USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said he had ordered a “rigorous re-examination” of green cards held by nationals from “countries of concern.”

By Jewish Breaking News

President Donald Trump has vowed to “permanently pause” migration from third-world countries in the wake of the deadly national guard shooting this week.

“Even as we have progressed technologically, Immigration Policy has eroded those gains and living conditions for many. I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Thursday night.

“These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations. Only reversing migration can fully cure this situation.”

Trump’s announcement followed the death of Sarah Beckstrom, one of two national guard members shot Wednesday near the White House. The second victim, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, is still fighting for his life.

Authorities identified the suspected gunman as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who arrived in the United States in September 2021 through a Biden-era evacuation program that resettled tens of thousands after the collapse of Kabul.

Lakanwal was wounded in the attack and remains in custody.

In the hours that followed, the administration began announcing a series of tightening measures.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said he had ordered a “rigorous re-examination” of green cards held by nationals from “countries of concern.”

The agency also said it was halting all Afghan-related immigration processing while it conducts a full review of cases.

Later that afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security broadened the initiative to include a reassessment of asylum approvals granted under Biden.

The White House has increasingly tied immigration policy to questions of domestic security, and Trump used his Thanksgiving message to claim migrants are contributing to rising crime and growing fiscal pressures.

In particular, he singled out Minnesota as a symbol of what he called the “collapse” caused by illegal migration, blasting Rep. Ilhan Omar and state leaders for failing to confront Somali gang activity.

Trump also announced that an additional 500 troops would be sent into the city.

National Guard units have been stationed throughout Washington, D.C., since August, after the Trump administration declared a “crime emergency” and deployed troops to bolster federal and local police.

The post Trump moves to ‘permanently pause’ third-world migration after deadly National Guard shooting appeared first on World Israel News.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the attacker entered the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration.

By Jewish Breaking News

President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot near the White House on Wednesday, has died from her wounds.

Beckstrom, just 20 years old, had volunteered to work the holiday shift so that other Guardsmen could spend Thanksgiving with their families, according to officials.

Calling her a “highly respected, young, magnificent person,” Trump said, “She’s just passed away. She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her. It’s just happened.”

The second Guardsman, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. “The other young man is fighting for his life,” Trump said. “He’s in very bad shape.”

The attack occurred around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday near the Farragut West Metro station. Witnesses reported hearing an initial shot, followed by several more, and said the assailant shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he opened fire.

According to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the suspected gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, allegedly drove across the country from Washington state before carrying out what officials described as a targeted ambush.

Pirro said the Afghan national opened fire with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver at close range.

Lakanwal will face multiple charges, including assault with intent to harm and criminal possession of a weapon, though prosecutors noted that the charges could be upgraded following Beckstrom’s death.

Federal officials say the motive is still under investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel described the case as an “ongoing investigation of terrorism.”

Agents searched the suspect’s home in Bellingham, Washington, and conducted additional interviews in San Diego as part of the widening probe.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 under the Biden administration.

He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted that status in April of this year under the Trump administration.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal had previously worked with U.S. government forces in Kandahar prior to the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump, in a video statement Wednesday night, condemned the shooting as an “act of hatred” and ordered a full reexamination of all Afghan nationals admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration.

He also ordered an additional 500 National Guard troops to be deployed to Washington, D.C.

Trump had planned to make Thanksgiving calls to U.S. service members Thursday night. It was not immediately clear if he would speak with any National Guard units following the deadly attack.

The post Female National Guard member dies after ‘targeted shooting’ near White House; suspect allegedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The incident also comes days after Trump ordered a review of more than 230,000 refugees admitted to the United States under Biden.

By Chuck Ross, The Washington Free Beacon

An Afghan national who entered the United States during the Biden administration allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in what authorities described as a targeted attack, according to reports.

The guardsmen are reportedly in critical condition.

Reports identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who is said to have entered the country in 2021 during the Biden administration.

Little is known about Lakanwal, who reportedly used a handgun in the shooting.

He reportedly entered the United States as part of former president Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome in the wake of the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.

The targeted attack comes as Democrats have assailed President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard to police the nation’s capital.

Earlier this week, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) said she was concerned National Guardsmen may “shoot at American civilians.”

Violent crime incidents have fallen dramatically since Trump deployed the guard on Aug. 11. There have been 24 homicides in D.C. since then, compared to 61 during the same time frame last year.

Wednesday’s attack is not the only one carried out by a foreign national admitted during Biden’s term.

In June, Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman attacked a Jewish event in Boulder, Colo., killing 1 and injuring 15 others.

Soliman, who allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” during the attack, entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2022, but never left the country.

And in 2024, 27-year-old Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi allegedly plotted to conduct an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS.

Tawhedi is said to have entered the United States on a special immigrant visa within days of Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

The incident also comes days after Trump ordered a review of more than 230,000 refugees admitted to the United States under Biden.

Trump’s order also pauses the processing of refugee applications submitted under Biden.

According to the Middle East Institute, around 180,000 Afghan nationals were admitted into the United States after August 2021, when Biden pulled American troops out of Afghanistan.

The post Suspect in DC ambush of 2 National Guardsmen is Afghan national who entered US during Biden admin appeared first on World Israel News.

