Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Michelle Goldberg writes in the New York Times:

In The New York Times this weekend, Katie J.M. Baker described a fund-raising pitch that the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank that gave us Project 2025, made for a campaign to crush a subversive movement that threatens “America itself.”

The pitch, she wrote, “presented an illustration of a pyramid topped by ‘progressive “elites” leading the way,’ which included Jewish billionaires such as the philanthropist George Soros and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois.” Whether intentionally or not, Heritage was deploying a classic antisemitic trope, the notion of the wealthy Jewish puppet master. In the contemporary version of this conspiracy theory, Soros looms especially large; the Anti-Defamation League has multiple pages on its website about the antisemitic underpinnings of right-wing claims that Soros is working to destabilize society.
Really? The Heritage Foundation published a pyramid that singled out Jews as puppet-masters?

I wanted to see this pyramid myself. 


The top tier includes seven people, of whom only two are Jews.




That context changes the accusation of antisemitism a bit, doesn't it?

I haven't studied the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther in detail to see if the criticisms hold any water, but even the criticism of the Heritage Foundation mentioned disparagingly in the previous New York Times article shows how it is the NYT that is twisting facts, not the Heritage Foundation:

But the group decided to begin their own national task force and released a statement of purpose that affirmed a definition of antisemitism that is hotly debated because it considers some broad criticisms of Israel to be antisemitic.

Statement of Purpose
Antisemitism: We recognize any attempt to delegitimize, boycott, divest, or sanction the modern [state] of Israel or bar Jews from participating in academic or communal associations must be condemned. 

We recognize that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the different manifestations of the same hatred against Jewish people.

Let us be clear: anti-Zionism is not "broad criticisms of Israel." By definition, anti-Zionism states that Israel is - uniquely among all nations - illegitimate, and that the concept of a Jewish state itself is racist, while Arab and Muslim and Christian states are all kosher. 

Anyone who claims that "anti-Zionism" is identical to "criticism of Israel" is being knowingly disingenuous.  And that includes the New York Times here. 

So here we have two examples where the New York Times is whitewashing antisemitism - one by extending a definition of antisemitism  to include criticizing anti-Zionist Jews, and the other by limiting the definition of antisemitism by claiming that wanting the Jewish state destroyed is legitimate criticism and has nothing to do with Jews. 

By summer 2024, Heritage had finalized a national strategy that aimed to convince the public to perceive the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States as part of a global “Hamas Support Network” that “poses a threat not simply to American Jewry, but to America itself.”

Once again, we must see if the facts support the Heritage Foundation or its critics.

Have we ever seen any of these "pro-Palestinian" groups condemn Hamas, outside of pro-forma "condemnations' of October 7 that end up blaming Jews for Hamas' actions? As far as I can tell, the answer is no. Which means that the Heritage Foundation's characterization of them being part of the Hamas "support network" is in fact accurate - their failure to hold Hamas to any standard whatsoever while demanding Israel adhere to their idea of moral perfection is effectively supporting Hamas.

Even their criticism that many of Project Esther's supporters are Christian, not Jewish, show their hypocrisy. Because the moral yardstick that they demand of Israel is not Jewish at all, but Christian - they are saying Israel must turn the other cheek in response to October 7, that destroying the terror group is a "disproportionate" response and that Israel should at best drop some symbolic bombs in open spaces to restore balance between the Jewish state and the Islamist terror group. 

They effectively endorse Hamas' use of every Gazan as a human shield. 

Maybe Project Esther goes too far; as I said, I have not examined it. But if these are the worst accusations that the New York Times can find against it, then it is the NYT's moral compass that is askew, not the Heritage Foundation's. And it is the New York Times that tacitly whitewashes some forms of antisemitism.




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What's God Got to Do With It?

Over the past few months I have been shifting my focus from defending Israel to a broader (possibly quixotic)  project of promoting Jewish ethics as a universal moral language that would be accessible for all, believers or not.  My thesis is that the Jewish moral framework is not only ancient and rich, but practical, humane and flexible enough to deal with the most modern and even theoretical challenges. It doesn't shy away from complexity, values dignity, expects responsibility, and makes room for disagreement. In a time when so many moral systems feel either rigid or hollow, I believe Jewish ethics has something real to offer the world. 

A side benefit of this project is that the universal adoption of such a framework would eliminate antisemitism, which was my original impetus when this project started as an analysis of common themes of all the disparate strains of antisemitism, and which is, after all, the underlying theme of my writings.

Another fighter against antisemitism is Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, an Egyptian-American intellectual who received political asylum in the US in 2012. His critiques and analysis of Abrahamic religions are brilliant; his essays in his Substack are often over my head. 

Yesterday  I read his most recent essay titled "Desire After the Sublime."  Mansour's basic argument is that modern life, with its constant stimulation and instant access to everything, has destroyed our ability to desire anything deeply. He calls this cultural state "pornographic reason" - not about sex, but about the way we now consume experiences, ideas, even people, without mystery, delay, or depth. In a world where everything is available all the time, nothing means anything. Desire collapses. The soul goes numb.

His argument seems to be that spirituality - particularly Abrahamic religious traditions with sacred prohibitions and rituals - is what once gave desire its shape. Religion, in his view, placed limits on human behavior, created distance between person and object and especially between the self and the Divine, and made certain things inaccessible or deferred. That distance wasn't oppressive; it was formative. It gave people a motive to reach, to aspire, to wait, to sacrifice. In the absence of religion - in a world where every boundary is erased and nothing is off-limits - desire loses its structure. We no longer yearn, we just consume. And consumption, by its very nature, cannot satisfy. It's not that people stop wanting; it's that their wanting becomes aimless, insatiable, and ultimately joyless. This, for Mansour, is the essence of the post-sublime world: a culture that no longer knows how to want meaningfully because it has forgotten how to live with limits.

The argument seems to hit home within Judaism and Jewish ethics. I want to frame Jewish ethics to appeal to the secular; but if morality is truly dependent on spirituality, then my project collapses. I wondered, what if Jewish ethics, once removed from its covenantal source, is just another set of gestures without ultimate meaning? Why would it attract anyone secular when faith appears necessary to provide the limitations that give life meaning?

