NARCOTIC OFFICERS IN CALIFORNIA HAVE LOST A DEAR AND VALUED FRIEND

A Tribute to Karen Ann Escobar

 

California Narcotics Officers' Association 

Dec 30, 2025 

 

 

                 

                                                 Karen Ann Escobar

                                     June 15, 1958 – December 14, 2025

 

It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Karen Ann Escobar, a devoted public servant, respected Assistant United States Attorney, and longtime member and friend of the California Narcotic Officers' Association.

Karen dedicated more than 35 years of service as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. Her distinguished legal career began on Capitol Hill as a member of Senator Al Gore’s staff and was marked by integrity, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to justice. Throughout her career, Karen earned the respect of colleagues across the criminal justice community for her sound judgment, diligence, and principled approach to her work.

Karen was a proud and longtime member of CNOA, reflecting her deep commitment to law enforcement partnerships and to supporting those who serve on the front lines. She was a trusted colleague and friend to many within the CNOA community, and her quiet strength, kindness, and steady presence left a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of working alongside her.

At the heart of Karen’s life was her family. She built a life centered on love and commitment, sharing a devoted partnership with her husband and raising two beautiful children. She spoke of her family with pride, and it was clear to all who knew her that they were her greatest joy and her guiding purpose.

Those who knew Karen remember her as someone who could always be counted on—principled, prepared, and generous with her time. She embodied the very best of public service and friendship, and her legacy will continue to be felt throughout the CNOA community and beyond.



On behalf of the California Narcotics Officers' Association, we extend our deepest condolences to Karen’s family, friends, and colleagues. We are grateful for her many years of service, her dedication to justice, and the friendship she shared with so many of us. Karen Escobar will be remembered with deep respect, admiration, and appreciation.

AS I RECENTLY SAID, LET'S GIVE MINNESOTA TO CANADA

All federal child care payments to Minnesota are FROZEN amid daycare 'fraud' scandal as Tim Walz is targeted in huge crackdown

 

By Sonya Gugliara 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

Independent journalist Nick Shirley shared video from an apparently empty daycare in Minnesota 

 

The federal government has ceased all child care payments to Minnesota amid the Democratic state's ongoing daycare fraud scandal. 

Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Jim O'Neill announced on Thursday that funding has been frozen and demanded that Governor Tim Walz audit the centers allegedly involved. 

'We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,' O'Neill declared in his statement. 

The move from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the HHS division that oversees child care, comes after independent journalist Nick Shirley shared footage of an apparently empty Minnesota daycare.

The facility has reportedly received millions in taxpayer funds, leading Shirley to claim that Minnesota has allowed for the 'largest fraud in US history' to go unchecked.

'You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade,' O'Neill wrote. 

O'Neill said he has activated the 'spend defend system for all ACF payments,' meaning that all payments going forward across the country will require proof and reasoning before the money is allocated. 

He added that he and ACF Assistant Secretary Alex Adams have identified the people involved in the scheme that Shirley allegedly unveiled. 

 

The HHS has demanded that Governor Tim Walz audit the centers allegedly involved in the fraud scandal 

 

In another effort to combat money funneling under the guise of childcare, a 'fraud-reporting' hotline and email address have been set up.

'Whether you are a parent, provider, or member of the general public, we want to hear from you,' O'Neill wrote. 

Walz said in response that the action was just part of Trump's plan to hurt innocent people and blame Democrats.  

'This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue - but this has been his plan all along,' Walz said. 

'He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.' 

The Minneapolis facility that Shirley highlighted notably featured a misspelled sign, which the business named Quality 'Learing' Center instead of Quality 'Learning' Center.

Despite reportedly receiving $4 million in federal funding through Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), Shirley noted that no children were in sight. 

Politicians have since expressed outrage with Walz's seemingly lax handling of the alleged illegal activity.

'Fraud is easy to find - if you’re willing to look for it,' Gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth said.

'Many of these seemingly vacant businesses have been cited by the Walz admin for licensing violations, which should have made it easy to catch and stop millions from being stolen.' 

State Representative Tom Emmer has also criticized the Walz administration, writing on X: 'Four million dollars of hard-earned tax dollars going to an education center that can't even spell learning correctly. Care to explain this one, Tim Walz?'

 

Footage of the facility, featuring a misspelled sign as 'Quality Learing Center', sparked outrage among lawmakers

 

Following Shirley's bombshell video, which garnered more than 65 million views in just two days, the business in question appeared to be 'trucking in' kids, the New York Post observed on Monday. 

While locals admitted they thought the center was closed because they had never seen children there, more than a dozen alleged daycare attendees were ushered into the facility.   

'We've never seen kids go in there until today,' one nearby resident told the NY Post. 

'That parking lot is empty all the time, and I was under the impression that place is permanently closed.'

The skepticism prompted Ibrahim Ali, the son of the facility's owner, to hit back, asking: 'Do you go to a coffee shop at 11 pm and say, "Hey, they're not working?"'

