Thursday, May 11, 2023

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: As Gaza’s rockets are fired at Israel, so are media missiles
Fueling Iran’s ability to advance its infernal aims is America’s incomprehensibly incoherent Middle East strategy. Last month, the U.S. deployed a guided missile submarine to the Middle East as a warning to Iran. Yet the U.S. has persistently refused to take appropriate measures in response to Iranian aggression.

Worse, the U.S. is even now hoping to cut a deal with Tehran over its nuclear weapons program, which would facilitate an Iranian nuclear weapon after at best a limited delay and channel billions in sanctions relief into the regime’s coffers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the West seems indifferent to the Iranian threat. Although the regime has been at war with the West since it came to power in 1979, there seems to be a pervasive belief that the only target in Iran’s sights is Israel.

This largely meets with Western indifference. So, as many have long wondered, why is the West so hostile to Israel’s very existence?

One answer is the new antisemitism, with irrational hatred of Jews replicated exactly in irrational hatred of the collective Jew in Israel.

Another reason is that Israel is regarded as fundamentally illegitimate by those who are profoundly ignorant of both Jewish and Middle Eastern history.

However, if this hostility towards Israel is put alongside the refusal to acknowledge the dire threat that Iran poses to the West, a yet more baleful explanation suggests itself.

Consciously or unconsciously, the West expects Israel to do its dirty work for it. It assumes that Israel will deal with Iran by itself because that’s the kind of thing Israel does.

Israel’s feats of military derring-do are indeed legendary. But there’s good reason to think it can’t take out the Iranian threat by itself.

Most importantly, any strike against Iran carries the very real risk of simultaneous and devastating attacks on Israel from the 150,000 rocket batteries in Lebanon targeting the whole country, missiles from Gaza and the infrastructure of mass murder in the disputed territories.

And here’s the most terrible thought of all. The prospect of widespread carnage in Israel doesn’t concern the West because, to its way of thinking, the historic role of Jews is to die in large numbers.

Then the West will eulogize them, weep crocodile tears over them and sentimentalize their memory. While the West refuses to tolerate the idea of Jewish power—and so will always demonize Israel for using it to defend Israeli lives—what it loves is dead Jews.

Harsh? Certainly. But harsher and more terrifying by far for Israel.
Gaza: Time for Israel to Change the Paradigm to Defeat Its Enemies
The assassination of three senior Islamic Jihad terrorists is a welcome change of tactics against those who incessantly fire rockets on Israel's south.

Named "Shield and Arrow," this latest operation appears to be in response to over 100 missiles fired at Israel the previous week.

It is hoped that this is just the opening gambit in a much wider operation.

The Israeli military and political hierarchy should look further than the most recent skirmish and see the wider war, with a fuller understanding of the long-term battle it can initiate, and respond accordingly.

It is important to understand that Israel is not at war with Islamic Jihad.

Israel is at war with a genocidal Palestinian rejectionism that is over 100 years old and is now being bolstered and supported by outside actors like Iran and its proxies. Islamic Jihad is just a small part of the enemy's military capabilities, maybe even the smallest.

Nevertheless, the battle lines that were drawn long before the State of Israel was established, remain.

Their goal is to defeat Israel, and Israel's goals must be, in turn, to defeat its enemies.

Israel's goal is victory, and thus it must use war as "a continuation of policy by other means," as the famed Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz once wrote.
Israel's campaign is already a success, but the fundamentals haven't changed
As Operation Shield and Arrow enters its third day, we can already draw with three takeaways: The first – the PIJ has suffered once again a major blow when its senior leadership was taken out and its operational combat worthiness was crippled after the IDF targeted its operational apparatus and arms-manufacturing capabilities; the second – the organization has not been able to exact a price from Israel, not in the south and not with long-range rocket fire toward Israel's main population centers. the third – Hamas has stayed this one out and by doing so prevented the flare-up from expanding, essentially leaving the PIJ to its own devices and making it deal with the consequences of what it has unleashed. This could allow the operation to draw to a conclusion rather quickly.

