REPORTER GETS SHAMED FOR QUESTIONING DEPORTATIONS TO EL SALVADOR PRISON

Tense moment Karoline Leavitt goes nuclear on reporter who questioned Trump's deportations: 'Shame on you'

 

By James Gordon 

Daily Mail

Mar 31, 2025

 

 

Karoline Leavitt unleashed a minute-long tirade on a reporter who questioned the Trump administration's sweeping deportations of alleged gang members under the Alien Enemies Act

A White House press briefing took a surprising turn when Karoline Leavitt called out a reporter who questioned the Trump administration's sweeping deportations.

In a dramatic exchange, Leavitt lambasted The Independent's Andrew Feinberg after he cited a court document suggesting that tattoos, hand signs, or even certain clothing brands could be used to classify someone as a member of Tren de Aragua (TdA).

The gang are a Venezuelan criminal syndicate that the administration has labeled a 'foreign terrorist organization.' 

You can get classified by simply having certain symbols in your tattoos and wearing certain streetwear brands,' Feinberg began. 'That alone is enough to get someone classified as TdA and sent to El Salvador.'

That assertion, detailed in the so-called Alien Enemy Validation Guide filed in federal court over the weekend, drew an instant rebuke from Leavitt.

'That's not true, actually, Andrew,' she shot back. 

'According to this document, it is,' Feinberg responded.

'No,' Leavitt insisted. 'According to the Department of Homeland Security and the agents - have you talked to the agents who have been putting their lives on the line to detain these foreign terrorists who have been terrorizing our communities?

 

Leavitt blasted a reporter who cited a court document suggesting tattoos, hand signs, or even certain clothing brands could be used to classify someone as a member of Tren de Aragua

Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the US government to be imprisoned in El Salvador

 

'TDA is a vicious gang that has taken the lives of American women,' Leavitt continued, her voice rising.

'And our agents on the front lines take deporting these people with the utmost seriousness. There is a litany of criteria that they use to ensure that these individuals qualify as foreign terrorists and to ensure they qualify for deportation,' she continued.

'And shame on you, and shame on the mainstream media, for trying to cover for these individuals.

'This is a vicious gang, Andrew. This is a vicious gang that has taken the lives of American women.' 

Feinberg remained silent during the tense exchange. His question appeared to reflect some concerns in the legal community about how the administration is determining gang membership.

Trump's mass deportation campaign has accelerated under wartime powers not used since World War II.  

TdA is a transnational criminal enterprise that originated in Venezuela but has now spread across Latin America and, according to US officials, has begun operating in American cities. 

The group is known for a brutal cocktail of extortion, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.

 

'Shame on you, and shame on the mainstream media, for trying to cover for these individuals,' Leavitt said during her open-air press briefing on Monday

US military personnel escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador

There are concerns in the legal community about how the administration is determining gang membership

 

In a Sunday night deportation operation, seventeen alleged gang members, including individuals tied to both TdA and MS-13, were flown to El Salvador aboard a US military aircraft. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group included convicted murderers and rapists, and emphasized the administration's resolve to remove 'every foreign national who poses a threat to our communities.'

But the legal underpinnings of the action have come under intense scrutiny. 

President Trump's March 15 invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law designed to allow detention or removal of nationals from hostile nations, was the first time in modern history that it had been applied to a non-state gang and used for mass immigration enforcement.

The ACLU immediately sued, and a federal judge issued a temporary block on the policy. 

A list of the latest deportees, confirmed by the White House, shows 12 had criminal convictions, one self-identified as a gang member, and three were facing charges.

But civil rights attorneys argue the criteria used remain dangerously vague.

Central to the legal controversy is a court-filed document outlining the administration's rubric for determining if someone is affiliated with TdA.  

 

Leavitt forcefully defended the methodology as to who alleged gang members were being deported

A list of the latest deportees, confirmed by the White House, shows 12 had criminal convictions, one self-identified as a gang member, and three were facing charges

Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador

 

It includes high-priority criteria such as prior convictions, communications with known gang members, or self-admitted affiliation. But lower-tier indicators such as specific tattoos, hand gestures, or streetwear brands, have triggered alarm.

Experts called by the ACLU say those markers are not reliable indicators of criminal activity, let alone of gang affiliation.

Nonetheless, Leavitt forcefully defended the methodology. 

'There is a litany of criteria that they use to ensure that these individuals qualify as foreign terrorists and to ensure that they qualify for deportation,' Leavitt said. 

'The president made it incredibly clear to the American public that there would be a mass deportation campaign - not just of foreign terrorists, but also illegal criminal aliens who have been wreaking havoc on American communities,' she added. 

'They finally have a president who is allowing them to do their jobs - and God bless them for doing it.'

The administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act was blocked by a federal judge, but Trump's legal team has already appealed to the US Supreme Court to reinstate it. 

In the meantime, deportations continue either under the contested wartime law or under standard immigration authorities.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats have accused the administration of racial profiling and unconstitutional behavior while Republicans have closed ranks around Trump's deportation blitz, arguing how dangerous foreign criminals must be quickly removed.  

Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokesperson, declined to say under what authority the latest Venezuelans and Salvadorans were deported.

POPULAR TRUMP SUPPORTER SLAMS DEPORTATIONS TO EL SALVADOR PRISON ..... INNOCENT PEOPLE CAUGHT UP IN ROUNDUP OF VENEZUELAN GANG MEMBERS

Joe Rogan splits with Trump on mass deportations to 'Hell on Earth' prison after making 'horrific' discovery

By Brittany Chain

 

Daily Mail

Mar 31, 2025

 

Joe Rogan has sensationally split with Trump on his key mass migration policy, slamming the possibility that innocent people could be languishing i n a 'hell on earth' prison due to an administration error

 

Joe Rogan has sensationally split with Trump on his key mass migration policy, slamming the possibility that innocent people could be languishing in a 'hell on earth' prison due to an administration error.

The Trump administration's decision to invoke the wartime Alien Enemies Act in order to send hundreds of suspected gang members to a notorious El Salvadorian prison has sparked lawsuits and protests.

But Rogan's condemnation of the decision amid reports innocent civilians were wrongly mixed up with criminals could be the biggest blow to the administration yet.

'It's horrific,' he said. 

'You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to, like, El Salvador prisons.

'This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That's horrific. And that's, again, that's bad for the cause.

'The cause is: Let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But let's not, innocent gay hairdressers, get lumped up with the gangs.'

Rogan's wildly successful podcast is credited with attracting young male voters to the MAGA movement, after Trump appeared in an episode during his presidential election campaign.

 

Andrys Hernandez, 31, a makeup artist seeking asylum in the US after fleeing Venezuela, was wrongly identified as a gang member and sent to a hellhole prison in El Salvador

The Trump administration's decision to invoke the wartime Alien Enemies Act in order to send hundreds of suspected gang members to a notorious El Salvadorian prison has sparked lawsuits and protests

 

As such, his opinion on the administration's policies has huge sway with his fanbase.

He has largely supported Trump's sweeping acts in his first two months back in the White House, but Rogan drew the line during his Saturday episode with Konstantin Kisin.

There have been reports that some of the 238 immigrants who were swept up in the mass raids were wrongly identified.

One such case allegedly involves a gay man working as a barber, who arrived in the United States legally.

A Time Magazine report from the prison noted: 'One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, 'I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a barber.''

The reporter said: 'I believed him. But maybe it's only because he didn't look like what I had expected - he wasn't a tattooed monster.' 

Referencing the article, Rogan said: 'How long before that guy can get out? Can we figure out how to get them out? Is there any plan in place to alert the authorities that they've made a horrible mistake and correct it?'

Rogan said he was disappointed in the current political climate, which appeared to be a case of: 'never admit your fault. Never admit you're wrong.' 

 

He has largely supported Trump's sweeping acts in his first two months back in the White House, but Rogan drew the line during his Saturday episode. Rogan's condemnation of the decision amid reports innocent civilians were wrongly mixed up with criminals could be the biggest blow to the administration yet

 

'And this is the thing we're seeing with the Signal thing, and this is the thing we're seeing with this,' Rogan said, referring to the now infamous debacle involving senior US officials adding a journalist to a group chat discussing sensitive plans to attack Yemen.

In that case, Trump and senior officials refused to admit fault, lashing out instead at the journalist and accusing him of exaggerating what he was exposed to in the chat.

'What is his life like in there man, what the f**k?' Rogan said of the allegedly innocent barber.

A makeup artist seeking asylum in the US after fleeing Venezuela claims he was also wrongly identified as a gang member and sent to the hellhole prison.

Andrys Hernandez, 31, crossed the border into California from Tijuana last year to escape persecution for his homosexuality, his lawyers said.

He waited months in detention for an immigration court hearing on March 13, but instead was put one of three planes with 237 other migrants and deported.

Rogan said in situations like this mistakes are '100 percent' going to be made, but there has to be an avenue to correct them, 'and it can't be bury your head in the sand.'

'If you want reasonable people to be on board with you... compassionate people to be on board with you, you can't deport gay hairdressers seeking asylum. That's f**king crazy. That's nuts.'

 

Hernandez waited months in detention for an immigration court hearing on March 13, but instead was put one of three planes with 237 other migrants and deported

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (left), looks at prisoners during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador

Rogan said in situations like this mistakes are '100 percent' going to be made, but there has to be an avenue to correct them, 'and it can't be bury your head in the sand'

The prisoners' hair was shaved upon arrival in the El Salvador prison

 

The Trump administration is also in a back-and-forth with the courts over the deportation.

Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is invading the United States and invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority that allows the president broader leeway on policy and executive action to speed up mass deportations. 

But Judge James Boasberg barred further deportations under the act's authority and ordered flights in the air to return to the United States, which the administration failed to comply with. 

The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to allow it to resume those deportations.

On Monday, the administration revealed it has deported 17 more 'violent criminals' from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador.

The State Department said the immigrants were removed Sunday night. The statement said murderers and rapists were among them but didn't give details of the nationalities or alleged crimes of those removed. 

The office of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, however, said Salvadorans and Venezuelans were among the prisoners.

'These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and citizens,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the statement. 

 

Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government

Rogan's wildly successful podcast is credited with attracting young male voters to the MAGA movement, after Trump appeared in an episode during his presidential election campaign

 

'Once again, we extend our gratitude to President Bukele and the government of El Salvador for their unparalleled partnership.'

The men were flown to El Salvador by the U.S. military, the State Department said. 

As seen in video from the Salvadoran government, they were transported by bus to El Salvador's maximum security prison, changed into the prison's standard white T-shirts and shorts and had their heads shaven.

They were walked by guards into a cell block, the video shows, and some were made to kneel upon the floor with their wrists cuffed behind their backs and ankles shackled. 

At the prison, the suspected gang members spend 23 and a half hours locked in overcrowded cells, with just 30 minutes to stretch - chained in the middle of the hallway.

Jail cells with steel bars are split among the eight cell blocks and can hold up to 100 detainees.

Each cell comes equipped with 80 bare iron bunks - mattresses are not included - along with two toilets and two sinks.  

Within the cells, the temperature can reach a staggering 95 degree during the day, and there is no other source of ventilation.

Dubbed a 'black hole of human rights' and a 'hellhole' by critics, the facility has drawn widespread condemnation for allegedly ignoring international prisoner rights.

NOT SO FAST ... NETANYAHU'S PICK FOR SHIN BET CHIEF RUNS INTO STRONG OPPOSITION

Netanyahu seen likely to reverse pick for new Shin Bet head after allies protest choice

Final decision yet to be made amid swirling reports around Eli Sharvit’s anti-government activism; US Rep. Lindsey Graham denounces pick, over op-ed Sharvit wrote criticizing Trump

By Lazar Berman and Nava Freiberg

 

The Times of Israel

Mar 31, 2025

 

Vice Admiral (res.) Eli Sharvit 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared set to retract his pick of former Navy chief Eli Sharvit as the next head of the Shin Bet security service Monday afternoon, hours after the surprise announcement drew jeers from the premier’s allies and accusations of political chicanery from his foes.

Netanyahu announced Sharvit Monday morning as his choice to replace Ronen Bar at the head of the agency, in a move that apparently caught the country’s top defense official off guard and set off a flurry of raised eyebrows given the reserves vice admiral’s reported participation in anti-government protests and ongoing questions surrounding Bar’s dismissal amid a criminal probe into associates of the prime minister.

A source with knowledge of Netanyahu’s thinking told The Times of Israel Monday afternoon that the prime minister was likely to rescind Sharvit’s nomination, but did not cite a reason.

Netanyahu had yet to make a final decision on the matter, the source added. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.

Reports in Hebrew-language media earlier on Monday had indicated that Netanyahu was facing pressure from political allies to scratch Sharvit’s nomination due to his apparent participation in massive protests that erupted in 2023 against the government’s plans to overhaul the judiciary.

According to a report by Ynet in March 2023, Sharvit joined a protest on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, alongside other former military officers. He did not issue a call to refuse to show up for duty, as some other reservists did, but only expressed concern over the planned legislation, according to the report.

Sharvit also spoke publicly in favor of a 2022 territorial water agreement with Lebanon, which Netanyahu — then the opposition leader — had opposed, and earlier this year, Sharvit penned an opinion piece criticizing US President Donald Trump for his climate policies.

Sharvit is “not suitable to head the Shin Bet,” tweeted Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv, who predicted that the appointment would be voided.

“If he protests, he will not be the head of the Shin Bet. Let him continue to protest,” Likud MK Nissim Vaturi told the Knesset Channel.

An unsourced report carried by Channel 12 news claimed that Netanyahu had chosen Sharvit despite being aware of his activism, thinking he was the best person for the job, but had been pressured by his wife Sara to walk the choice back.

The channel claimed that Netanyahu’s associates were citing the anti-Trump op-ed as a reason for the expected move, however.

There was no comment from the American administration on the pick of Sharvit, but Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham issued a statement excoriating the nomination as “beyond problematic.”

“The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time,” Graham wrote on X. “My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting.”