He argued that when Shirley arrived and began filming the nearly deserted facility, it had not yet opened for the day.  

Ali also attempted to shift blame for the incorrect 'learing' sign, accusing a graphic designer of making a spelling mistake.

'What I understand is [the owners] dealt with a graphic designer. He did it incorrectly. I guess they didn't think it was a big issue,' the 26-year-old said.

 

 

'That's gonna be fixed.'

The center claims its opening hours are 2 pm to 10 pm, Monday to Thursday.

Despite Shirley's accusations, Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said the facilities mentioned in Shirley's video had been inspected in the past six months.

She said in all cases, children were present when authorities arrived to conduct their searches.

The frenzy surrounding Shirley's video comes as several major fraud schemes, largely involving people of Somali descent, are being investigated across the state. 

Among them is the largest COVID-era fraud plot, which involved the federally funded nonprofit group Feeding Our Future.   

At least 78 people - 72 of whom are Somali - have been charged in connection with the illicit operation. 

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the culprits exploited the organization, claiming to have served more than 91 million meals to kids in need - but not a single plate went to the cause. 

More than $250 million was stolen from April 2020 through the nonprofit's disestablishment in January 2022, with only about $75 million recovered to date. 

 

The FBI is helping to investigate, and ICE agents descended on Minnesota on Monday

Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said the facilities mentioned in Shirley's video had been inspected in the past six months

 

In the Feeding Our Future case, 57 people have been convicted, 13 are awaiting trial, two have been acquitted - although one was convicted in a related juror bribery case - five remain on the run and one is dead.

Eight other individuals were charged in September for their alleged involvement in one case involving the federally funded health care benefits from the state's Housing Stability Services Program.

At least one woman has been charged in an autism program fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors have said that there are more arrests to come. 

Acting US Attorney Joseph Thompson said at the time: 'To be clear, this is not an isolated scheme. From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money. 

'Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network. The challenge is immense, but our work continues.'

Of the three cases noted above, 90 percent of those charged have been of Somali descent. 

In the wake of the fraud, Donald Trump has unleashed sweeping ICE raids in Minnesota targeting illegal aliens from Somalia.  

There are about 260,000 Somali's living in the US, roughly 84,000 of them live in Minnesota's Minneapolis-St Paul area. 

The Associated Press reported that 58 percent of Somalis in the US were born in the country, and that 87 percent of those who are foreign-born are naturalized citizens. 

THIS WILL COST EACH NON-BLACK HOUSEHOLD IN SAN FRANCISCO $600,000 IN TAX DOLLARS

San Francisco mayor sneaks through reparations bill just before Christmas that could give each black resident $5MILLION

In a segment of conservative activist Richie Greenberg's podcast, he declared that the 'reparations scheme' is 'ludicrously unlawful, irresponsible, illegal [and] unconstitutional.' 

 

By Sonya Gugliara 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

 

Mayor Daniel Lurie quietly signed the divisive Reparations Bill two days before Christmas 

 

The mayor of San Francisco discreetly approved a bill to create a fund that may eventually grant each of the city's eligible black residents $5 million in reparations. 

Mayor Daniel Lurie quietly signed the incredibly divisive Reparations Bill just two days before Christmas. 

The ordinance establishes a Reparations Fund, as recommended by the city's African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) in its 2023 report. 

The legislation merely establishes the fund but does not allocate any money to it - setting up the framework for any future contributions, whether they be through the city or privately donated.

The AARAC is tasked with developing 'recommendations for repairing harm in our black communities,' according to its website. 

Per the 2023 report, every African American adult in San Francisco should be handed a $5 million lump sum to 'compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced.'

While this effort has captured the most attention - and sparked the most controversy - the AARAC rattled off more than 100 suggestions, including debt relief, guaranteed annual income of $97,000, debt forgiveness and city-funded homes for black people. 

In 2023, the conservative public policy think tank Hoover Institution said the plan would cost each non-African American household in the city about $600,000 in tax dollars. 

 

San Francisco lawmakers have approved a bill to set up a Reparations Fund 

 

However, Lurie told the Daily Mail that this is not the case, citing the city's struggling finances. 

'For several years, communities across the city have been working with the government to acknowledge the decades of harm done to San Francisco’s black community,' Lurie wrote. 

'While that process largely predates my administration, I am signing the legislation to create this fund in recognition of the work of so many San Franciscans and the unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors.'

But Lurie said the city is bracing for a $1 billion budget deficit next year.

'That means identifying key priorities for funding so we can continue delivering those services well,' he explained. 

'Given these historic fiscal challenges, the city does not have resources to allocate to this fund.'

He noted that his administration has always been open to outside donors, so 'if there is private funding that can be legally dedicated to this fund, we stand ready to ensure that funding gets to those who are eligible for it.'

While Lurie clarified the bill's intent to the Daily Mail, its sly passage drew attention from critics. 

