Wednesday, December 13, 2023

12/13 Links Pt1: After Hamas is destroyed, here are the five things that must not happen in Gaza; Will killing Yahya Sinwar end the war in Gaza?

From Ian:

Richard Goldberg: After Hamas is destroyed, here are the five things that must not happen in Gaza
Israel is resolved to remove Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure from the Gaza Strip permanently, and for much of the world, its determination raises one question more than any other: What comes next in Gaza? For those who disapprove of Israel’s actions in the war or those who either passively or actively support the role of Hamas as the Strip’s governing authority, the lack of answers provides a pretext not only to demand a permanent cease-fire but to suggest (often quietly and with a furrowed brow indicating supposed realpolitik wisdom) that the path Israel seems to be making for itself is a dead end from which it needs to be saved.

For the Arab world, the vacuum creates a jockeying for power and influence, albeit behind the scenes to avoid accountability for anything that goes wrong.

For the Biden administration, this has invited fantasies of a renewed path to an ever-elusive two-state solution—a Palestinian Authority governing a unified West Bank and Gaza, and supposedly representing the views of all Palestinians in negotiations with Israel. Big ideas for Gaza’s future are being cooked up behind closed doors in Washington. Task forces and blue-ribbon commissions are sure to follow. But allowing the Washington establishment to paint a foreign policy on a blank canvas, mapping the relations between Israel and the Arabs surrounding it, is a risky proposition that will, as it always has in the past, fail.

If Washington and Jerusalem share an end-state objective of a Gaza that can never again pose a terror threat to Israel, and the president himself has said repeatedly that we do share this objective, the question about the future needs to be reframed. Instead of asking what comes next, leaders in both capitals should be asking: What cannot come next? Answering that question is the only way to establish the parameters for a viable path forward that precludes the known ingredients for policy failure.

Let us lay out some of those parameters.

First, Gaza has no future with Hamas or other terrorist groups involved. Perhaps obvious to some but not to all, Hamas and other terrorist organizations cannot be part of Gaza’s future. Demands for a cease-fire in Gaza before Hamas is dismantled would guarantee that the territory remains a base of terror operations indefinitely. Relenting to international pressure or Hamas psychological-warfare tactics to extend the cease-fire to a permanent condition would doom the future of Gaza (and Israel).

Unimaginative naysayers and Hamas apologists alike will try to persuade us there is no military solution to Hamas, only a political one. That is a lie that Israel’s military can expose if given the opportunity to finish the job.

Failing to halt Israel’s military objectives, Hamas supporters in the West and those who oppose Israel’s self-assertions more generally will grow more desperate. They will move beyond urging Congress and the White House to “condition” aid to Israel as a method of halting the Jewish state’s campaign to destroy Hamas and prevent another October 7 massacre, which is the line taken up by Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy and members of the “squad” in the House of Representative. Adding conditions to American security assistance to Israel—a fellow democracy that upholds the rule of law and is now fighting for its survival—should not be deemed a “worthwhile thought,” as President Biden claimed over the Thanksgiving weekend. Rather, it is a proposal aimed at delegitimizing Israel’s right to defend itself that would lead, logically, to the eventual annihilation of the Jewish state.

Pro-Israel Democrats in Congress have already publicly rejected the idea. And with a Republican-controlled House, there’s no path for Hamas to achieve this objective in Washington legislatively. President Biden might have the executive power to withhold critical military support from Israel when Jerusalem calls for resupply, but with a recent NBC News survey showing independent voters favoring military assistance to Israel, and Democrats evenly split, Biden would pay a steep political price for doing so. (Republicans overwhelmingly favor Israel.)

Assuming Israel stays the course (with U.S. backing), Hamas will lose control of Gaza in the weeks and months ahead. Its tunnels will be destroyed, its leadership eliminated. But Jerusalem and Washington will still need to prevent its supporters from finding a path back to power through Western-supported mechanisms.

Those who pushed Israel in 2006 into accepting Palestinian elections that included Hamas should not repeat their mistakes. We should expect attempts by Hamas’s ideological supporters to sponsor a new group with a new name to regain a foothold in Gaza’s governance and ultimately participate in any future Palestinian election—the vehicle Hamas first used to gain control 17 years ago.

Anyone who claims to champion the cause of Palestinian freedom and independence should focus on establishing the rule of law and protecting basic rights within Palestinian territories before proposing elections. And any future elections should prohibit political parties that refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, let alone those that advocate its destruction.
Nearly 75% of Palestinians say Hamas was right to attack on Oct. 7
Nearly three in four Palestinians believe that Hamas was right in launching its Oct. 7 cross-border attack, in which terrorists savagely murdered more than 1,200 people in Israel and wounded thousands, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

The Ramallah-based institute polled 1,231 Palestinian adults in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria between Nov. 22 and Dec. 2. (The margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points, the PSR said.)

The authoritative survey—the second of its kind since Oct. 7—found that 72% of respondents think Hamas was “correct” in carrying out its mass slaughter, while 22% characterized the terrorist group’s decision to attack as “incorrect.”

A whopping 89% of the respondents denied that Palestinian terrorists committed war crimes on Oct. 7, while 95% claimed that Israel breached international law during its defensive operation against Hamas in Gaza.
Will killing Yahya Sinwar end the war in Gaza?
During a press conference with Britain’s new foreign secretary, former prime minister David Cameron, in Washington last Thursday evening, Blinken was asked how much longer the war could go on. “We strongly support Israel’s efforts to ensure that it can effectively defend itself,” he said.