But then I realized: Mansour's critique (if I am understanding it correctly - again, the guy is a genius) hinges on a false assumption: that because everything can be consumed, everything is available. Yet we ourselves are not infinite. Our time, our energy, our attention, are all tragically finite. Everything may be available but we have to still make choices. Meaning may be muted by abundance. but it is created by limits, and people have only so much time and energy to decide what to do with their lives.

Because we can't do everything, we have to choose what matters. And in that choice - to love, to serve, to grow, to take responsibility - we can rediscover the shape of a meaningful life. Mansour is right that consumption alone leaves us hollow. But our acts of giving, of choosing to give what little we have, we are confronted with moral reality.

Yes, knowledge is cheap now. But wisdom isn't. You can Google a fact, but you can't shortcut discernment, humility, or courage. Wisdom still takes time, experience, failure, and reflection. If anything, the flood of information makes the pursuit of wisdom more vital, not less. 

I use AI a great deal nowadays - it helped me dissect Mansour's essay and to write this one (and Mansour is planning to extend his argument into AI as well) - but in the end I use generative AI as a study partner, not a Wikipedia. If it suggests something that doesn't sit well with me I argue back. Its seeming infinite knowledge does not necessarily cheapen the desire for acquiring wisdom; it can supercharge it. 

For all the abundance available to us, we still have choices. Amazon.com can also be a force for good. 

Mansour is not necessarily disagreeing with this. His essay centers not on belief but on form:

Before desire was reduced to appetite and stimulation, it was shaped by form. To desire something was not simply to want it, but to be drawn toward it through a structure that delayed, elevated, and transformed the wanting. Desire was not opposed to discipline; it required it. The soul had to be trained not only in what to desire, but in how to desire; how to suffer longing without collapsing into immediacy. 

Here is where Jewish ethics, even when secularized, still shines. The great benefits of Shabbat - a weekly, conscious turning away from materiality and turning off of electronic connectivity in favor of family and community - do not depend on God.  Modesty is part of Jewish ethics but it does not require belief to reap its benefits. Deciding not to cheapen speech with gossip and cynicism elevates the soul even in those who don't believe in souls. 

The higher values of Jewish ethics - compassion, integrity, truth, humility, dignity, responsibility - are rewarding in and of themselves. They don’t require a belief in God to feel meaningful. Acting with integrity feels better. Treating others with dignity feels right. Choosing justice and kindness makes life richer. These aren’t just moral obligations. They are existential blessings.

Other philosophical traditions like moral intuitionism, virtue ethics, and humanism suggest that people are capable of recognizing and choosing the good simply because it feels right—because it aligns with something deep within us. You don’t need divine command to know that cruelty is wrong or that compassion heals. Even in a world without religion, there is still a moral compass that everyone feels even as they are distracted by the culture of plenty . The pursuit of what’s good can be intuitive, even joyful. And living with integrity, even when it’s hard, often brings more fulfillment than the easiest shortcut.

One may argue that the secular who consciously choose to put form into their lives, who on their own decide to add limits, are in a sense morally superior to those who do it out of blind faith. After all, in many religious systems - particularly Christianity and Islam - acting morally is often tied directly (if not exclusively)  to the promise of reward in the afterlife. Judaism traditionally emphasizes a different approach: doing God's will is considered inherently valuable, regardless of the outcome. The highest level, according to the sages, is to do the right thing lishmah -for its own sake, without expectation of reward. This doesn't negate the afterlife or divine justice, but it places ultimate spiritual maturity in the realm of duty and love rather than transaction.

In this light, those who live morally without any belief in divine reward or punishment - who act justly simply because it is right and to make them into the best they can be - are enacting a deeply noble version of ethical responsibility. While Jewish thought doesn't claim such a path is superior to one grounded in faith, it does hold space to admire its courage and clarity. That kind of moral clarity deserves our respect, and perhaps even our reverence.

So, what’s God got to do with it? Perhaps everything. Perhaps not. But even if someone doesn't believe, they can still live meaningfully within this tradition. Those of us who do believe can appreciate those who do what is right without expectation of eternal reward. That path, walked without theological scaffolding, may in some ways be an even greater test of moral character - and a powerful testament to the enduring human hunger for meaning.




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  • Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon
There have been a spate of attacks on synagogues and other Jewish targets in Australia over the past year.

Turkish media blames - the Jews.

In March, a van filled with explosives near a synagogue was determined by police to be a diversion by organized crime to distract police from their own planned crimes, given the publicity of the many real synagogue attacks,. Previously, in January, Australian police theorized that some of the synagogue attacks were funded from overseas.

Jew-hating Turkish media site Yeni Atik put those two facts together and decided that it must have been the Mossad:

It has been revealed that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is behind the attacks on Jewish community venues and synagogues in various parts of Australia in recent months.

Australian police....expressed the view that members of an organised crime group for hire were behind the attacks, not a terrorist organisation.

Australia's domestic intelligence agency ASIO said it had detected foreign state actors using cryptocurrency to pay organised crime gangs in Australia to carry out "anti-Semitic" attacks.

In the Australian press and public, the only foreign state actor with the intention of doing this and who could benefit from it was clearly seen as the most plausible response: the State of Israel.

It is thought that Israel and Mossad's aim in carrying out these fake attacks is to want the laws against anti-Semitism in the country to come into force as soon as possible.
Maybe Yeni Akit never heard of Iran, or Hezbollah, or the PFLP, or Islamic Jihad...




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Monday, May 19, 2025

  • Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ian could not do the links today, so here is an abbreviated version - EoZ

The dozens of ambassadors to the United Nations, who marched among released hostages and their families, injured soldiers and other supporters of the Jewish state, sent “a clear message,” according to Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. “The people of Israel are not alone.”

“We are in pain. We are thinking about the hostages,” Danon stated. “But we know that we will prevail. We will win this war. We will bring back all the hostages.”

 Freed hostages face waves of online abuse after Gaza captivity

Former hostages have faced a wave of online abuse since returning home, a report said.