In the op-ed, Sharvit had accused Trump of leading the world “into the abyss” due to his support for fossil fuels.

“Trump’s shortsightedness sends a shocking message to the world of disregard for scientific reality, the well-being of humanity, and responsibility to future generations,” he wrote.

A Channel 12 report Monday night suggested that, in fact, it was Netanyahu’s aides who reached out to Graham’s office, urging him to tweet against Sharvit’s appointment, to bolster the claim that it was Trump administration pressure that led to the decision, rather than anger over his participation in the protests.

Katz in the dark

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Sharvit as Netanyahu’s pick in a 7 a.m. statement, saying seven candidates had been interviewed and noting that the former navy chief had led the design of naval capabilities to defend Israel’s territorial waters, and that he oversaw complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

The choice came as a surprise — Sharvit’s name was not among the four candidates previously announced. Among those who only learned that Netanyahu chose Sharvit with the 7 a.m. announcement from the PMO was Defense Minister Israel Katz, The Times of Israel has learned.

Netanyahu, said his office, “is convinced that Sharvit is the right person to lead the Shin Bet on a path that will continue the organization’s glorious tradition.”

Some have questioned Sharvit’s nomination over his apparent lack of familiarity with the types of domestic security challenges normally tackled by the Shin Bet, including not knowing Arabic or being involved in Palestinian affairs, though this would not be unprecedented for a head of the agency.

Opposition Yisrael Beytenu party chair Avigdor Liberman told the Kan public broadcaster that while Sharvit was an “excellent” commander, his appointment “raises many questions.”

“I know Sharvit, he was an excellent Navy commander,” said Liberman, a former defense minister who held the role when Sharvit commanded the Navy. “[However,] he has no intelligence background, he has no training in that, no relevant knowledge, so the considerations that led to his appointment raise many questions.”

Unless rescinded, Sharvit’s nomination will need to be vetted by a state committee before going to the cabinet for a vote.

Netanyahu is looking to replace Bar, who was formally fired by the cabinet earlier this month but who remains in his post thanks to a temporary injunction imposed on his dismissal by the High Court of Justice, which is hearing petitions against the firing. While the court froze Bar’s firing, it allowed Netanyahu to interview candidates to replace him.

Netanyahu said he had lost faith in the Shin Bet chief following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

Critics of the prime minister have accused him of seeking to fire Bar due to an ongoing Shin Bet probe of alleged ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and Qatar, which backs Hamas. They note that Netanyahu cooperated closely with Bar for over a year after the onslaught, and that Bar had been part of Israel’s negotiations team for a ceasefire and hostage deal.

The investigation, known as Qatargate, appeared to intensify Monday, with the arrest of two aides at the center of the alleged affair and Netanyahu himself being summoned by police to testify, though not as a suspect.

 

Left: Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar. Right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

 

Others questioned the appropriateness of nominating a replacement before an April 8 hearing on Bar’s dismissal.

“The prime minister decided this morning to continue his campaign against the judicial system and lead the State of Israel toward a dangerous constitutional crisis. The appointment of a head of the Shin Bet must be made only after a High Court decision,” National Unity party leader Benny Gantz said.

Sharvit commanded the Navy from 2016 until 2021, including during the May 2021 conflict with Hamas. Since being released from the military, he has served in several top roles in civilian companies, including leading renewable energy firm Elgry Eco Energy.

Earlier in March, Sharvit was appointed by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to be a member of a panel of former officers who are to examine and evaluate the military’s October 7 investigations.

Bar has vowed to stay on as Shin Bet chief until the return of all hostages from Gaza and the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught, which the government staunchly opposes.

EGYPT CONTINUES TO VIOLATE ITS TREATY WITH ISRAEL

Israel confronts Egypt over 'major' peace treaty violation

 

by  Ariel Kahana 

 

Israel Hayom

Mar 31, 2025 

Egyptian battle tanks near the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing in the north Sinai Peninsula on July 4, 2024

 

 

Israel has approached Egypt and the US with a request to begin dismantling military infrastructure constructed by the Egyptian army in Sinai that violates the peace agreement between the countries. A senior security official characterized the Egyptian actions as a "major violation" of the security annex during a conversation with journalists.

The official explained that the entry of military forces into Sinai beyond the quotas agreed upon in the military annex to the peace agreements represents "the smaller problem," since "such actions are reversible. It's not complicated to move tanks backward," the senior official said. He emphasized that this issue ranks high on Defense Minister Israel Katz's priority list, who requested special attention be given to the matter.

Israel committed to preserving Egyptian peace agreement

The Israeli senior official stressed that Israel remains committed to preserving the peace agreement with Egypt and has no intention of altering its military deployment along the Egyptian border. However, he added that Israel "will not accept the situation."