 

Supervisor Shamann Walton created the Reparations Bill to set up the fund

Opinion journalist Erica Sandberg pointed to No Kings protests over the summer, calling the city's government hypocritical

 

Conservative activist Richie Greenberg slammed the fund as a 'terribly disappointing decision' on X. 

In a segment of his podcast, he declared that the 'reparations scheme' is 'ludicrously unlawful, irresponsible, illegal [and] unconstitutional.'

Opinion journalist Erica Sandberg slammed the decision as hypocritical.  

'After large-scale No Kings protests in the summer of 2025 that condemned authoritarian policies from the Trump administration, local officials making such a unilateral decision that is clearly at odds with public sentiment is hypocritical,' she wrote on her Substack. 

The No Kings protests erupted nationwide over the summer against Donald Trump and his policies. 

San Francisco's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has publicly opposed the city's handling of the Reparations Fund. 

Reverend Amos Brown, the president of the NAACP chapter, said the 2023 reparations plan gave black residents false hopes. 

While the organization said it supported cash payments, it called the $5 million lump sum 'an arbitrary number' in a news release at the time. 

 

The African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC) 2023 report details a reparation plan

 

Former San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who was also a Democrat, had concerns about direct cash payments at the city level.  

She believed that reparations should be handled at the federal level.

About a week before Lurie gave his go-ahead for the plan, the city's Board of Supervisors voted in favor of it. 

'This most certainly is different than asking the city to pony up dollars to support reparations recommendations,' Supervisor Shamann Walton, who penned the ordinance, said, per ABC 7. 

'It's gonna take some time. We've got to build a pot and then, of course, come up with the right criteria in terms of how we're going to prioritize what recommendations we address first. But this is a major first step.' 

The bill's supporters say it aims to correct disinvestment in predominantly black neighborhoods from the 1950s to the 1970s that drove the community out of the area under the guise of urban renewal. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to the AARAC for comment. 

FROM RAGS TO RICHES IN JUST ONE YEAR?

Somali Congresswoman Ilhan Omar facing probe over how her family wealth rocketed from near-nothing to up to $30million in just one year

 

By Sophie Gable 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

 

Representative Ilhan Omar is facing scrutiny over her financial disclosure forms, after her assets skyrocketed to $30million in just one year  

 

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is facing scrutiny after her assets appeared to skyrocket from only $1,000 to almost $30 million in just one year. 

Two companies, both owned by her husband and listed on Omar's most recent financial disclosure form, seemed to explode in value between 2023 and last year.

Rose Lake Capital LLC was valued between $5 million and $25 million in 2024, according to the document, filed in May.  

The venture capital management firm is headquartered in Washington, DC. Omar lists the asset as 'partnership income' on her form and claimed she doesn't receive any income from Rose Lake. 

However, in her 2023 report, released in May 2024, Rose Lake Capital is valued at between $1 and $1,000. 

In the same report, the Somali-born socialist stated that another company, ESTCRU LLC, was worth between $15,001 and $50,000. 

The firm is a winery in Santa Rosa, California. Its value is now listed between $1 million and $5 million, according to Omar's recent disclosure. 

In response to the significant increase, the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit that monitors the ethics of liberal public officials, has confirmed it is 'certainly looking' at the progressive Congresswoman. 

 

Omar listed Rose Lake Capital LLC as one of her assets on her most recent financial disclosure form. The company is operated by her husband Tim Mynett (pictured) 

Mynett is the president and co-founder of Rose Lake Capital. The company's asset value increased from between $1 and $1,000 to between $5 million and $25 million in just one year 

 

Peter Flaherty, chairman of the organization, confirmed to the New York Post that the center is investigating Omar's assets. 

Omar, whose previous marriage to her own brother was exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail, also lists ESTCRU as another form of partnership income. 

Her husband, Tim Mynett, has served as the president and co-founder of Rose Lake since 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Mynett and Omar's offices for comment. 

Rose Lake's website says it has worked with five diplomats in more than 80 countries to structure deals, mergers, and acquisitions. 

'From distressed assets to buying publicly traded companies – our team has the prowess to execute the right opportunities,' the company's description reads.

'At Rose Lake we tap into our extensive global network to create strategic partnerships to maximize the strength of the businesses we partner with.'

Rose Lake's LinkedIn page also appears to have been removed amid reports of Omar's wealth gains. 

The company's website stripped team members' names and bios. The webpage now only displays a brief summary of Rose Lake's work. 

Previous versions of the website listed several high-profile employees, including Adam Ereli, a former ambassador to Bahrain, former Senator Max Baucus, and former officials with the Democratic National Committee, as first reported by Fox News. 

 

Omar and Mynett met on her congressional campaign. The two were married in 2020 and he left his consultant firm two years later 

 

Peter Flaherty, chairman of National Legal and Policy Center, said his organization was looking into Omar's financial ethics 

 

Estcru wines also has an eye-catching digital footprint. A link to purchase the wines appears to have been blocked and the company's Instagram page only has 2,000 followers. Their last post was in January 2023. 

