Tuesday, October 24, 2023

10/24 Links Pt1: A Record of Pure, Predatory Sadism; Ceasefire advocates are Hamas’s useful idiots; Israel slams UN chief for saying Hamas attack ‘did not occur in vacuum’

From Ian:

A Record of Pure, Predatory Sadism
The videos show pure, predatory sadism; no effort to spare those who pose no threat; and an eagerness to kill nearly matched by eagerness to disfigure the bodies of the victims. In several clips, the Hamas killers fire shots into the heads of people who are already dead. They count corpses, taking their time, and then shoot them again. Some of the clips I had not previously seen simply show the victims in a state of terror as they wait to be murdered, or covered with bits of their friends and loved ones as they are loaded into trucks and brought to Gaza as hostages. There was no footage of rape, although there was footage of young women huddling in fear and then being executed in a leisurely manner.

Edelstein said that the IDF chose to show the footage out of necessity. It is not every day that snuff films of Jews are shown at an IDF screening hall. (The original site of the screening was a commercial theater, which would have been even worse.) “What we shared with you,” Edelstein said, searching for words, “you should know it.” And he said he struggled to understand how some journalists could present the IDF and Hamas as comparable. This footage would refute that false equivalence.

“We are not looking for kids to kill them,” he said. “We have to share it with you so no one will have an idea that someone is equal to another.”

To me the most disturbing section was not visual at all. Like the clip of the father and his boys hunted in their pajamas, it was upsetting in part because it showed a relationship between parent and child. The clip is just a phone call—placed by a terrorist to his family back in Gaza. He tells his father that he is calling from a Jewish woman’s phone. (The phone recorded the call.) He tells his father that his son is now a “hero” and that “I killed 10 Jews with my own hands.” And he tells his family, about a dozen times, that they should open up WhatsApp on his phone, because he has sent photographs to prove what he has done. “Put on Mom!” he says. “Your son is a hero!”

His parents, I noticed, are not nearly as enthusiastic as he is. I believe that the mom says “praise be to God” at one point, which could be gratitude for her son’s crimes or pure reflex, indicating her loss for words to match her son’s unspeakable acts. They do not question what their son has done; they do not scold him. They tell him to come back to Gaza. They fear for his safety. He says, amid rounds of “Allahu akbar,” that he intends “victory or martyrdom”—which the parents must understand means that he will never come home. From their muted replies I wonder whether they also understand that even if he did come home, he would do so as a disgusting and degraded creature, and that it might be better for him not to.
Fearing denial and disinformation, Israel shows journalists raw footage of Hamas attacks
On Monday morning, Roxane Runel posted a photograph to Instagram of two Israeli military officers addressing a crowd of reporters in an auditorium. Behind them is a giant television screen.

“Press conference between the international media and the Israeli army after it disseminated images and recordings of the Oct. 7 attacks,” Runel, a reporter for France’s M6 television channel, wrote across the photo, touting an upcoming broadcast. “Why? What is at stake?”

Runel, who has reported from several countries, has already interviewed relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, which killed and wounded thousands. Yet in the middle of Monday’s screening of the attack footage, she was one of a number of journalists who stepped out early.

“It was too much,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I knew coming here that the hardest thing for me would not be the images but the sound, because you can close your eyes if the images are too much.”

Runel was one of about 200 journalists who attended the screening, which the Israeli government billed as raw and unedited audio and video taken from Hamas terrorists’ body cameras and phones as they massacred communities on Israel’s border with Gaza. In addition to clips of Hamas attackers shooting people, the 43-minute compilation contained graphic images of children being murdered, bodies burned, civilians being mowed down and other atrocities.

Gruesome photos and videos have circulated online in the two weeks after the attack, along with harrowing accounts of the violence visited upon Israelis. The images have become so ubiquitous that Jewish day schools in the United States cautioned students to delete their social media apps to avoid seeing them, while journalists and other public figures have expressed ambivalence about sharing them.

The IDF has taken delegations of foreign journalists into some of the hardest-hit communities, with one spokesperson saying just days after the attack, “Walking through here is like Eisenhower walking through Bergen-Belsen and seeing the destruction and carnage. The world needs to witness this firsthand.”
Jonathan Tobin: Ceasefire advocates are Hamas’s useful idiots
The choice between Hamas and Israel is not complex. It is one between an Islamist tyranny and a democratic state, between a group whose Western ideology isn’t merely alien to Western thought but steeped in what can only be described as evil. The comparison between Hamas and ISIS is apt; they are both modern-day Nazi movements that share an eliminationist mentality when it comes to Jews and the Jewish state.