This is the first time Israel manages to do a hat-trick. The first was in November 2019, when a senior member of the PIJ was taken out in a quick flare-up. The second was this past summer, in Operation Breaking Dawn, when Israel took out the senior regional commanders of the PIJ. And the third was this week when Operation Shield and Arrow was launched with the triple assassination of PIJ commanders. In all three cases, the PIJ tried to take revenge against Israel but failed miserably. What's worse (for the organization) – it could not get Hamas to join the fight and make the conflagration that much worse.

Israel should not shy away from a confrontation
The success Israel has garnered should lead to three conclusions. First – while Israel should not be itching for a fight in Gaza, it doesn't need to shy away from it, especially when a small and brazen organization like the PIJ is the provocateur. The organization has tried to create linkage between Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip so that any deadly Israeli raid against terrorists in the West Bank would automatically lead to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Israel has now put a big flashing sign over that idea, sending the message that if it does not disabuse itself of that idea it will have to pay a price.

Israel has seized the opportunity by taking out various PIJ assets and operatives (from weapon factories to launching pits), while making sure that no Hamas operatives or non-combatants get hurt (except in the first strike at the outset of the operation), with the hope that the Gaza rulers don't join the fighting and have it escalate.


PMW: Dead terror leader had called for “blowing up all of this Zionist entity’s cities”
PA Chairman Abbas’ Fatah Movement has published a video of terrorist Khalil Al-Bahtini, one of the three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) top leaders Israel killed earlier this week. In it, Al-Bahtini calls for Jihad against Israel, praises “Martyrdom” for Allah, vows to educate Palestinian children to “hate the Zionist entity,” and urges to “blow up all of this Zionist entity’s cities.” Al-Bahtini also stressed that “negotiations” are not an option:
Senior Islamic Jihad official Khalil Al-Bahtini: “What we were educated on, and [what] our culture is, is that whoever lives on this land and does not merit Martyrdom, he has lost out. Allah has honored us in this land with Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) and Jihad, and we have no role in this blessed land other than Jihad.It is our honor, all the honor, that we are fighting against Israel, this thieving entity, and that we are educating our sons to hate this entity.It is our honor that we are continuing with all our days, efforts, and intentions to blow up all of this Zionist entity’s cities. Thus we will record in history that the resistance fighters of Palestine, and the resistance fighters of the Gaza Strip, were like a thorn in the throat of this entity, and that they did not negotiate and did not renounce a [single] grain of soil of this land.”

[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, May 9, 2023]


Significantly, even though these hate messages were made by a PIJ leader, Fatah publicized this speech on its Telegram channel. As PMW has documented, Fatah agrees with and disseminates all these identical hate messages.

The PA, Hamas, and PIJ all present dying as a “Martyr” as a positive achievement. In this video, Al-Bahtini said that failing to achieve “Martyrdom” is a loss: “Whoever lives on this land and does not merit Martyrdom, he has lost out.”

PA official TV recently broadcast a funeral at which a speaker said: “We love death like our enemies love life.”

The video of Al-Bahtini shows that PIJ takes pride in its hate and terror education: “It is our honor, all the honor, that we are fighting against Israel, this thieving entity, and that we are educating our children to hate this entity.”


U.S. State Department officials speak at same conference as dangerous Iran-backed Iraqi terrorist
Senior U.S. State Department officials spoke at the same conference as Qais al Khazali, a known Shia terrorist who is responsible for arming, training and forming the deadly Iranian-backed militias that are known to have killed hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq. Khazali is listed by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and his group, Asiab Ahl al Haq or the League of the Righteous, is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Instead of boycotting the event, Alina Romanowski, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, and Barbara Leaf, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, attended and spoke at the Iraq Forum, which Khazali participated as a “keynote speaker,” according to Iraqi Qahwa. Romanowski and Leaf were photographed smiling with three other women as the the logo of the Iraq Forum is in the background.

Khazali: an Iranian proxy
Khazali has a long history of supporting and directing the Iranian-backed Shia militias. Before Khazali and his brother, Laith, along with a senior Hezbollah military commander known as Musa Ali Daqduq, were captured by British forces in March 2007 and transferred into U.S. custody, they played a significant role in forming what U.S. military commanders called the Mahdi Army Special Groups.

