Israel warned USA about Iranian Plot in Turkey?

 https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15973017/US-warned-plot-kill-Trump-Turkey-decided-avoid-flying-new-Air-Force-One.html

Israeli intelligence had informed Washington earlier that week that Iran was exploring assassination plots.

Then the US was warned by a Western intelligence agency that Iran was plotting to kill Donald Trump in Turkey. 

According to Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, senior Iranian officials saw Trump's visit to Ankara, Turkey's capital, last week for a major NATO summit as an opportunity to take out the US president. 

But US authorities were warned of the plot in advance, prompting a last-minute switch of his aircraft from his new Air Force One plane to an older model.

The New York Times reported last week that one of the main reasons for the switch was because the Secret Service was concerned the new aircraft, donated by the Qataris, did not have all the necessary features of the old plane.  

Reporters were told to keep window shades closed in the press cabin during take-off, without explanation.

It came as Trump alluded to previous alleged assassination attempts by Iran during a press conference on Wednesday. 

The President declared at the NATO summit in Turkey: 'They [Iran] want to take out the US leader - me. I'm on every list.'

'I'm on every single one of their lists, and so far I guess I've been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn't last very long, because that's the way it goes,' Trump continued. 

The US was warned by a Western intelligence agency that Iran was plotting to kill Donald Trump (pictured) in Turkey

The new Air Force One plane (pictured) was donated by Qatar 

But there have been concerns that the new plane does not have the same safety features as the old one

President Donald Trump waves as he switches planes at US Air Force Base, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk Eastern England

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15973017/US-warned-plot-kill-Trump-Turkey-decided-avoid-flying-new-Air-Force-One.html

Trump 'avoids flying on new Air Force One jet gifted by Qatar over assassination fears'

US President Donald Trump used his old Air Force One plane to leave the Nato summit in Turkey after a switch was made at the request of the US Secret Service 'as a security precaution.'

Trump sent his new Qatari-gifted jet ahead to Britain before his arrival. After landing at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk aboard his old aircraft, the US President switched to the new plane for the journey back to Washington. 

Trump said on his Truth Social network he was sending the new jet to Mildenhall airbase so that service members would have a 'chance to tour the Aircraft.'

'Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first. For old time's sake, we´ll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey,' Trump added.

But the switch from the new jet on its maiden foreign trip sparked speculation it was because its security features were lacking, particularly as the US launched fresh strikes against Iran, which borders Turkey. 

According to the New York Times, citing unnamed security sources, the new plane lacks some capabilities of the old plane, but the switch was not made because of a specific threat.

Reporters were told to keep window shades closed in the press cabin during take-off, without explanation.

It came as Trump alluded to previous alleged assassination attempts by Iran during a press conference on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's £300m new Air Force One touched down in the UK on Wednesday

The President declared at the NATO summit in Turkey: 'They [Iran] want to take out the US leader - me. I'm on every list.'

'I'm on every single one of their lists, and so far I guess I've been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn't last very long, because that's the way it goes,' Trump continued.

His warning came as hardline lawmakers in Tehran openly called for missiles to be fired at his location at the summit. Earlier this week, mourners at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral placed a death bounty on Trump.

The President again brought up his demise during a press conference alongside Marco Rubio and his other top cabinet officials.

While discussing Iran's leadership, installed after Khamenei was killed in the war, Trump said: 'They're gone now. They have another set of leaders. They may be gone.'

'Who knows? And you know what, I may be gone too because I'm their number one target. It's out all over the place. I'm the number one because they're scum.'

Trump's comments came after he declared his ceasefire with Iran 'over' and unleashed fresh strikes on the regime after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. 

During Khamenei's funeral on Monday, footage from Tehran shows pro-regime demonstrators with posters featuring red crosshairs over Trump's face, above the seven-word warning: 'Sooner or later, your heads will roll.'

Other posters showed the faces of JD Vance and Pete Hegseth over a crosshair with the phrase: 'There will be blood.'

Chants of 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' rang out across the capital as Khamenei's coffin was borne through the streets of Tehran.

Iranians were also seen lighting US and British flags on fire while hurling rocks at pictures of Trump. An effigy of Trump being hanged was pictured near the front of the funeral procession.

The regime's desire to kill Trump goes back to his first term, following the 2020 drone strike the President ordered that killed Revolutionary Guard general Qasem Soleimani.

US intelligence repeatedly warned during his 2024 campaign that Iran was plotting to assassinate him as well as former officials from his first term in revenge for the strike.

Federal prosecutors charged a Revolutionary Guard operative with offering $300,000 to have Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton murdered on American soil.

Trump's ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one-time Iran envoy Brian Hook were forced to live under round-the-clock government protection.

Aboard the new Air Force One after leaving Turkey, Trump told a reporter, 'you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with' - an apparent reference to Iran, which he went on to refer to as 'sick people.'