Both Guardsmen are critically wounded and receiving treatment in separate hospitals.

By World Israel News Staff

Gunfire rang out in the nation’s capital Wednesday afternoon when two National Guardsmen were shot just a short distance from the White House, in Washington, D.C.

The suspect is currently in custody, while the White House remains on lockdown. Flights at Reagan International Airport were briefly halted but the ground stop has since been lifted. President Trump, who is not currently in Washington but rather in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, confirmed that both Guardsmen are critically wounded and receiving treatment in separate hospitals.

In a news briefing, FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials also confirmed that the Guardsmen are currently in critical condition.

On Truth Social, President Trump said, “The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price. God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”

Vice President JD Vance called the attack a “somber reminder” of the daily risks faced by America’s service members, describing U.S. soldiers as the “sword and the shield of the United States of America.” He added, “Let me just say very personally — thank them for what they’re doing. We’re grateful to them, and we’re praying that they’re going to be safe and they’re going to spend Thanksgiving with their families. God bless them.”

Earlier reports had mistakenly confirmed the deaths of the two Guardsmen, but West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey retracted that statement. “We are now receiving conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members and will provide additional updates once we receive more complete information,” Morrisey wrote on X. “Our prayers are with these brave service members, their families, and the entire Guard community.”

The motive for the shooting has not yet been determined, and the identity of the shooter has not been publicly revealed. This remains a developing story.

The post Two national guardsmen shot near the White House, both in critical condition appeared first on World Israel News.

Magram’s termination from the California National Guard deprived the force of one of its most experienced firefighters as large swaths of Los Angeles burned in January.

By Andrew Kerr, The Washington Free Beacon

A former commander of the California National Guard who says Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) “facilitated” an anti-Semitic campaign that resulted in his wrongful termination will have his day in court, a judge ruled Friday.

The move could cause a major headache for Newsom ahead of his expected 2028 presidential campaign.

Former brigadier general Jeffrey Magram is suing the state of California and Adjutant General Matthew Beevers, a Newsom appointee who has faced allegations of denigrating a Jewish subordinate as a “kike” lawyer.

Magram alleges that Newsom “facilitated and ratified” a Beevers-driven campaign of anti-Semitic discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against him that started after Magram defended a fellow Jew from Beevers’s anti-Semitic rants and ended with Newsom’s office signing an order to dismiss Magram in November 2022.

Sacramento Superior Court judge Richard K. Sueyoshi rejected the Newsom administration’s efforts to quash Magram’s lawsuit in an Oct. 31 ruling authorizing six of its eight counts to proceed toward a trial.

The ruling will force the Newsom administration to comply with document discovery and deposition requests that Magram says have been ignored since he filed his lawsuit in January 2024.

The discovery process could provide a window into how Newsom’s administration handles accusations of anti-Semitism and risks becoming a political liability for the Democratic governor ahead of a 2028 presidential campaign.

“Beevers and the California Military Department have disregarded complying with public laws and multiple legal requests for documents,” Magram told the Washington Free Beacon.

“We are very much looking forward to the facts coming out in this case and for the truth to be heard by all.”

Those records include documents that may shed light on Newsom’s response to several letters Magram wrote to the governor’s office warning that Beevers was engaged in a personal vendetta against him driven by his “bigoted beliefs” against Jewish people.

Magram alleges in his lawsuit that Newsom “chose to ignore this information and directly ratify the anti-Semitic acts of Beevers” when his office signed off on his termination in November 2022.

Magram’s termination from the California National Guard deprived the force of one of its most experienced firefighters as large swaths of Los Angeles burned in January, the Free Beacon reported.

The Newsom administration has defended Beevers against charges of anti-Semitism.

In December 2022, the governor ordered an investigation into allegations that Beevers denigrated his subordinate, Major General Jay Coggan, as a “kike” lawyer during a private conversation with his predecessor and fellow Newsom appointee, former adjutant general David Baldwin.

But the California Military Department Inspector General closed the investigation just weeks later on a technicality.

Though Baldwin testified to Beevers’s “kike” lawyer comment under oath, investigators said they couldn’t substantiate the allegation because Baldwin didn’t file a written report of the incident to himself, the Free Beacon reported.

Months later, in May 2023, Newsom appointed Beevers to lead the California National Guard.

Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon told the Free Beacon in September 2024 that the anti-Semitism allegations against Beevers “were thoroughly and independently investigated by the appropriate authorities and were found to be fully unsubstantiated.”

As for Magram, Beevers relied heavily on a 2021 report from the U.S. Air Force’s inspector general to justify his removal from service.

The report, which Magram says is flawed, claims he improperly used subordinates to transport him to personal appointments.

A Free Beacon review of an unredacted version of that report found that Magram was on military orders for most of what investigators described as “personal errands,” and the report relied on testimony from witnesses with clear conflicts of interest.

Beevers issued a memo in June 2022 saying the inspector general report caused him to lose faith in Magram’s ability to serve as a senior military leader. But Magram’s personnel file tells a different story.

“Lives saved” is a common refrain in Magram’s officer performance reports, which are replete with glowing reviews for his record leading the California Air National Guard’s response to some of the most catastrophic wildfires in state history.

Still, Newsom sided with Beevers, with his office issuing an order to separate Magram from state active duty on Nov. 10, 2022.