The destruction of the Hamas regime is not merely a difficult policy option that will generate criticism from Western humanitarians, as well as hysteria on the “Arab street” and throughout the Muslim world. It is a moral imperative and should be treated no differently from the implacable determination of the West to wipe out the ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria, or the Allies goal to destroy the regimes of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War II.

In neither of those examples did the toll of civilian casualties, however tragic it may be, serve as a deterrent to pursuing the goal of victory over those evil entities.

In Mosul in 2017, when Iraqi and Allied forces recaptured Mosul from ISIS with the assistance of the United States, as many as 11,000 civilians were killed in the fighting inside the city. And some 800,000 German civilians were killed during the Allied bombings of Germany. On top of that, perhaps 150,000 civilians were killed during the 1945 invasions of Germany that ended with, in addition to the fighting elsewhere, a brutal house-to-house battle in Berlin.

We know that in neither of those cases did those seeking the end of those regimes take as much care in avoiding civilian deaths as Israel does now. Yet those casualty numbers were not terrible enough to render the wars to destroy ISIS and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi murder machine immoral undertakings.

The same moral calculus must be applied to the war in Gaza.

Contrary to Kristof’s despicable attempt at moral equivalence, Israel doesn’t seek to kill Arab children to make Israeli kids safe. He should know that a regime that murders and beheads Jewish infants cannot be allowed to hide behind the Palestinian children that they have endangered by launching this war. And those who would let it do so are not demonstrating wisdom or superior morals to those correctly demanding Hamas’s elimination.

Western minds raised on moral relativism and uncomfortable with the concept that some movements and governments are evil rather than merely misguided or mistaken. That is why they find a war that can only end in the complete defeat of Hamas—no matter the cost—to be in conflict with their understanding about how the world works.

Still, it’s much simpler than all that. If, despite condemnations of terrorism, you advocate for policies that will enable Hamas to emerge alive and well from the murderous rampage it undertook on Oct. 7—and which started this war—then you are their unwitting accomplices and as reprehensible as those who cry in the streets for more Jewish blood to be spilled.


Israel slams UN chief for saying Hamas attack ‘did not occur in vacuum’
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen blasted U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday for remarks in which he appeared to justify Hamas’s Oct. 7 murder rampage in the western Negev.

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres had told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, claiming that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.

“They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced; and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing,” added the Portuguese diplomat.

Hamas terrorists killed at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 4,500 in a massive offensive launched from Gaza on Oct. 7, which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.

“Mr. Secretary-General, in what world do you live?” Cohen rebutted as he addressed the Security Council. “Definitely, this is not our world.”

Cohen canceled a private meeting with Guterres, he subsequently announced on X (formerly Twitter). “I will not meet the U.N. secretary-general. After Oct. 7, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be erased from the world,” wrote the top diplomat.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan also denounced the secretary-general’s speech, noting in a post on X that Guterres spoke as Hamas bombarded central Israel with rockets.

“The shocking speech by the U.N. secretary-general at the Security Council meeting … proved conclusively, beyond any doubt, that the secretary-general is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and that he views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner,” said Erdan.

“His statement that ‘the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,’ expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder. It’s really unfathomable. It’s truly sad that the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views,” the ambassador said.

Erdan urged Guterres to resign “immediately,” while sharing a post that called on the Jewish state to “rethink its relationship” with the international organization.

The @UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN.

I call on him to resign immediately.


Gadi Taub: Biden’s Three Nos
When you look beyond Biden’s “I love Israel” rhetoric and examine his actions through a sober political lens, here’s what the details look like.

The first thing to note is that, from the get-go, the U.S. denied Iran’s fingerprints on the Hamas attack. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that there was no “direct” evidence of Iranian involvement. That statement is risible. The evidence is as plain as day. The Islamic Jihad in Gaza, which is an extension of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, took part in the attack. Then there are the Iranian weapons and tactics, borrowed directly from Iran’s Lebanese Shiite proxy, Hezbollah—to say nothing of the money from Tehran. Hamas’ leaders publicly credited Iran for supporting them. Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published detailed reported articles about Iran’s direct involvement in the attack.

