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Tribune News Service on Sep 22, 2026

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Netanyahu slams Mamdani in video, ratcheting up tension ahead of UN visit

NEW YORK — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday ratcheted up the tension with Mayor Zohran Mamdani ahead of his visit to New York City later this week, saying he was going to “tell the truth” about Mamdani during his address to the United Nations General Assembly.

The video leveled heavy accusations against the mayor, saying Mamdani has incited violence against Jewish New Yorkers and stating that he supports the Hamas terrorist organization.

“Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. “Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews. I’m coming to the U.N. I’m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’ve got to tell the truth about you.”

Netanyahu is expected to arrive in New York City on Thursday to make remarks at the United Nations General Assembly. He’s slated to leave shortly after. Mamdani’s sharp criticism of Israel and the war in Gaza has sparked accusations he is fostering antisemitism, which is on the rise in New York City. Mamdani’s position that he does not support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state has been particularly controversial among Jewish New Yorkers.

—New York Daily News

Byron Donalds strips Trump references from his campaign website

MIAMI — Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds launched an updated campaign website this week stripping away numerous prominent references to his endorsement from Donald Trump as the president’s approval ratings hit new lows.

Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references his Trump endorsement. A button to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the homepage. “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter. BYRON DONALDS” was the page’s main text. A yellow banner reading “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP!” marked the middle of the homepage and a prominent section quoting Trump’s 2025 endorsement said “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

All of those mentions were stripped away from his updated website. His campaign also removed a photo of Donalds and wife Erika Donalds posing with Trump.

Trump’s endorsement is now only listed in a rolling banner of conservative endorsements from others including Elon Musk, Sen. Rick Scott, Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Charlie Kirk and others, with no outsize prominence.

—Miami Herald

‘Is nothing sacred?!’: Jesus statue is the latest in a string of Southern California bronze thefts

LOS ANGELES — For the faithful entering Christ Our Savior Catholic Parish in Santa Ana, the statue of Saint John the Baptist placing holy water on the head of Jesus represented a core tenant of Christianity.

But, police say, thieves who arrived at the church under the cover of darkness last month likely saw the artwork as representing something more worldly: quick cash.

Police say two men cut through a chain link fence at the church property around 2 a.m. on Aug. 30 and took an electric saw to the statue. In surveillance video, the men are seen slicing the depiction of Jesus at the ankles and carting it away. Only the feet and the stone base of the $50,000 installation were left behind.

Saint John the Baptist remains. But many worry the church and other locations across the region that display bronze artwork will continue to be targeted.

—Los Angeles Times

Merz seeks to rescue German reform agenda after election debacle

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will confront conservative lawmakers in Berlin on Tuesday after the Christian Democrats’ worst-ever state election result to find a way to salvage his reform agenda.

Merz secured the backing of CDU party leaders to stay on as German chancellor on Monday, fending off for now what was shaping up to be the biggest challenge to his tenure after 16 months in office. The conservative party saw its support collapse in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday as the party was knocked out of a state assembly for the first time in the country’s post-World War II history.

The chancellor is likely to hear fresh grievances from legislators in the Bundestag caucus. A senior lawmaker said she expects a discussion on Merz in light of recent electoral defeats, even as the parliamentary group looks to redouble efforts to see through a reform agenda to overhaul the pension and health systems.

“Of course there is frustration in the group,” chief caucus whip Catarina dos Santos-Wintz told reporters in Berlin Tuesday. “But the chancellor has the full backing of the caucus group.”

—Bloomberg News