The Newsom administration has yet to respond to any of Magram’s allegations since he filed his lawsuit in January 2024, instead arguing in motions that the case should be dismissed entirely because of the Feres doctrine, a legal doctrine that arose from a 1950 Supreme Court case that bars servicemembers from suing the military for personal injuries sustained in the performance of their duties.

But Sueyoshi, the Sacramento Superior Court judge, said the Newsom administration’s interpretation of the law was incorrect.

The judge wrote in his Oct. 31 ruling that the Feres doctrine was not intended to shield the military from the legal consequences of subjecting a general to a campaign of anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination, as Magram alleges in his lawsuit.

“Put another way, this Court cannot accept defendants’ proposition that the antisemitic behavior attributed to defendant Beevers is fairly characterized as being ‘incident to service.'”

Sueyoshi wrote in his ruling authorizing Magram’s case to proceed to trial, though a date is yet to be set with discovery still in its infancy.

Newsom’s office did not return a request for comment.

The post Lawsuit alleging Gavin Newsom ‘facilitated’ antisemitic campaign against National Guard commander headed to trial appeared first on World Israel News.

Thousands of anti-deportation extremists erupted in violent clashes with federal immigration agents over the weekend in California—setting dozens of vehicles ablaze, hurling projectiles, attacking officers, and leaving a trail of destruction across city streets.

BREAKING: Anti ICE rioters in Los Angeles attack federal agents and pelt law enforcement vehicles with rocks.

Many were seen wearing keffiyehs, often associated with terrorism.

The usual agitators, same tactics.pic.twitter.com/tfxBjqVsAY

— Awesome Jew (@Awesome_Jew_) June 8, 2025

#BREAKING: Secretary Hegseth just announced he is preparing to deploy MARINES to the streets of Los Angeles if the National Guard needs assistance

“Marines at Camp Pendleton are on HIGH ALERT if vioIence continues,” SecDef said

TAKE CALIFORNIA BACK! pic.twitter.com/uIWBtQnNAD

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 8, 2025

Felon that should be charged with attempted murder, hurls rocks at Border Patrol and unmarked Federal vehicles leaving Paramount California. pic.twitter.com/sXO5MvrU8p

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) June 7, 2025

Omg. They’re making Molotov cocktails with Modelo bottles in LA and throwing them at federal agents with locals cheering them on.

This is beyond a riot. Foreign combatants are trying to kill our federal officers. pic.twitter.com/v9De8MY1EE

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 8, 2025

Footage from the protests:
RIOTS IN LOS ANGELES IN PROTEST AGAINST THE DEPORTATION OF IMMIGRANTS, TRUMP SENT THE NATIONAL GUARD
***
Hundreds protested in several locations against the government following mass arrests. The demonstrators set a vehicle and trash bins on fire and… pic.twitter.com/qvOQri7x7o

— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) June 8, 2025

The post WATCH: ICE agents clash with violent radicals across Los Angeles, Trump calls in National Guard appeared first on World Israel News.

Magram claims that Beevers, who orchestrated his firing, was retaliating against him for defending a fellow Jew from Beevers’s anti-Semitic rants.

By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

Long-running accusations of anti-Semitism that for years dogged California’s troubled National Guard resurfaced at a crucial time for the force that is currently battling historic Los Angeles wildfires.

A fired commander with extensive firefighting experience has filed a lawsuit alleging he’s now on the sidelines because he’s Jewish.

Brigadier General Jeffrey Magram is suing the state of California, Governor Gavin Newsom (D.), and Adjutant General Matthew Beevers, a Newsom appointee who was previously accused of referring to his Jewish subordinates as “kike lawyers.” Magram claims his dismissal was driven by anti-Semitic animus.

The California National Guard is the largest such force in the country, and 2,500 guard members (including some reinforcements from Nevada and Wyoming) are now battling the wildfires from the air and the ground, as well as helping with public safety.

But the “scandal-plagued” guard, as the Los Angeles Times calls it, has been bogged down by unseemly allegations of impropriety, including the coverup of an incident in which someone urinated in a guardswoman’s boot, indecent exposure at a restaurant, retaliation against whistleblowers, and the use of spy planes and fighter jets to monitor and intimidate protesters.

Magram’s ouster just over two years ago came after an inquiry found he used military personnel for personal tasks, among other infractions that the inquiry claimed compromised his leadership.

He was one of five generals who were fired or retired under pressure amid ballooning scandals at the guard in the last few years.

But in his lawsuit, Magram—who was not implicated in the more lurid scandals that dogged the guard—argues he was targeted in a smear campaign that overlooked a sterling record because he is Jewish.

Magram claims that Beevers, who orchestrated his firing, was retaliating against him for defending a fellow Jew from Beevers’s anti-Semitic rants. Beevers discriminated against Magram, his lawsuit alleges, because of “Magram’s Jewish heritage” and his “complaints about Beevers’ anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment.”

“Beevers never considered any of the significant contributions I made to the Air National Guard, the Military Department, and to California’s public safety,” Magram told the Washington Free Beacon. “I believe he saw me as another ‘kike,’ and I should not be part of running the department. His actions certainly show that.”