Despite the company's lack of following, its asset value jumped from a maximum worth of $50,000 to $5 million in one year, according to Omar's financial disclosure forms. 

Omar's finances are drastically different from what she reported in 2018, 2019, and 2020. 

In 2018, Omar didn't disclose any assets or unearned income. The following year, she listed a tax-deferred target retirement fund. 

ESTCRU LLC first appeared on her financial disclosure forms in 2021, while Rose Lake Capital was first disclosed the following year. 

Omar's financial disclosure form from 2024 lists Rose Lake Capital's value of a maximum of $25 million 

Omar also listed ESTCRU LLC as an asset on her financial disclosure form. The winery was valued at a maximum of $50,000 in 2023 and $5 million in 2024 

Omar didn't list any assets or unearned income on her financial disclosure form in 2018 

 

Omar married Mynett in 2020. He was working as a political consultant at the time and his firm advised her congressional campaign. 

Mynett left the consultant firm in 2022. The NLPC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee at the time, alleging that campaign funds had been used for personal benefit due to their relationship. 

Omar dismissed the allegations and said her romantic relationship with Mynett began after they concluded their work together.  

The new backlash over Omar's disclosure forms comes as the state she represents is engulfed in a $9 billion fraud scandal. 

Minnesota's Republican led House Oversight Committee has launched a corruption investigation into social service programs. 

 

Rose Lake Capital is a venture capital management firm in Washington DC. The company's webpage appeared to remove team members' names and bios 

Scrutiny over Omar's financial disclosure forms comes as Minnesota faces a $9 billion fraud scandal involving mismanagement of social service funds 

 

Assistant US Attorney Joseph Thompson alleged that 14 Medicaid programs spent $18 billion in seven years. 

The state's attorney's office charged 92 defendants, many of whom are of Somali descent, with fraud-related crimes. 

'What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s a staggering industrial-scale fraud,' Thompson said at a news conference in mid-December.  

Omar previously addressed the scandal in an interview on CNN. She said the rush to push out benefits during the pandemic resulted in a lack of guardrails for the programs. 

A MISSILE WITH A SPEED OF MACH 10 DOES SEEM IMPOSSIBLE TO INTERCEPT

Russia flaunts 'unstoppable' nuclear missile for first time in Belarus as WW3 fears escalate

 

By Stacy Liberaatore 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

The Russian missile system "Oreshnik" has entered combat duty in Belarus.

 A Russian RS-24 Yars mobile Oreshnik missile launcher 

 

Russia appears to have deployed its so-called ‘unstoppable’ nuclear-capable missiles, potentially bringing the threat of devastating strikes closer than ever. 

On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry released a video claiming to show combat vehicles in an undisclosed location in Belarus carrying the Oreshnik missile system. 

State news agency TASS said it was the first time the ministry had publicly shown the Oreshnik, which President Vladimir Putin has declared impossible to intercept, with speeds reportedly exceeding Mach 10.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that the Oreshnik has a range of up to 3,100 miles. Reports have suggested it could hit London in 'eight minutes.'

TASS boasted that it would take the missile only 11 minutes to reach an air base in Poland and 17 minutes to reach NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

While the Oreshnik is not an intercontinental missile capable of reaching the US mainland, its reported range puts American allies within striking distance, meaning any attack on them could draw the US directly into the conflict. 

The announcement comes at a critical time for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Kyiv and Moscow were 'closer than ever before' to a peace settlement. 

However, days before, Trump warned that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war could spiral into a world war.

'Things like this end up in a third world war,' he told reporters on December 11. 'Everybody keeps playing games like this, you'll end up in a third world war, and we don't want to see that happen.'

 

On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry released a video showing combat vehicles in an undisclosed location in Belarus carrying the Oreshnik missile system

A satellite image taken on November 16 shows where US researchers believe that Russia is likely stationing its new nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic cruise missile at the disused airbase Krichev in eastern Belarus near Russia's border

 

Andrey Bogodel, the deputy chief of the General Staff department of the Military Academy of Belarus, told TASS that the deployment of Oreshnik was an anti-aggression warning to Western countries.

'Today, any good deed must, of course, be done with fists. Unfortunately, the world can no longer be organized any other way,' he said.

'Here, the "Oreshnik" isn't a weapon with which we want to attack, for example, Britain or Germany, but it's a message that we, above all, will protect our peace in this way. A way that will allow us to say that it's definitely better not to interfere with us.'

Bogodel added that Western nations had repeatedly crossed red lines during Russia’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine.

'Literally, there are red lines associated specifically with the use of missile systems, even nuclear weapons. After all, remember the appearance of the missiles they launched on us – SCALP, Storm Shadow, then ATACMS,' the expert continued.

'They also used drones against our radiation early warning stations. As well as attacks against our bombers, and so on. This is all an attempt to see how high Russia’s nuclear threshold is.'

The missile system was first used on November 21, 2024, in a test that saw it strike a defense plant in Ukraine. 