The President declared at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey: 'They [Iran] want to take out the US leader - me. I'm on every list'

Pro-regime demonstrators in Tehran hold a poster featuring crosshairs over Trump's face as they mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday

Aboard the new Air Force One after leaving Turkey, Trump told a reporter, 'you're probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with'

Asked if he was aware of a credible threat from Iran, Trump only said, 'I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list.'

Qatar's royal family donated the 747-8 plane last year after Trump complained about the state of the two ageing jets that have served as the US presidential plane since 1990.

The new plane was rapidly retrofitted and equipped with security features before making its first flight with Trump on July 1.

It features a new red, white and navy blue colour scheme in a change from the previous white and light blue livery.

Two brand-new Boeing Air Force Ones are due to be delivered later this decade after a series of delays.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15964425/Trump-avoids-flying-new-Air-Force-One-jet-gifted-Qatar-assassination-fears.html

New Plan for Safe Roads in Judea and Samaria

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/429945

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-902148

Judea and Samaria: Plan to pave safe access roads takes off

Government expected to approve over 1b NIS to pave security and access roads to dozens of new towns in Judea and Samaria

The Israeli government is expected to approve a NIS 1.075 billion budget plan to build transportation and security infrastructure for dozens of new communities in Judea and Samaria.

The initiative is being led by Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich, following approximately two months of planning by a professional team in the Settlement Administration.

The funding is designated for the construction of access roads and security routes to communities approved by the Security Cabinet during the war. Among these communities are four northern Samaria towns evacuated under the 2005 Disengagement Plan - Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim - as well as a number of additional new communities slated to be established in the coming years.

Government officials said the decision is intended to address the immediate need for secure access and security roads for the new communities, noting that such projects cannot be financed through the standard infrastructure costs associated with land development. To that end, the Transportation Ministry, in cooperation with the Settlement Administration in the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry, formulated a detailed multi-year plan.

Under the proposal, the budget will be spread over three years and allocated to the Transportation and Defense ministries. The plan includes designing and paving new access roads, upgrading existing roads, and completing connecting road segments between communities where needed. Security components will also be incorporated as an integral part of the infrastructure planning for communities throughout Judea and Samaria.

The proposal further stipulates that if the government approves additional communities in Judea and Samaria in the future, or normalizes existing communities, these will automatically be incorporated into the multi-year infrastructure plan and receive funding under the program.

Smotrich welcomed the initiative, saying: "The historic decision we approved will enable the establishment of dozens of communities at strategic locations in Judea and Samaria. We are leading a settlement and security revolution, with more than 100 communities and 160 farms strengthening the security of the State of Israel and putting an end to the dangerous idea of establishing a terrorist state in the very heart of the State of Israel."

"Faced with plans by an [MK Gadi] Eisenkot[-led] government to evacuate the new communities we have established, the multi-year program we are advancing will ensure the planning and construction of new access roads, the upgrading of existing routes, and connections between communities, alongside the integration of critical security components. We are working with determination alongside all government ministries to remove obstacles and obtain the necessary approvals to guarantee safe and orderly access for the new communities."

The government said the initiative forms part of its broader policy of expanding Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, with the infrastructure investment intended to facilitate the population of the new communities and integrate them into the regional transportation network while addressing the area's security needs.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/429945

Israel to approve West Bank settlement road budget worth over NIS 1 billion

The plan will include the construction of new roads and improvements to existing ones, the ministry stated, adding that any new settlements approved in the future will be included in the plan.

The Israeli government is set to approve a budget worth over NIS 1 billion for road construction to and between West Bank settlements, according to a statement released by the Finance Ministry.

The budget, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will primarily involve new settlements already approved for construction by Israel's cabinet, including four that were previously evacuated.

The plan's pending approval is in response to a need for safe and secure access to the settlements, the statement read.

According to the ministry, the budget, planned in conjunction with the Settlement Administration, will be split between the Defense Ministry and the Transportation Ministry.

Smotrich noted that the plan also involves establishing "critical security components," saying he is working to "ensure safe and regulated movement in the new settlements."

"The historic decision we approved will allow the establishment of dozens of settlements at strategic points in Judea and Samaria," said Smotrich. "We are leading a settlement-security revolution, with over 100 settlements and 160 farms that fortify the security of the State of Israel and will kill the terrible idea of ​​establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the State of Israel."

The plan will span three years and include the construction of new roads, improvements to existing ones, and security components, the ministry stated, adding that any new settlements approved in the future will be included in the plan.

West Bank hotel budget

The road budget's approval on Sunday will follow the July 5 approval of NIS 27 million allocated to the development and construction of hotels in the West Bank aimed at tourism promotion.