Magram, 59, who has 4 children aged 11 and under, says he lost a significant portion of his state pension and now earns a fraction of the pay a retired general his age typically makes in the private sector. His lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages for back pay and lost benefits.

In his effort to prove discrimination, Magram points to his personnel file, which is replete with glowing reviews for his record fighting natural disasters. “Lives saved” is a common refrain in Magram’s officer performance reports, which credit him with leading the California Air National Guard’s response to some of the most catastrophic wildfires in state history.

Magram had 37 years of military experience and was only 3 years away from being able to retire with a full pension when Beevers issued a memo in June 2022, deeming him unfit to serve as a senior leader.

The memo initiated a long, bureaucratic process that would ultimately end later that year with Newsom ordering Magram’s termination from state service.

The Beevers memo cited a heavily redacted 2021 report from the U.S. Air Force’s inspector general, who was investigating the California National Guard, that claimed Magram “had subordinates transport [him] to personal appointments and run personal errands on multiple occasions.”

Beevers said the conduct described in the report caused him to lose confidence in Magram’s ability to serve as a senior military leader.

But Magram says that Beevers weaponized a flawed report to justify his firing, thus depriving California of one of its most talented wildfire containment specialists amid a crisis.

A Free Beacon review of an unredacted version of the IG report uncovered significant discrepancies. Magram was on military orders for most of what government investigators described as “personal errands,” and the report relied on testimony from witnesses with clear conflicts of interest.

All the while, investigators for the Air Force inspector general, Sami Said, failed to interview witnesses who told the Free Beacon they would have said under oath that the conduct in which Magram engaged was appropriate.

Other senior military leaders at the state and federal levels did not believe the IG report justified Magram’s termination. Beevers’s predecessor, now-retired adjutant general David Baldwin, told the Free Beacon that California would be far better off right now if Magram was on the front lines.

“I worked closely with Magram for 20 years plus on emergency operations. When I was adjutant general, he would be the first guy that we would send” to a disaster, Baldwin said. “Wildfires were his bread and butter.”

Baldwin noted that the Air Force had written Magram a “letter of admonishment” in 2021 due to the IG report, which also found that he had a female subordinate drive his mother to shop at Whole Foods eight years prior.

The letter, from U.S. Air Force general David Allvin, “is indicative that the four star general thought that this was perhaps a minor lapse in judgment,” Baldwin said.

The California National Guard told the Los Angeles Times in July 2022 the allegations were not “career-ending” at the same time Beevers was using the IG report to engineer Magram’s termination.

Beevers and the California National Guard did not return requests for comment.

Inspectors General: the ‘protectors of the deep state’

To veterans advocate Jeremy Sorenson, a director of the Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group, Magram’s story is symptomatic of the federal government’s corrupt inspector general system, which gave Newsom the pretext to fire an exemplary firefighter.

Inspectors general claim to be independent, but by law, they report to the head of the agency they oversee. It’s a system that breeds corruption, Sorenson argued.

“The inspector general at a base reports to the base commander,” Sorenson told the Free Beacon. “If he identifies misconduct anywhere on the base, that’s not good for the inspector general.”

President Trump has pledged to reform the inspector general system by making its actors truly independent “so that they do not become protectors of the deep state.”

As Magram was fighting to keep his job in the wake of Beevers’s letter, the bad blood was running deep at the top of the California guard. Months after he retired, Baldwin levied an explosive allegation against Beevers, who’d succeeded him on an interim basis.

He said that in June 2022, during a private conversation, Beevers described the leadership of the California State Guard, then led by a Jewish attorney, Major General Jay Coggan, as an organization “run by a bunch of kike lawyers.”

In November, Newsom ordered California Military Department inspector general Saul Rangel to investigate.

Magram, who was still serving but fighting Beevers’s efforts to fire him, testified to investigators about a May 2021 conversation in which he claimed Beevers said to him that Coggan was “fucking cheap” and “gives you guys a bad name.” Magram said he pushed back at Beevers.

Beevers denied making any anti-Semitic remarks and Rangel closed his probe after interviewing only Magram and Baldwin. Rangel’s report stated he could not substantiate the allegations against Beevers, his boss.

In June 2023, Newsom formally appointed Beevers to lead the guard. The governor’s spokesman, Izzy Gardon, told the Free Beacon that the allegations against Beevers “were thoroughly and independently investigated by the appropriate authorities and were found to be fully unsubstantiated.”

Turning military orders into ‘personal errands’

Sorenson said government leaders can use their inspectors general as a cudgel.

“In Jeff’s case, they wanted to go after Jeff,” Sorenson said. “So they came up with a substantiated finding.”

The 2021 Air Force inspector general report said Magram violated military regulations when he asked subordinates to transport him to medical appointments, described as “personal errands.”

But documents reviewed by the Free Beacon show the visits were not “personal errands.” Magram, who’d been injured while on deployment to Qatar in 2015, was under orders to receive procedures and other treatments at a military medical facility.

The military doctor who performed one such procedure, at Travis Air Force Base, said to the Free Beacon that he told Magram to have a military safety driver transport him to and from the appointment because he would be going under general anesthesia.

“He did what I told him, as his doctor, to do,” says the physician, who requested anonymity. “He was being safe, having someone drive him home so that he didn’t crash his car. That’s a good thing.”