Analysts have found that most of the hate is spread not by bots but by real users, and that this phenomenon is growing, according to N12’s report from Sunday.
New York Times Pumps Out Al-Jazeera-Style Anti-Israel Videos for TikTok
Some of the most-viewed recently posted videos on the Times TikTok account, which has 1.8 million followers, feature dramatic images — with credit omitted — and language describing Israel as an aggressor.

“Israel bombarded a large tent encampment for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, causing a deadly fire,” is a headline on one Times TikTok video that has been viewed more than 110,000 times.

“Families desperate for food gathered at distribution sites in Gaza as Israel’s halt on humanitarian aid surpassed 60 days,” is the headline on another video, viewed more than 100,000 times. There’s no transparency in the TikTok video of what journalist captured the video and conducted the interviews, or under what conditions or terms — it is simply credited to “The New York Times.”


Spanish officials, whose contestant finished in 24th place with only 10 audience points, argue that public voting is unduly influenced by political and security situations. They specifically cited Ukraine and Israel as examples of countries engaged in prolonged military conflicts that "profit" from audience sympathy votes.

The European Broadcasting Union has not yet responded to Spain's request, according to local media reports, which also indicate that additional countries are expected to join Spain's appeal for voting reform.

To conclude with Yuval Raphael's own sentiment – Am Yisrael Chai.


In the regional arena, Israel has already won the war that started on October 7, 2023. While the fighting is not over yet, a confrontation with Iran is potentially dangerous and there is no sustainable “solution” available in Gaza, the balance of power in the Middle East shifted dramatically in favour of the Jewish state and its de-facto Arab allies.

The radicals have never been more humiliated, isolated, vulnerable and intimidated and the moderate, stability-seeking Arab regimes have only rarely felt more self-assured and surreptitiously grateful for the Israeli resolve in fighting their common enemies.
In the eyes of Iran and the Houthis, Trump's separate peace deal that excluded Israel is a captivating green light to continue their attacks on "The Little Satan", while obligingly halting their assaults on vessels in the Red Sea.

Trump's deal with the Houthis sent everyone in the Middle East the message that the Trump administration has finally thrown Israel under the bus.

Worse, Trump's agreement does not require the Houthis to abandon their jihad (holy war) against either the US or Israel.

"[The Palestinians are] ecstatic that their employer, Qatar, just "purchased" the US presidency with a $400 million 747 jet and a Golf Course...." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Palestinian political analyst, X, May 11, 2025.
Media outlets in Gaza report that Israeli special forces entered Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip earlier this morning and killed a senior member of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, Ahmad Sarhan.

According to the reports, the force entered into the heart of the Palestinian city in disguise, including some troops dressed as women.

During the operation, Sarhan’s wife and children were apprehended, the reports claim.

The World Food Program (WFP) warned Sunday that families in Gaza are starving while food trucks pile up at the border, calling the situation “a race against time.” The organization urged the international community to take immediate action to restore aid flows into the Strip.

While these allegations dominate political speeches and media headlines, the reality in Gaza appears more complex.
Though some markets in Gaza have been photographed empty, residents have also shared images and videos showing bustling food stalls, especially in Gaza City’s Al-Zawiya market. Despite war-related shortages and disruptions, food remains available in many areas, albeit at high prices.
Catholic-Jewish dialogue is “very precious” and must continue, Pope Leo XIV said at an audience with leaders of other religions on Monday, according to Italian news wire ANSA.

“Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism,” the pope said. “Theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains always important and is very close to my heart.” 

A day after his inauguration ceremony in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV spoke positively of Nostra Aetate, an official declaration made in 1965 that instituted a less adversarial approach by the church to Judaism.

That document, he said, “underlines the greatness of the spiritual heritage common to Christians and Jews, encouraging mutual knowledge and esteem.” 
Israel has come under fire, including from our own Government, for preventing aid from entering. Many have claimed this is a breach of international law, citing Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires essential aid to be allowed into enemy territory. They conveniently ignore the proviso that this need not be done if there are “serious reasons for fearing that the consignments may be diverted from their destination”. The IDF is clear that aid has been hijacked and looted by Hamas. Numerous videos and eyewitness reports have shown that same picture. 

Hamas’s control of aid distribution is also the most powerful tool it has to retain a stranglehold over the Gaza population. The new US-Israel initiative, co-ordinated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, aims to put a stop to that. The idea is to establish secure aid posts inside the Strip from where those in need would collect food under strict control.

Enter the UN crying foul, predictably joined by a chorus of so-called humanitarian NGOs. You might think those who claim to have the Gazans’ welfare at heart would welcome a plan that gets aid to where it’s needed without impediment from Hamas terrorists. If so, you haven’t been paying attention to what seems to be the real agenda of many of these groups, including UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council, international courts, and various human rights charities. Their missions apparently focus on twisting the facts on the ground (not to mention international law) into weapons to stick into Israel. 

The Jewish Simpsons Holocaust mural in Milan defaced in latest act of antisemitism - interview 
AleXsandro Palombo’s Holocaust mural at the Shoah Memorial in Milan was completely defaced in an act of “antisemitic fury” on Sunday, the artist told The Jerusalem Post.

The work, The Jewish Simpsons Deported to Auschwitz, which depicts the famous cartoon family as deportees to Auschwitz, received international recognition after its unveiling in January 2023.

Now, however, there is very little left of the original artwork. The paintwork was stripped off, and the remaining image was daubed with the words “Free Pal” in red paint.

“Little remains of the iconic work: only a grave antisemitic defacement, which has transformed a tribute to memory into an expression of hatred,” Palombo said.

The Department of Justice's long-awaited reckoning for UNRWA has arrived

The Department of Justice (DOJ) last month took a potentially giant step in the effort to combat the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas by asserting that UNRWA, unlike other UN agencies, is not immune from U.S. criminal and civil law. The decision may not just open the door for victims of October 7 to sue UNRWA for damages, it may enable the Treasury Department to impose terrorism sanctions and shut down a significant terror-financing threat.

Arab Israelis stand with their country — and reject the rage of Hamas

The college students erupting in anti-Israel protests on campuses across the United States, and the marchers at Thursday’s “All Out for Gaza” demonstration in New York City, repeatedly echo the talking points issued by the terrorists of Hamas.