Once launched, the Oreshnik uses its rocket engines to accelerate rapidly until it reaches the upper atmosphere, where its first-stage boosters are discarded after fuel depletion, Matthew Powell, Teaching Fellow in Strategic and Air Power Studies, University of Portsmouth, wrote in The Conversation.

 

A Russian military unit can be seen putting netting over what is said to be the Oreshnik mobile ground-based missile system

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that the Oreshnik has a range of up to 3,100 miles. Reports have suggested it could hit London in 'eight minutes

 

The missile’s multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) are then released, traveling through space toward their designated targets. 

At this stage, the system is most vulnerable to interception, as it is moving more slowly than during earlier phases. Finally, onboard thrusters guide each MIRV to its target zone.

Putin has claimed that conventional Oreshnik missiles could incinerate targets with temperatures reaching 7,200°F, nearly as hot as the surface of the sun, though the weapon is also capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

The Oreshnik is estimated to be 49 to 61 feet long with a diameter of roughly six feet. 

While unconfirmed, experts have suggested the Oreshnik weighs between 66,000 and 88,000 pounds.

The system is also said to carry a warhead weighing up to 1.5 tons, approximately 3,300 pounds.

Putin said earlier this month that the Oreshnik would enter combat duty before the year's end. 

He made the statement at a meeting with top Russian military officers, where he warned that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.

While Trump stated a peace settlement between Kyiv and Moscow could be on the horizon, he also admitted that monthslong US-led negotiations could still collapse.

Moscow and Kyiv remain deeply divided on key issues, including whose forces withdraw from where in Ukraine and the fate of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world.

NO MATTER WHO IS CHOSEN TO LEAD IT, HAMAS WILL STILL BE DEDICATED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL

Pro-Iranian and pro-Sunni factions battle for Hamas control

The leading candidates, Head of Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya and Head of Hamas Diaspora Bureau Khaled Mashaal, reflect a quiet battle between Iran and the Qatari-Turkish axis.

 by Shachar Kleiman

 

Israel Hayom

Dec30, 2025 

 

Hamas fighters at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025

 

As 2025 comes to an end, the Hamas terror organization is expected to choose a new chairman next month who will hold the title "Head of the Political Bureau." The leading candidates, Head of Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya and Head of Hamas Diaspora Bureau Khaled Mashaal, reflect a quiet battle between Iran and the Qatari-Turkish axis. In practice, the struggle between these factions within the organization has led to convening the Shura Council to determine the next leader.

The Iranian axis wanted al-Hayya and his associates, like Zaher Jabarin, to take control and prioritize the rehabilitation of the "military wing" and policing mechanisms. It's no coincidence that Hamas officials who survived in Gaza are expressing support for them. It appears this isn't just about the current "head of the wing," Head of Hamas Military Wing Ezz al-Din al-Haddad, who supports al-Hayya. The replacements for the local bureau members also tend to choose him.

Head of Hamas Military Wing Ezz al-Din al-Haddad 

 

According to Arab reports, these include "former prisoners who were very close to Sinwar." One name that fits the description is Tawfiq Abu Naim. The man who previously headed the policing mechanisms, sat with Sinwar in prison, and is considered a natural candidate to lead the organization in the Strip.

In contrast, veteran and more calculated figures like Khaled Mashaal are pursuing a different path. This path essentially criticizes the decision of Sinwar, who gambled on the Iranian axis in the October 7 massacre, and believes a new course must be charted. The intention is mainly to advance a long-term temporary ceasefire agreement (hudna – a long-term truce in Islamic law) of several years, which would allow Hamas to re-establish itself, integrate into the PLO, get closer to Sunni states, and diversify its income sources. In other words, distances itself from Iran.

The leadership quintet

Moreover, Hamas officials revealed this week to the Egyptian media that, already after Sinwar's elimination in 2024, the organization tried to choose a new leader, but this process was postponed due to the eliminations carried out by Israel. These strikes created a "logistical difficulty" for the organization to conduct voting processes involving dozens of people. Furthermore, Hamas was cautious about appointing a clear leader who would immediately become a target.

 

Hamas Diaspora Bureau head Khaled Mashaal

 

Therefore, the leadership council was established by the quintet: Head of Hamas Shura Council Muhammad Darwish, Head of Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, Head of the West Bank Portfolio Zaher Jabarin, Head of the Hamas Diaspora Bureau Khaled Mashaal, and Member of the Hamas Gaza Bureau Nizar Awadallah. Officials in the organization also reported that Deputy Political Bureau Chief Moussa Abu Marzouk, Mashaal's deputy, recently joined the council as the sixth member.

Against this background, an urgent message that al-Haddad sent to Hamas leadership abroad was also reported, in which he called for the election of a new leader as soon as possible. Al-Haddad, according to sources in Hamas, pressed to "expedite" the election in order to decide regarding the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Moreover, it was said that he raised the names of the six council members as possible candidates for the position.