Sullivan’s demurral about Iran’s involvement was the first sign that the administration is out to save the key element of its misguided Middle East policy, which the administration often refers to opaquely as “regional integration” or “de-escalation.” In practice, these phrases are euphemisms for a policy of appeasement that has offered Iran unofficial sanctions relief, flooding it with cash, including, most recently, a $6 billion package, which, contrary to early reports, was not frozen after the atrocities of October 7.

U.S. appeasement has enabled and emboldened Iran’s proxies, who together planned the slaughter that the world has just witnessed in Israeli population centers around the Gaza Strip. According to the press in Israel, Israeli officials asked Biden to publicly acknowledge that Iran was complicit in the attack. The Americans flat-out refused. The reason behind this refusal is simple: Admitting that Iran is behind the atrocities means admitting that the policies of two Democratic administrations are an abject failure—that they have destabilized this volatile region, even before Iran can complete its nuclear military program.

Then there is the question of Hezbollah. Far bigger and more lethal than Hamas, this Iranian proxy is now playing a direct role in the war. Biden tried to appease Hezbollah at Israel’s expense when he pressured Yair Lapid’s shaky coalition to accept a maritime border agreement that served Hezbollah’s interest (including giving it access to an underwater gas reservoir) by forcing concessions on Israel—supposedly in exchange for quiet. Now Israelis see what “quiet” looks like.

Israelis put much faith in the formidable naval force now projecting Washington’s power over the eastern Mediterranean. It is here, the press tells us, to deter Hezbollah from opening a second front on Israel’s northern border. This may well be true. Here is where U.S. and Israeli short-term interests converge. Israel prefers to fight its enemies one front at a time, so that it can deploy the full force of the IDF in each confrontation. The U.S., for its part, strongly prefers that the Gaza conflict remain localized and not mushroom into a full-blown regional war that would blow its “regional integration” policy.

However, this overlap in Israeli and American interests is local and temporary. The American assistance, we learned while Biden was visiting, came with a high price tag. Many in Israel had been arguing that the right move was to start the fighting first on the northern front, the source of the greatest direct threat to Israel’s existence. Biden reportedly demanded that Israel not make a major move against Hezbollah—and Prime Minister Netanyahu complied. Now, unless Hezbollah decides to preempt Israel, its power will remain intact, beneath an American umbrella of protection.
Lee Smith: Why is Biden Protecting Hamas?
The Biden administration forfeited the opportunity to try to split Gazans from Hamas after Israel cut off Gaza’s water and food supply as well as the electricity it supplies to the territory. There is no law, moral or even international, that requires one side to sustain enemy combatants or the population from which it draws its fighters. In effect, Gazans were given a choice as old as warfare itself: continued support of your leaders will lead to privation and eventually death; abandon your leaders and you will have life. By demanding that Israel restore water and electricity and allow aid trucks pass through Egypt, the White House lifted sanctions on an organization responsible for the largest one-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and tied the fate of Gazans to Hamas.

To best understand the current balance of power in the region, it’s useful to see the sides in terms of a normal war scenario in which combatant one (Israel) and combatant two (Hamas) occupy two separate territories. A third party (the US) opens a corridor of aid to territory two. By doing so, the third party makes clear it is the ally of the combatant that rules territory two — that is, Hamas. At the same time, the third party constrains and sabotages the attack plan of combatant one, thereby signaling it is an enemy of combatant one, Israel.

The Biden administration is doing everything in its power to derail Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza. While Biden gives public support to Israel, White House aides leak anonymously to show that Washington has no faith in Israeli leadership’s plans and goals. Washington asks for more time to get military assets in place across the region, which only gives Hamas more time to dig in, as world opinion inevitably turns against Jerusalem.

Obama, Biden, and their validators warn that Israel may get America dragged into a wider regional war with Hamas’ patron Iran, thereby embroiling the US in a replay of our post-9/11 disaster. But first Obama and now Biden have given the Iranian regime access to hundreds of billions of dollars in an effort to legalize its nuclear weapons program. Those are not signs of enmity but rather indicate an alliance.

The simple fact is this: with Obama and Biden, the US has switched sides. The White House is deterring Israel from striking against Hamas to preserve America’s new partnership with the Islamic Republic.
Daniel Greenfield: The ‘Two-State Solution’ is Terrorism
The myth that the Palestinian Authority, born out of the PLO, was a moderate alternative to Hamas has long since been exposed as a lie, but no matter how often Arafat and then Abbas showed their true colors, how many innocent people were murdered, the big lie was too big to fail. And now in the face of the worst terrorist attack in Israeli history, it’s still too big to fail.