The doctor said he would have told Said and his investigators exactly that, but “no one contacted me from the IG.” He added that it was unusual because he’s been involved in other probes that were “exceptionally exhaustive.”

Magram’s attorney, Aaron Drake, said the military’s Joint Travel Regulations “explicitly allow a medical ‘attendant’ to drive a military member to medical appointments.”

“Although the IG substantiated this allegation, clearly it was never a violation of law or regulation,” Drake told the Free Beacon.

The Air Force inspector general’s office did not return a request for comment.

Said’s report also alleged Magram inappropriately ordered a female servicemember to take his mother grocery shopping in 2013, long before he was promoted to brigadier general.

The servicemember told investigators she was afraid to refuse the request and that the mother insisted on going to Whole Foods where she spent a long time engaging in “comparison shopping.” It was an allegation Beevers cited nine years later in his memo recommending Magram’s termination.

Magram says the servicemember volunteered to help his mother while he was on convalescent leave and that she didn’t report to him. Her supervisor, Charles Ingalls, a colonel who’s now retired, told the Free Beacon she never complained.

“I would expect that, with me having an open door policy, if someone had a concern or a complaint that would have come to me. But there was nothing,” he said.

Ingalls said Said and his investigators never contacted him.

Beevers said in his June 2022 memo that Magram’s alleged conduct was particularly egregious because Said reported he was warned in 2017 not to let subordinates take him to personal appointments.

Beevers was citing “credible” testimony provided to Said by Major General Clay Garrison. Records obtained by the Free Beacon suggest Garrison held a grudge against Magram that long predated the testimony he provided to Said.

Magram was promoted to brigadier general after Garrison was fired in April 2019 for his involvement in a scandal dubbed “pissgate” or “Piss and Boots.”

A female staff sergeant under Garrison’s command discovered someone had urinated in her boots, and the Los Angeles Times reported that high ranking officers in the California National Guard suspected Garrison of trying to interfere in the investigations that followed.

Months after he was fired, and a year before he testified in Said’s investigation, Garrison sent Magram a strange and threatening text.

“If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say you were avoiding me! Don’t worry, I have a picture for you as well. Very subversive,” Garrison texted Magram on Aug. 13, 2019.

Garrison told the Free Beacon the text was black humor, referring to how people didn’t want to be seen with him due to the scandals. He was telling Magram that he had a picture of them together.

“Giving you a picture is very subversive,” Garrison explained. “If you’re associated with me, you’re dead, your career is over.”

But about an hour after sending the “subversive” text, Garrison sent another message saying he heard Magram had complained about him—falsely, he says—to airmen of the California National Guard.

“I am deeply disturbed by these statements, especially from you,” Garrison texted.

Speaking to the Free Beacon, Garrison stood behind the testimony he provided to Said, saying Magram “had a tendency to use our subordinates in a way that would get you in trouble if you’re a colonel or a general officer.”

A key ally of Garrison in the California National Guard also played a role in the Magram probe. The non-redacted version of the IG report obtained by the Free Beacon reveals that the initial complaint that sparked the investigation came from a woman who’d served as Garrison’s full-time legal adviser, Caryn Warren.

She complained that Magram was interfering with her ability to do her job. Her complaint, which arose from the tortured “pissgate” investigations, was discredited after investigators learned, according to the report, that she was considered by some guard members to be Garrison’s “henchman”—and Magram was cleared in regards to her allegation.

Warren also claimed that Magram interfered with the promotions of five female servicemembers. But four of those women testified that Magram did not interfere with their careers. Investigators cleared Magram of any wrongdoing for deferring the fifth woman’s promotion.

Warren told the Free Beacon that Said “failed to do a proper investigation.”

“There were many more women that needed to be interviewed, because there was a lot more information out there about the misdoings of Gen. Magram,” Warren said.

In 2022, Magram expressed concerns to state investigators with the California Military Department inspector general—which was conducting a separate probe—that Garrison and Warren would try to discredit him in retaliation for his role in “pissgate.”

The two were removed from the sordid inquiries “due to conflicts of interest associated with the Piss and Boots and other investigations,” Magram told state investigators. Garrison “had significant issues with not being able to oversee what was going on.”

The state officials went ahead and published their own report in May 2022 that alleged Magram had subordinates drive him to repair shops where his car was being serviced a few times between 2016 and 2018.

Two Magram subordinates testified to state investigators they did not feel obligated to drive Magram to the repair shops and feared no reprisals if they refused. Magram testified the trips were detours of no more than a few miles for his subordinates and that Caryn Warren, then his ethics officer, told him “it shouldn’t be an issue.”

State investigators determined that Magram’s conduct “reflected a broader, longstanding practice” at the time in the California Air National Guard. Still, they concluded that Magram violated military regulations in large part because they found no evidence Warren issued her ethics opinion in writing. Beevers cited the state investigation in his June 2022 memo recommending Magram’s termination.

Magram challenged the Beevers memo and requested a disciplinary action board hearing to defend his fitness to serve. But the board sided with Beevers and ruled unanimously that Magram should be separated from state duty.

Newsom sided with Beevers and the board, with his office issuing an order to separate Magram from state active duty on Nov. 10, 2022. Magram was formally removed from the California National Guard on Jan. 9, 2023.