“In conversations with the Israelis we talk about how long this campaign will take and also how it will be prosecuted. These are decisions for Israel.”

But senior Israeli Defense Forces officials are said to privately admit that the latest stage of the conflict, the attack on the city of Khan Yunis, the largest in southern Gaza, will probably be the war’s final wide-scale ground offensive.

Of course, this does not mean Israel will afterwards agree to a ceasefire, but it may allow for a scaling-down of operations. The Israeli army could then transition to a strategy of smaller raids on Hamas strongholds using targeted mobile forces, rather than the current use of entire armoured divisions occupying parts of the Gaza Strip for weeks.

The IDF estimates that they have killed somewhere between 5,000 to 6,000 terrorists — or a fifth of the number that Hamas claimed it had under arms. That means 25,000 terrorists remain signed up to Israel’s destruction.

But the damage wrought on Hamas’s capability to wage future terrorist attacks should not be underestimated. Many lower-level commanders will have been killed or injured, the group’s command and control structure will be in tatters and much of its weaponry will have been destroyed. Many of the terrorist foot soldiers may also now be more worried about the security of their own families than waging a war which will only end with their own messy death. It is also easy to imagine that while many Palestinians will blame Israel for their suffering now and in the future, others will rightly blame Hamas.

So, Sinwar’s death, when it inevitably comes, will represent a notable win and will offer Israel a way out of the conflict with an achievable end game.
‘Call Sinwar for ceasefire’: Israeli envoy shows Hamas chief's number at UN
Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan held a sign showing the phone number of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s Hamas office, at a UN General Assembly meeting on Tuesday.

“You want a real ceasefire?” Erdan declared, admonishing UNGA members to ask him directly as he held up a sign depicting Sinwar’s office phone number, since the terrorist mastermind and Hamas bear the real responsibility for the current conflict, not Israel.

“Call… and ask for Yahya Sinwar. Tell Hamas to put down their arms, turn themselves in, and return our hostages. This will bring a complete ceasefire that will last forever,” Erdan said.

UN resolution calls for Gaza ceasefire
The United Nations General Assembly called for a Gaza ceasefire in a 153-10 vote, with 23 countries abstaining hours after US President Joe Biden warned Israel it was losing support for its campaign to oust Hamas.

The resolution, the second of its kind since the war began on October 7, was greeted with applause.

The United States and Israel opposed the measure, as did Austria, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, and Paraguay.




Douglas Murray: ‘AI Is More Moral Than the President of Harvard’
Renowned British journalist shares candid observations on the media's portrayal of the Israel-Hamas war and the complexity of regional conflicts

Douglas Murray is a British journalist, political commentator, associate editor at The Spectator, and an international bestselling author. His award-winning titles include The War on the West (2022) and The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019). He regularly appears in international media to discuss his views and reports from the ground on regional conflicts.

Murray has covered several wars, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the last few months, he’s been in Israel, closely covering the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel launched Operation Iron Swords following Hamas’ atrocious Oct. 7 terror attack in which over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were brutally killed, and some 250 were abducted as hostages.

In between conversing with the families of Israeli hostages and survivors from the Nova music festival, which was attacked on Oct. 7, Murray sat down with The Media Line’s Aaron Poris in Tel Aviv.

The following is a transcript of that conversation.

The Media Line: Thank you so much for joining me. Douglas, you’ve been here in Israel for a little over two months now, covering the Israel-Hamas war, following the atrocities of October 7. Why do you think you’ve had the access that you’ve had? Many journalists would be quite jealous to be in your shoes given your meetings with the people you’ve spoken with and the places you’ve gone…

Douglas Murray: I don’t know, I’ve been here trying to cover the story in the round which includes on-the-ground reporting and interviews with political figures, soldiers, families of hostages, and others. I don’t know if my access is unique, but I just try to get the story in the round.

TML: As a non-Jew, why do you think you’re so driven by the Israel-Palestinian conflict?

I don’t like lies in particular when they’re huge lies being told in front of my face. And I think there are a lot of lies told about this conflict, this region.

Douglas Murray: Well, I don’t like lies. That’s one thing. I don’t like lies in particular when they’re huge lies being told in front of my face. And I think there are a lot of lies told about this conflict, this region… and I’ve seen them all my life and in multiple conflicts involving Israel. It’s the same this time. It always falls into the same pattern. The Israelis are accused of doing things they haven’t done, and Israel’s opponents are said not to have done things that they have done. And so, it’s very important to be able to see firsthand and on the ground what actually happened.

It doesn’t mean you can stop the sort of Holocaust denial in real time, which I think is going on at the moment in much of the Western media, and certainly Arab media. But you can do something to hold back the lies.

I also think that, in general, I’m… I’ve covered a lot of conflicts. I was in Ukraine last year, and I’ve covered many others as well. But there’s something about conflicts involving Israel that I find especially galvanizing. I suppose for two reasons: One is that I feel it strongly for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. The attempts to existentially wipe out the Jewish State is not something I can sit back and watch. And secondly, I’m always struck by the way in which people who seem totally demotivated or unmotivated to raise their voice about all sorts of terrible things around the world, suddenly get all chatty when it involves anything to do with Israel. And I think there’s something very [deep] whenever there’s something to do with Israel. I think there’s something very deep going on in that.