But inside Israel, a very different story is unfolding: Millions of Arab citizens are rejecting Hamas and standing with the Jewish state.

The ‘nakba’ is not our problem

We need to stop thinking about the nakba as a Palestinian narrative of pain deserving of empathy by exposing it for what it is—another tool in the arsenal of groups whose goal is to bring about the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.

 How a Hidden Dutch Village Saved Jews during the Holocaust

Two Dutch families risked everything to create a hidden village and save as many lives as possible from Nazi persecution.

One of the Netherlands’ tourist attractions is a village hidden deep in the woods, between Vierhouten and Nunspeet. Built in 1943 by members of the Dutch resistance, the village provided shelter to more than a hundred people, most of them Jews.





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  • Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon


The British have released diplomatic cables where Hosni Mubarak visited London and asked then Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev to ensure that Jews who are allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union not be allowed to go to Israel. By that time, hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews were already going to Israel and the Soviet Union allowed direct flights to Tel Aviv. Mubarak pretended he was concerned that the Soviet Jews would be resettled in the "occupied territories."

Like all Arab leaders at the time, he couched his hate in concern for world peace, saying that unnamed people would perform terror attacks worldwide - especially against Jews - if Israel didn't do what they wanted.

Only about 1-2% of Soviet Jews in Israel moved over the Green Line so this was a fake concern - the Arab leaders didn't want Jews to emigrate to Israel, period. But Mubarak got Gorbachev to sign a document condemning the Soviet Jews who moved to the territories. 




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  • Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon

In March, the UN "Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel" issued a report on alleged gender-based violence by the IDF in Gaza.

Section 4 begins with a quote from an anonymous "witness":
I saw a pregnant woman who was shot and killed as she was approaching the hospital. She was left there bleeding. Nobody managed to rescue her as the hospital was under siege by the Israeli forces. She was found in a decomposed state about 20 days later. 
- A witness from al-Awda hospital in Gaza  
Later we learn more alleged details:
32. The Commission documented a case of a pregnant woman who was killed by an ISF sniper outside the al-Awda hospital during the siege of the hospital in December 2023. Witnesses told the Commission that the pregnant woman was shot close to the hospital building, as she was walking towards the hospital. The hospital area was occupied by Israeli forces at the time and, and as a result, people were afraid to offer the woman aid. According to a witness, no one could reach her due to the presence of ISF and she died due to her injuries. According to some sources, her body was left there to decompose..
There is no footnote indicating when and where this interview occurred. Or whether it came from an anonymous text message. Or whether it was made up. 

A pregnant woman shot by a sniper, and whose body was left there for 20 days? 

This never happened.

First of all, the IDF was outside the hospital from December 5-17, 2023, which is not "20 days." 

But more importantly, if a pregnant woman was shot by IDF snipers in December 2023, the news would have been all over the place - not just Al Jazeera but CNN and the New York Times too. Her name would be famous. Her grieving husband and parents would be located and interviewed. Photos of her body, taken with telephoto lenses, would be all over social media. 

Yet there is not one news story or social media post from the time, in Arabic or English, of a pregnant woman shot by the IDF outside Al Awda Hospital. 

It is simply a lie. 

But it is a lie that fits perfectly with the antisemitic attitude of the UN. To them, of course Jews shoot pregnant women outside hospitals and leave them to rot in front of everyone.  What even bother fact checking what is so obviously true?

The UN commission found two people willing to repeat a rumor they had heard, or possibly that they made up. The details are different, indicating that they are lying, but the "human rights experts" report all versions of the story as potentially true. 

The end of the paragraph shows that other stories were passed to the UN, good enough to sow suspicion but not good enough for the UN to declare them documented:
The Commission received additional information about another woman who was shot in front of her son outside the same hospital, but it could not verify the information.
In other words, the commission knows that Gaza witnesses are untrustworthy and will say what Hamas wants them to say. But since the commission itself also will say whatever Hamas wants, this is fine. It will report any wild rumor without corroboration. 

This is the level of rigor and fact checking one can expect from UN commissions of inquiry. No anti-Israel rumor is too outrageous to be believed, and Gaza citizens who have every incentive to be on Hamas' good side will say what they are expected to say to any investigators. 




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  • Monday, May 19, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon
Lebanon held its first local elections in ten years on Sunday.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud told the media, "Jews are a recognized sect in Lebanon and they have rights and duties, and voting is one of their duties. I regret that the turnout rate is zero percent."

According to Abboud, no Jews voted. How does he know?

Because under Lebanon's confessional system, everyone has to register to vote under their religion, so it is easy to track how many voted from each recognized sect.

While there are about 800 registered Jewish voters in Beirut, nearly all of them have emigrated. In 2004, only one Jew voted. 

The remaining handful of Jews in Lebanon - estimated to be between 29 and 200 - try to keep their religion secret, because of rampant antisemitism. Most have changed their names to sound non-Jewish. 

So of course they don't want to vote. It makes them visible when they want to be invisible. 

The governor's statement may reflect disparagement at Jews not doing their civic duties or sadness that none want to. But the reason they don't vote is because Lebanon is one of the most antisemitic countries in the world, according to the ADL, with 86% of citizens harboring antisemitic attitudes. 

The few remaining Jews not voting in Lebanon is not a dereliction of duty. It is a reflection of self-preservation and an indication of how hateful their Christian and Muslim neighbors are. 



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Sunday, May 18, 2025

From Ian:

We Expect Our Allies to Support Our Right to Destroy Our Enemies
As the war continues, voices condemning Israel grow louder across Europe as antisemitism has soared to heights unseen in recent years. Yet the accusations leveled by Europeans can be easily refuted.

We possess damning evidence not only against Hamas's military but also against the cooperation of the so-called "uninvolved" Gazan population in acts of murder, looting, rape, and actively hiding our hostages in residential homes.

As German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the Bundestag in October 2024: "Self-defense means, of course, not just attacking terrorists, but eliminating them....We will not back down [from supporting Israel]. I made it clear to the UN that civilian facilities can lose their protected status when terrorists exploit them. This is Germany's position and our understanding of Israel's security."