Yet those same sources noted that this call actually intensified the dispute between the factions within Hamas. They admitted that the organization is suffering from the most severe leadership vacuum since its founding.

 

Moussa Abu Marzouk, the compromise candidate 

 

From this emerges the possibility that Hamas will actually choose a "compromise candidate" rather than decide between the factions of Mashaal and al-Hayya. One name that came up in reports is Deputy Political Bureau Chief Moussa Abu Marzouk, who previously served as the Political Bureau's first head (during the organization's founder, Ahmad Yassin's tenure). The assessment is that Abu Marzouk will be able to lead a "middle way" that balances moving closer to Sunni states while maintaining the relationship with Iran.

Another name is Muhammad Darwish, head of the Shura Council, who is simultaneously defined as "head of the leadership council." In the past, it was reported that he competed with Yahya Sinwar for the position. However, he and Abu Marzouk are considered less popular.

Either way, the terror organization is at a historic low point. On one hand, Hamas is working to rehabilitate its capabilities, raise funds, and preserve its rule in the Strip with an iron fist. Despite the mediators' hopes to advance to the second stage of disarmament and replacing Hamas rule, on the ground its operatives are working to instill fear in the population, collect taxes, gather funds, and distribute salaries – even if at a lower rate.

On the other hand, the organization is torn between camps, has lost most of its military power and extensive territories in the Strip, and is finding it increasingly difficult to make decisions. This situation is leading more and more elements in the Strip, mainly from clans and militias, to challenge it. In a sense, the fear barrier has been broken. More and more Gazans are publicly accusing the organization of corruption. It is highly doubtful whether the new leader chosen abroad will succeed in pulling Hamas out of this pit. It is almost certain that his fate will be similar to his predecessors.

THANKS TO TRUMP AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE OF GOODWILL, THE JEWS AND THEIR STATE ARE NOT ALONE OR FATED FOR DESTRUCTION

Despite warning signs, the US-Israel alliance is still solid

With antisemitism surging on both the left and the right, the future remains uncertain. But the Trump-Netanyahu meeting is a reminder that the Jewish state is winning—and not alone. 

 

By Jonathan S. Tobin 

 

JNS

Dec 29, 2025

 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk inside after Netanyahu arrived at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 29, 2025.

 

Optimism about Jewish life is in short supply these days. All over the globe, antisemitism is surging. In the United States, the political left has largely been captured by anti-Zionist and antisemitic ideologues. On the right, where support for Israel had seemed to be nearly unanimous not long ago, Jew-hatred and hostility to the Jewish state are also rising. And in Israel itself, the list of problems afflicting the country is long, with no solutions in sight.

After the last two millennia of persecution and suffering, pessimism regarding the present and future is second-nature to most Jews. And if you’re looking for reasons to feel down about the state of the world and that of the Jewish people, there’s no shortage of grounds for arguments about the prospects of a catastrophe in the long or even short term.

Amid the doom and gloom of Jewish commentary at the end of 2025, however, it’s important to place all that in perspective. The meetings held in Florida this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and other members of his administration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are a reminder that not only is the world not about to end, but that there is reason for optimism.

Trump embraces Israel

The president’s support for Netanyahu, his threats aimed at Hamas and Iran, and the general tone of the summit should be a tonic for both Israelis and those Americans who value the U.S.-Israel alliance.

To pretend that there aren’t problems would be foolish; plenty of obstacles will need to be faced in the coming year.

But an accurate evaluation of the current situation doesn’t justify pessimism. The relationship between the two nations remains close and forward-thinking. More than that, as the calendar year comes to a close, there’s no avoiding the fact that during the last 12 months, the forces seeking Israel’s destruction in the Middle East and elsewhere can definitively be described as the losers. Israel and the Jewish people—though besieged and the targets of an international campaign of delegitimization and demonization—remain stronger than at any other point in memory.

That’s not the tone of most of the coverage of Israel and its ties with its sole superpower ally. For months, the constant drumbeat of stories being sounded has attempted to make the case that Trump and Netanyahu are on a certain collision course about the next steps with respect to conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The notion that Trump is angry or impatient with the Israeli leader is conventional wisdom among Washington correspondents in mainstream media, for both secular and even liberal Jewish and Israeli outlets.

Israel-bashers’ wishful thinking

Some of this is clearly the product of anti-Israel or anti-Netanyahu bias among liberal journalists, who are always predicting that Washington’s patience with Jerusalem is about to run out. It’s also the product of leaks within the Trump administration from a far from inconsiderable faction of staffers who seem to be more in tune with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish opinions of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson than with the president. Stories like the Vanity Fair profile of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles make it clear that some of those in the administration seem to share the negative view of Israel that predominates among their left-wing antagonists. Even some in Trump’s inner circle (a group that may well include Vice President JD Vance) think the president’s continued strong backing for Israeli efforts to defeat Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian terror proxies is a misreading of public opinion.