Daqduq, who had served as the commander of Hezbollah’s special forces, was tasked by Quds Force to organize, train, and advise the Mahdi Army Special Groups. These Special Groups were established as an analogue to Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran’s premier proxy in the Middle East. Daqduq worked closely with the Khazali brothers.

These groups received training, funds, weapons, intelligence and other key aid from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF or Qods Force). During his detention, Khazali admitted to playing a key role in the Special Group’s formation and subsequent attacks on U.S., Coalition, and Iraqi forces. [See LWJ report, Iraqi militant Qayis Khazali warned us about Iran. We ignored him.]

The League of the Righteous is responsible for thousands of attacks on U.S. forces. However, its assault on the Karbala Provincial Joint Communications Center in 2006 was particularly brazen and significant. The operation was plotted with the help of Qods Force. The League of the Righteous fighters who carried out the attack trained in an Iranian mock up facility. The plan was to bring captive American soldiers to Iran. Khazali issued the order to kidnap the American soldiers, but when the operation hit a roadblock, five American soldiers were executed in cold blood.


Tunisia's Saied condemns attack on Djerba Jews, historic synagogue
Tunisian leader Kais Saied on Wednesday condemned the attack near the historic Djerba synagogue on Tuesday in which two Jewish cousins were killed.

In a statement reported in Arabic media, including Al-Ain media in the Gulf and Middle East Online, Saied put out a message of reassurance to Tunisians following the attack. Five people were killed in the attack, three of whom were security personnel.

Saied was chairing a meeting of the National Security Council, reports said. "I want to reassure the Tunisian people, and indeed the whole world, that Tunisia will remain safe no matter how these criminals try to destabilize it."

"They will not be able to do that. There is a state and institutions, and the Tunisian people know very well the schemes of these criminals," he said, adding, "our state is strong with its institutions, its armed military and security forces, and its alert people. No doubt will creep into anyone, neither at home nor abroad," denouncing what he described as "the cowardly criminal operation," according to a video recorded by the Tunisian presidency on its official Facebook account.

He said the purpose of the attack, in which a man who was also working in security killed his colleagues and killed two Jewish visitors, was to sow seeds of discord and harm the tourist season in Tunisia.

The former tourism minister, Rene Trabelsi, who is from Djerba, was at the synagogue when the attack took place. In 2019 Trabelsi made a point of encouraging tourism and visits to Djerba’s synagogue for the annual Lag Ba'Omer festivities. At the time, it was noted that Tunisia had suffered a slump in tourism after a 2015 terror attack in Tunis. He gave interviews in the wake of the attack.
Israeli forces arrest 25 PIJ terrorists in Judea and Samaria
IDF soldiers arrested 25 Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Judea and Samaria over the past several days, the military revealed on Thursday.

The arrests were part of “Operation Shield and Arrow” launched against PIJ in the Gaza Strip.

Several of those detained had been recruited by Tarek Azaldin, a senior PIJ operative who was killed in a targeted Israel Air Force strike in Gaza on Tuesday morning, the military said.

Azaldin had moved up the ranks of the organization in recent years and was entrusted with coordinating PIJ’s terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria as well as transferring funds from Gaza to Judea and Samaria, according to the IDF.

He recently planned and directed multiple attacks against Israeli civilians, the military said. He was also in charge of distributing the group’s propaganda in Israel to encourage terrorist attacks on civilians.

Azaldin had been incarcerated in Israel on a 25-year sentence due to his involvement in suicide and IED (improvised explosive device) attacks in the early 2000s. He was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
Israel Thwarted Palestinian Attempt to Produce Rockets in Jenin
Israel thwarted an attempt by Palestinian Islamic Jihad to produce rockets and a launcher in Jenin in the northern West Bank in recent weeks, Israel Security Agency head Ronen Bar revealed Tuesday.

He said Tareq Ezzaldin, a spokesperson for the PIJ who was killed by the IDF in Gaza on Tuesday, had directly organized and provided knowledge and funding to 20 terrorist cells who aimed to murder Israelis, including the cell attempting to produce rockets.

Bar stressed that "we have no intention of waiting defensively for threats, but are always acting on the offensive against those sending them."