Stop Lecturing Us on Palestinian Civilians
People here in Israel generally feel towards the Palestinians EXACTLY what the latter feel towards Israelis. No, Israelis do not hand out candies when Palestinians are killed en masse, but the Palestinian suffering is something of their own making. If Israeli tanks and planes for no apparent reason on 10/7 simply went into Gaza to kill civilians, I hope that I would be at the front of any protest, demanding an end to the killing. But details matter, and Hamas started the war, and those Palestinians with the mule-carts are the same ones who spit on the Israeli women abused by Hamas psychos.

The media and politicians often like to leave out or bend details, as they can then push forward whatever agenda they have. I remember during the Trump presidency Forbes touting immigrants who had been super-successful and had made it big in the US. Their list included Sergei Brin of Google and Jan Koum of WhatsApp. Wonderful. Those immigrants were LEGAL immigrants who filled out the forms, paid the fees, stood in line, and completed the legal process to enter the US. They have nothing to do with the millions illegally entering the US with few skills and little education.

An Israeli-Russian captive succeeded in escaping his Hamas handlers and was hiding for four days. He reported after his release that Palestinian citizens turned him over to Hamas. A UNRWA teacher held a captive in his house. A woman with a gunshot wound was treated by a veterinarian. The Palestinians started the war and were enthralled with the killing, raping, and plundering. Now that Hamas is receiving its comeuppance, the world demands that Israel treat Palestinian human shields with kid gloves. Sorry. As Kurt Schlichter always writes, if the Palestinians want to protect their citizens, then let Hamas put down its weapons and stop fighting.

Those demanding so much from Israel are antisemites. Why? Because when Syrian civilians were being slaughtered by the Assad government or Uyghurs were being abused by Chinese authorities, they said nothing. They did not form some BDS movement or demand a halt to the killing and torture. But when they can stick it to the Jews and demand that Israel fight an impossible war against a cowardly enemy that hides in population centers, then they are marching endlessly.

Israel does not kill civilians. It actually puts its soldiers into harm’s way to reduce civilian deaths. But civilians will continue to suffer and die as long as Hamas is still around. So blame Hamas and not Israel. It will make the war end more quickly when the murderers realize that they have lost their fans in the West.
Conrad Black: Israel’s War on Hamas Has So Far Been an Overwhelming Success
It is an underpublicized fact that the Israeli-Hamas war is unfolding as an overwhelming Israeli success. The Israel Defence Forces are now operating over practically the entire territory of Gaza. They have eliminated or shut down hundreds of miles of the Hamas tunnel network and uncovered and removed large quantities of Hamas arms and munitions. The Israeli general staff has revealed that for the first time, Hamas warriors are beginning to surrender on assurances of civilized treatment.

Contrary to the handwringing at the outset of the Israeli offensive to the effect that it would shortly become a much wider war, with Hezbollah and Iran happily taking upon themselves the onerous and historically unpromising burden of engaging in outright war with Israel, and with prospects of escalation beyond that, the activities of Israel's enemies are mere tokenism. Hezbollah and Iran have made it clear that they want no part of a war with a fully engaged Israel.

The so-called Palestinian Authority doesn't really represent Palestinians and has little authority. In the elections insanely required by George W. Bush in 2006, with a turnout of less than half of the eligible voters, Hamas narrowly defeated the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which was in a position to ignore the voting results on the West Bank. The PLO leader, the successor to the egregious Yasser Arafat, 88-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, makes U.S. President Joe Biden seem like a sprightly youth. Despite the usual moralistic noises, the Palestinian Authority has not gone beyond occasional small arms fire of a nature that is routine on the West Bank.

Though published statements are incomplete and unreliable, the Israelis do seem to have inflicted considerable attrition on both the personnel and the arms of Hamas and to be running them steadily to ground in all parts of Gaza at a cost to date of the lives of 98 Israeli soldiers. Of course, that would be the equivalent of 340 Canadian soldiers and over 3,000 American soldiers, but if we are, as appears to be the case, more than halfway toward the destruction of Hamas as a military force, it is substantially below the Israeli casualty numbers that had been feared.


Report: Hamas Leaders Flee Qatar, Turn Phones Off

US sanctions eight Hamas officials, financial backers

White House: We Got Israel to ‘Limit’ Operations, They Still Need to Do More to Protect Civilians Beyond ‘Telegraphing’

With Netanyahu gov’t vocally opposing a Palestinian state, Biden calls for political ‘change’

Biden: PM shackled by hardline coalition partners; Israel losing world support ‘by indiscriminate bombing’
US President Joe Biden says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government has made it very difficult for the international community to back Israel in the war against Hamas. The president also says Israel is losing global support due to its “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.

Netanyahu is “a good friend, but I think he has to change and… This government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Biden says during a campaign fundraiser in Washington hosted by former AIPAC board chair Lee Rosenberg.

Biden goes on to call out National Security Minister Ben Gvir in particular and says, “This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history.

He says he’s known Israeli leaders for decades and laments that “Ben Gvir and company and the new folks “don’t want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution.”

“They not only want to have retribution — which they should — for what Hamas did, but against all Palestinians… They don’t want anything to with the Palestinians.”

He then takes a shot at the Palestinian leadership, without specifying whether he’s referring to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. “The Palestinians have been not governed well at all.”


Controversial UN Official Likes Anti-Semitic Posts Railing Against 'Jewish Billionaire Class'
A United Nations official "liked" two social media posts this week that denounced the "Jewish billionaire class," in the latest example of controversial public activity from the anti-Israel official.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, "liked" the two X posts from Norman Finkelstein, who posted them Monday apparently in response to University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill stepping down from her position after she faced backlash for her widely criticized congressional testimony on campus anti-Semitism.