The only way that Biden and the rest of Washington D.C. can countenance removing Hamas is by replacing it with another bunch of terrorists to maintain the “Two-State Solution”.

But the issue is not just one terrorist group. Hamas and Fatah are reflections of their people.

Twenty years ago, a Hamas terrorist disguised as a woman walked into a Passover seder filled with elderly people, including Holocaust survivors, and set off a bomb, killing over two dozen and wounding over a hundred. Next year, the Palestinian Authority sponsored a soccer tournament in the terrorist’s honor to the approval of 71%. (That same poll found that 74% of ‘Palestinians’ supported Saddam Hussein, 82% viewed Hamas as ‘freedom fighters’ and 79% believed that bombing Israeli restaurants and buses were not acts of ‘terrorism’)

“There is no limit to Palestinian barbarism,” the Israeli government spokesman had bitterly observed. The spectacle of “bleeding and dazed survivors” who were “dragging moaning victims across a marble floor streaked with blood and littered with body parts and crushed matzo” set a new standard for evil. One woman saw “a little girl lying dead on the ground with her eyes wide open”. The latest Hamas horrors were more of the same, only executed on a grander scale.

There is indeed no limit to ‘Palestinian’ barbarism and no limit to the lies that the rest of the world will believe to avoid confronting it. The ‘Two-State Solution’ is the worst of those lies. As the Jewish families massacred by Hamas found out, no one can live next door to monsters who lust for the opportunity to torture, mutilate, rape and kill them. That’s the ‘Two-State Solution’.

Biden’s push for a ‘Two-State Solution’ would hand over Gaza from one Islamic terrorist group to another. The Palestinian Authority provides payments to Hamas terrorists and their families as part of its ‘Pay-to-Slay’ program. It celebrates their atrocities and collaborates with them.

The Hamas butchery finally convinced the Biden administration that the terror group needed to go, but the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has admitted that Fatah took part in the Hamas attacks. Where did the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade come from? It was founded by a member of Tanzim, another Fatah terrorist group responsible for multiple suicide bombings that was created by Arafat and led by Marwan Barghouti.

While Barghouti is serving several life sentences in Israeli prison, if he were to run for president of the Palestinian Authority, polls show he would defeat the Hamas leader, 60% to 37%.

That’s the future of ‘Two-State Solution’.

The ‘Two-State Solution’ is not an end to violence, it’s perpetual violence. If we want an actual solution, it begins with ending our political and financial support for Islamic terror groups in Israel. The experiment of giving the terrorists an independent state has been tried and failed. The death toll from the terrorists of the ‘Two-State Solution’ continues to grow every year.

The solution to terrorism is not more terrorism, it’s ending terrorism.
The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Why Is the Pentagon Leaking Against Israel?
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti Today we talk about the Biden administration’s sudden alarm about Israel’s war on Hamas. Where is this coming from? Is this what the president meant by standing with Israel? We also touch on Trump’s rise in some new polls and try to make sense of what’s happening among Republicans in the House.
Biden must reverse course on letting Iran sanctions lapse — or watch weapons pour into Gaza and Russia

US crafting plan for mass evacuations if Hamas war escalates



Hamas claims to have 35,000 fighters in Gaza

IDF shows Hamas rocket launchers at civilian sites



Gaza rocket damages Holocaust museum



Israel could be planning lethal attack before Gaza ground offensive begins
They will also be focused on locating and rescuing the 200-plus hostages held by Hamas, perhaps the most challenging aspect of this operation. All of them will have a gun to their head.

Tanks and infantry in armoured personnel carriers as well as armoured bulldozers will follow, directly supported by combat planes, attack helicopters and artillery. Ground forces will head to predetermined priority enemy targets with maximum speed.

Tanks and armoured vehicles are highly vulnerable in the cities and need the protection of infantry on their feet, who will bear the brunt of the fighting. They will advance from building to building, with engineers blowing holes in walls so the infantry can attack from unexpected directions and avoid booby-trapped entrances.

It’s going to be a very tough fight. Gaza terrorists have been preparing for an Israeli ground attack.

IDF soldiers will come up against snipers, mines, anti-tank teams, suicide bombers, hidden improvised explosive devices and drones.