"The PIJ is an organization that is fully funded by Iran. The hands are the hands of Palestinians, the voice is the voice of Iran."
Female soldier wounded during counterterror op in Samaria
A female Israeli soldier was seriously injured by shrapnel on Tuesday during an exchange of fire while taking part in an arrest operation in the city of Tubas in northeastern Samaria, the Israel Defense Forces reported on Wednesday.

She was evacuated to a hospital, and her family was informed of her injury, said the army statement.

The IDF on Thursday named the soldier as Shoshana Dagani, saying she was wounded while providing cover to a comrade during a heavy barrage of gunfire.

The arrest raid took place in the area assigned to the IDF Judea and Samaria Division’s Bekaa and Emekim Brigade, where 19 terror suspects were arrested in overnight activities.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian terrorists in Qabatiya, located south of Jenin in Samaria. Palestinian terrorists opened fire from a passing vehicle on troops searching for wanted suspects in the city, according to the IDF. The soldiers returned fire, killing the terrorists.

A third Palestinian was reported wounded in the exchange.

An M-16 rifle and a pistol were also seized during the operation, the army said.

Another Israeli soldier was lightly wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated during a counterterror operation in Nablus.


US blocked UN security council condemnation on Gaza - Israel's Erdan
The Biden administration, together with the UK, blocked the United Nations Security Council from issuing a statement condemning the IDF’s operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said Thursday.

“We succeeded in blocking condemnation of Israel with the help of the US, whom we worked in conjunction with,” he told Army Radio.

“The US, together with Great Britain, clarified that they would not allow a statement,” he added.

Security Council holds closed-door meeting on Gaza
Erdan spoke after the 15-member Security Council held a closed-door meeting on Thursday about the situation in Gaza at the request of the United Arab Emirates, France and China, with Russia’s support.

The US and the UK, together with Russia, China and France, are among the five UNSC members that have permanent seats on the council and veto power.
Egypt intensifies ceasefire efforts, sending envoys to Israel
Israel will only agree to an unconditional ceasefire with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, diplomatic sources said as an Egyptian delegation headed to Israel to continue to push for an end to Operation Shield and Arrow.

Israel will not release the body of terrorist and hunger-striker Khader Adnan as part of an agreement, nor will it commit to stopping targeted assassinations of terrorists, a senior diplomatic source said.

Rather, Israel will continue precision strikes on Islamic Jihad targets, including senior figures in the terrorist group, working slowly to gather intelligence and try not to harm bystanders, another diplomatic source said.

While rejecting other demands, Israel remained open to a ceasefire with Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Thursday, following an aborted attempt the evening before.

However, the source said, it will not happen until the rockets totally stop, and "not even a drizzle" of rockets will be tolerated, the source added. A total ceasefire on Israel's part will come when there is a total, unconditional ceasefire on the other side.

In addition, the source said that Israel is not facing foreign pressure to end the operation.

“If they stop shooting, we have no interest in continuing, but if they continue, we will crush them and strike them,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told ynet on Thursday morning.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a problem for Hamas - analysis
On a number of occasions, the tensions have erupted into violence when Hamas security forces interfered to stop Islamic Jihad members from firing rockets at Israel. It is vital for Hamas leaders to show that they are the sole rulers of the Gaza Strip, even if that means occasionally cracking down on their allies in Jihad.

To ease the tensions, Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials agreed to increase coordination between their groups regarding the fighting with Israel.

To avoid future misunderstandings, they decided to establish the so-called Joint Rooms Operation of the Palestinian Resistance Factions. The main goal of this body is to ensure that any decision on war or ceasefire with Israel is taken by consensus, rather than by a single group.

This was Hamas’s way of reminding Islamic Jihad and other groups that there is one kingpin in the Gaza Strip, and that is Hamas.

For now, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are keen on displaying a “united front” against Israel. The talk in Israel about Hamas’s refusal to join the latest round of fighting has prompted leaders of the two groups to come out against what they perceive as a “Zionist conspiracy” to drive a wedge between them. Hamas and Jihad leaders have gone to great lengths to deny reports in Israel about mounting tension between the two groups.

As part of their efforts to refute talk about tension, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah have been in almost daily phone contact since the beginning of the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last Tuesday. The goal is to broadcast that the two groups are working in harmony and full coordination.