The hotel budget, financed through the Tourism Ministry, will be distributed through 2030 and include grants supporting hotel establishment, conversion, and expansion.

“For the first time, we will lead a comprehensive initiative combining planning, infrastructure development, the creation of land reserves for hotels, and a dedicated track to encourage hotel construction,” said Tourism Minister Haim Katz, noting that the budget will “enable the realization of the enormous tourism potential in Judea and Samaria.”

"We will remove barriers in the sector, create certainty for investors, and lay the groundwork that will increase the supply of accommodation rooms, attract tourists, and strengthen the local economy,” added Katz.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-902148

Afrophobia in South Africa

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15969305/South-Africa-torn-apart-Afrophobia-SUE-REID.html

South Africa was once hailed as a 'Rainbow Nation' - now it's being torn apart by 'Afrophobia' as black South Africans turn against illegal migrants from other African countries who they fear will take their jobs

A five-year-old boy sits forlornly on scrub ground next to a petrol station near the South African town of Polokwane as he starts his journey to a country he does not know.

He is dwarfed by a large pink suitcase, carried by his uncle Steve Hove, which his mother, Angela, had packed for him before saying goodbye.

The child is called Brightman and he is stateless. When he was born at a clinic nearby, Angela, a Zimbabwean, did not register him with the authorities.

Instead, she carried him home secretly, making little Brightman one of millions of illegal migrants living undercover in South Africa: a diaspora now fleeing for their lives as civil unrest sweeps the Rainbow Nation over uncontrolled borders and mass immigration.

In horrific scenes never witnessed in the post-apartheid era, black foreigners are being chased from their homes, beaten up and having their lives threatened.

Neighbour has turned on neighbour in a wave of xenophobia against the 'illegals', who are blamed for fuelling an unemployment crisis in a country where one in three adults is out of work.

'The uprising against my family began in January. It got worse in my township, where I lived for seven years, when the locals stole my possessions and began screaming at me to go,' said Brightman's uncle Steve, a 22-year-old construction worker, as he waited with his nephew for a lift to the Zimbabwean border, marked by the Limpopo River, a two-hour drive away.

'The South Africans don't like black foreigners any more,' he added with a sad smile.

Brightman, five, is one of the stateless illegal immigrants living under cover in South Africa with his Zimbabwean father Steve Hove,22

A group of undocumented Malawian migrants gather in front of Malawi's consulate to prepare for their return home last month following a resurgence of xenophobic attacks and anti-migrant protests in Johannesburg

'I will never return to South Africa.'

Some migrants, like Steve, are making their own way back home.

Thousands of others are being transported there in a mass evacuation. This week alone, some 23,000 people, mostly Zimbabweans and Malawians, were carried by bus from major cities to an emergency government repatriation camp on farmland near the Zimbabwean border prior to their deportation.

The ugly uprisings rocking this country were sparked last month when the March And March movement – a new pressure group demanding stricter border control and the mass deportation of foreign workers – issued an ultimatum demanding that all undocumented migrants leave South Africa by the end of last month.

More than 120 demonstrations took place that day, with protesters sweeping through cities chanting 'Mabahambe!' ('They must go!'), provoking panic among the country's millions of migrants hailing from across the continent, including Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi and, notably, Zimbabwe.

Protesters looted foreigners' homes and businesses, resulting in 600 arrests.

Young South African men waving sticks and mallets threw stones at the windows of shops and private homes rumoured to be harbouring illegals in the country's biggest city, Johannesburg.

'South Africans have been replaced by foreigners, increasing unemployment,' said March And March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, a rabble-rousing ex-radio presenter who has pledged to hold demonstrations across the country every Thursday until every illegal has been thrown out. 

Protestors during an anti-immigrant march in Alexandra, near Johannesburg, on Thursday

'We want mass deportations. During the next six months, the government must get rid of all the people who have not left already,' she added. True to her word, there were more protests this week.

It will not be an easy task: an estimated five million undocumented migrants live in South Africa, 12 per cent of the adult population.

Politicians stand accused of having failed over decades to shut porous borders, particularly with neighbouring poverty-stricken Zimbabwe, from where thousands arrive each year, successfully getting work while South Africans are jobless.

The March And March offensive has infuriated South Africa's Left-wingers, who have the same passion for open borders as their European counterparts.

Leader of the fledgling but influential political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is the controversial Marxist firebrand Julius Malema – famous for regularly calling on his followers to 'kill the [white South African] Boer'.

He has slammed the March And March protesters, saying: 'You say Zimbabweans take your jobs. You march, close shops, beat up other Africans. I will never push out of school an African child who looks like me.

'I will never refuse a pregnant woman of African descent to give birth in the clinics of South Africa.'

Only this week, Malema condemned 'Afrophobia', the hatred felt by South Africans towards other Africans. 