There is also an extensive network of tunnels, known as the “Gaza Metro” that has to be dealt with. Some have been destroyed from the air, but one of the tasks of combat engineers will be to blow them up with explosive charges.

It’s going to be hard to distinguish between civilians and terrorists unless they are pointing a gun at you. Hamas will use civilians as human shields and despite the IDF’s emphasis on preventing innocent deaths, many will unavoidably be killed.

The IDF is well prepared for the fight. I have seen soldiers close to the Gaza border carrying out intensive training and rehearsals before they go in.

They have the latest equipment, networked to give commanders and troops on the ground a picture of the terrain, the enemy and their own force dispositions that would have been beyond any soldier’s wildest dreams just a few years ago.

But ultimately hunting down and killing Hamas terrorists will come down not to hi-tech equipment but to the raw courage of the infantryman on the ground with his guns, bullets and grenades.


Murdered and missing in Hamas attack include citizens from 41 nations

El Al puts captive Israelis’ photos on seats of aid flight

France's Macron Says Anti-ISIS Coalition Should Fight Hamas
French president Emmanuel Macron proposed on Tuesday that an international coalition fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria be widened to include the fight against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Macron gave no detail on how the U.S.-led coalition of dozens of countries, of which Israel is not a member, could be involved.

Speaking alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Macron stressed that France and Israel shared terrorism as their "common enemy."

"France is ready for the international coalition against Daesh in which we are taking part for operations in Iraq and Syria to also fight against Hamas," he told reporters, referring to Islamic State.

Macron, who warned against the risks of a regional conflict, also said the fight against Hamas "must be without mercy but not without rules".

Netanyahu did not directly comment on Macron's proposal but said the fight was a battle between the "axis of evil" and "the free world."

"This battle is not merely our own ... It's everybody's battle," he said.

The U.S-led coalition fighting Islamic State was formed in September 2014.

Macron's office said the idea was to draw inspiration from the coalition and that France was available to discuss with Israel and partners what could be relevant against Hamas.

"The international coalition against Daesh does not limit itself to operations on the ground, but is also involved in the training of Iraqi forces, the sharing of information between partners, and the fight against terrorism funding," it said.

Thirty French citizens were killed by Hamas militants in their attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which more than 200 people were seized and 1,400 people killed. The Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed over 5,000 people since then.


Saudi Arabia Doesn't Condemn Israel in Statement on Hamas Conflict
The governments of Saudi Arabia and South Korea published an extensive joint statement on Tuesday in which they addressed the ongoing aftermath of a barbaric massacre of civilians in Israel by the genocidal jihadist group Hamas, urging full protection for civilians in Israel and Hamas-controlled territories and “durable peace.”

The statement – which also addressed at length the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s illegal nuclear weapons program, and defense and commercial cooperation between the two signatory countries – was notable as it did not condemn Israel for its targeted operations against Hamas territories or demand a “ceasefire” that would prevent Israel from responding to the Hamas attack. Many Arab and Muslim leaders around the world have responded to the Hamas attack by demanding Israel not defend itself from terrorists and failing to condemn Hamas for initiating the current crisis.

On October 7, Hamas terrorists, who are headquartered in Gaza, invaded Israel for a rampage they branded the “al-Aqsa flood.” The terrorists went door-to-door massacring entire families, taking hostages, and torturing victims. The bodies of those found showed extensive signs of torture; Israeli authorities have revealed to journalists evidence of torture, including the charred bodies of entire families, babies found burned alive and decapitated, and dead children with knives still stuck in their bodies. The victims ranged from newborns to octogenarians; estimates suggest over 1,400 people were killed on that day. At press time, another 220 people are believed to be trapped under Hamas control as hostages in Gaza.
‘ISIS on steroids’: Journalist recalls horrific raw footage of Hamas attacks
Journalist Jotam Confino described the attack committed by Hamas at the Re’im music festival as “ISIS on steroids”.

Mr Confino was one of 200 journalists who were shown unedited raw footage of the October 7 attacks.

“The atrocities that we already know happened and that we have already seen evidence of by listening to eyewitnesses, seeing the scenes, were now shown to us on a screening – 45 minutes – of raw material, GoPro cameras from Hamas terrorists … all of it really, really showing exactly what happened,” Mr Confino told Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan.

“I saw a Hamas terrorist throwing a hand grenade into a bomb shelter where a man, a father with his two sons, were hiding. The father was killed instantly, the two children ran out disillusioned, blood all over, screaming for their dad. The youngest boy who was roughly seven couldn’t see anything.