There is good reason to worry about whether the vice president would continue Trump’s pro-Israel policies or be as tough on antisemitism should he be elected to the country’s top job. And it’s likely that any of the most plausible Democratic candidates in 2028, including the alleged moderates like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or even Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, would also be as influenced by their party’s anti-Israel base along the same lines Vance is by his friend Carlson and the growing cache of political antisemites on the right.

But for now, claims that the alliance is about to crack up are not only wrong. They’re obviously a product of wishful thinking on the part of journalists who buy into the intersectional left’s mischaracterization of Israel as a “settler-colonialist” and “apartheid” state that ought not to exist. Or they continue to push the false narrative that Netanyahu and Trump are both “authoritarian” leaders who want to destroy democracy in their respective nations.

Trump’s statements about what would happen to Hamas if it didn’t disarm—as it agreed to do in the October ceasefire-hostage release deal brokered by the president—give the lie to the expectation among Israel-bashers that he was going to allow the terrorists to fully rearm and hold onto power. The same is true of his comments about the prospect of Tehran rebuilding its missile and nuclear programs; Trump has expressed a willingness to support or join in another campaign of Israeli strikes on Iran.

By now, the terrorists in the Gaza Strip (and their leaders dwelling in safety in Qatar), and their funders and sponsors in Iran, should have learned to take the threats of the U.S. president seriously.

Still, it’s just as important for those who care about Israel to take a dispassionate look at the strategic situation and acknowledge that the Jewish state is in a much stronger position than it was in December 2024 and even on Oct. 6, 2023, before the Hamas-led Palestinian attacks on southern Israeli communities.

The results of the two-year war against Hamas in Gaza were not as conclusive as they could have been. The Biden administration’s determination not to let Israel fully prosecute the conflict against genocidal terrorists gave Hamas a lifeline that allowed it to survive. So did Trump’s desire to play the peacemaker and to free the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages. That gave the terrorists leverage they used to get terms in the ceasefire agreement to pause the fighting that they have been ruthlessly exploiting to reinforce their grip on the portion of the Strip they still hold.

Nevertheless, there is also no doubt that Hamas is far weaker now than when it started the war, with no immediate prospect of becoming as dangerous as it was back in October 2023. And as both Trump and Netanyahu have made clear, the Islamist group’s belief that they can continue to stall when it comes to fulfilling their promise to disarm and give up power without consequences is mistaken.

Iran’s defeats

To look beyond Gaza is also to see a Middle East in which Israel’s main antagonist—Iran—has suffered defeat after defeat since its leaders set in motion a multifront war against the Jewish state.

Israel’s 12-day campaign against Iran in mid-June—which the U.S. eventually joined—did enormous damage to its military, in addition to significantly setting back its nuclear program. The assumption that it is a threshold nuclear power no longer holds true.

On top of that, its Hezbollah auxiliaries in Lebanon suffered a humiliating and catastrophic defeat as a result of Israel’s 2024 campaign against them. That also led to the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria. The hopes of hegemony over the Middle East that the Tehran government dreamed of are gone. So, too, is the land bridge to the Mediterranean—composed of its allies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon—with which they sought to encircle Israel.

Still, Israel faces serious challenges in Gaza with the painful likelihood that fighting against Hamas will have to resume sometime during the next year. And the battle against Iran’s missile and nuclear threats isn’t over either.

But Trump’s stand also undermines the belief that the cracks in the pro-Israel consensus among Republicans that have become especially evident in recent months will doom the U.S.-Israel alliance. It’s true that the chattering classes, antisemitic right-wing podcasters like Carlson and similarly minded left-wing journalists, academics and politicians like New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and members of the left-wing congressional “Squad” may hate Israel and all it stands for. The diminished support for the Jewish state among young people, whether on the right or left, who have been indoctrinated by woke educators is much lower than middle age or older Americans is also a problem.

But here’s what’s also true: The naysayers about Israel are not taking into account the fact that Israel’s startup, First World economy has remained solid and steady, despite the enormous hit it took from two years of war. The Israeli people are divided politically, but there’s no reason to believe they won’t be ready to do what is necessary to finish off Hamas or to further degrade the Iranian threat.

Israel is not alone

Will U.S.-Israel relations be as strong as they are now in one, two, three or four years? Maybe not. But the prophets of doom that were predicting the collapse of the alliance or worse in the wake of Oct. 7 and the surge of antisemitism that arose after that were wrong. The same has been true of most of those who prognosticate about Israel’s prospects over the last 77 years. 

To acknowledge Israel’s strength or the preservation of the bond between it and the majority of Americans is not to deny the problems or that the growth of antisemitism on both ends of the political spectrum is not deeply troubling. Trump’s successors may not be friendly to the Jewish state, but to face those problems requires a sober assessment of more than just the reasons for pessimism.