Almost exactly two years later, wildfires began to tear across greater Los Angeles.

The post As Los Angeles fires rage, California National Guard’s top wildfire response expert says the Newsom admin fired him because he’s Jewish appeared first on World Israel News.

In response to the devastating fires that have so far killed 24 people and destroyed tens of thousands of structures, California deployed the National Guard, who have been amply cared for by the gracious and thankful Jewish community.

National Guardsman: “[I don’t have a lot of experience with the Jewish community, but ever since I got here, a very large Jewish community, I noticed that you guys love us! You bring us cookies, coffee…and stop by just to say hi. @Chabad welcomes us…]” pic.twitter.com/saWA1VdUEz

— Jewish Defense Fund (@TheDefenseFund) January 12, 2025

The post WATCH: California National Guard soldiers thank Jewish community for incredible hospitality during wildfire battle appeared first on World Israel News.

Walz has previously faced accusations of ‘stolen valor’ from combat veterans for how he described his time in the National Guard.

By Joseph Simonson, The Washington Free Beacon

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz knew his National Guard battalion was being eyed for a likely deployment to Iraq when he decided to retire, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Walz said he had a “responsibility” to “serve if called on,” shortly before he dropped out of the Guard, an archived campaign statement shows.

That statement eliminates any doubt over whether Walz knew an Iraq deployment was on the table when he decided to leave the service.

A source who served in the Minnesota National Guard at the time previously told the Free Beacon that the timing of Walz’s retirement “left a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths.”

“As Command Sergeant Major, I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on,” Walz said in a campaign statement on March 20, 2005.

Just three days prior, the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced that at least part of his battalion could be shipped overseas to the Middle East in the next two years.

Walz left the National Guard that May. Two months later, his battalion was put on notice that they would be deploying to Iraq.

CNN reported on Wednesday that Walz’s National Guard unit only received notice of the deployment in July, two months after he retired.

However, the campaign statement shows that Walz knew that an Iraq deployment was at least on the table.

The two reporters who wrote that piece, Haley Britzky and Jeremy Herb, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The revelation that Walz knew of his potential deployment when he decided to retire is just the most recent controversy surrounding his representation of his military career.

Walz has previously faced accusations of “stolen valor” from combat veterans for how he described his time in the National Guard.

Walz presented himself as a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom both at a 2004 rally and during his 2006 congressional campaign launch, the Free Beacon reported Wednesday.

Those misrepresentations spurred a local Iraq war veteran to confront Walz’s staff about Walz’s claims, a resurfaced video from 2009 shows.

Just in: A Video from 2009 shows a veteran confronting Tim Walz’s staff over claims that he served in Afghanistan. The veteran said Walz could go to jail for violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2006 for claiming to have served in Afghanistan when he didn’tpic.twitter.com/LdvtHJ5FnQ

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) August 8, 2024

Walz’s staff then said they would follow up with the veteran. A subsequent meeting never occurred, a source familiar with the situation told the Free Beacon.

Harris’s presidential campaign released a video on Tuesday featuring Walz calling for gun control.

In that video, Walz says, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is [sic] the only place that those weapons are at.”

The Harris-Walz campaign did not return a request for comment.

Walz served in the Nebraska National Guard from 1981 to 1996 and the Minnesota National Guard from 1996 to 2005.

His deployments only took him as far as military bases in Europe and he never saw any combat.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, attacked Walz for his military record on Thursday.

At a press conference, Vance, a Marine who served in Iraq, said, “I did what they asked me to do, and I did it honorably, and I’m very proud of that service.”

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him,” he said.

The post Tim Walz knew his battalion was being eyed for Iraq when he retired from National Guard appeared first on World Israel News.

Gunfire in Lod narrowly misses a woman lying in bed, prompting National Security Minister to issue ultimatum to police.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israel Police took action in Lod overnight Thursday after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told a station commander at 2AM that he would come to the city himself if quiet was not restored, after fielding several panicked messages from Jewish residents who had been hearing gunfire near their homes for an hour, Israel National News reported Thursday.

One woman, Ofra Lax, had an even more frightening experience, as she told the minister that a bullet had just missed her.

He wrote back to the residents that he had demanded that forces be sent to the scene and that “if the shooting doesn’t calm down within the next few minutes, I intend to come to the city to inspect the situation from in the field and demand intensive action to fight the dangerous illegal weapons.”

The report said that a large force of officers arrived very shortly thereafter, made several arrests, and the gunfire ceased. The residents were very thankful, telling INN that Ben-Gvir has been very attentive to the ongoing issue of Arab violence in their mixed city since he entered his office.

“He listened to our distress and is doing everything he can to fix it. We have to restore the security in Lod,” they stressed.

Lax, a journalist for INN’s parallel newspaper, Besheva, expressed both gratitude for her near-miss and incredulity about the perilous situation that is the norm in her town.

“A great miracle happened to me tonight,” she wrote after the incident. “I decided to go to bed early. 10:00 p.m. in bed. The city is indeed shaking from gunshots, but I try to ignore it.”

Suddenly she felt a small shower of wood, she wrote, so she called her husband in, and they found the bullet, which had hit her nightstand, missing her by mere inches.