“We saw Hamas terrorists on the streets systematically assassinating people in their cars, executing them very, very close range.”

Mr Confino had to leave the screening after 35 minutes because he had “seen enough”.

WARNING: Distressing content.




‘Not even hiding it’: Yoseph Haddad claims Hamas targeted civilians in Israel attack
Together Vouch for Each Other CEO Yoseph Haddad claims Hamas is not even trying to hide the fact that it was targeting civilians during its attack on Israel on October 7.

Mr Haddad was one of 200 members of the foreign press shown a 43-minute compilation of raw footage from Hamas’ massacres in southern Israel.

The Arab Israeli activist recalled footage of a child begging to be killed after watching his father and brother be murdered in front of him.

“We know that they got a direct order from their commanders … to kill as much as possible, to humiliate, to behead, to rape,” he told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“They wanted to rape, they wanted to kill, they wanted to torture, and they wanted to behead and they wanted to kidnap civilians – that was one of the main targets.”






'Just as Cruel as the Terrorists': Many Ordinary Palestinians Joined in Hamas's Atrocities Against Israel



Exclusive footage shows interrogation of captured Hamas terrorists
Exclusive footage reveals what Hamas ordered its terrorists to do and what it promised to give them financially for every Jewish person they captured.

During the attack on Israel, some Hamas terrorists were captured by Israeli police and have been interrogated by the Israeli Securities Authority.

The footage shows the terrorists saying their mission was to kill the men and to capture women and children as well as saying they were promised $10,000 each and an apartment if they kidnapped a Jewish hostage.

The captured terrorists also speak about setting homes in the kibbutz on fire and they detail how they entered the homes and shot whole families inside.

Warning: This video contains distressing content.


Israel-Hamas conflict: ‘No turning back from the commitment to destroy Hamas’
Israel’s former deputy national security advisor Dr Erin Lerman says there is no turning back from the commitment to destroy Hamas.

“To destroy Hamas, we will have to go in,” Dr Lerman told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“We’re going to have to flush them out of their tunnels; we’re going to have to eliminate their leadership and the backbone of their fighting capacity.

"Israel can simply not reconstruct the areas devastated by the terrorists unless Hamas is eliminated as a governing authority in Gaza."

Dr Lerman said Israel needs to look for ways that would “offer the people of Gaza a different and better future” in “coordination with other like-minded elements”.


Israel remains ‘determined’ to eliminate Hamas despite ceasefire calls
Israel Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon says Israel remains “determined” in eliminating Hamas despite widespread calls for a ceasefire.

This comes after the Palestinian terrorist group launched attacks on Israel and seized numerous hostages on October 7.

“I was in Israel when Israel was attacked - if there was something refreshing is the unity I experienced when I saw the Israelis united,” Mr Maimon told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“When Israelis are united nothing can stop us.

“We are determined to take over, to accomplish all of our objectives, and to once and for all, remove this terror.”


Hamas employs Nazi propaganda tactics, Israeli official says

Middle East expert reveals Hamas' 'tactic' after releasing two further hostages
Former Israeli Intelligence Officer Avi Melamed says Hamas releasing two more hostages is part of the Palestinian militant group’s tactic.

The release of the two elderly Israeli women comes after Hamas set free Americans Judith Raanan, 60, and her teenage daughter Natalie, following Qatari mediation efforts last Friday.

Israel confirmed the number of hostages being held by Hamas has risen to 222.

Mr Melamed said Hamas is trying to “manipulate the whole story of the hostages” and hopes to keep delaying and possibly “defuse” the IDF’s ground invasion of Gaza, which is aimed at ending their rule.

“So, what we see is what I call the Salami System,” he told Sky News Australia.




'Nothing Is Left': Hamas Says Evidence That Israel Struck Hospital Is Conveniently 'Vaporized'



Hear from Hamas founding leader's son, who became a spy for Israel
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas' founder who later became one of Israel's top informants, speaks with CNN's Jake Tapper about Israel's war on the terror group and the situation in Gaza. #CNN




Chanting ‘jihad’ IS a threat to British democracy, Sunak says as Met police officers are ‘frustrated’ by inability to make arrests at pro-Palestinian protest

Jeremy Corbyn had a go at PMQs... until Rishi Sunak crisply recalled he had once hailed Hamas as 'friends'



Israeli authorities show international journalists 'raw, grusome' footage of Israeli deaths
Overnight, Israeli authorities took the extraordinary step of calling international media into a private briefing room to show "raw and gruesome" footage of Hamas terrorists killing innocent Israelis on October 7, says Sky News host Sharri Markson.

