It’s Monday, September 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: The unlikely genius of Melania Trump, the latest from the campaign trail, how to help the French teacher canceled by Spence, and more. But first, with Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of all-out war, a victim of the terror group speaks out.
The war between Hezbollah and Israel, which has been at a low boil since October 7, is bubbling over. Early Sunday morning, the Iran-backed terror group launched more than one hundred rockets, drones, and cruise missiles at Israel.
The attacks, which reached further into Israel than any in the past year, came after the Jewish state had hit Hezbollah’s network with exploding pagers and air strikes. On Friday, a strike on southern Beirut killed at least 37 people, including a senior Hezbollah commander and at least 16 other operatives. (For more on this strike—and what Arabs who have suffered under Hezbollah think of it—watch this recent Free Press video.)
In an interview this weekend, Israeli president Isaac Herzog said the Hezbollah officials killed in the strike had been planning an October 7–style attack on the Galilee in northern Israel.
On Sunday, a Hezbollah leader declared the start of an “open-ended battle of reckoning.” And Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to do “whatever it takes” to restore security in the north of the country.
In other words, after almost a year of incessant rocket attacks that have displaced more than 70,000 Israelis from their homes in the north, patience with Hezbollah is wearing thin. And, as one Wall Street Journal report framed it, Israel appears to be presenting Hezbollah with an ultimatum: Back off or go to war.
For Israelis living in the northern part of the country, Hezbollah is the reason they haven’t seen home for almost a year. And for the subject of our video today—the second in our new series, Hezbollah’s Hostages—the terror group meant sexual servitude.
Alya was a happily married, 20-year-old woman living in Raqqa, Syria, who caught the eye of a Hezbollah operative a couple years ago. The story of her abduction and enslavement sheds unprecedented light on Hezbollah’s human-trafficking operations, which prey on the very people it claims to protect.
“The senior leadership of Hezbollah hides behind a facade of piety,” observes American University of Beirut historian Makram Rabah. “It uses a wide array of religious fatwas—legal rulings—to justify the sexual enslavement of Alya and other young women, among the many crimes for which the group has never been held accountable.”
Alya is the first victim of Hezbollah’s massive human trafficking operations ever to speak out in this way. Through Hezbollah’s Hostages, produced by our partners at The Center for Peace Communications, she is breaking her silence to encourage other women to come forward.
Watch “The Sex Slave: Assaulted and Abducted by Hezbollah” below, and to watch the first episode in this series, click here.
The Subversive Genius of Melania Trump
With the election just weeks away and her husband locked in a nail-biter of a contest for the White House, Melania Trump is taking a stand. . . in defense of nude modeling. Last week the former first lady released a video on social media in which she cited Michelangelo’s David and Cézanne’s The Bathers and stood by her decision to model in the buff. The clip is all part of the publicity for Melania’s memoir, Melania. But it is more than that, argues Free Press columnist Kat Rosenfield; it’s evidence that Melania Trump is a breed of political spouse the likes of which we haven’t seen before: one who doesn’t seem to care if her husband wins or loses. Read Kat’s full take here.
A new NBC poll gives Kamala Harris a five-point national lead over Donald Trump. The last time the poll was conducted, in July, Trump had a two-point lead over Biden. Harris’s favorability has jumped 16 points since July, the largest for “any politician in NBC News polling since then–President George W. Bush’s standing surged after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” Less encouraging for the Harris camp: her nonsensical answer to a couple’s simple question about the cost of living at a campaign event hosted by Oprah. And the race remains tight. “In sixteen years of running election forecasts, I’ve never seen such a close election,” says Nate Silver.
Donald Trump will hold a rally in Savannah later this week, his first event in Georgia—a key battleground state—in seven weeks. It’s not just the Peach State. Trump is doing fewer rallies this year than in his previous presidential runs. According to Axios, he held 72 rallies between June and September of 2016, compared to 24 in that period this cycle. “People in Trump’s camp” told Axios that the 78-year-old’s age is a factor, with the former president more inclined to spend time at Mar-a-Lago.
The architect of New York City’s Covid response admitted to attending sex parties and “taking molly” at an underground rave during the pandemic in hidden-camera footage published by conservative podcaster Stephen Crowder. Just when you think you can’t find a worse example of Covid hypocrisy, Dr. Jay Varma comes along and takes the biscuit.
Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which has been dormant for five years, will be brought back to life under the terms of a deal with Microsoft. The tech giant has inked an agreement in which it will buy all of the energy it produces for twenty years to power its AI technology. It’s a welcome sign for those rooting for a nuclear power comeback—and a reminder of AI’s voracious energy needs.
Bayesian, the superyacht owned by British tech tycoon Mike Lynch that sank off the coast of Sicily in August, is believed to hold watertight safes containing “sensitive intelligence data.” Seven people died when Bayesian sank in a storm, including Lynch—who had been celebrating his recent acquittal in a major fraud case—and his 18-year-old daughter. Divers surveying the wreckage have asked for additional security given the value of the information that could be on board. Lynch was the founder of a cybersecurity company called Darktrace and was thought to be close to British, American, and other intelligence services.
Days after reports that North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson referred to himself as a “black NAZI” on a porn website, seven members of his campaign team have resigned. Robinson denies writing the comments reported in the CNN investigation. Asked about the case, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance said: “I don’t not believe him, I don’t believe him—I just think that you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion.”
The U.S. and Iraq have agreed on the withdrawal of almost all American troops from the country by the end of 2026 and are expected to formally announce the deal as soon as this week. Around 2,500 troops are in Iraq today, focused on preventing a resurgence of Islamic State. Officials say that a small group of American troops will remain after 2026 for logistical support.
“Why is Britain so poor?” might not be a question on the minds of many Free Press readers. But it’s one on the minds of this (Britain-raised) Free Press writer. It’s one answered by a new essay, which doubles as a cautionary tale about what happens to growth and prosperity when it becomes almost impossible to build anything.
Help for Madame Proto
Last week we reported on the case of Anne Protopappas, the French teacher at Spence who was fired after she was asked a question about France’s hijab ban. The piece was written by M.J. Koch, an alumna of the elite private school. “There was no teacher I admired more,” she wrote of “Madame Proto,” who had taught at Spence for 25 years.
Unable to find work, Protopappas is now suing the school for wrongful termination.
M.J.’s piece struck a chord with many Free Press readers—and sent waves through the Spence community, some of whom wanted to aid Madame Proto. A group of her supporters have set up a GoFundMe to “help Anne while she is struggling to make ends meet. The funds will go directly to Anne to help with legal fees and life emergency expenses.” Click here to contribute.
Oliver Wiseman is a writer and editor for The Free Press. Follow him on X @ollywiseman.
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