In a separate context, the senior official revealed that the threat from "external Hamas" is intensifying globally. Particularly concerning is the risk of terrorist activity by Hamas forces in Syria. The security official disclosed that Syria's leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has released Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders from Syrian prisons where they had been detained during Bashar Assad's rule. Following their release, these organization leaders are threatening to attack Israel.

To counter this threat, Israel has established a security zone approximately 11 miles wide and 50 miles long into the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Along this zone, nine major outposts have been constructed, with the central position located at the Hermon peak. "The IDF will remain in these areas until further notice. The army will separate the enemies from Israeli residents. The situation that existed before October 7 will not return," the security official said.

WITHOUT MISSILE LAUNCHERS HOUTHI BALLISTIC MISSILES ARE USELESS

Israeli, US strikes destroyed most of Houthi missile arsenal

Israeli military officials believe the Yemeni terrorists do not have many functional missile launchers left.

 

By Joshua Marks 

 

Israel Today

Mar 31, 2025

  

Houthi Toofan ballistic missile has a range of up to 1,200 miles with a payload of 1,760 pounds

 

Yemen’s Houthi terrorist forces have suffered a significant reduction in their missile-launch capabilities due to a series of coordinated airstrikes by Israeli and American forces, Hebrew media reported on Monday.

Israeli military officials believe that the Iranian-backed rebels now possess only a limited number of operational ballistic missile launchers, representing a sharp decline in their stockpile, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.

The group, which has fired missiles toward Israel on a near-daily basis since the end of the Gaza ceasefire on March 18, has fired 11 ballistic missiles to date—three of which did not activate warning systems in the Jewish state.

Despite continued attempts to strike Israeli territory, the Houthis’ missile operations face major limitations. Launch areas within Yemen are restricted, interception systems often neutralize incoming threats, and a portion of the missiles fall short, hitting in neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Furthermore, their capacity to manufacture missiles remains low, with only a few reportedly produced each month.

According to Channel 12, a large number of the Houthis’ missile launch platforms were destroyed during recent joint Israeli-American military actions.

The ballistic missiles used by the group are substantial in size, typically weighing several hundred kilograms (roughly 660 to 1,100 pounds) and ranging from 16 to 33 feet in length, making them difficult to conceal or rapidly deploy.

IT APPEARS TO BE A GOOD CHOICE

Netanyahu names former navy commander as new Shin Bet chief

Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit, who commanded the Israeli Navy from 2016 to 2021, will replace Ronen Bar in the role. 

 

By Joshua Marks 

 

JNS

Mar 31, 2025

Vice Admiral (res.) Eli Sharvit 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit, the former head of the Israeli Navy, as the next director of the Israel Security Agency, commonly known as the Shin Bet or Shabak.

The decision, announced on Monday, follows a comprehensive review of multiple candidates in the aftermath of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which highlighted serious lapses in Israel’s intelligence and preparedness.

Sharvit brings more than three decades of military experience, having served in the Israel Defense Forces for 36 years. As commander of the Navy from 2016 to 2021, he played a pivotal role in enhancing maritime security, particularly around Israel’s offshore energy infrastructure. His leadership also extended to various covert operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

He is set to succeed current Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, who has faced mounting criticism over the agency’s failure to prevent the October assault. Bar, who assumed the role in 2021, has taken public responsibility for the shortcomings and previously offered to step down. However, it remains unclear whether he will stay on temporarily until a formal investigation into the events concludes.

Sharvit’s appointment is widely viewed as an effort by the Netanyahu administration to rebuild trust in the country’s intelligence apparatus and reinforce its security institutions at a time of continued regional instability.

THE MEDIA WON'T REPORT THE REAL REASONS FOR THE DETENTION OF PR0- HAMAS PALESTINIANS

The media is hiding the truth about the Georgetown Hamasniks

Just a few minutes of basic research uncover facts that upend the entire narrative around the pending deportation of Badar Khan Suri and his wife. Yet not one major outlet, nor the dozens more covering the story, bothered. 

 

By David M. Litman

 

JNS

Mar 30, 2025 

 Badar Khan Suri and his wife Mapheze Saleh

 

The arrest, detention and pending deportation of Badar Khan Suri, an “academic” at Georgetown University, illuminates a disturbing reality. No, not about U.S. immigration policy. Rather, the situation is exposing the mainstream media’s extraordinary failure.

Consider the narrative consistently advanced in major western media outlets.

“Having a view of the ongoing conflict is not a crime,” reads one quote at the BBC. “He is being punished because of the suspected views of his wife,” reads another from Politico. “To his defenders, Khan Suri is an accomplished scholar whose research focuses on peacebuilding,” writes CNN. “Suri was detained because of his wife’s Palestinian heritage and the couple’s political beliefs about U.S.-Israel policy,” his lawyer claims in a Washington Post article. His arrest is part of “efforts to expel foreign nationals who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations,” asserts The Guardian.