"Israeli authorities felt the international media were downplaying, or even denying, what had unfolded in these terror attacks," Ms Markson said.

"They say the lies are similar to the phenomenon of Holocaust deniers."

Ms Markson said 100 international journalists viewed the footage from October 7 on Monday night with some bursting into tears as they saw beheadings, torture and murder.

"Israel showed journalists this footage because it needs the world to understand what happened in order to explain why Israel is fighting back so forcefully."

Warning: This video contains distressing content.


Hamas wants Palestinians to die to 'blacken the name of Israel'
Hamas wants a lot of Palestinians to die to “blacken the name of Israel”, says The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan.

According to Mr Sheridan, the terrible hostage situation in Gaza and the moral responsibility for it “lies entirely with Hamas”.

“Hamas when it slaughtered so many Jewish people in such barbaric ways – it wanted this outcome.”

Mr Sheridan claims the terrorist group wants Palestinians to die to further its own cause.

“Israel must remove the Hamas threat; no government would do less; our government would do no less in similar circumstances.”




Megyn Kelly: Denying Hamas Atrocities, and Anti-Israel Students Playing Victim, w/ Rich Lowry & Charles CW Cooke
Megyn Kelly discusses the people in America and around the world who continue to deny and downplay the true scope of the Hamas atrocities in the October 7 terror attack, the IDF releasing bodycam footage showing what Hamas did, more neutral arbiters speaking out about the real story, and more. Then Rich Lowry and Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review join to discuss why denying or downplaying the reality of Hamas’ atrocities is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel, the similarities between Hamas and ISIS, American media getting spun by Hamas, the White House having to do clean-up on President Biden's answer about the U.S. and hostages in Gaza, Biden’s false story about his uncle Frank, whiny Harvard students responding to anti-Israel backlash by playing the victim and claiming “privilege," the extreme anti-Israel sentiment it takes to rip down posters of Israelis and American held hostage in Gaza including children, "cancel culture" and who deserves the punishments they get, the State Department holding “listening sessions” for staff crying over pro-Israel statements, The New York Times finally addressing their false reporting on the Gaza hospital story, Dave Chappelle's alleged anti-Israel comments at a comedy show, celebrities like Alyssa Milano calling for a ceasefire, Rep. Ilhan Omar's self-own, anti-Israel protests in America, increasing connection between BLM and anti-Israel movement, and more.


Anti-Semitism in our Western democracies has been 'completely exposed'
Sky News host Sharri Markson has condemned the “tens of thousands” of people globally who joined pro-Palestinian protests over the weekend.

“Instead of anger at Hamas, we saw unbridled anger towards Israel,” Ms Markson said.

Ms Markson said anti-Semitism within our Western democracies has now been "completely exposed".

"We've sadly seen solidarity, not with Israel, but with Gaza, where the governing body Hamas has burnt and beheaded babies, killed children and torn babies from pregnant women’s stomachs.

“Our despicable media praising these protests, these marches as peaceful, are implicitly condoning anti-Semitism.”


‘Not the way war works’: Dan Abrams slams West’s ‘double standards’ on Israel-Hamas war
American entrepreneur and TV host Dan Abrams shut down the idea that there is a “proportionate” number of deaths allowed on either side while discussing the “double standards” the West have on the Israel-Hamas war.

“That’s not the way war works. You don’t say well X number of people were killed so that means X number are allowed on the other side, it depends what the other side is doing," he told Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan.

“The facts matter, what happens on the ground is relevant. It’s relevant that Hamas is intentionally trying to prevent the Palestinian people from leaving, why? Because they want human shields, they want civilians to die. It’s good for their political cause for civilians to die.”

“When you ask the question of what’s proportionate, which is a fair question, it depends on each and every bomb that goes off.”

Over 5,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the war so far.




Asked if Biden worries about rising antisemitism, KJP pivots to Muslims
About three-quarters of the way into the White House press briefing on Monday, a reporter asked about U.S. President Joe Biden’s “level of concern right now about the potential rise of antisemitism in light of everything that’s going on in Israel?”

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, began with “a couple of things.”

“Look, we have not seen any credible threats. I know there’s been always questions about credible threats. And so, just want to make sure that that’s out there,” she said.

