Tuesday, December 12, 2023

12/12 Links Pt1: Hamas Has No Place in the Civilized World; Article 51 and Israel’s inherent right to self-defence; Why the images of Hamas prisoners sparked outrage

From Ian:

Scott Walker: Hamas Has No Place in the Civilized World
Oct. 7 was the people of Israel's Pearl Harbor day. They must continue to fight back until the existential threat from Hamas no longer exists. They must eliminate this terrorist organization. Period.

Israelis have every right to do as President Roosevelt said after Dec. 7, 1941, and defend themselves to "the uttermost" and "make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us."

The U.S. was never involved in a ceasefire after the attacks. Our military did not stop until the total defeat of our collective enemies was realized. Israel should now do the same.

Those who believe that the innocent people of Israel had it coming are fundamentally wrong.

The evil thugs of Hamas are coldblooded killers who violated every sense of decency with their actions.

We must never appease evildoers. There can be no stopping until this evil is eradicated from the earth. Hamas has no place in the civilized world.
Article 51 and Israel’s inherent right to self-defence
Occupation
There is no precise definition of “occupation” under IHL, and thus no way to definitively state whether an occupation has begun or ended. However, no reasonable definition would apply to Israel’s relationship with Gaza.

Israel forcibly removed its citizens and withdrew all military personnel from Gaza in 2005. The designated genocidal terrorist organisation Hamas has ruled over Gaza since 2007 after violently wresting control of it from the Palestinian Authority, after which Israel rightfully declared it “hostile territory”. The idea that nearly 20 years later, Israel is still occupying Gaza is, on its face, nonsense.

To make the argument that Gaza is still occupied by Israel, the UN abuses the vague concept of “effective control” – an undefined notion not found in treaty law but still used as the basis for defining “occupation” – warping it beyond any legal or factual basis.

Those who baselessly argue, based on blatant misrepresentation of the concept, that Israel has “effective control” of Gaza for the purposes of IHL would have to explain how the actual governing authority of Gaza, Hamas, managed to plan and launch a full-scale invasion involving thousands of combatants and a massive bombardment of Israel from that territory without Israel’s knowledge. Whatever control Israel is alleged to have, it clearly is not “effective” by any possible legal definition of the term.

A moot point
IHL has evolved since the 19th century not to create reality, but to manage it. The reality is that there are just wars, and that these wars require rules to protect civilians to the greatest extent possible. The “inherent right” codified under Article 51 is a long-standing principle of self-preservation without caveats beyond other IHL rules under customary international law. To remain fit for purpose, IHL and the interpretation of Article 51 would by definition have to cover any “armed attack”, including terrorism, regardless of its source. Otherwise, as noted by Sir Greenwood above, it would and should be considered mad. No relevant version of international law would allow terrorist groups to attack states while prohibiting those states from defending themselves.

Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, ending the occupation and rendering the already questionable 2004 Advisory Opinion irrelevant to the current situation. Even Hamas admits Gaza is no longer occupied.

Even more importantly, In 2015, the non-existent “state of Palestine” – which includes Gaza – was farcically allowed by the UN to ratify the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements. It thus became a state-like entity under IHL, which renders this entire argument moot.
Johnathan Tobin: Why the images of Hamas prisoners sparked outrage
That so many people who cared nothing about the slaughter of Jews by Hamas two months ago, and ignored the widely distributed photo and video evidence (largely compiled by the terrorists themselves on GoPro cameras to publicize the humiliation of their victims) of those crimes, remains deeply shocking to Jews. So, too, is the hypocrisy of feminist leaders and organizations that seemed uninterested in the Palestinians’ deliberate use of rape—against women, children, and, as new reports come out, even men—as a weapon of war.

These crimes against Jews were ignored or quickly forgotten in the rush to deprive Israel of the right to defend itself. It soon became clear even to many Jews who had always been critical of Israeli policies or who sympathized with the suffering of Palestinians that the protests showed that something deeply troubling was behind the outrage about the fighting in Gaza.