"Make no mistake about it," Finkelstein wrote in one post. "In order to stifle dissent from Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, the Jewish billionaire class has launched the most concerted assault on academic freedom in the history of our country."

"The Jewish billionaire class must be stopped," he said in another. "The student body at University of Pennsylvania must boycott classes from Day One of the Spring semester until and unless President Magill is reinstated."

Finkelstein also wrote replies to both posts that condemned "Jewish supremacists," though Albanese did not engage specifically with those replies.

Neither Albanese nor the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights responded to a request for comment.


UN General Assembly calls for Gaza ceasefire in 153-10 vote
The United Nations General Assembly called for a Gaza ceasefire in a 153-10 vote Tuesday, with 23 countries abstaining hours after US President Joe Biden warned Israel it was losing support for its military campaign to oust Hamas from the coastal enclave.

“This is a new moral degradation and a mark of disgrace on the biased and hypocritical organization,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement posted on X after the vote.

The resolution, whose passage was greeted with applause in New York, marks the second time the UNGA has called for a cease-fire since Hamas sparked the Gaza war with its October 7 infiltration into southern Israel.

The United States and Israel opposed the measure, as did Austria, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papa New Guinea, and Paraguay.

The vote revealed an almost 28% drop in support for Israel in the two months since the war began. On October 28 the UNGA voted 120-14 for a ceasefire.

Among those countries that changed their votes were Canada and Australia, which had abstained in October but on Tuesday voted for the ceasefire. The country took that step as its Deputy Foreign Minister Tim Watts was on a solidarity trip to Israel.

The European Union almost doubled its ceasefire support. Nine EU nations backed a ceasefire in October compared to the 17 EU countries that voted Tuesday to end the war.


JPost Editorial: 'Genocide' panel is another UN failure
The United Nations, established in the aftermath of the Holocaust with the promise of preventing atrocities, is failing its founding principles.

An upcoming panel accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza is just another instance of the UN’s systematic failure to hold Hamas accountable for its actions in the ongoing conflict. Instead of promoting justice and fairness, the UN continues its obsession with censuring Israel, diverting attention from the crimes committed by Hamas. This approach not only undermines the UN’s credibility, it also perpetuates a disturbing trend of anti-Israel bias, fostering animosity and providing cover for extremists.

The international community must be aware of the implications of such actions, and recognize that a fair and balanced approach is essential for fostering lasting peace in the region. Israel’s allies must condemn this attempt to exploit the UN for baseless accusations, as it only serves to escalate the conflict and hinders prospects for a meaningful resolution. The UN’s history of being manipulated for such one-sided narratives allows Hamas to evade responsibility for its actions on October 7.

An upcoming event, titled “2023 War on Gaza: The Responsibility to Prevent Genocide,” organized by the UN’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, exemplifies the deeply problematic focus on only supporting the Palestinians.

While the plight of the Palestinian people is undoubtedly a legitimate concern, the UN’s disproportionate attention to this specific cause contributes to the impunity enjoyed by Hamas. By failing to foster moderation in Palestinian areas, the UN – perhaps inadvertently – becomes a cover for Hamas to perpetuate an environment that enables conflict while condemning Israel.

Accusation lacks any foundation in evidence
The accusation of genocide against Israel lacks any foundation in evidence. Israel, a country that has historically sought to minimize civilian casualties, actively employs advanced technology to ensure precision in its military operations. Despite the challenges inherent in war, Israel has made substantial efforts since October 7 to warn and evacuate civilians from conflict zones, utilizing extensive communication channels, including millions of calls, pamphlets, and other notices provided to Palestinians. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s manipulation of data further complicates the accurate assessment of civilian casualties, as Palestinian terrorists tend to dress in civilian clothes, leading to misrepresentation when they are eliminated.
European MPs call for ceasefire, environmental justice in Israel and Gaza
A group of European parliamentarians has published an open letter highlighting how the Israel-Hamas conflict compounds the environmental and humanitarian challenges in both Israel and Gaza.

Several dozen parliamentarians signed the letter, which was disseminated via the Action for Humanity NGO on December 12, the final day of the United Nations climate change conference, COP28.

“We celebrate the fact that for the first time in the history of the conference, peace, relief, and recovery was highlighted as a featured theme, recognizing that implementation of the Paris Agreement urgently requires a conflict-sensitive and peace-responsive approach,” the parliamentarians wrote. They said they came together to address the “urgent need for global attention on the intertwined challenges of promoting peace, addressing climate change, and providing humanitarian relief, in regions marred by conflict.”

They highlighted the war in Gaza as an example of the interconnectedness of environmental and humanitarian challenges, given that Israel and Gaza are located in a region with rising temperatures, diminishing precipitation, rising sea levels, and a recent surge in extreme weather events.

“Even before the latest intensification of hostilities, which includes violence from both parties to the conflict, inequalities in the access to, and control of, water and other resources in Palestine, and the everyday challenges that prevent Gazans from managing natural resources sustainably, has intensified the threats of climate change,” they wrote However, with the onset of the war, the situation has intensified.

There have been reports of “polluted tap water and disrupted desalination plants, further jeopardizing lives and livelihoods,” the MPs said. “The shortage of drinking water, contaminated aquifers, and the dire humanitarian situation are symptomatic of the vicious cycle of environmental degradation, profound inequalities, drivers of conflict, and humanitarian crises.”


‘Feeble leader’: Sharri Markson blasts PM for Israel-Hamas ceasefire call
Sky News host Sharri Markson has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a “feeble leader” after calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas amid the war in the Middle East.