The gist? Khan Suri and his wife are being unfairly targeted merely for pro-Palestinian speech.

The problem? Just a few minutes of basic research uncover facts that upend the entire narrative. Yet not one of these major outlets, nor the dozens more covering the story, bothered.

In 2010, Khan Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh, was a part of Hamas’s Committee to Break the Siege in Gaza. Yes—Mapheze was herself a member of the internationally designated terrorist organization, providing them with her services, a fact of which she makes no secret in Arabic media outlets. Notably, the committee happened to be chaired by her father, Ahmed Yousef, a senior official in Hamas’s “foreign ministry” and adviser to Hamas’s former leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Mapheze’s role involved at least two tasks. First, she welcomed organized groups of “solidarity convoys” to the Gaza Strip. Second, she was tasked with maintaining communication with members of those convoys so as to continue feeding them Hamas propaganda.

This is how she came to first meet Badar Khan Suri, her future husband.

For context, in January 2009 Israel instituted a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. The move, made during the first major Israel-Hamas war, came in response to the launching from Gaza of some 5,000 rockets at Israeli communities. By then, Hamas—which had violently taken over the territory in 2007—had already been amassing an arsenal of weapons smuggled in by actors such as Iran.

With its ability to smuggle in weapons drastically curtailed, Hamas viewed the blockade as an existential threat. Hamas and its supporters thus began organizing “convoys” and “flotillas” to “break the siege.” It was this effort in which Saleh and her father, Yousef, played an important role.

In the following months, numerous ships carrying weapons attempted to break the blockade but were turned back. The most infamous attempt, which involved a flotilla that included the Mavi Marmara in May 2010, resulted in deadly violence when Israeli forces boarded to halt the vessel.

The convoy was organized by Insan Hak ve Hurriyetleri Vakfi (IHH), a Turkish Islamist organization. In 2008, IHH was designated by Israel as a terrorist organization due to its provision of material, financial and propaganda support for Hamas. It is also a part of the Union of the Good, which is designated by the United States as “an organization created by Hamas leadership to transfer funds to the terrorist organization.” In addition to Israeli authorities, even a United Nations panel of inquiry charged with investigating the Mavi Marmara incident expressed doubts about the “true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers, particularly IHH,” which claimed to be a “humanitarian” organization.  

IHH and Hamas’s collaboration in such efforts was well known. IHH had even established an office in Gaza, headed by a man named Muhammad Kaya, who held meetings with senior Hamas officials about providing aid to the terrorist organization and continuing to send flotillas and convoys. So close were IHH and Hamas that Kaya’s son, Matin, was married to Ahmed Yousef’s other daughter, Mapheze’s sister.

After the Mavi Marmara incident, Hamas and IHH didn’t let up, and both publicly promised to continue organizing convoys and flotillas to break the blockade preventing weapons from entering Gaza.

Among those subsequently organized by IHH was the “Asia 1 Convoy” which departed in late 2010. In addition to members of IHH, Khan Suri was among the participants. His convoy began its trek with a stop in Iran, where they met with Iranian regime officials, including Ayatollah Javadi Amoli and Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi. The convoy continued to Syria, where they were welcomed by Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal, who told them, according to MEMRI: “the [only] option for liberating Palestine is resistance and jihad,” and, “Today, we will break the siege on Gaza, and tomorrow, with your help, we will liberate Palestine.”

The convoy would also stop in Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt before making its way into Gaza. This is when Khan Suri met Saleh. But Saleh wasn’t the only Hamas official Khan Suri met.

Publicly available images of the convoy in Gaza show Khan Suri engaging in a celebratory pose with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Also present at some of the welcoming events for the Asia 1 Convoy were other senior terrorists, including Ahmed Yousef (Saleh’s father), Mohammed al-Hindi, the deputy secretary-general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a senior Hamas political bureau member.

Images posted by local journalists show convoy participants holding images of Ayatollah Khomeini (the former supreme leader of Iran) and Ismail Haniyeh, wearing Hamas headbands, waving the flag of the Iranian regime and holding posters of “martyrs” (i.e., terrorists). Convoy leaders were quoted by the press as praising the “resistance” and referring to Israel as “the usurping state.” Haniyeh himself praised the convoy as a means to undermine Israel’s blockade. Al-Hindi, the Islamic Jihad official, stressed “the path of jihad” and “resistance” to the visitors.  Zahar instructed the convoy members to “Continue to send convoys until the oppressive siege is lifted.”

This was not, as the BBC claimed, a trip that simply “brought [Khan] Suri closer to the Palestinian cause,” but a mission organized by one terrorist organization (IHH) to aid another terrorist organization (Hamas).