Those chanting for a “free Palestine” from “the river to the sea” weren’t advocating for peace or a two-state solution. Their position was that Israeli suffering was unimportant because the Jewish state had no right to exist and should be “decolonized.” If that meant more Oct. 7-style atrocities, then so much the worse for Jews, who were supposedly guilty of possessing “white privilege” and oppressing “people of color.” The fact that this conflict has nothing to do with race—and that the Jews are the indigenous people of Israel and that the majority are “people of color” who immigrated from other parts of the Middle East and North Africa—counts for little among those who buy into intersectional myths and think the Jewish state should be erased and its people subjected to genocide.

Jews are no longer‘dhimmi’
But the pictures of Palestinian prisoners do touch a nerve throughout the world, and the reason for that goes far to explain why Palestinian Arabs—with the support of much of the Islamic world—persist in their century-old war against Zionism.

It is hardly surprising that images of Jewish suffering do not move the not-insubstantial percentage of the world’s population that thinks the Jews are not entitled to sovereignty or the right of self-defense in their ancient homeland. But what they really can’t stand is the idea that Jews are no longer homeless or at the mercy of a hostile world, as they were before the establishment of modern-day Israel in 1948. The notion that a despised minority, against whom the virus of antisemitism continues to incite unthinking hatred and demonization, are now powerful enough to defeat their foes is difficult for them to swallow.

This goes beyond sympathy for the Palestinians. They are trapped in an irredentist mindset that not only prevents them from accepting the multiple offers of statehood and peace Israel has made over the years but causes them to see a refusal to accept the Jewish state’s legitimacy and permanence as inextricably linked with their national identity.

The photos of Hamas prisoners are, by the standards of war photography, nothing particularly unusual or outrageous, and certainly not evidence of abuse. The documentation of their detention is certainly preferable to the silence that Hamas continues to adhere to about the fate of the hostages they have not yet released of whom no proof of life in any form has been forthcoming.

Yet the photos do seem outrageous to those who, whether Muslims or not, see Jews as what the Islamic world traditionally referred to as dhimmi. In Islamic societies, the dhimmi were “protected” residents of a country but treated as inferior to Muslims. Indeed, the photos provoke anger because they show that Hamas, which rightly anticipated that their atrocities would spark a surge in antisemitism rather than a backlash against them, is losing the war they started against the Jews. Their humiliation is evidence that their understanding of the world has been turned upside-down with the Jews no longer relegated to the status of a despised and powerless minority.

The anger about the images of Palestinian prisoners is not a reaction to evidence of Israeli crimes. Instead, it is more proof that the anti-Israel protests that have proliferated in the United States and elsewhere are motivated largely by antisemitic motives, whether rooted in modern leftist theories or historic religious hatred. Rather than a sidebar to the debate about the war, the anger about the photos shows us just how deep intolerance for Israel and Jews runs.


Netanyahu: Israel has White House’s ‘full backing’ despite disputes
Despite differences of opinion, U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration fully support Israel’s goal of destroying the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

“I greatly appreciate the American support for destroying Hamas and returning our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

“Following an intensive dialogue with President Biden and his team, we received full backing for the ground incursion and blocking the international pressure to stop the war,” he continued.

“Yes, there is disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’ and I hope that we will reach agreement here as well,” stated the premier, vowing not to repeat the “mistake” of the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993 and 1995.

“After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

“Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan,” he added, referring to the Fatah faction controlled by P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday said he would discuss “timetables” for ending “high-intensity operations” in the Gaza Strip with Netanyahu when he visits Jerusalem later this week.

“The subject of how they are seeing the timetable of this war will certainly be on the agenda for my meetings,” Sullivan said during a forum hosted by The Wall Street Journal.

“It doesn’t have to be that you go from that to literally nothing in terms of putting pressure on going after Hamas targets, Hamas leadership, or continuing to have tools in your toolbox to try to secure the release of hostages,” added the official. “It just means that you move to a different phase from the kind of high-intensity operations that we see today.”