“How does this happen in a major city in Israel? How does it make sense that they shoot here every night? And the truth? Not only here. I’m holding my breath, waiting for something to change,” she added.

Ben-Gvir has visited the city several times since the government was formed and has firmly backed the residents’ call to restore governability in Lod, which has been a constant cry since violent Arab rioting took place there during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021.

His answer is his country-wide plan to hire more than 3,200 police officers, raise salaries significantly to make the job more attractive, and establish a National Guard to augment the force in fighting crime as well as terrorism.

The budget for all this, he said in May, should come “in the next few months.”

Lod Mayor Yair Revivo wants a faster solution, saying Thursday, “If the Shin Bet law to deal with Arab crime is not passed immediately, I will call for the toppling of the government.”

The idea to use Israel’s internal security agency with all its intelligence and surveillance methods that are applied to prevent terrorist attacks in order to fight the upsurge in crime in the Arab sector, is a controversial one. It was first raised in 2021 by the previous government.

The post Arab gunfire narrowly misses Israeli woman lying in bed, ‘a great miracle’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The judicial overhaul is on hold in order to get the budget passed by the May 29 deadline; otherwise, the Knesset would be dissolved, resulting in yet another national election.

By David Isaac, JNS

The Knesset’s summer session began on Sunday after a month-long recess, and will run until July 30. Topping the agenda are passing a state budget, judicial reform, an updated ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, conscription bill and the establishment of a National Guard.

Budget

Passing the government’s draft two-year, trillion-shekel budget through Israel’s parliament will be the first order of business. Failure to pass a budget by May 29 would trigger the Knesset’s automatic dissolution and an early election. The Netanyahu coalition is focused on the task as polls show it dropping from 64 seats to just 46 seats in the 120-seat Knesset if an election were held now.

The Cabinet approved the draft budget in February. It went to the Knesset as two bills: the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 (610 billion shekels, or about $168 billion), and the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (653 billion shekels, or about $180 billion). Both bills passed their first readings in the Knesset plenum on March 28 by a vote of 41 to 32.

However, to become law bills must pass three votes. The second and third (final) readings in the Knesset plenum are to take place during this session.

To ensure things go smoothly, relevant Knesset committees met even during the recess. Hoping to avoid a last-minute opposition filibuster, the government is expected to move the budget forward a week ahead of the deadline.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday: “It is precisely during days of economic slowdown and global inflation that Israel can—and must—leap forward. We did this during the coronavirus. We did so during previous global economic slowdowns. And we will do so this time as well. We will bring economic stability. We will expand competition.”

Judicial reform

A legislative package designed to rein in Israel’s Supreme Court is the most far-reaching of those the coalition hopes to pass. The government seeks to undo decades of what it views as creeping judicial overreach, which has reached the point where the Supreme Court is a parallel source of authority increasingly at odds with Israel’s elected government and legislature.

While several bills related to judicial reform passed their first reading in the Knesset’s last session, Netanyahu put the reform legislation on hold at the end of March to give extra-parliamentary negotiations a chance to play out.

The prime minister’s decision came amid weeks of anti-reform protests, civil disobedience and a general strike sparked by his dismissal (since withdrawn) of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who on March 26 broke with the government to urge that legislation be postponed for the sake of national unity and military morale.

“We have a fundamental disagreement [with the opposition parties] on the matter of reform,” Netanyahu said at this Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. “[W]e are making every effort to resolve this debate through dialogue. With goodwill by both sides, I am convinced that it is possible to reach agreements—and I give this my full backing.”

It’s not yet clear what a compromise agreement will look like. Talks renewed this week at the President’s Residence following the holidays.

Among Netanyahu’s coalition partners, passing judicial reform is a priority. An estimated 600,000 Israelis rallied on Thursday in Jerusalem in favor of the legislation. On Saturday evening, roughly 110,000 opponents of reform demonstrated in Tel Aviv, marking the 17th straight week of their protests. Protesters also gathered in Haifa, Kfar Saba and Netanya. Organizers claimed 430,000 rallied nationwide.

Anti-reform organizers said they would return to acts of civil disobedience on what they term “days of disruption,” following a hiatus after Passover and various national holidays, including Israel’s Independence Day.

Ultra-Orthodox military conscription

The coalition’s haredi partners hope to settle the issue of conscription for the sector’s young men. Two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, had initially demanded that draft-related legislation pass before they vote to approve the state budget. However, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday, they agreed to a request by Netanyahu for a delay.

Ultra-Orthodox leadership discourages military service, seeing it as a distraction from Torah study. In 2021, 87% of haredi 18-year-olds didn’t enlist, while 86% of non-haredi 18-year-olds did so. This has caused sharp friction within Israeli society, with the majority dissatisfied that the burden of service is not distributed equally.

The proposed legislation would lower the age at which haredi men need to obtain deferments from 26 to 23 (or younger—the exact age is still being negotiated). Lowering the age has less to do with the military than with the economy. Ultra-Orthodox men are staying in yeshivah longer out of fear of conscription. The Finance Ministry, looking to the national economy, would like to see haredi men enter the workforce sooner and have time to study for better-paying, more productive jobs before marriage. The ministry is pushing for deferments to be required only up to the age of 21. The IDF has so far agreed to 23.