Protestors take part in a 'March and March (until we win)' rally in Mtwalume, south of Durban, on Thursday

His call is for a borderless continent allowing the free movement of all Africans, plus a controversial plan for a pan-African parliament, currency and army.

Distressing though the deportations are, there are signs that South Africans are getting jobs again as the Biblical-scale exodus escalates.

Businesses, shops, farms, mining companies and homeowners are being forced to hire them as the number of cash-in-hand black market workers falls. Employers also face government raids and stiff fines if they are caught paying, or hiding, foreign workers.

Sinisterly, people are being encouraged to report their neighbours if they believe they are breaking the rules.

An anonymous tip-off phone line to police is asking for information on the 'exact details' of the location of foreigners, ostensibly to 'avoid vigilantism' breaking out and South Africans 'taking matters into their own hands'.

In a deprived township called Mapetla East on the outskirts of Johannesburg, I visited the Sorty Tuck Shop, which for the past four years has been run and staffed by illegal workers from impoverished Mozambique.

It was taken over by South African 26-year-old Themba Mokhobo on Wednesday after his family struck a deal with the 'foreigners' before they were driven out.

Themba Mokhobo ouitside the Sorty Tuck Shop, which he now runs after 'foreigners', illegal workers from Mozambique, were driven out

One of his first customers was Lesego, 22. Wearing a colourful headscarf, and buying beans, she said: 'We are pleased a South African is running our local shop again.'

For days, migrants waiting to be picked up by bus for the emergency deportation camp on the Zimbabwean border have been gathering in dreadfully unsanitary conditions at impromptu meeting points in cities, including one on the grass outside the tall white walls of Johannesburg's Malawian Embassy.

When I visited the embassy on Monday, I met mothers and their young children sleeping on the ground in the winter cold. It was a pitiful sight.

Standing among the mayhem was Lizzie Banda, a young Malawian with a baby daughter, Effort, peeping out from a blanket.

Lizzie had worked in Johannesburg for seven years as a cleaner for a middle-class Zulu family living in a smart suburb before they showed her the door last Sunday.

Now Lizzie was heading back to Blantyre, her home city in Malawi.

'Effort has no birth papers. Like me, she is an illegal. I am frightened for what will happen to us next. We are not wanted here any more.'

Hundreds gathered in Soweto, Johannesburg province last month to call on the South African government to deport undocumented migrants

Cecilia Phirr, who ran a company in Johannesburg importing clothes for her fellow Malawian women living in South Africa, was also leaving.

She was with her son, Prosper, five, who was born in the Coronation Hospital, Johannesburg, but like her has no official documents.

Cecilia said her once-welcoming adopted nation had turned hostile: 'We only want to go home safely. This country has become dangerous for foreign Africans.'

Both these mothers managed to get on a crowded bus for the four-hour drive to the border camp late on Monday.

There, when I visited, I saw them among police and immigration officials struggling to cope as thousands waited in queues stretching into the distance to register their names at desks in giant tents – a procedure to stop them re-entering South Africa for five years.

Each person registering was given an A4 document allowing them to board a bus out of the country, which read: 'You have undertaken to leave the Republic of South Africa voluntarily... failure of which will mean you are arrested and detained pending your deportation.'

Here too, among this throng of desperate humanity, was Lorraine Ngubeh, 18, and her sibling, Lawrence, 16. The two have spent all their young lives in South Africa, having never even visited their ancestral country of Zimbabwe.

The idea of South Africa as the 'Rainbow Nation' was popularised by former President Nelson Mandela

Lorraine, who had a five-month-old baby girl, Tshegototso, tied on her back, has passed her school exams with honours and would be an asset to any country.

'We feel South African,' she told me.

'Our schoolfriends were South African. We don't know any other country. We think our life in Zimbabwe will be very hard but we have been chased away by threats because we are foreigners. It is not safe for us to stay.'

Although most of the foreigners are leaving voluntarily, and many out of fear, not all are going to the processing camp near the border. Instead, they are fleeing by paying cash to people-smuggling gangs who guide them over the border, either on rafts over the crocodile-infested Limpopo or by road.

It was by this unorthodox method that Steve and his young nephew Brightman reached Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, 24 hours after I had met them at the Polokwane petrol station.

They had paid a people-smuggler 600 rand (£27) in cash. In WhatsApp messages, I later asked about the tiny boy's wellbeing.

Steve told me they had arrived safely, that the boy's mother Angela, who had stayed behind to continue earning, was relieved. He adorned his message with a picture of the Zimbabwean flag.

At the official border post bristling with officials, the two had simply walked across carrying the pink suitcase.

'We give thanks to God,' he said. 'We are home. Will you visit us in Bulawayo one day, please?'

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15969305/South-Africa-torn-apart-Afrophobia-SUE-REID.html