This should be our core message to all our allies. We are not asking them to support our right to self-defense and, of course, neither Israel's right to exist. We expect them to support our right to destroy our enemies.

Fortunately, we live in an independent Jewish state, accountable for our own fate. We will not live next to barbarians whose raison d'etre is the murder of Jews. If you are unhappy with that, then we must agree to disagree.

Numerous violent conflicts rage worldwide, yet Europeans elevate the plight of Gazans above all. Why? Because they happen to be fighting Jews. Muslims killing Muslims doesn't attract global concern. But Jews fighting and defeating their enemies - that demands a reckoning.

Israel contributes significantly to Europe's security. We are the modern embodiment of an ancient civilization on which the West was built. We are fighting for our survival in a long and complex battle that requires both patience and resolve. This war is not about the right to defend our lives, it is about eliminating the terrorists and uprooting the threat. Just as no rational person would live at the foot of a volcano that erupts every few years, Israelis will not return to normal life as long as the barbarians remain just a few kilometers away.

Dear Europeans, you fail to see the threats you face. In the 1930s, you ignored Churchill's warnings about Hitler. You thought it would end with the Jews. You learned nothing; after us, it will be your turn.
The Fighting Isn't Over, but Israel Has Already Won
In the regional arena, Israel has already won the war that started on Oct. 7, 2023. While the fighting is not over yet, the balance of power in the Middle East has shifted dramatically in favor of the Jewish state and its de-facto Arab allies. The radicals have never been more humiliated, isolated, vulnerable and intimidated, while the moderate Arab regimes are surreptitiously grateful for the Israeli resolve in fighting their common enemies.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has devastated in Gaza the only Arab state-like entity controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. The IDF also reduced Hizbullah from an intimidating strategic threat to a major nuisance, fighting a rearguard battle for its position in Beirut and southern Lebanon. And Israel's Air Force exposed the supreme vulnerability of Iran's most-defended sites.

In Cairo, Amman, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Rabat, Arab leaders know that sustainable Israeli resilience, strategic power, determination and tenacity in the struggle against common radical enemies are indispensable for their own regional welfare, sometimes even their existence. Whereas America is immeasurably more powerful, Israel, in their experience, is an infinitely more trustworthy and dependable partner.

The Middle East has taken a major turn for the better in the last year and a half. Israel is exhausted, but much safer, and even the Americans are somewhat more realistic. A lot depends on containing Iran, but the chances to avoid a catastrophe are better than they have been in a long time and everybody recognizes Israel's indispensable contribution.
Hamas docs: Oct. 7 aimed to block Israel-Saudi peace
One of Hamas’s motivations for launching its Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel was to frustrate U.S.‑brokered talks to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to documents published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the minutes of a meeting recovered by Israeli troops from a hidden Hamas command tunnel in Gaza, terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar had told senior commanders on Oct. 2 that only an “extraordinary act” could wreck the fast‑advancing deal. If Riyadh signed, he warned, “most Arab and Muslim governments would line up behind it,” sidelining Hamas.

The minutes say the assault, in which about 6,000 Hamas-led Gazan terrorists stormed the Israeli border, murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 251, had been under preparation for two years as part of a broader campaign to “shift the strategic balance” and pull other members of the so‑called Axis of Resistance into the fight.

A companion memo—also found in the tunnel—advised accelerating attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem for the same purpose and dismissed any Saudi pledge to defend Palestinian interests as a bluff. Hamas even circulated a “help wanted” notice for a university‑educated operative to coordinate anti‑normalization work, the cache revealed.

The prospect of Saudi‑Israeli talks had advanced further in 2023 than in any previous effort: draft U.S. security guarantees for the kingdom, U.S. approval of civil nuclear technology and a roadmap for Palestinian self‑governance were all on the table, according to the Journal.

Hamas saw the moment as existential. An August 2022 internal briefing cited in the files states it was the movement’s “duty” to derail the “wave of normalization sweeping the Arab world,” which already included the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan—the cosignatories of the 2020 Abrahams Accords led by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office.
  • Sunday, May 18, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon

Reports from Gaza are not credible. Journalists know this - but don't want to tell it to you.

Nineteen months too late, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports that journalists in Gaza are routinely threatened, harassed, arrested or even beaten by Hamas if the terror group feels that their reporting is not fulfilling Hamas' propaganda efforts. Here are extensive excerpts from their article but it is terrifically important:

When Gazan journalist Tawfiq Abu Jarad received a phone call from a Hamas security agent warning him not to cover a protest, he readily complied, having been assaulted by Hamas-affiliated forces once before.    

“They even told me that I would be responsible if my wife participated in the demonstration,” said Abu Jarad, a 44-year-old correspondent for Ramallah-based privately owned Sawt al-Hurriya radio station. “I have not covered any recent demonstrations,” he concluded, recalling how he was beaten and interrogated for hours by Hamas-affiliated masked assailants in the southern city of Rafah in November 2023, accusing him of “covering events in the Gaza Strip calling for a coup.”

He only secured his freedom with a promise to stop reporting.

Another journalist told The Washington Post they feared covering highly unusual demonstrations in March 2025 would lead Hamas to accuse them of spying for Israel. A third said Hamas’ internal security agents sometimes followed journalists as they reported. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Their fears of reporting on opposition to Hamas seem well-founded. A statement by Palestinian Resistance Factions and Tribes in Gaza, which includes Hamas, condemned the protesters as “collaborators with Israel,” a charge historically used to justify executions. Israeli outlets said that Hamas had killed Palestinians who participated in the March anti-war protests.
Abu Jarad reported Hamas’ threat against himself and his wife to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), the official union for Palestinian journalists, and PJS publicly condemned Hamas for violating press freedom. 
Prior to this, PJS had only published one other incident involving Hamas during the war — the brutal assault of Ibrahim Muhareb, who was beaten unconscious by armed men in plainclothes who said they were from the police investigations department. He sustained deep head wounds.
Muharab’s experience is not unusual — it’s his decision to go public that marks him out.
“There are major violations committed by the Hamas government and group against journalists,” PJS’ head Nasser Abu Bakr told CPJ. “The violations range from summonses, interrogations, phone calls, threats, sometimes beatings and arrests, to harassment, publication bans, interference with content, and surveillance.”