Yet, when the guns fall silent, Hamas will once again be reminded that it is no longer the unchallenged and absolute governing body in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Hamas will once again be reminded that it has a problematic “roommate” in the Gaza Strip with whom it will have to live in the coming years and perhaps decades.

Islamic Jihad has become a problem not only for Israel but for Hamas too. It now remains to be seen how long Hamas is willing to put up with Jihad’s challenge to its authoritarian rule over the Gaza Strip.
Israeli killed as Gaza rocket hits apartments in Rehovot
An Israeli has been killed after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a four-story building in Rehovot, 12 miles south of Tel Aviv, on Thursday evening.

The unidentified man’s body was found under the rubble of his apartment.

It is the first Israeli fatality since the start of “Operation Shield and Arrow” against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.

At least five other people were wounded in the rocket attack from Gaza.

Police officers were searching the site and sappers were removing parts of the rocket. Authorities reiterated calls for civilians to follow the relevant safety guidelines.

The rocket fire was the first directed toward central Israel since the previous day.

Closer to the Gaza Strip, one person was wounded by shrapnel from a rocket strike in Ashkelon.

Additionally, a foreign worker was hurt by shrapnel from the latest barrage in the Eshkol region. He was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital. His condition was not immediately clear.

Another direct hit in Sderot failed to injure anyone.


Hundreds of Israeli Families from Gaza Border Communities Evacuated to Dead Sea Hotels
Thousands of Sderot residents were evacuated from the city on Tuesday, accompanied by members of the Home Front Command, after Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Ramona Sayag, a Sderot resident who evacuated with her family, told Ynet that "a social worker called me and told me that I was going on vacation with the children due to the security situation."

The evacuation program was coordinated and funded by the Defense Ministry, based on lessons learned from previous rounds of fighting in Gaza.

Each Gaza border community has a designated location. The first to evacuate were those with special needs, families on welfare and the elderly.

There was another large evacuation on Wednesday. In some communities, only "those with essential positions" remained, including emergency teams and dairy farmers.
Israel Accuses Islamic Jihad of Killing Four Gazans with Failed Rocket Launches
The Israeli military on Thursday accused Palestinian Islamic Jihad of killing four Gaza civilians with failed rocket launches.

The four were killed in separate incidents on Wednesday as the terror group fired more than 500 rockets at Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces, 108 of those launches failed, with the rockets coming down inside the Gaza Strip.

In one of the cases, a rocket landed in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, killing 16-year-old Rami Shadi Hamdan and 51-year-old Ahmed Muhammad al-Shabaki, according to the IDF.

Other failed launches killed 10-year-old Lin Belal Abd al-Salam Loh and 16-year-old Vizen Juda Aliyan.

During a previous military operation against PIJ, in August 2022, the terror group fired around 1,000 rockets, of which 120 misfired. Fourteen Palestinians were killed by misfired rockets, leading to widespread anger in Gaza against the terror group.


IDF cancels Gaza strike due to presence of children
The Israel Defense Forces canceled an airstrike in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday after several children were detected in the vicinity of the terror target.

In a video posted on the IDF's official Twitter page, a fighter can be heard saying in Hebrew, "There is a child here outside. 40 meters. Two. Hold fire. Hold fire."

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit routinely publishes footage of airstrikes, only this time, instead of an explosion, the military said it canceled the bombing due to the presence of civilians.

Considered the most moral army in the world, the IDF takes extensive measures to minimize collateral damage and is known for its so-called "roof knocking" technique that alerts inhabitants of an incoming attack ahead of time, giving them the chance to flee.


Sirens sound in Israel's south as rocket fire continues from Gaza
Day 3 of Israel's 'Operation Shield and Arrow' has begun with the assassination of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander and rocket alert sirens in the south of Israel

Over 500 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel over the past 24 hours


The Israel Guys: 10,000 IDF Reservists Called Up In Preparation For WAR With GAZA
In continuation of Operation Shield and Arrow, the IDF called up 10,000 reservists and an Israeli aircraft struck a terrorist squad carrying Anti-tank guided missiles in southern Gaza. The US administration almost forgot to say that Israel has the right to defend themselves, the UN is gathering to discuss the current situation. And the president of Kenya visited the Western Wall.