The next thing she said has raised a lot of eyebrows, both for its pivot away from the question and for its contradiction of statements that Biden has made in the past.

“But, look, Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks. And certainly, President Biden understands that many of our Muslim, Arab—Arab—Arab Americans and Palestinian American loved ones and neighbors are worried about the hate being directed at their communities,” Jean-Pierre said, per the official White House transcript. “And that is something you heard the president speak to in his—in his address just last—last Thursday.”

The White House press secretary went on to discuss Biden’s direction to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to “prioritize prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could harm the Jewish, the Muslim, Arab Americans or—or any other communities. And that is something that the president has sought to do and—and—since day one.”

“And we—you know, we’re going to continue to denounce any sort of hate towards any American here,” she added. “And so, that’s what we’re going to continue to be steadfast on. Again, he has—he has advised—directed his homeland security team to make sure that they’re on top of this.”

Jean-Pierre’s claim that those who are “Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks” was technically in line with, but appeared to violate the spirit of, a statement that Biden released a week ago about FBI hate-crime statistics.

“Antisemitic hate crimes rose 25% from 2021 to 2022, and antisemitism accounted for over half of all reported religion-based hate crimes,” Biden said on Oct. 16. “Anti-LGBTQI+ hate crimes rose 16%, and Muslim Americans and African Americans continue to be overrepresented among victims.”

“Why is this White House in denial about antisemitism?” wrote Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). In a separate post on social media, the congressman shared a video that appeared to show a Jewish man being attacked by a mob of pro-Palestinian protestors in the Chicago area. “Is this proof?” he asked, tagging Jean-Pierre. “What are you all afraid of?”


Ben Shapiro: Celebrities Speak Out on Israel
A substantial group of Hollywood actors recently penned and dispatched a letter addressed to President Biden, urging Israel to cease their defensive actions. Hollywood is truly full of morons.


Hollywood celebs urge Biden to ensure release of Israeli hostages



Florida Atlantic University Gender Studies Professor Arrested at Pro-Hamas Protest



If the police can scour the internet for hate speech, surely they can arrest protesters calling for the eradication of a nation



EXPOSED: The banker, a magician and his teacher wife who are ripping up posters of Israeli child hostages around the city

Lefties ‘turn on each other’ after Pride flag appears at pro-Palestine rally
Sky News host Rita Panahi reacts to lefties “turning on each other” after a Pride flag appeared at a pro-Palestine rally held at Trafalgar Square in London.

In the video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Lois McLatchie Miller, the flag can be seen falling to the ground as the flag bearer is surrounded.

“The flag did not last long, obviously,” Ms Panahi said.

A skirmish can also be seen breaking out with people running away from Nelson's Column.

Hamas sentences all men convicted of having engaged in homosexual acts to up to 10 years in prison.




Sydney Lord Mayor slammed as ‘weak’ for refusing to fly Israel flag at Town Hall
PR Counsel managing director Kristy McSweeney has slammed Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s “weak” decision to block a motion to display the Israeli flag at Town Hall.

The Sydney Lord Mayor claimed that displaying the Israeli flag and lighting the building up in blue and white would be “too divisive”.

“I think this is quite weak from the City of Sydney,” Ms McSweeney told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“It’s representative of the city of Sydney, one of our major cities, if not our leading major city in the country.

“Our world city that everybody looks to for reaction to these types of events, and certainly the large Jewish population that lives around the fringes of the city of Sydney in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.”


Suburb with large Jewish community backflips on plans to fly the Palestinian flag - and the Greens are not happy: 'I cannot vote for this'

Sydney Trains worker blasts pro-Palestine song through carriages
Jewish leaders are calling for the sacking of a Sydney Trains worker who blasted a pro-Palestine song throughout the carriages.

According to Sky News host Peta Credlin, this was not simply from a passenger with a speaker.

“This is through the train carriage speakers, put on by an official of Sydney Trains,” she said.

“They say they are looking into it, they are aware of the videos on social media.

“Those sorts of images will go around the world.”




Corrie star Maureen Lipman says ITV has offered her security amid rising anti-Jewish hate after slamming 'liberals' who fail to condemn Hamas atrocities



CAA agent steps down from board position over post accusing Israel of GENOCIDE - but will still manage Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon and Jewish star Natalie Portman

Sonny Bill Williams launches an extraordinary tirade against Israel: 'This is genocide'





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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 over 19 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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