Khan Suri and Saleh would get married within a couple of years, receiving the personal congratulations of senior Hamas officials such as Mohammed Awad, the future Hamas “prime minister,” and Ghazi Hamad, a specially designated terrorist who was in charge of Hamas’s border authorities in Gaza. So central was Hamas to their identity and relationship that pictures from their wedding show Saleh and Khan Suri holding up an image of Yasser Arafat, the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, kissing the forehead of Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas.

Following their marriage, Saleh and Khan Suri would continue engaging in pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, anti-American and antisemitic propaganda.

In a December 2017 article, Saleh admitted being “ashamed” of her American citizenship and blamed the 9/11 attacks on “the stupid policies of successive American administrations.” Saleh’s article also quoted Khan Suri, without disclosing their relationship, as calling on Arabs to “launch a revolution to confront these corrupt leaders in your countries” who were willing to work with the U.S. administration’s peace efforts. Saleh concluded by calling for a boycott of America “economically, culturally, and politically.”

In a February 2018 article, Saleh condemned the United States for designating Ismail Haniyeh as a terrorist, claiming that he was just a “freedom fighter” and that Palestinians have a “right to resist the invaders.” She recounted personally meeting Haniyeh during her work in the Hamas Committee to Break the Siege in Gaza, describing him as a “humble man.” Once again, Saleh quoted Khan Suri, who claimed that “What Ismail Haniyeh is doing … is no different from what any national leader would do….” Once again, Saleh declared she felt “insulted and ashamed” to be an American.

In both articles, Saleh expressed her unabashed hatred for Jews. She asserted that American political figures are “driven by Zionist agendas linked to Jewish pressure groups,” that America “has been biased towards the Jews and global Zionism,” and that “Jewish influence” was controlling American politicians. She echoed this sentiment in other writings, such as one claiming that Israel’s “propaganda machine” and “methods of deception” include a “powerful Zionist lobby” that “influences policymakers” in the United States.

In March 2018, Saleh attended the “Fourth International Forum in Solidarity with Palestine” in Beirut. Attendees and speakers included senior terrorists from Hezbollah (Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem), Hamas (Ismail Haniyeh) and the PFLP-GC. According to Saleh, the participants were simply “human rights activists.”

In a February 2019 piece, Saleh glorified “resistance missiles” (i.e., rockets launched at Israeli civilian centers) and expressed how two particular Hamas terror attacks “healed our hearts.”

CAMERA has already exposed much of Saleh’s reprehensible rhetoric glorifying Oct. 7 and terrorism in an article at National Review. She has repeatedly made posts glorifying or mourning prominent terrorists, including Yahya Sinwar (see also here, here, and here), Mohammed Deif (see also here), Ismail Haniyeh (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here), Ismail al-Ghoul, Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, Ashraf Nofal and Mohammed Zayed. She has also repeatedly posted videos mocking Israeli hostages and glorifying their terrorist tormentors. Likewise, the Middle East Forum has documented some of Khan Suri’s continuing pro-Hamas propaganda.

Disturbingly, however, it gets even worse.

One of Saleh’s first posts after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre was a Hamas propaganda video featuring a two-minute speech by Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida. Playing over the image of dead Israeli soldiers, Abu Obeida declared that Hamas had decided to start executing “the enemy’s civilian hostages with us” unless the Israeli military stopped its operations, pledging to “broadcast this … with sound and image.” Saleh’s text alongside the post: “Word of truth,” with a victory sign emoji.

Praising the threat to murder innocent civilians is not “pro-Palestinian advocacy.” This misleading and frankly racist conflation of glorifying terrorism with “pro-Palestinian advocacy” serves no one except for Palestinian terrorists.

Furthermore, directly working for and aiding terrorist organizations, as Saleh and Khan Suri did respectively, is not “pro-Palestinian advocacy,” but rather support for terrorism.

All of this is open-source information. None of it required any special skills or tools to uncover.

Readers should ask: With hundreds of reporters covering the story, and with all the resources at their disposal, why did they disclose almost none of these details to their audiences, and what does that say about the current state of journalism?

 

Originally published by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF EAST PLANO ISLAMIC CENTER

Gov. Abbott Directs Texas Rangers Investigation Into 'Islamic' EPIC City Development

The Texas Rangers are being directed to investigate any possible criminal violations.

 

By Cameron Abrams

 

The Texan

Mar 31, 2025

 

Texas Rangers

 

The ongoing controversy regarding a North Texas real estate development has gained a new wrinkle, this time in the form of an investigation being headed by the Texas Rangers.

The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its “EPIC City” development have become subject to numerous investigations, and now Gov. Greg Abbott is directing one of the state's most legendary law enforcement agencies to look into possible criminal violations.