Press freedom violations by Hamas during the war have been vastly underreported.

PJS often documents Hamas attacks on the media internally, without publicizing them, for fear of reprisals, the group told CPJ. In other cases, PJS staff hear about events secondhand as journalists are too scared to report them.

CPJ’s experience echoes that of PJS.

In separate incidents this year, two Gaza-based journalists told CPJ that they were intimidated by Hamas security agents who blocked them from reporting in certain areas. The journalists did not consent to CPJ going public about their experiences for fear of retaliation. To them, the priority was to be able to continue reporting from the field.

More recently, a TV crew told CPJ they were assaulted by Hamas security forces while trying to film. But, again, the journalists did not want CPJ to publicize the incident as it was later resolved between the powerful clans that wield influence over most of Gaza’s population.

PJS’ deputy head Tahseen al-Astal told CPJ that Palestinian journalists are reluctant to spotlight their own problems, driven by a collective desire not to “pivot eyes from the war in Gaza,” which they felt was a more pressing story.

Most journalists have begun to practice self-censorship in their writing to avoid any problems with security,” he added.  

We've known this for years - I have stories as early as 2008 of Hamas attacking journalists who are covering stories Hamas doesn't want reported on.  Matti Friedman wrote in 2014 that "Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it." 

A Spanish journalist, off the record, said during the 2014 war "It's very simple, we did see Hamas people there launching rockets, they were close to our hotel, but if ever we dared pointing our camera on them they would simply shoot at us and kill us." And he was far from the only one. 

In short, every journalist in Gaza has known this for years. The CPJ has known this for years. The wire services, the New York Times, CNN - they all know that their stringers and reporters in Gaza self-censor and will not fact-check Hamas' lies. They will only publish stories that are anti-Israel, real or imagined, and any intimidation or attacks by Hamas on Gazans or Gaza journalists are simply left unsaid.

The corollary is that the successful journalists in Gaza are the ones who are themselves members of Hamas, work for Hamas-linked media outlets or are otherwise cozy with Hamas, They are the ones that have the most access to places that Hamas wants them to see, and they won't ever take pictures that could show that Hamas rockets fell short and killed people, or that Hamas IEDs killed Gaza civilians, or that Gazans want to leave Gaza, or that Gaza residents are protesting Hamas.  

Even the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, when they do report in Arabic on Hamas attacks on journalists, frame the attacks as hurting their own major journalistic goal of demonizing Israel. Really:

The Syndicate also affirms that the direct and indirect threats to which Palestinian journalists are exposed reflect a real challenge to the occupation's criminality and the war of genocide it is waging against our people. Were it not for the Palestinian journalist's insistence on continuing his work, defending his cause, and conveying his ongoing suffering as a result of the occupation's aggression, the world would not have known or witnessed these crimes. 

The PJS is no less a propaganda organization than Hamas is, just they want to occasionally say what Hamas is doing, too. 

The media’s job is to report the truth - even when it’s inconvenient, and especially when it’s dangerous. In Gaza, that truth is systematically suppressed, with Western outlets complicit in the silence. If news organizations won’t admit the pressure and intimidation their journalists face, their coverage is propaganda by omission.

As long as this continues, audiences must treat every “fact” from Gaza not as reporting, but as an unvetted press release from Hamas. Until the media comes clean, the world should withhold judgment—and demand honesty.




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Last week, I introduced AskHillel - a Jewish ethics chatbot that will answer any questions in alignment with Jewish ethics. Unlike other chatbots, it gives a full logic trace for what values are impacted by the question and how it balances between competing values.

The New York Times publishes an Ethicist column, an advice column where a professional ethicist from NYU, Kwame Anthony Appiah, answers queries.This interested me as a way to test AskHillel.

When I posted the same questions to AskHillel as those given to Kwame, I found that it more than held its own. The answers were similar, sometimes AskHillel would give an alternative solution than Kwame didn't think of. For the queries I asked, AskHillel did quite well.

But then I was curious: what philosophy does Kwame adhere to? If I want to position Jewish ethics against other philosophies, and Kwame's answers are decent (which they are), then I want to know what his algorithm is, so to speak, for answering questions so I could do a comparison of actual values and ethics, not just the answers.

I found an article where Kwame describes his process, and the answer is - he uses his own gut instincts.

Though he’s a world-renowned philosopher—the author of 10 books and recipient of a National Humanities Medal, a dozen or so honorary degrees, and too many other accolades to count—Appiah approaches tricky dilemmas the way most of us would: by first going with his gut. “The first thing I do is decide what my hunch is about the right answer to the question,” he says. “I don’t sort of reason my way towards it—I just kind of think about it.”
That process sometimes involves running a question by his husband, say, or thinking out loud in the company of friends.  
Only after he’s been stewing on it a while does Appiah then “try to think more systematically about what the considerations are,” he says. “Does the person have any duties that they ought to consider, or are they free to do whatever they judge is best independently of any duties? What are the likely consequences of the various forms of action that they're contemplating, in terms of impacts on others? There’s a sort of toolkit of things that philosophers think are important in trying to understand what to do and who to be.”

The choice of tools depends on the particulars of the situation, of course...

When Kwame says "duties" he is invoking deontology ethics. When he says consequences he is talking about consequentialism. The third main Western philosophical approach is virtue ethics, or developing good character. But these three approaches are not compatible with each other. He is picking and choosing which framework he wants to use for any given question out of his "toolkit."

Which means, in the end, there is no consistent, transparent framework - the choice of tools is post hoc, not systematic. He chooses his answers and then fits the philosophical approach to whatever he thinks the right answer is.

This approach is defended in philosophical circles in recent years as "moral pluralism." Modern philosophers like Isaiah Berlin, Bernard Williams, and Martha Nussbaum have acknowledged that no single moral theory captures the full range of human moral experience. 

But isn't that a tacit acknowledgment that the Western philosophical frameworks have failed? That their baseline categorizations themselves are flawed? 