The United Nations called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday with Australia among those in favour of the resolution.

Ms Markson called on the Prime Minister to stand with Israel and innocent Palestinians as the IDF continues to destroy the terrorist group.

“This decision today tells us that Australia, under Albanese and Wong, is a fair-weather friend of Israel,” Ms Markson said.

“In its darkest hour, Australia has walked away from our closest ally in the Middle East.

“It's not just the darkest hour for Israel, but for Jews around the world and at this moment of heartache, as the Jewish homeland came under unprecedented and unprovoked attack from a group that continues to repeat its aim to destroy Jews around the world, Australia, under Albanese, hasn't stood in our corner.”


Ceasefire in Gaza would ‘leave Hamas in power’
The Australian Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan says an immediate ceasefire in Gaza would “leave Hamas in power”.

Mr Sheridan’s comments come as Australia has joined other countries in the United Nations in voting for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The Australian Foreign Editor criticised Anthony Albanese’s position in voting for a ceasefire saying not only is it a “bad position”, it is an “incoherent one”.

“The resolution contradicts the statement that Anthony Albanese issued with Justin Trudeau and the New Zealander Prime Minister,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News host James Morrow.

“The resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages but doesn’t mention Hamas by name.

“An immediate ceasefire ... would simply leave Hamas in power.”


‘Deeply disappointed’: Hamas ‘survives another day’ with ceasefire
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says he was “deeply disappointed” that the Australian government called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“I was both surprised and very disappointed,” he told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“This is the language Hamas wants adopted.

“From Hamas’ point of view, it survives another day with a ceasefire.

“It is able to rebuild during the ceasefire and it is able to launch fresh attacks on Israel.”


International community ‘confused’ on Australia’s stance with Israel-Hamas war
Zionist Federation President Jeremy Leibler says he suspects the international community is “confused” on what Australia’s stance is with the Israel-Hamas war.

Mr Leibler sat with Sky News host Sharri Markson to discuss how the decision for the government both to condemn Hamas and call for the return of hostages contradicts their choice to support a ceasefire.

“I woke up this morning to see a statement signed by Australia, Canada, and New Zealand which was pretty good, it condemned Hamas again, it called for the return of hostages, and it made it very clear that Hamas cannot be allowed to continue to control or operate in Gaza,” he said.

“Then about half an hour later, I see that Australia has voted in favour of the UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

“Half an hour later, I see a statement issued by Australia’s Ambassador to the UN, James Larsen, further clarifying why Australia voted in favour and that in fact it supports a ceasefire, but only a ceasefire that’s agreed by both parties.”


‘Compounding the problem’: Australia's vote for Israel-Hamas ceasefire slammed
Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein says Australia’s vote for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is a “fool’s errand” if Hamas does not surrender or be militarily defeated.

The United Nations called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday with Australia among those in favour of the resolution.

“Australia’s committed to Hamas being disarmed and its power, military and political dismantled and here we are calling for the release of the hostages and a meaningful ceasefire,” Mr Rubenstein told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“Which means Hamas has to surrender or it has to be militarily defeated otherwise it’s a fool’s errand.

“All we’re doing in voting for this resolution is compounding the problem, ensuring continuing violence from Hamas.”


Israel Begins Pumping Seawater Into Hamas Tunnels
The Israeli military has begun pumping seawater into Hamas's tunnel complex in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing unnamed U.S. officials, adding that the process would likely take weeks.

Some Biden administration officials have said the process could help destroy the tunnels, where Israel believes the militant group is hiding hostages, fighters, and munitions, the Journal reported. Other officials have expressed concerns the seawater would endanger Gaza's fresh water supply, the newspaper reported.

Israel's military did not immediately provide comment on the report. An Israeli defense ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Herzog: ‘Houthis have crossed a red line in the Red Sea’
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen “have crossed a red line in the Red Sea,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Wednesday.

“The U.S.-led international activities against the Houthi terror-pirates must be bolstered and strengthened in the form of a truly international coalition,” the president continued his tweet.

“Under the direction of their totalitarian commanders in Tehran, the Houthis’ continued acts of terrorism and piracy against ships of all nationalities and ownerships require the entire international community to act, united, forcefully, and decisively to stamp out this vile threat to the global economy and trade.”

Herzog’s comment comes as the Houthis continued to target international commercial shipping lanes off the coast of Yemen.

Two missiles fired from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen missed a commercial tanker loaded carrying jet fuel near the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, citing two U.S. officials.

The American Navy’s USS Mason guided-missile destroyer shot down a suspected Houthi drone during the incident, the AP reported.
IDF attacks Hezbollah as Lebanese terrorists fire rockets at Israel

IDF arrests hundreds of terror suspects in multi-day Jenin raid Ten IDF soldiers KIA in Gaza, including 9 in Shejaiya ambush
Ten Israeli soldiers fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the IDF announced on Wednesday morning. Nine were killed during a Hamas ambush in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya, according to the military.

Seven of the nine soldiers were from the Golani infantry brigade, while the remaining two were members of the IDF’s elite Special Tactics Rescue Unit 669.

Late on Tuesday afternoon a Golani force was clearing buildings in the heart of the Shejaiya Kasbah when Hamas terrorists set off an explosive device, opened fire and threw grenades at them, wounding four.

The troops sent in to support them were also ambushed, leading to a pitched battle lasting some 3 hours. The forces were eventually extracted with air and artillery support.