Israel security chief in letter to the world: 'Do not interfere'
Last month, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronan Bar addressed a long and poignant letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which he wrote, among other things: "We are determined to complete our mission in Gaza. All those who aspire to see a safer world should refrain from interfering or stopping us."

"The UN Charter states that the goal of the organization is to 'renew belief in the most basic human rights, in human dignity and the importance of human life, and the equality of rights between men and women.' Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip for 17 years and grossly ignores these principles, and the needs of the 2.2 million citizens living in Gaza," he wrote.

"During the activities of Hamas on October 7, there was no respect or rights whatsoever. The UN was founded to ensure that [such things would happen] 'never again' – anywhere in the world. But on the day of the massacre in October, it returned in full force. Jews were brutally murdered, just for being Jews. The IDF is an army that operates in accordance with the highest moral principles. We do not act deliberately against civilians," Bar said.

"Reality forces us to act in a civilian environment. We are forced to do this by a terrorist organization that acts as a sovereign on the ground and kills civilians, Israelis and Gazans alike, from the first day it was founded," the Shin Bet chief wrote.

"This is the time to remind you, Mr. Secretary-General, that Yahya Sinwar himself was sentenced to five life sentences in Israel for murdering Palestinians – not Jews. Gaza should be freed from Hamas, not from Israel. Hamas is ISIS."

Ronen Bar continues: "Out of respect for the thousands of lives that have already been lost, and in order to save many more lives, please help us remove the rule of evil from the Gaza Strip and restore faith in the most basic human rights, human dignity and the value of human life, as written in the UN Charter. Help us restore the belief in equal rights between men and women, Palestinians, Israelis, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others," he implored.

"Help us bring back our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters: back home. Help us bring our grandparents back home. Help us save our babies and return them to their families, to begin healing our wounds."

When the letter was sent to the UN secretary-general, most of the children held by Hamas had not yet been returned. Even now, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel are still in the murderous hands of Hamas, which claims that they were killed.


UN to host panel asking if Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
The United Nations in New York is set to hold a panel discussion on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as the IDF conducts its military campaign to oust Hamas from the enclave.

The event titled “2023 War on Gaza: The responsibility to Prevent Genocide” was organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people.

It will be held concurrent to a UN General Assembly debate calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, in light of the high death toll, which Hamas has set at over 18,000 and the displacement of most of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million people. Israel has said that some 7,000 of those killed are Hamas terrorists.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The UNGA resolution set for debate Tuesday, which is expected to pass, follows one the UNGA approved at the end of October with the support of 120 countries.

The United States has blocked the security council from issuing such a call, vetoing a vote on the matter earlier this month. The UNSC did approve a call for a pause to the war to the war last month.


Israel – Hamas Symposium 2023 – Flooding Hamas Tunnels_ A Legal Assessment
Reports emerged last week suggesting that Israel is preparing to flood the network of tunnels constructed by Hamas underneath Gaza with sea water. According to unnamed U.S. officials cited in the media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have assembled at least five pumps that could draw water from the Mediterranean Sea to fill the tunnel network in a matter of weeks. The aim of the operation is to render the tunnels inaccessible and to drive Hamas fighters above ground.

Neither tunnelling nor flooding are new methods of war. Underground warfare has a long history. In the ancient world, tunnels were used primarily to overcome fortifications. More recently, they have been used during the First World War to breach enemy trenches, by Japanese troops for defensive purposes during the War in the Pacific, and by the Viet Cong for shelter and concealment. In Gaza, Hamas has constructed a complex web of tunnels believed to run for several hundred miles below the surface. The network serves both defensive and offensive purposes. It provides Hamas with protection, a logistical base, mobility, and an element of surprise.