The Jewish ethical system always included aspects of all of these major philosophical streams - there are elements of all three, and more. But it fused them millennia before Western philosophers realized that their pure systems didn't solve real problems. 

Not only that, but while the pluralistic approach allows huge amounts of subjectivity - two moral pluralists can easily come to different conclusions - that is less likely to happen with the Jewish ethical system, since there is a large amount of literature of real dilemmas that have already been decided and which imply a hierarchy of values. (Yes, I know, two Jews, three opinions - but the leeway in the halachic/ethical process is fairly narrow.)

When I created AskHillel, I input my understanding of Jewish values, axioms and priorities. While I do not think that they have ever been defined the way I did, they appear to be accurate. And the proof is in the pudding - AskHillel gives answers that are intuitively correct without being a professional ethicist who has a toolkit to choose from. 

Here's how AskHillel itself described how it is different from Western philosophical schools and modern pluralism:

Judaism never saw the need to split morality into parts to begin with. It wove together legal obligation (mitzvah), character development (middot), societal outcomes (tzedek), and divine purpose (kiddush Hashem) from the start. Pluralism is not a new layer; it's Judaism's native mode. The Torah assumes that law, love, justice, peace, truth, and humility coexist in tension and are refined through ongoing moral struggle.

A System That Preserves Moral Coherence:

What distinguishes Jewish ethics is not merely that it includes all the components, but that it holds them accountable to a shared source of authority and sanctity. Western pluralism often lacks this anchor—it becomes a toolkit of competing goods with no covenantal hierarchy. Judaism, by contrast, offers structured tools for prioritization (e.g., Pikuach Nefesh over most other values, lifnim mishurat hadin as ethical aspiration beyond law).

Ethical Triage vs. Theoretical Crisis:

What Western ethics treats as theoretical breakdown, Jewish ethics addresses through structured ethical triage and humility (e.g., teiku when disagreements are unresolved but preserved). Pluralism within Judaism is not relativism—it’s moral realism combined with reverence for complexity and ongoing dialogue.

The Torah’s basic ethical system is at least a thousand years older than Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. It is the oldest extant ethical system there is. Assuming that the rules I put into AskHillel are reasonably accurate, it shows that it is a more mature, more flexible and more bulletproof ethical system than any other out there. 

And, I  believe, it incidentally proves that most philosophers in the Western tradition have been doing it all wrong. 

It’s time to admit that the world’s oldest moral system might just be its best. And with AskHillel.com, for the first time, anyone can put it to the test. 




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

   
 

 

  • Sunday, May 18, 2025
  • Elder of Ziyon
Earlier this month, coinciding with May Day and going over Shabbat, Jewish Voice for Peace held a national meeting in Baltimore where they touted over 2,000 people attended.

Looking at the speakers on their website, you see a lot of names of people that are definitely not Jewish, like Linda Sarsour or Rashida Tlaib. 



In fact, at least 23 of the 40 speakers were not Jewish, and several like Rashida Tlaib and Linda Sarsour have been  accused of antisemitic rhetoric. 

Ahmad Abuznaid (USCPR): Palestinian-American, Muslim background. 

Noura Erakat (Human Rights Attorney): Palestinian-American, Muslim background. 

Prof. Robin D. G. Kelley (UCLA): African-American scholar, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Linda Sarsour (MPower Change): Palestinian-American, Muslim activist.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (U.S. Representative): Palestinian-American, Muslim. 

Prof. Eman Abdelhadi (University of Chicago): Palestinian-American, Muslim background. 

Congresswoman Cori Bush (Former U.S. Representative): African-American, Christian background. 

Lara Kiswani (Arab Resource & Organizing Center): Palestinian-American

Loan Tran (Rising Majority): Vietnamese-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Thaer Ahmad (PAMA): Palestinian-American, Muslim background. 

Khury Petersen-Smith (Institute for Policy Studies): No evidence of Jewish identity. 

Montague Simmons (Movement for Black Lives): African-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Raquel Willis (Gender Liberation Movement): African-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Sumaya Awad (Adalah Justice Project): Palestinian-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Dr. Angela Davis (Activist, Philosopher, Author): African-American.. Not Jewish.

Prof. Barbara Ransby (University of Illinois Chicago): African-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. 

Jamila Woods (Musician, Poet): African-American, no evidence of Jewish identity. Not Jewish.

Prof. Abdel Razzaq Takriti (Rice University): Palestinian, Not Jewish.

Sandra Tamari (Adalah Justice Project): Palestinian-American, Not Jewish.

Omar Barghouti (BDS Movement Co-Founder): Palestinian, Not Jewish.

Nick Tilsen (NDN Collective): Native American (Oglala Lakota), no evidence of Jewish identity. Not Jewish.


Here is how JVP describes their on site prayer room: "There will also be a prayer room open for anyone who needs a quiet space for Muslim or Jewish prayer, or simply to sit quietly for a few minutes, as well as a separate low-sensory decompression space." Also, they provided  "a facilitated ritual space to grieve our countless communal losses."

JVP: where Judaism is a prop.





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Saturday, May 17, 2025

From Ian:

Trump’s Retro-Futurist Vision for the Middle East
For observers of American foreign policy, Trump’s speech at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum was equally consequential. He hailed a "great transformation" in the region that was "not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons, or liberal nonprofits," but rather "by the people of the region themselves." Many are hailing or lamenting this as a radical departure from prior policy, but it is in many respects a return to an older strategy, albeit updated for the information revolution. This policy depended on a different set of calculations than Trump has used so far, however, and it may fail without it.

Since FDR met Ibn Saud in 1945, America’s Middle East policy has focused on maintaining access to energy from the Persian Gulf. To do this, Americans needed a favorable balance of power and reliable suppliers. Now that information technology is revolutionizing economies and societies around the globe, the Trump administration has added a third goal: integrating Gulf Arab investors into the American-led tech ecosystem that will battle China for control of the world’s information networks.

