According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday, citing officials familiar with the deal, at issue is the sale of up to 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs)—a guidance kit that converts “dumb bombs” into “smart” precision-guided munitions.

Congress was first informed of the proposed sale, worth some $269 million, in January. However, since then, the Biden administration has not moved forward with the deal.

The US State Department is on track to deliver a report to Congress this week determining whether the Biden administration has accepted assurances from Israel that it is using American weapons in accordance with international law.

“That is our intention, to provide it on time,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, two days before a May 8 deadline.

The report to Congress, which will be released to the public, is part of a new policy instituted by US President Joe Biden in February requiring foreign aid recipients to provide written assurances that they are using that aid in compliance with international law and that they are not obstructing the assistance of humanitarian aid.

The Israel Defense Forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday morning, as tanks from the 401st Armored Brigade of the 162nd Division rolled right up to the station.

The Israeli flag was raised at the Rafah crossing and video showed an armored vehicle arriving at one of the buildings there, next to a sign that says “Gaza” in English. The IDF shared pictures and video of the moments that the Rafah crossing was captured.

Israelis marked Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) on Monday, the first since the attack of Oct. 7, the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Shoah.

The ceremonies began Sunday night and continued on Monday morning with the traditional nationwide siren blast, starting at 10 a.m. and lasting for two minutes. Israelis customarily stand still, including cars stopping on the road, to honor the memory of the 6 million Jews slain by the Nazis and their helpers.

The Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah claimed to attack Israel with “dozens” of katyusha rockets on Monday. The rockets targeted the IDF’s “Golan Division headquarters,” Hezbollah told Beirut-based Al Mayadeen news channel. Air-raid sirens were heard in several locations in the central Golan Heights.

“The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon – Hezbollah announced that it had targeted, on Monday morning , the headquarters of the Golan Division (210th) at the Nafah base with dozens of ‘Katyusha’ rockets,” Al Mayadeen reported.The attack was part of a series of Hezbollah escalations over the past days. On Sunday, it also attacked Kiryat Shmona with 20 rockets and fired about 40 more projectiles toward the North.

The IDF has begun evacuating civilians from eastern Rafah to a new expanded humanitarian zone which includes al-Mawasi and parts of Khan Yunis and central Gaza, the IDF announced on Monday morning. The evacuation comes ahead of planned IDF operations in the Rafah area.

The Biden administration has put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-manufactured ammunition to Israel for the first time since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack, according to a report.

Two Israeli officials told Axios that the weapons shipment was stopped last week, leaving officials within the Israeli government scrambling to understand why.

When asked about the report, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council told Fox News Digital that it has supported Israel's defense since the Oct. 7 attack.  

Biggest floods in Houston since Harvey August 2017 (at time Trump advisor Jared Kushner was traveling the Middle East gaining support for 2 state plan) and Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001 (at time CIA Director Geoge Tenet was in cease fire talks in Israel).  

AccuWeather meteorologists continue to warn of a looming significant severe weather and tornado outbreak for portions of the Plains and Midwest spanning Monday and Tuesday.

The relentless pattern that has produced over 1,000 incidents of severe weather and well over 100 confirmed tornadoes since April 25, mostly in the central United States, will continue well into next week.

Following a chaotic swarm of twisting storms in its final week, April’s tornado count in the United States climbed to at least 300, the second-highest in the month on record.

Although April is often a busy time for tornadoes, the 300-plus twisters this year dwarfed the average of 182 and trails only the unbelievable total of 757 in April 2011 in modern records, according to a preliminary analysis by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

Representatives from Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States met in Cairoon Saturday for talks on a possible hostage deal, while Israel delayed sending a delegation until the terror group gave a response to the latest proposal on the table. 

Heavy showers and thunderstorms continued to pour rain into East TexasFriday, adding more water to swollen rivers that have prompted mandatory evacuations as water levels rise in some towns to levels rivaling Hurricane Harvey's devastating floods of 2017.

And as bad as the flooding was early Friday, officials stress the worst is yet to come for many in the hardest hit regions as a surge of water works its way downriver and rain continues to fall.

Some 24-hour rainfall totals exceeded 7 inches in the region, with storm totals over the past few days surpassing 12 inches. Rain gauges along Lake Livingston have recorded from 17-20 inches just since Sunday. 

Negotiations for a potential hostage deal and truce in Gaza appeared to reach a critical moment Saturday, with Hamas set to offer its response to the latest proposal, and Israel indicating an offensive in the city of Rafah could be imminent if no agreement is reached.

With Arab and American mediators pressing intensely for a temporary ceasefire, several reports Saturday said Hamas was prepared to accept the latest proposal, in light of assurances from the United States that there will be a “sustainable cessation” of the war.

It was not clear whether such a response would be a straightforward approval of the proposal on offer, or one that comes with various caveats.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday of acting like a “dictator” by blocking the country’s ports to Israeli imports and exports as part of a trade war.

“This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements,” Katz wrote on the social media platform X.

Katz said he instructed his office to devise alternative trade routes that bypass Turkey while focusing on boosting local production and imports from other international partners.

Israel gave Hamas a week to agree to a cease-fire deal, or the invasion of Rafah will begin, Egyptian officials told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Egyptian officials claimed that Hamas is seeking a long-term truce and guarantees from the US that a cease-fire will be respected by Israel.

Hamas expressed concern that the latest proposal is still too vague and gives Israel room to restart the fighting.

Hamas said on Friday it was sending a delegation to Cairo to discuss a hostages-for-truce deal with Israel, hours after US CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas and broker a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war that began with the terror group’s devastating October 7 attack.

The Hamas and CIA officials will meet Egyptian mediators on Saturday, an Egyptian security source said, though it was unclear whether they would meet separately or together.