Artificial flooding and other forms of hydraulic warfare too have a long tradition. During the Eighty Years’ War in the late sixteenth century, Dutch rebels destroyed dams to impede the movement of Spanish forces. Other historical examples include the famous Dambuster Raid carried out by the Royal Air Force in 1943 to put the Ruhr Valley under water. More recently, the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed, most likely by Russian forces, in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bearing in mind the widespread use of these two forms of warfare, it should not come as a surprise to find that belligerents have relied on hydraulic warfare to counter underground warfare, including by flooding tunnels. In fact, Egypt has on more than one occasion pumped sea and waste water into Hamas tunnels running under its border with Gaza.

Since the action now being contemplated by Israel may be on a larger scale than similar operations in the past, the purpose of this post is to assess these plans against the law of armed conflict. To avoid the controversies surrounding the classification of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, and since Israel is not a party to Additional Protocol I (AP I), the post applies the relevant rules of the customary law of armed conflict.

Concluding Remarks
Flooding Hamas’s network of tunnels with sea water raises a range of legal questions under the law of armed conflict. Having considered some of the most important issues, the overall conclusion to be drawn is that the operation would not be incompatible, in principle, with Israel’s obligations. The tunnels are military objectives liable to attack. Filling them with water would not be an indiscriminate attack, cause superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering, or involve the denial of quarter. Bearing in mind the very significant military advantage that may be expected from putting the tunnels out of operation, the level of collateral damage that may be anticipated as an immediate consequence of the attack is unlikely to be excessive. However, the reverberating effects may be far more significant, in particular if they were to drastically reduce the availability of potable water to the civilian population and lead to high levels of injury and death.
Houthi missile hits Norwegian tanker in Red Sea; ship reportedly en route to Israel

‘Decimation’ of Hamas in north Gaza almost ‘completely achieved’
Former Israeli ambassador to Australia Mark Sofer says the “decimation” of Hamas in the north of Gaza is about to be “completely achieved” but warns soldiers are still battling the terrorists in the southern region.

Of the roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas, 137 remain in captivity as the Israeli ground assault to eliminate Hamas continues.

A greater underground operation was discovered by IDF soldiers with approximately 500km of tunnels being used by Hamas.

“So we find ourselves really in a very, very difficult situation of uprooting and bringing them out of their tunnels systems,” Mr Sofer told Sky News host James Morrow.

“Of course, it costs hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to build a tunnel system inside of a built-up area – money which could and should have been used for welfare, for schooling, for education, for health care and you name it."




The Battle Over Casualty Counts in Gaza

IDF has killed significant majority of Hamas navy chiefs

Northern Israel a ‘waking nightmare’ amid efforts to push Hezbollah from border, says resident and security analyst

IDF shells launch sites in Lebanon in response to rocket fire

IAF destroys Jabalia launch site firing rockets at Sderot

Wounded IDF soldier fights Hamas terrorists in Gaza
The IDF published footage on Tuesday of a soldier confronting two Hamas terrorists in close quarters in Shejaia in the Gaza Strip as the IDF continues operations in the neighborhood of Gaza City.

In the video, the reservist soldier in the Yahalom unit can be seen in an intense firefight with one Hamas terrorist during which a grenade was thrown at the soldier, wounding him.

The soldier succeeded in taking out the terrorist before entering the room and killing a second terrorist at point-blank range.
IDF retrieves bodies of two Israelis taken hostage by Hamas

Four terrorists killed in Israeli raid on Jenin

After my grandmother’s ordeal in the Holocaust, I have to speak out against sexual violence by Hamas on October 7
My grandfather felt profoundly betrayed by the people who had a voice and did not use it. He understood the existential evil of the Nazis, but felt most betrayed by the neighbors, the shop keepers and the friends who stood silent. He never accepted that humanity was unwilling to help.

Now Israeli families want to know if humanity will help them. Devastated by the horrors of October 7 and tormented by fears for the hostages, they need to hear our voices, to know where we stand.

So I’ll say it loud and clear: Good people can disagree on the pathway to peace. Good people can disagree on many aspects of the conflict. But good people must use their voices to denounce certain unacceptable acts, and one of them is the use of mass rape as a weapon of war.