During most of the Cold War, the first two goals naturally led to a set of partnerships: Turkey tried to bottle up the Russians at the Bosphorus and the Persians wanted the Russians off their turf. Saudi Arabia wanted to prevent any other power from dominating the region, and also to stabilize global oil markets at a price high enough to cover its expenses but too low for industrialized countries to seek new sources of oil. And Israel shredded the Soviet’s Arab nationalist proxies that tried to dominate its neighborhood.

These partnerships benefited the United States. Its allies generally feared and despised each other, but deft American diplomacy capitalized on their strengths. Israel helped the United States break the Soviet threat to the region, and the Saudis helped bankrupt the Kremlin.

Two big trends have created the great transformation that Trump spotted. The first is that the Arab contest between the Islamists and the tech-focused modernizers has replaced the old battle between traditional monarchies and Arab nationalists. The modernizers, led by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, are trying to pivot from merely supplying oil and gas to becoming global leaders in advanced technology. The Islamists, often disguising themselves as democratic activists, want to topple the modernizers and reverse most of their reforms.

The region’s power politics have shifted too. The fear of Tehran drove the Gulf Arabs and Israel together, but thanks to Israel’s military and Turkey’s Syrian proxies, Iran’s regional empire is a shadow of its former self. That bond grows weaker as their shared enemies do.

Trump sees the massive opportunities created by this transformation. The modernizers can unleash massive investments that could determine if American or Chinese tech companies dominate this century. And a weaker Iran could make for a more tranquil region.

Those opportunities are at hand—but not yet in hand. Trump told the Saudis their relationship is "closer, stronger, and more powerful than ever before," and that "it will remain that way. We don't go in and out like other people." That verbal reassurance does not match his improvisational style though, and his partners are hedging their bets. The Gulf Arabs are buying Chinese tech products, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, "I think we will have to wean ourselves off of American security aid, just as we weaned ourselves off of American economic aid."

Iran and its remaining proxies are weaker, but still dangerous. The Houthi missile attack on Israel during Trump’s speech underlines that the bombing campaign was only partly successful. And Tehran still has a pathway to the bomb. Some of Trump’s staffers have suggested that he could allow Tehran to keep its uranium enrichment program, the sort of concession that Barack Obama and his coterie of "liberal nonprofits" offered Iran in 2015. Trump tore up that deal, and over 200 congressional Republicans recently encouraged him to push for the "total dismantlement" he demanded earlier this month.

During his visit, Trump hailed "the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi," which are products of a different sort of American nation building. American companies like Aramco and Bechtel enriched the Gulf Arabs and made their cities gleam. But that only happened because Washington got the hard-power realities right.
Riyadh, Paris seek to impose Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia and France will host an international conference next month with United Nations backing, establishing a roadmap for Palestinian statehood with specific timelines and enforcement mechanisms that completely circumvent Israel’s position on the matter.

In the wake of French President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-Palestinian declarations, the New York conference scheduled for June represents an unprecedented diplomatic initiative—moving beyond mere statements of recognition to establishing concrete objectives with implementation plans, including sanctions against parties that obstruct the process.

The conference will feature roundtable discussions and formal sessions led by French and Saudi representatives under U.N. auspices, with the explicit purpose of crafting a framework to implement Palestinian statehood.

Point of no return
In their invitation to U.N. member states, the organizers stated that “the conference is intended to serve as a point of no return, paving the way for ending the occupation and promoting a permanent settlement based on the two-state solution.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will deliver an address alongside national representatives. The proceedings will culminate in a practical action document establishing binding commitments and definitive timelines.

This approach marks a significant departure from previous diplomatic efforts that waited for Israeli-Palestinian bilateral engagement, as France and Saudi Arabia are now advancing their agenda regardless of Israel’s participation.

The invitation distributes blame for violence and the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre to “both sides,” stating that “since October 7, there has been immense suffering of civilians on both sides, including the hostages and their families and the civilian population of Gaza. Meanwhile, settlement activities endanger the two-state solution, the only path to just peace.”
Arab League: Pressure Israel for Gaza ceasefire
The international community must exert pressure to end the bloodshed in Gaza and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into “all areas in need,” heads of state and government said in a joint statement at the Arab League summit in Baghdad on Saturday.

The annual summit was attended by a slew of Arab leaders, including Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres—a declared persona non grata in Israel. Spain was the only European country present at the summit.

“This genocide has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, according to AP.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi noted that even if ties between Israel and additional Arab countries are normalized, “a lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will remain elusive unless a Palestinian state is established in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.”

He added that Cairo, in collaboration with Doha and Washington, is “exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire” in Gaza, efforts that led to the release last week of Israeli-American hostage Idan Alexander.

Al-Sissi went on to say that “once the aggression stops,” Egypt plans to lead international initiatives for the reconstruction of Gaza, AP reported.

Abbas denounced Israel’s “genocidal crimes,” which he claimed were a part of a “colonialist project that undermines the project of an independent Palestinian state.”

According to AP, he further called on Hamas to lay down arms and abandon its rule over Gaza.

Guterres told the audience, “We need a permanent ceasefire, now. The unconditional release of all hostages, now. And the free flow of humanitarian aid ending the blockade, now.”
Hamas offers to release half of remaining hostages for two month ceasefire
Hamas has offered to release half of the remaining living hostages and a number of bodies in exchange for a two-month ceasefire, Palestinian sources told Sky News Arabia.

In addition to demanding a temporary ceasefire, Hamas also conditioned the release on the immediate resumption of aid deliveries.

Hamas also wants strong American guarantees that negotiations to end the war will begin during the temporary ceasefire and that Israel will stop placing conditions and obstacles to the delivery of aid.

The same source indicated that Hamas doubted whether the US was able to compel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by the terms of any agreement.

The source pointed to the recent release of the last remaining American hostage, Edan Alexander, last week.

Following his release, Hamas had expected that Israel would begin allowing the entry of humanitarian and food aid. However, this didn't happen, and the Trump administration did not pressure Israel either.

Hamas makes additional requests
Hamas also requested that family members of Hamas leadership be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip and that Israel promise not to pursue them.

The source also said that Hamas expressed willingness to give up its weapons after relinquishing control of Gaza.

This comes hours after Netanyahu instructed the negotiating team to "exhaust all efforts" to release the hostages.

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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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