The Golani Brigade soldiers who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday were identified by the IDF as:
• 13th Battalion commander Lt. Col. Tomer Grinberg, 35, from Almog.
• 13th Battalion squad commander Maj. Roei Meldas, 23, from Afula.
• 51st Battalion squad commander Maj. Moshe Avram Bar-On, 23, from Ra’anana.
• Sgt. Achia Daskal, 19, from Haifa
• 51st Battalion platoon commander Capt. Liel Hayo, 22, from Shoham.
• Head of the Golani Brigade commander’s personal staff Col. (res.) Itzhak Ben Pasat, 44, from Sde Yaacov.
• Sgt. Eran Aloni, 19, from Ofakim.
The Special Tactics Resue Unit 669 casualties were identified as:
• Maj. Ben Shelly, 26, from Kidron
• Maj. Rom Hecht, 20, from Givatayim.


The final casualty was identified as Sgt. Oriya Yaakov, 19, from Ashkelon, a soldier in Battalion 614, the School of Combat Engineering.

At least 115 soldiers have been killed in action in Gaza since the start of the IDF ground operation on Oct. 27; 442 Israeli soldiers have died since the war began on Oct. 7.


Daniel Greenfield: Assaulting Women is the New Feminism
What happened to the feminist movement is fairly similar to what happened to liberal Jewish organizations in America. The particular cause was traded for the general one and groups abandoned their origins and responsibilities to chase after the latest trend in the leftist movement. There are many organizations with “Jewish” or “Women” in their name, but few that actually advocate for Jews or women. Most of these groups just use the pretzel logic of intersectionality to explain why the cause they’re fighting for, which has nothing to do with Jews or women, and is sometimes dangerous to them, is actually a Jewish or feminist cause.

And that is how you end up with Jews for Hamas and Feminists for Rape.

Vulnerable groups provide a certain cachet to a movement, but movements by design are also likely to perpetrate the same abuses that those groups were fighting against. Misogyny and antisemitism were always bound to resurface in a mass movement. The acid test was whether feminist and liberal Jewish groups would remain loyal to their mission or the movement.

They chose the movement.

The rise of Islam inverted the roles of victim and perpetrator. Anyone attacked by Islam became an oppressor. And since women and Jews are both targets of Islamic abuses, the movement accepted the moral inversion that rape and genocide were progressive, and that the oppressors were anyone who complained about terrorism and female genital mutilation.

The feminist movement let down Israeli women, American women, European women and most women. It exists now to campaign for abortion, the hijab, men entering the ladies room and the moral superiority of people from cultures where women have no rights and no freedoms.

Assaulting women is the new feminism. The real feminists are the brave and stunning men in dresses and Islamic rapists and groomers. Feminism is Hamas terrorists breaking into Israel. It’s Steve spiking a ball into a teenage girl’s face. It’s calling women “bleeders”.

You’ve come a long way, baby.


Biden Invites Families of Hostages to White House After Reported Hanukkah Party Snub

Caroline Glick: Father of Kidnapped: 'My Son Told Me Not to Trade Terrorists for Him'
Should the Israeli government do anything it can to bring the hostages home including another ceasefire and prisoner deal? Are the families of the kidnapped united in the stance to release the hostages "at all costs"?

To discuss all this, Tzvika Mor, whose son Eitan was kidnapped by Hamas, joins the show. Tzvika and his wife Ditza are founding members of the Tkuma (Arising) forum of parents of hostages who oppose making a deal with Hamas to rescue the hostages.

Listen to their son's heroic story and what they think can be done to get him back!


Douglas Murray silences pro-Palestine guests with definition of terrorism
Author Douglas Murray has left two pro-Palestine guests stunned with his definition of terrorism during a heated debate.

Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan and his two guests, a Canadian-Palestinian Doctor and a Muslim Debate Initiative co-founder, argued over the definition of terror and whether it applied to Hamas for their October aggressions toward Israel.

“It is very important for your viewers to hear the following definition,” Mr Murray said to Mr Morgan.

“The definition of terrorism is the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians – that is what Hamas specializes in.

“That is what Hamas did on October the 7th.”




Ben Shapiro: Trump Is WAY Ahead
Donald Trump leaps out to a massive polling advantage in Iowa – and is beating Joe Biden soundly in every major poll; Joe Biden’s economy is on the brink of disaster; and Harvard President Claudine Gay may survive both her alleged plagiarism and her softness on anti-Semitism.


Jewish community ‘united’ amid Israel-Hamas war
The Jewish community throughout the international arena is “united” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, according to former Israeli ambassador to Australia Mark Sofer.

Around 1,200 Israelis were killed during the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas.

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

“In Israel, we are very much divided, we are very much split on a number of issues,” he told Sky News host James Morrow,

“But on this particular issue, we are completely and utterly unified and united.”


'Useful idiots': Sharri Markson blasts Albanese siding with 'terrorist sympathisers'
The Albanese government has sided Australia with terrorist groups after it voted with the UN for a ceasefire in Gaza, says Sky News host Sharri Markson.

Ms Markson’s comments come after the United Nations collectively called for a ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday.

The vote passed with 153 for, 10 against and 23 countries abstained from contributing.

“Clearly, this is Australia now siding with terrorist groups, with terrorist sympathisers, with useful idiots in the West who have been protesting in our streets,” she said.

“And demanding that Israel retreats and allows the terror group to reinvigorate and become emboldened and to continue to attack Israel and kill Jews.”