There are innocent people still held captive by Hamas, and they include women and girls who in all likelihood have been subjected — and very likely are still being subjected — to sexual assault by Hamas. They also include men and boys who may have suffered the same horror. People of good conscience must demand to bring them home.

There’s no question that what happened on October 7 evoked the Holocaust in its barbarity. It has also evoked Holocaust denial as people demand proof and evidence of the terror and sexual violence. Organizations whose mission is to combat gender-based violence should be among the loudest voices. We always stand with survivors, even in the most controversial cases where there is little proof other than a survivor’s word.

Stand up for the victims and survivors of October 7. Stand up for those still in captivity. If you do not, your silence compounds the pain of the survivors, the erasure of the murdered, the anguish of their families. Your silence empowers the perpetrators. Each of us has a voice, however small.

Call the White House, or your senator or your representative in Congress. Tell them the return of the hostages is a priority for you and a priority for humanity. Demand a full investigation into the sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists. Never again should the world enable atrocities with silence. It is time to use your voice.
JPost Editorial: The world has turned a blind eye to Hamas sexual violence
In the immediate aftermath of the horrific and inhumane abuses, sexual assaults, and rapes inflicted on Israeli women by Hamas on October 7, the world remained largely silent. For more than a month and a half, the condemnation that was undeniably necessary never materialized.

As testimonies began to surface, some condemnations eventually followed. However, the global silence on these attacks, reminiscent of the world’s indifference in 1941, will not stand the test of time. Future generations will surely look back with disdain at today’s youth who, while trampling on Israeli flags worldwide, seemingly dismiss the terrible traumas suffered by Israeli women.

From the outset on that dreadful Saturday, it became evident that Hamas terrorists had committed sexual violence against Israeli women. Disturbing footage circulated, some even shared on channels run by Hamas, displaying women with blood-stained pants and worse.

Israel’s delayed response to the unfolding massacre was mirrored in its handling of the sexual assaults. Israeli interrogators, tirelessly working to uncover the extent of the offenses committed by Hamas terrorists, are still unraveling the grim details.

The Lahav 433 National Crime Unit of the Israel Police has amassed numerous testimonies from victims and witnesses of sexual assault. These harrowing accounts depict violent rapes, with victims dragged by their hair and left bleeding.
Israeli hostage recalls horrors of Hamas's sexual assaults
She mentioned that she and her children were never separated: "We were always together. There was more emotional repression during our time there. Our freedom was restricted, meals were infrequent, and at times, we experienced hunger."

"We spent a month and a half in a central apartment with a telephone line," she described their place of captivity, "then there was a sort of loss of control. We felt their helplessness too. The attacks increased to the extent that the buildings we were in suffered damage. This led to a more intensive shuffling of our locations."

Chen testified about being taken aback: "I was amazed by the composure of my children on the day we were captured, and their resilience throughout the ordeal."

What surprised her, she explained, was "the confidence with which they communicated with our captors in Hebrew. They learned many words in Arabic. They wrote and drew extensively. A lot of materials accumulated, and they said they would bring them to us, but they never did."

She recounts a singular instance of intimidation: "There was one threat when something about the way I was moving around, or rather too freely, in the first apartment we were taken to, seemed off to them. There was a looming threat that I might be harmed, but it never materialized. That was the only time I felt threatened in such a manner."

Sharing her thoughts on their release, she says, "It took two to three days after we were told 'today you are on the list' for our release to actually happen. The girls with us rejoiced for us, and we were overjoyed too, but it was a cautious happiness. Until we truly left, we didn’t allow ourselves to be too happy, to avoid disappointment. We endured many disappointments throughout our captivity."

Reflecting on the aftermath, she says, "I am still processing everything. I'm here in the present, overwhelmed with thoughts about what we went through and those who remain behind," she states, "We're trying to rebuild something new from the ruins of our lives, but our minds are still with the girls who are left there. Two weeks have gone by, and they are still there."