The bill also includes provisions to significantly increase the pay of combat soldiers, reduce the length of time noncombat soldiers serve to two years, and let the government set haredi draft quotas.

An existing National Service Law is set to expire on July 31. Initially passed in 2014, and amended under haredi pressure in 2015, it set annual allotments of haredi draftees to the IDF and punished yeshivot that didn’t meet those allotments. In September 2017, the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, struck down the law, deeming the exemptions discriminatory against those who serve.

National Guard

The Cabinet on April 2 approved the creation of a National Guard. Its responsibilities are being worked out in committee with recommendations to be submitted to the Cabinet by early July.

The establishment of a National Guard was agreed upon by the previous Netanyahu government and in June 2022 by the government led by Naftali Bennett. What now adds controversy is National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s demand that the National Guard answer directly to his ministry and not to the police.

Critics have labeled it Ben-Gvir’s “private militia.” Anti-government protesters have expressed fear it will be turned against them. Ben-Gvir has dismissed the concerns, saying the Guard will deal with national emergencies such as the violence in mixed Jewish-Arab cities when Israeli Arabs rioted in common cause with Hamas in May 2021. The Guard will also deal with border issues.

The post The Knesset gets back to work – most pressing issue, state budget; most consequential, judicial reform appeared first on World Israel News.

Ben-Gvir says opposition to new security body stems from “ego wars” within the police, insists initiative will go ahead as planned.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai publicly expressed their opposition to the formation of a new National Guard headed by Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, claiming that the new body could hurt national security.

Establishing a National Guard “as an independent and separate body from the police, directly subordinate to the National Security Ministry could cause heavy damage to the operational capabilities of the internal security systems in the country…and harm the security of the citizens,” Shabtai said in a statement on Sunday morning.

“This is due to damage to the… chain of command… power struggles between organizations and entities, and most of all, a lack of clarity regarding [which body is] the highest commanding entity, which bears the overall responsibility,” he added.

Shabtai charged that there “is no real reason for this unnecessary move” and “there are no advantages” to Ben-Gvir’s plan.

After the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition with Baharav-Miara, arguing that “establishing an armed force subject to the national security minister and separate from the police” is inherently “illegitimate,” the attorney general issued a ruling agreeing with their claim.

“There is a legal impediment to advancing this…proposal,” Baharav-Miara wrote to Ben-Gvir’s office on Sunday.

Ben-Gvir’s ministry responded forcefully to Shabtai and Baharav-Miara’s opposition to the formation of the National Guard.

“There are senior police officers who do not want a National Guard, because of ego wars,” read a statement from his office.

“There is a consensus that a National Guard is necessary to safeguard personal security, to fight the phenomenon of illegal possession of weapons, the crime wars, agricultural terrorism – and therefore the National Guard will be established.”

In reference to Baharav-Miara’s statement, Ben-Gvir’s office said that the attorney general “does not understand her place as an advisor,” adding that she is acting improperly in order to block the establishment of the body.

The post Ben-Gvir’s National Guard will ‘harm security,’ create confusion – Police commissioner appeared first on World Israel News.

Even if the Cabinet approves Ben-Gvir’s National Guard proposal, the initiative may face numerous legal challenges.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made his plans for a 2,000-strong officer National Guard public on Wednesday evening, as he is expected to bring the proposal for a Cabinet vote on Sunday.

During his campaign, Ben-Gvir spoke about rampant crime in Israel’s peripheral southern and Galilee communities, pledging to crack down on organized gangs, extortion, and widespread theft in those areas.

The new National Guard, which will answer directly to Ben-Gvir, will be focused on “restoring law and order where needed,” as well as combating terror and “nationalist crime” – a euphemism often used for racialized violence against Jews perpetrated by Arabs.

In a statement, Ben-Gvir described the National Guard as a “basic critical need for the State of Israel, without which we will not be able to protect the security of our citizens.”

He added that the “Israel National Guard will be used as a special force to deal with different emergency situations” and will provide relief to the police, which is currently experiencing a manpower shortage.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to bring Ben-Gvir’s proposal for the National Guard for a vote on Sunday, in exchange for the Otzma Yehudit chair not withdrawing from the coalition after the premier paused the judicial overhaul legislation.

But even if the Cabinet approves Ben-Gvir’s National Guard proposal, the initiative may face numerous legal challenges.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, claiming that “establishing an armed force subject to the national security minister and separate from the police” is inherently “illegitimate” and contrary to Israel’s Basic Laws about unbiased law enforcement.

“A police force subject to a political official is a clear and present danger to democracy and human rights,” ACRI wrote, asserting that Ben-Gvir would order the force to “directly endanger the public’s freedom of expression and protest.”

Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalowitz told the Arabic-language Radio Nas that nobody in Israel can have “a political authority over the responsibility over law enforcement. It won’t pass legally or constitutionally,”

He added that the National Guard “would destroy the Israel Police. We won’t let it happen.”

The establishment comes shortly after Baharav-Miara ruled that Ben-Gvir cannot give commands or make operational decisions regarding the Israeli police, despite the fact that his ministerial position would ostensibly give him authority to do so.

The post ‘Restoring law and order’ – Inside Ben-Gvir’s plan for an Israeli National Guard appeared first on World Israel News.