“Texas is a law-and-order state, and those scheming to evade law enforcement scrutiny must know justice is awaiting them,” said Abbott. “That is why I directed the Texas Rangers to fully investigate the group behind the proposed EPIC compound for potentially violating criminal law.”

“Texas will ensure that anyone affiliated with EPIC who is breaking the law is brought to justice.”

The EPIC City development in Josephine is planned to include more than 1,000 homes, a mosque, and schools. It is slated to cover more than 400 acres of land.

The announcement video for the community states it is designed to “[bring] Islam to the forefront” and will “celebrate diversity and promote unity … to foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity for all residents regardless of their background.”

Abbott, along with Attorney General Ken Paxton, have taken an aggressive stance on EPIC City in recent weeks, launching multiple investigations.

Both the Texas State Securities Board and the Texas Workforce Commission have been directed by Abbott to investigate EPIC City. He also issued a cease and desist letter from the Texas Funeral Service to “immediately stop all illegal funeral service operations.”

Paxton also said he opened a Civil Investigation Demand (CID) regarding EPIC and its investment firm, Community Capital Partner (CCP) LP, stating that it has “raised a number of concerns.”

While concerns have been raised regarding the new Muslim-centric community for months, in February, the Dallas Morning News received comment from CCP saying it would abide by the Fair Housing Act and “will not enforce blanket bans on any group of people, but we will conduct thorough individualized assessments of prospective buyers to ensure they align with our goals of safety and security.”

The EPIC City controversy is sure to continue building in the coming weeks as more information comes out from the investigations.

U.S. DOJ LOOKING AT LASO FOR SLOW-DRAGGING CARRY PERMITS

By Bob Walsh

 

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna

 

 

If you are a denizen of Los Angles County and you want a carry permit you can reliably count on it taking 18 MONTHS to process.  The Sheriff is sniveling that they have only 14 people to process 4,000 applications per year.  Pam Bondi has just announced that her office is looking at a "pattern or practice" investigation of the L A S O for violating the Second Amendment rights of those applicants by slow-dragging the process.  The investigation will be handled by the civil rights division's Special Litigation Section. 

There is currently a civil suit under way against the S O over this issue.  It will not actually be heard for about nine months. 

Anti-gun idiots are describing the investigation as "frivolous" before it even begins.  That is of course to be expected.  

I confess I fail to see how it could take that many people that long to process that many applications.  Unless of course the powers that be make it clear that they WANT IT to take that long. 

A DENTIST WITH ANGER CONTROL ISSUES

By Bob Walsh

 

Suzanne Renee Mericle, 61, of Gainesville, GA., was in a relationship with James David Barron, 68.  Earlier this month they had some sort of a domestic squabble in their Gainesville home.  Allegedly Barron walked away from the squabble and locked himself in the bedroom.  Mericle wasn't having any of that shit, so she walked up to the bedroom door and fired thru the door a few times.  She wasn't a bad shot.  Barron stopped several bullets and is deader than the DNC right now. 

Mericle is now a guest of the people of Hall County facing charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, family violence and firearm possession during a crime. 

Barron's family is now suing Mericle. 

I wonder if they will let her practice dentistry in prison?  It would give her something to keep herself occupied. 

TRUMP'S 25% TARIFF ON IMPORTED CARS AND AUTO PARTS

 By Howie Katz

 

 

Auto parts on American cars that are imported mostly from China

 

Trump's 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts is designed to get Americans to purchase American-made cars instead of foreign imports and to boost jobs in the auto industry. But it ain't a gonna do that.

That tariff is going to cost Americans more, not just for foreign imports, but for American cars as well. That's because most of the auto parts on American cars are imported, mostly from China.

The tariff on auto parts is not going to impact what there is of the auto parts industry in this country. With the high cost of labor, it is far cheaper to import car parts from China than it is to manufacture them here, the cost of shipping and the 25% tariff notwithstanding.

For example, take the container cranes in our ports. It costs a small fortune to ship these huge cranes to the United States from China.

 

A special freighter carrying container cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited is pictured on a 72-day voyage headed for Houston's new Bayport Container Terminal, July 2023

 

Yet it costs far less to manufacture these cranes in China and ship them to the United States than it would cost to make them in this country. And the 25% tariff won't change that.

It's the high cost of labor in this country that has led to auto parts being made in China and for some American-brand cars and trucks to be made in Mexico. 

With an expected price increase of $6,000 for a Japanese or Korean import, President Trump says that Americans will switch to buying American-made cars. That may be wishful thinking.

Brand-loyalty will probably keep Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Volkswagen drivers from switching to American brands. They'll just wait longer before buying a new car. 

It should also be noted that foreign carmakers have plants in the United States while American carmakers have plants in Mexico and China.

So, all that Trump's 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts will do, as well as the other tariffs he's imposed, is to raise the prices for what Americans purchase.