Sharing more, she says, "The girls who were with us entrusted us with numerous messages for their families. I’m certain they are struggling with the difficult emotions of still being left behind. We hoped that the girls who remained would be released a day or two after us. Hanukkah came, and they are still not here, which is disheartening, frustrating, and infuriating."

On the subject of the remaining captives, she asserts, "Everything possible must be done to rescue them. The women, the injured women, the female soldiers, the civilian boys, the soldiers, the adults. All of them must be brought out. They must not be broken by this ordeal. They face daily dangers and are in dire need of both medical and psychological care."
EXCLUSIVE Survivors of October 7 massacre put on extraordinary fashion show with outfits including wedding dress worn by model whose fiance died saving lives and bride with 'bullet wound' like her husband

Photo Essay: Powerful Images Depict the ‘Before and After’ of Israeli Hostages

Glenn Beck: 'I Covered Myself with Bodies': Hamas Attack Survivor Details EVIL
On October 7, 2023, Lee Sasi had plans to dance the night away with friends and family. She was just miles from the Gaza border at the Supernova music festival when an unfathomable horror began to unfold before her eyes. Hamas terrorists seemed to have only one goal: mass destruction, pain, and brutality inflicted on as many Israelis possible. “I was screaming out to God,” Sasi, a Jewish survivor of that deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, says about her time hiding under dead bodies in a bomb shelter right outside the festival. Around 30 or 40 people sought refuge in that bomb shelter. Only eight came out alive. On this harrowing episode of "The Glenn Beck Podcast," Sasi tells her story of survival in the face of pure evil. “They tried to eliminate us,” she says. But they couldn’t eliminate her. Now, guarded by a special kind of optimism she says she's always had, Sasi is determined to be alive for a reason.


Evidence emerges on Hamas abusing Israeli hostages
Evidence is “emerging” on Hamas abusing Israelis while they were held hostage, says Sky News host Sharri Markson.

Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre-Ichilov has received and treated 14 former hostages, Ms Markson says.

“Among them a girl who was given horse tranquiliser ‘for a few weeks’ … during her time in captivity,” she said.

“We already know children were threatened with rifles if they cried.”

Ms Markson was joined by Israeli MP Sharren Haskel to discuss the evidence against Hamas.

WARNING: This video contains distressing content.




Why isn’t the Red Cross applying more pressure to access Hamas hostages
Sarah Davies, PR Officer for The International Committee of the Red Cross, and Danny Ayalon, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. discuss the different perspectives concerning the organization's approach toward the crisis




Billboard of Hamas Hostages in London Removed Following Complaints, Threats

Caroline Glick: SPECIAL HANUKKA EPISODE: The Maccabean Revolt of 2023
Caroline examines the Macabees, Hellenists and the struggle for Jewish identity throughout history including our present moment.


Ben Shapiro: UPenn’s President Is Gone, Alex Jones Is Back
The president of University of Pennsylvania resigns after refusing to condemn anti-Semitism, and we examine who’s next; Elon Musk readmits Alex Jones to Twitter; and the Biden administration can’t shoot straight on Israel or Ukraine.


Dave Portnoy doubles down on not hiring from Harvard, MIT or UPenn: It’s ‘common sense’

Americans Back Israel's War on Hamas, Poll Finds
A majority of Americans back Israel's war on Hamas, according to a Wall Street Journal poll conducted earlier this month.

Fifty-five percent of 1,500 respondents said that Israel was taking necessary military action against Hamas, while 25 percent said the Jewish state's response "is disproportionate and going too far" in response to the terror group's Oct. 7 attacks, the poll found. The margin of error was 2.5 percent.

A plurality of respondents, 42 percent, reported sympathizing more with the Israeli people than the Palestinian people, while 33 percent sympathized equally with both groups, and 12 percent sympathized more with Palestinians.

Republicans were far more likely to sympathize more with the Israeli people than Democrats were.