'I hope they boycott her!' Megyn Kelly demands Taylor Swift apologizes for going to Ramy Youssef's 'highly political' comedy night where proceeds were donated to Gaza

Megyn Kelly: Woke Hypocrisy Infects Elite Institutions, & How GOP Can Win in 2024, w/ Andrew Klavan & Carl Higbie
Megyn Kelly begins the show by discussing Harvard President Claudine Gay, the calls for her to resign after evidence of plagiarism, her focus on DEI and race, her lack of defense for Jewish students and the anti-Semitism on campus, the hypocritical woke nonsense at top universities, and more. Then The Daily Wire's Andrew Klavan, author of "The House of Love and Death," joins to discuss the hypocrisy of those defending Claudine Gay on free speech now and all the past cancelations at Harvard when it comes to certain speech, the current state of free speech on college campuses, SNL’s unfunny sketch surrounding the anti-Semitism controversies on college campuses, their focus on mocking Rep. Elise Stefanik rather than the college presidents, the reason Hollywood leans left and the need for the right to build more in the entertainment arena, the backlash from the left and media to The Daily Wire's new film "Lady Ballers," the widespread disease of a cultural hatred of women, the 50-year-old man swimming against teen girls in Canada, and more. Then Newsmax host Carl Higbie joins to discuss how he and others in his blue Connecticut city helped to turn the town red, the specific methods that can be duplicated throughout the country, focusing on local issues and the economy over social issues, encouraging voting habits like early voting, using the Democrats' playbook of low-brow campaigning against them, if Donald Trump should be encouraging more early voting and other methods to employ in 2024, if the RNC needs a shake-up for losing so many election cycles in a row, and more.


Michael Rapaport Joins Israeli Comedy Show in Mocking Harvard
Comedian Michael Rapaport, who has been vocally pro-Israel in the weeks since the Hamas terror attack of October 7, joined the Israeli cast of the show Eretz Nehederet (“Wonderful Land”) to mock Harvard and other elite U.S. universities on antisemitism.

The sketch comedy show has draw international attention for making fun of left-wing undergraduates, who support Hamas; the United Nations, which has been reluctant to condemn rapes by Hamas; and the media covering Hamas, especially the BBC.

Rapaport’s sketch recreates the congressional testimony last week of the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said that calls for the genocide of Jews were only objectionable in “context.”

The sketch sets the hearing on the set of Harry Potter, with Rapaport playing the head wizard, Dumbledore, quizzing faculty about whether it is permissible at Hogwarts academy to call for the genocide of half-wizard, half-human “Mudbloods.”

One of the witches Rapaport questions explains that “context” is a new magical spell that “makes everything that’s wrong, right.”

Exasperated, he asks another witch to answer “yes-or-no question” — to which she answers, “Yes, or no,” and then cackles.

Finally, he asks why they are so evasive. They explain they are funded by Qatar — “Oh, they shit dollars on us.”
The Hogwarts code of conduct.
Israeli satire show Eretz Nehedert (What a Wonderful Country) featuring Michael Rapaport




Hamas Terrorists Called For a Global Protest Against Israel. Liberal Activist Groups Did Their Bidding.
Last week, Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations called for a "global strike" against Israel. Within days, left-wing activist groups in the United States were doing their bidding, calling on their followers to skip work and school while falsely claiming that the strike call came from Palestinian citizens, not terrorists.

In reality, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces—a coalition that includes representatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad—in a Saturday press release asked "the entire globe" to join a Monday strike "against the open genocide in Gaza." A litany of U.S. anti-Israel activist groups quickly joined in, issuing statements and social media posts that asked Americans to skip work and school and refrain from shopping.

Those statements, however, did not mention that the global strike call came from Hamas and other terror organizations. Instead, left-wing activist groups such as the Adalah Justice Project and The People's Forum said the "Palestinian people" called for the strike. Anti-Israel group IfNotNow similarly said "Palestinian groups" called for the strike but failed to give examples, while the Democratic Socialists of America's New York City chapter said "Palestinians in Gaza" issued the call. The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights called on its members to join "the Global Strike for Gaza … called for by Palestinian journalists."

Hamas's role in calling for the strike reflects the blurred line between the terror group and pro-Palestinian activists and journalists—both in Gaza and the United States.

The Associated Press and CNN, for example, cut ties last month with a freelance photojournalist accused of coordinating with Hamas ahead of the terror group's Oct. 7 assault on the Jewish state. That journalist, Hassan Eslaiah, was photographed embracing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and did not wear a press vest or helmet while filming himself in front of a burning Israeli tank during the attack.


'OUTRAGEOUS' Met Police 'double standards' sparks fear Jewish people could be forced out of Britain
'I don’t know a Jewish person who isn’t questioning their future in the UK'

Joseph Cohen of the Israel Advocacy Group says that there is a 'serious safety issue' in the UK, and he's 'struggling to see a future' for him and his family.


Syracuse ‘Pro-Palestine’ Students Protest Jerry Seinfeld, Who is Jewish, Comedy Show
When they tell you who they are, you better listen.

This isn’t about Palestine. It’s about Jews. It’s not about a cease-fire. It’s about destroying Israel.

The Syracuse chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Syracuse Collective for Palestinian Liberation, the Resilient Indigenous Action Collective, and the Syracuse chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation organized the “Shut It Down for Palestine protest in downtown Syracuse, NY.

The anti-Israel students targeted comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s show.