It may be in the Jewish DNA to cry out in despair about the persistence of antisemitism, and the way it fuels the ongoing war against Israel and the Jewish people. Yet countless generations of Jews who endured persecution, hardships and even attempts at their genocide have only dreamed of a situation as positive for Jewish life as the one that exists today despite all the sorrow that contemporary Jewry has endured since Oct. 7. This should encourage those now alive not merely to cheer up, but to have faith that Israel and the Jewish people will continue to live and thrive. That will require the continued heroism of the Israeli people, bolstered by Diaspora Jewry, to have the courage to stand up for their rights and bear witness against hatred and bigotry, wherever it is to be found.

So, as we head into 2026 and all the unresolved questions that a new year always brings with it, it’s time for Jews to look ahead and take heart. Thanks to Trump and many other people of goodwill, the Jews and their state are not alone or fated for destruction.

ISRAEL'S HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONOR, THE ISRAEL PRIZE, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN GIVEN TO A NON-ISRAELI, WILL BE AWARDED TO PRESIDENT TRUMP

At Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu and Trump test the limits of peace

Shared democratic values bind Israel and the U.S., even as war, Hamas and Iran complicate Trump’s vision of peace in the Middle East. 

 

By Fiamma Nirenstein 

 

JNS

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Dec. 29, 2025.

 

At U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confronted what seemed to be an impossible mission. The international stage has shifted: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has exited the spotlight, while Netanyahu was invited to take part in the grand design of world peace envisioned by the American leader—a vision not without complications.

From Israel’s point of view, Trump’s statement that he would “absolutely” support additional Israeli strikes on Iranian missile and nuclear facilities was critical. When JNS’s CEO Alex Traiman asked the U.S. president about his relationship with Netanyahu, Trump was effusive.

“Israel, with other people, might not exist right now,” Trump said. “He’s a wartime prime minister. He’s done a phenomenal job. He’s taken Israel through a very dangerous period of trauma.”

For his part, Netanyahu honored Trump by announcing that Israel had decided to award the Israel Prize, which had never been given to a non-Israeli, to Trump.

The intricate knot of shared interests and deep divergences surrounding Trump’s idealized biographical legacy has not disrupted the strong rapport between the two leaders, nor the enduring bond between the American and Israeli democracies. 

The reason is clear: the battle is shared, and Israel stands on one of the most dangerous front lines. Once again, a strategic and moral alignment was evident. The inevitable frictions are rewoven during a war that radical Islam has imposed on the West.

 

President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu and their teams meet during lunch at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 29, 2025. 

 

Trump knows exactly what Hamas is, even if he wishes Israel would now quiet the battlefield. This was their sixth meeting in a single year—an extraordinary number. Trump would like a Christmas-wrapped peace for the sake of history. But he understands it is not within easy reach. Israel, for its part, would gladly deliver such a gift. Yet without disarming Hamas and bringing every hostage home, Israel’s very existence becomes fragile, while wolves lurk beneath the desert sands.

Netanyahu returned home bolstered by Washington’s essential support—even amid differences—even as Trump presses to begin Gaza’s reconstruction. But Hamas must first be disarmed, as stipulated in the Sept. 29 ceasefire agreement, and only Israel is prepared to enforce that reality. Turkey and Qatar, among others, eager to display their “peace credentials” in Gaza, might claim willingness to act.

Hamas has already said it will surrender its weapons only to its friends—first and foremost the Palestinian Authority. Israel knows better: Ankara and Doha would merely store those arms for the next round, and Jerusalem will not allow it.

Netanyahu is thinking beyond a single Gaza campaign. He knows Judea and Samaria are teeming with terrorists, that Iran and Qatar—along with Hamas’s other global patrons, as Italy has recently illustrated—continue to funnel weapons and money. He also knows Iran is preparing an intensified ballistic rearmament that must be stopped, just as Hezbollah still refuses to disarm.

Trump may sigh, “Ah, this Middle East,” but he understands that in the end it is in America’s interest to cover the back of its only truly steadfast ally. Netanyahu, in turn, wants to act decisively against Hamas and Iran, but knows Israel has a vital need to remain aligned with Trump. And Trump knows that Israel is, ultimately, the great defensive wall of Western democracy in the midst of a jihadist jungle.

Their agreement rests on a shared commitment to defending democracy—even as Trump bristles at Israel’s complexities, including the antisemitism it attracts and the $4 billion in annual U.S. aid. Yet an Israeli team is working to reshape that relationship, moving away from “gifts” toward a shared research-business-technology partnership. Breakthroughs like the activation of Israel’s first laser defense system, Or Eitan, point the way forward.

So do Netanyahu’s recent strategic moves: engagement with Somaliland, positioning Israel near critical global energy routes and against Iran’s Houthi proxies; and deepening cooperation with Greece and Cyprus to forge a Mediterranean defense front that hardly pleases Islamist hegemonic ambitions.

Netanyahu traveled to the United States accompanied by the parents of the last captive yet to be returned—Ran Gvili, a hero whose body remains in Hamas’s hands. It was a powerful statement of national identity.

Trump aspires to speak of peace in the region, but he must do so with a very small country that knows how to fight when necessary—and how to think.