Sixty-nine percent of Republicans said they sympathized more with the Israeli people, with only 2 percent sympathizing more with the Palestinians. Democrats were the least likely to sympathize more with the Israeli people, with just 17 percent sympathizing more with the Israelis and 24 percent sympathizing more with the Palestinians. Forty-eight percent of Democrats said they sympathized with both equally.

Although Americans generally reported that they support the war, they did not show support for the way in which President Joe Biden has handled it. Thirty-seven percent of respondents approved of Biden's handling of the war, and 52 percent disapproved. As for Biden's overall approval rating, 37 percent of respondents approved, while 61 percent disapproved, the worst marks he has scored in a Journal poll.

That poll's findings are similar to those of a Gallup poll released late last month, in which 50 percent of respondents approved of Israel's military action in Gaza, while 45 percent disapproved. Biden's approval rating for his handling of the war sat at 32 percent in that poll, while his overall approval hit 37 percent.


Ed Husic ‘doubles down’ on worker sympathy with Palestine stance
Sky News host James Morrow says Ed Husic “doubled down” on his professional retribution stance for workers sympathising with Palestine.

“Today, Science and Industry Minister Ed Husic doubled down on his stance that workers including journalists, doctors, actors should be able to sympathise with Palestine,” Mr Morrow said.

“Without fear … of professional retribution.

“The Labor MP also said that people showing concern for the Palestinians faced … our generation of McCarthyism.”

Mr Morrow sat down with Sky News host James Macpherson and Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs former chair Michael Danby to discuss Labor MP Ed Husic.


Ed Husic playing the ‘victim card’ while defending pro-Palestine voices
Sky News host Liz Storer says Industry Minister Ed Husic is playing the “victim card” while defending pro-Palestine voices.

Ms Storer sat with Sky News host Sharri Markson to discuss Mr Husic’s stance on the pro-Palestinian cause and the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia.

“The three actors that he’s referring to have not been disciplined, nothing whatsoever has been done – they haven’t lost their jobs,” she said.

“So him saying ‘oh you know people are being basically persecuted’, no we do have freedom of speech here.

“You did get to express yourself, unfortunately, you did it while you were on the job.”


Labor MP put on blast over comments on workers facing backlash for supporting Palestine
Sky News contributor Steve Price says Labor MP Ed Husic is part of the growing “divide” within the party as his comments on the Israel-Hamas war garner backlash.

“The divide in Labor it seems over the Israel-Hamas war is wider than ever, you had Labor frontbencher Ed Husic,” Mr Price said.

“Declaring workers like actors, and journalists, doctors and even teachers should be able to speak out against Israel without facing any consequences.”

Mr Husic told ABC Radio on Tuesday that people expressing concerns about the situation in Gaza should not face professional retribution in response to speaking out.

Mr Price sat down with Sky News host Rowan Dean to discuss the Labor minister and his comments on the Israe-Hamas war.




Israel Advocacy Movement: Worst history of Palestine video… ever!
In this video we respond to Maya Abdullah's terribly inaccurate "History of Palestine" video.




Dubai Silences Pro-Hamas Protesters Seeking to Disrupt COP28 Climate Alarmism Summit
The Associated Press (AP) on Sunday denounced the “shocking level of censorship” imposed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai. The AP was mortified by “sharp restrictions on what demonstrators could say, where they could walk and what their signs could portray.”

“At times, the controls bordered on the absurd,” the AP said, pointing to a rule that prevented demonstrators from waving signs with the names of detained activists, a 500-strong pro-Palestinian protest group that was prevented from leaving the U.N.’s “Blue Zone” in Dubai, and a ban on the genocidal Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea.”

“It is a shocking level of censorship in a space that had been guaranteed to have basic freedoms protected like freedom of expression, assembly and association,” said appalled Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher Joey Shea.

Scottish professor Dylan Hamilton urged demonstrators to persevere despite the UAE’s restrictions.

“It’s essential to remind negotiators what they are negotiating about. It’s trying to remind people to care about people you’ll never meet,” Hamilton said.