Seinfeld is Jewish. He signed an open letter expressing support for Israel.
Anna Schwartz explains why she dropped artist Mike Parr
Melbourne gallery owner Anna Schwartz says she felt performance artist Mike Parr was intentionally ending their 36-year relationship by creating a political artwork in her gallery that made her feel “sick”.

Schwartz, who had represented Parr for decades until last week, has explained the reason she dropped him was because he painted the word “Nazi” next to the word “Israel” in blood-red in a performance at her gallery earlier this month.

“Mike Parr is the greatest artist this country has ever and perhaps will ever produce,” she said.

“This work started out with slogans on the wall, and they were being painted blind, it was not very coherent. But when it got to the point of the word ‘Nazi’ and the word ‘Israel’ being on the wall together, whatever the intention ... the co-appearance of the word Nazi with the word Israel made me sick.”

Parr, 78, received an email the morning after his performance, saying his relationship with the gallery had been terminated.

Speaking on ABC’s Radio National on Monday morning, Schwartz said she felt Parr’s performance piece on December 2 was his intentional ending of their relationship.

She said the artist told her before the show: “‘I don’t want to hurt you Anna’, but he did hurt me, it was an intentional ending of a relationship that was fundamental to me.”

Schwartz said she and her husband Morry, who owns Schwartz Media, both had family directly impacted by and killed in the Holocaust. Those who survived had chosen to move to Australia to get as far away from the “madness” as possible.


Melbourne theatre warns audience about possible Palestine protest
Melbourne’s Theatre is warning patrons ahead of a possible protest on their Wednesday night performance.

The theatre warns of ‘personal gestures’ which could be taken by those in the building on December 13.

Sky News host Liz Storer says it is “absolute irony” that the performance is called ‘A Very Jewish Christmas Carol’.

“The absolute irony that Wednesday night the actual performance happening this evening is called ‘A Very Jewish Christmas Carol,” Ms Storer said.

“Just put your foot down.”


Che Guevara’s Daughter Addresses Memorial Service for Palestinian “Martyrs”
The Spanish word vencido, by the way, translates into “defeated” or “surrendered.” And indeed, “the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood” rarely reached Guevara’s nostrils from anything properly describable as combat. It mostly came from the close-range murders of unarmed and defenseless men – and boys.

Carlos Machado was 15 years old in 1963 when the bullets from the firing squad shattered his body. His twin brother and father collapsed beside Carlos from the same volley. All had resisted Castro and Che’s theft of their humble family farm; all refused blindfolds; and all died sneering at their Communist murderers, as did thousands of their valiant countrymen. “Viva Cuba Libre! Viva Cristo Rey! Abajo Comunismo!” “The defiant yells would make the walls of La Cabana prison tremble,” wrote an eyewitness to the slaughter, Armando Valladares.

Rigoberto Hernandez was 17 when Che’s soldiers dragged him from his cell in La Cabana, jerked his head back to gag him, and started dragging him to the stake. “Rigo” pleaded his innocence to the very bloody end. But his pleas were garbled and difficult to understand. His struggles while being gagged and bound to the stake were also awkward. The boy had been a janitor in a Havana high school and was mentally retarded. His single mother had pleaded his case with hysterical sobs. She had begged, beseeched, and finally proven to his “prosecutors” that it was a case of mistaken identity. Her only son, a boy in such a condition, couldn’t possibly have been “a CIA agent planting bombs.”

“Fuego!” and the firing squad volley shattered Rigo’s little bent body as he moaned and struggled awkwardly against his bonds, blindfold and gag. Remember Che Guevara’s instructions to his revolutionary courts: “judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail.” And remember Harvard Law School’s invitation and rollicking ovation to Fidel Castro during the very midst of this appalling bloodbath.

Not that the victims of this Stalinist bloodbath were exclusively men and boys. In their refusal to discriminate among potential victims, the Castroites were well ahead of the Taliban. On Christmas Eve 1961, a young Cuban woman named Juana Diaz spat in the face of the executioners who were binding and gagging her. They found her guilty of feeding and hiding “bandits” (Che’s term for Cuban rednecks who took up arms to fight his theft of their land to create Stalinist kolkhozes.) When the blast from that firing squad demolished her face and torso, Juana was six months pregnant.

The term “hatred” was a constant in Che Guevara’s writings: “Hatred as an element of struggle”; “hatred that is intransigent”; “hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him a violent and cold-blooded killing machine.”

The one genuine accomplishment in Che Guevara’s life was the mass murder of defenseless innocents. Under his own gun dozens died. Under his orders thousands crumpled. At everything else Che Guevara failed abysmally

And did Aleida mention “cowardice”?

Perfect, because her father’s pathetic whimpering while dropping his fully-loaded weapons as two Bolivian soldiers approached him on Oct. 8 1967 (“Don’t shoot!” I’m Che!” I’m worth more to you alive than dead!”) proves that this cowardly, murdering swine was unfit to carry his victims’ slop buckets.
Usman Khawaja to fight protest ban after Cricket Australia told opener NOT to wear pro-Palestine shoes... and Pat Cummins throws his support behind his teammate
Usman Khawaja says he will fight his ban after Cricket Australia prevented him from sharing a 'humanitarian message' of peace amid the war in Gaza.

Khawaja, a proud Muslim, revealed plans to wear shoes bearing the slogans 'freedom is a human right' and 'all lives matter' during Australia's Test match against Pakistan in Perth on Thursday.

However, cricket's governing body has told Khawaja to 'uphold' their rules on banning the display of personal messages.

'We support the right of our players to express personal opinions,' a CA statement said.

'But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold.'




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

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