Israel vs. Islamic Jihad: Media Outlets Are Getting It Wrong as Terrorist Rockets Rain Down
Gaza-based terrorists continued to pound Israel with rockets on Thursday as Operation Shield and Arrow — Israel’s defensive strike against Islamic Jihad — entered its third day.

The recent conflagration began with Islamic Jihad terrorists firing a barrage of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel last week following the death of one of its senior leaders, Khader Adnan in prison as a result of a protracted hunger strike that saw him refuse medical treatment.

Early on Tuesday, the IDF launched precision strikes in the coastal territory, which took out Khalil Bahtini, who commands Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza, Jihad Ghanem, a key official in the group’s military council, and Tareq Izz ed-Din, who directs Islamic Jihad terror activities in the West Bank.

In the 48 hours that followed, more than 500 rockets were launched at Israeli towns and cities, with over 100 over those projectiles falling short and landing in Gaza.

Unfortunately, some media outlets can always be counted on for a botched job when it comes to their coverage.

The New York Times was among the outlets that failed in its effort to provide readers with context and background information about the conflict in a fact-box about Islamic Jihad.

HonestReporting called out the publication after it opted to sanitize its description of the Iran-funded organization — merely labeling them an “armed group” that was founded to “fight Israeli occupation, rather than an Islamist terror network that was established with a goal of destroying Israel through a holy war:

Meanwhile, the Washington Post appeared to be confused about the very nature of Israeli airstrikes and suggested the pinpoint operations — which are designed to neutralize singular terrorists while minimizing civilian casualties — were akin to the indiscriminate rocket attacks emanating from Gaza:
BBC News avoids relevant Palestinian Islamic Jihad background
On May 9th the BBC News website published a report by David Gritten concerning IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip earlier the same day.

The original version of that report was headlined “Israeli strikes kill Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza” and readers were informed that:
“At least 12 Palestinians, including three commanders of the militant group Islamic Jihad, have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.”

At no point in that report were BBC audiences told that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organisation which is designated by the EU, the US, the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Readers were not also provided with any information concerning the financial and military sponsorship provided to the PIJ by Iran.

Despite the fact that the PIJ does not provide any social services to the people of the Gaza Strip, Gritten nevertheless promoted the notion of separate ‘wings’ to that terrorist organisation:
“Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, confirmed that three commanders were among those killed.

It identified them as Jihad Shaker al-Ghannam, secretary of the al-Quds Brigades’ Military Council; Khalil Salah al-Bahtini, the commander of its Northern Region, and Tariq Muhammad Ezzedine, a leader of its military activities in the occupied West Bank.”


Readers were not informed that the “secretary of the al-Quds Brigades’ Military Council” was involved in the 2004 shooting attack near the Kissufim crossing (which was reported by the BBC at the time) in which Tali Hatuel, her unborn baby and her four daughters were murdered.


Bernie Sanders helps Tlaib host 'Nakba' event as rockets rain on Israel
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) on Wednesday salvaged an event planned by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) that called Israel’s establishment a “catastrophe.”

US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy had blocked Tlaib from holding the event at the US Capitol Visitor Center.

The event, which took place on a day in which Palestinian terrorists shot 500 rockets at Israeli civilians, was organized in partnership with organizations that glorify terrorism against Israel and proliferate antisemitic messaging. It was first reported in The Jerusalem Post this week.

However, Sanders let her hold the event in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing room, which he chairs and where McCarthy does not have the authority to block an event. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) also does not have the jurisdiction to stop chairmen from hosting meetings in their committee rooms.

Rashida Tlaib: The Nakba never ended
“We have a right to tell our stories of the Nakba of 1948... because the Nakba never ended,” Tlaib said.

She acknowledged Sanders’s help, calling him her “aamu,” Arabic for uncle, in the Senate. Sanders did not attend the event.

“No child should ever have to worry what will fall from the sky,” Tlaib said. She accused the Israeli police of a “sustained campaign of terror,” that Israel is an apartheid state and that US aid supports ethnic cleansing, Jewish Insider reported.






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