The AP described the frustrated activists as “pro-Palestinian protesters who were calling for a ceasefire and climate justice.” When they were told they could not chant “from the river to the sea,” they donned Palestinian scarves and waved pictures of watermelons, which have become “symbols of Palestinian resistance” (watermelons are grown by many Palestinian farmers and they mimic the colors of the Palestinian flag).

It was not clear why activists demanding a ceasefire to protect a terrorist organization should be an “essential” component of a climate change conference. If anything, climate crusaders should be furious at Hamas for constantly launching swarms of poorly aimed rockets, whose carbon-spewing engines Hamas powers by siphoning vast amounts of fossil fuel from the Gaza infrastructures. Those paragliders the terrorists used to launch their rape, murder, and kidnapping spree on October 7 were not running on solar panels, either.

Hamas’s theft of money and materials meant to develop civilian infrastructure in Gaza has led to endless terrorist attacks and ruinous wars, as well as putting Gaza far behind the curve in developing clean energy technologies and other environmental improvements. The climate movement demands trillions of dollars in sacrifices from the civilized world, but cannot muster any criticism of Hamas for spending lavish sums on terror tunnels and hidden fuel depots.

Most of the censorship denounced by the AP and its correspondents should not have come as a surprise. As the article itself conceded, the rules governing the “Blue Zone” in Dubai have been on the books for years. The United Nations itself prohibited the genocidal “from the river to the sea” chant, not the UAE government.
Moment NHS doctor who runs British wing of Islamist extremist group that led 'jihad' chant at anti-Israel rally labels Hamas terrorists 'freedom fighters resisting occupation' during heated interview

Piers Morgan debates UK leader of Islamic Extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir
Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan engages in a fiery debate with Abdul Wahid, who leads the UK branch of Islamic Extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir while also continuing as a British GP.

Mr Morgan battered the Islamic Extremist group’s leader with multiple pressing questions on the terror attacks against Israel on October 7 as Mr Wahid refused, multiple times, to denounce Hamas.

Abdul Wahid was also pressed on if he thought the Islamic system would be a good thing if governed in the UK, to which he responded by claiming it was the only system which had brought peace to Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Middle East.

Additionally, Mr Morgan accused the Hizb ut-Tahrir leader of “censoring” after he refused to acknowledge the atrocities of Hamas on October 7.

Mr Wahid claimed he had, instead, seen videos of Hamas telling their viewers to not harm women or children.




Calls for intifada sweep Columbia University during Hanukkah

Fury after Met Police officer tells protesters to take down Israeli flag at Trafalgar Square because 'it's a heritage site'

Soros-Backed Group Storms Senate Office Building, Demands Israeli Ceasefire

Very Different Responses to Antisemitism in N.Y. High Schools
At Hillcrest High School in Queens, a teacher recently committed the high crime of posting a photo of herself at a pro-Israel rally on her personal Facebook page.

She didn't post the photo on the school's website or tack it up on a bulletin board near the cafeteria. It was in her personal space, on her personal time.

But four hundred students responded by rioting for hours on Nov. 20, waving Palestinian flags, damaging school property, and chanting for the teacher to be fired.

Some posted threats against the teacher on social media. The teacher was forced to hide in a locked office for hours.

School Chancellor David Banks downplayed the severity of the students' action and sought to "understand" the student mob. "They were doing what 14- and 15-year-olds do," Banks said on Nov. 27.

A more principled and effective response to antisemitism among high school students may be found in the example set by German-American high school principal Ralph W. Haller in Queens, NY, in 1944 at Andrew Jackson High School, just four miles from the scene of the recent riot.

After five students were caught painting antisemitic slogans in Queens Village, Haller announced a new policy that any student involved in antisemitic acts would not be permitted to graduate.

He told a meeting of parents on Feb. 12: "I consider such [antisemitic] activities totally in contradiction to everything that the America of today or the America which we hope to have tomorrow stands for."

Since he was authorized to deny a graduation diploma to any student who gave evidence of "poor American citizenship," he vowed to henceforth classify antisemitic activity as un-American.




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