Thursday, December 14, 2023

12/14 Links Pt1: Iran Sponsored the October 7 Massacre. America Paid for It; Hamas to recognize Israel? Part of terror group's deceitful plans

From Ian:

The Muslim world's selective outrage over Israel
The pattern of this selective rage shifts slightly if the U.S. is involved and reaches its peak when Israel is involved. We saw it when U.S. forces were rooting out terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, there was almost total silence when Russian President Vladimir Putin was annihilating Muslims in Chechnya.

In northwestern China, the Uyghur Muslim population has been the victim of a cultural genocide perpetrated by Communist authorities. Their religious and human rights have been stripped and many are being held in concentration camps. Yet again, the Muslim world remains silent.

Perhaps this is exactly the reason much of the world is not rallying behind the Palestinian cause this time around. People can easily see through the thinly veiled hypocrisy and selective outrage.

There is another interesting paradox. When Muslim regimes like Iran, Turkey and other Persian Gulf states abuse the human rights of their citizens, almost all Muslim governments choose to side with the regime instead of the victims. But when the U.S. or Israel is involved in any conflict in the Muslim world, the same regimes take cover behind international human rights laws that they have scant regard for.

The Pakistani military mastered this art of duplicity and hypocrisy. It received billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. and its allies to fight jihadis in Afghanistan, supported many of the same jihadis in their fight against NATO, turned a blind eye to terrorism perpetrated against Pakistani civilians and stoked anger over U.S. drone strikes, leading to widespread protests.

This is all about politics, not the political rights of Muslims. Israel is the only modern, democratic and technologically advanced state in the Middle East. Compare it with the Muslim monarchies of the region and you have a stark contrast. Support for Palestinian cause comes from a fear that if Israel is allowed to exist in peace and security, its democratic values will eventually permeate the region.

Monarchies and dictatorships dread that day.
Iran Sponsored the October 7 Massacre. America Paid for It.
It may strike some observers as curious, and others as unimaginably evil, that only weeks after Hamas slaughtered over 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, the Biden administration awarded sanctions waivers worth $10 billion to Iran, the primary external sponsor of those attacks. The waiver, which allows Iran to collect money from the sale of electricity to Iraq, an arrangement that further deepens Iranian control of that country, came with an added bonus: Iran would be allowed to convert the funds into euros which it could spend immediately, without the usual requirement that the money remain in escrow inside Iraq. The prospect that Iran might immediately spend the money it receives on continuing to target U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria doesn’t appear to have disrupted the deal, either.

Which is strange. In the informal but apparently binding relationship between the Biden administration and the Iranians, minor events like a horrific, large-scale terror assault on a close ally, the kidnapping of American children and burying them in underground tunnels, and the regular maiming and occasional killing of U.S. military personnel on American bases in the region can hardly be permitted to interfere with the goal of ensuring that billions of dollars reach Iran every month, in order to buttress the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Showing its awareness that there is something obviously bizarre—not to mention hideously amoral—about this relationship, the administration has gone to absurd levels to downplay Iran’s role in the massacre. According to The Wall Street Journal, hundreds of Hamas terrorists who took part in the attack received specialized training in Iran. Meanwhile, reporting in Israel indicates that Tehran was involved at the operational level to the extent that it determined the actual timing of the operation, moving it to October from its originally planned date during Passover. These reports are the latest in a series that began to come out immediately after Oct. 7, that have directly implicated Iran in various stages and aspects of the terrorist onslaught, in addition to its already well-understood role as Hamas’ main funder, arms supplier, and political sponsor.

Iran, the state sponsor without whose material and logistical support Hamas would not be able to function, is naturally kept in the dark. Yes, that’s definitely how it all went down.

The detailed reporting on Iran’s direct involvement in the Oct. 7 massacre that has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and in the Israeli press stands in stark contrast with the public assertions of the Biden administration about the lack of any Iranian involvement. The administration staked out its position on the matter from the very day of the assault, which ostensibly took both Israel and the U.S. entirely by surprise: “On Iran’s involvement, I mean, look, specifically about what happened today, it’s too early—too early to say whether, you know, the state of Iran was directly involved or planning and supporting,” a senior administration official told reporters on a background call on Oct. 7. Asked again, the senior official gave a more specific answer: “Again, on that question, what I said: We don’t have anything to indicate Iran was involved in this specific—what is unfolding now.”

The weasel language the senior official used in both answers set the tone for subsequent pronouncements and leaks on the subject. Namely, that no “direct” evidence whatsoever existed that suggested “the state of Iran” was “directly” involved in planning and supporting this “specific” attack. In other words, the Biden administration understood from the day of the attack onward that its role was to serve as Iran’s lawyer, minimizing Iran’s involvement at every turn, in order to protect the U.S.-Iranian relationship from American legislative and public opinion.

So when the WSJ reported on Oct. 8 that Iran helped plan the operation—including in multiple meetings in Beirut with senior Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) officials, all the way to giving the green light a week before the attack—administration officials sprung into action, like any hardened Bronx defense lawyer would when informed that a notorious client with a rap sheet as long your arm had apparently gone on a wild rampage, murdering well over a thousand perfectly innocent people in cold blood. “We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” one official told the paper. In an interview with CNN, Secretary of State Antony Blinken robotically played back the buzzwords from the day before: “In this specific instance, we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship.” (Emphasis added.)
Iran has accessed $10b it received under sanctions waiver, US official
A Biden administration official acknowledged on Wednesday that Iran has made two “transactions” using money held in a bank in Oman under a sanctions waiver that was granted to the Islamic Republic last month.

Speaking at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, Elizabeth Rosenberg said that Iran has spent part of $10 billion of revenues for selling electricity to Iraq, which was held in an Omani escrow account.

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, asked Rosenberg: “Have there been any humanitarian transactions facilitated from the Iranian funds held in Oman?”

“There have been two transactions,” confirmed Rosenberg, assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes at the U.S. Treasury Department, adding that she would only provide additional detail about those transactions in a classified setting.

Wednesday’s hearing appears to be the first acknowledgment by the Biden administration that Iran has spent part of the funds it received under these sanctions waivers.

Rosenberg did not say when the transactions took place. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a query from JNS.


Seth Frantzman: Hamas to recognize Israel? Part of terror group's deceitful plans
Mousa Abu Marzouk made comments in an interview with Al-Monitor this week. The comments were portrayed as Hamas considering “Israel recognition.”

In fact, nothing of this sort has taken place, and it is part of the Hamas attempt to portray itself as moderate in English while it not only commits genocidal acts when it has the power, but it pushes global extremism against Israel and Jews. Selling Hamas as willing to moderate is one phase in the strategic agenda of the group as it has its sights set on the West Bank and the region.

The comments by Abu Marzouk were characterized as a “shift” for Hamas by Al-Monitor. “In an interview with Al-Monitor, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk suggested the militant group would adhere to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s stance on Israel.”

Bait and switch
This is a form of charlatanism by Hamas and a bait and switch. Hamas itself continues to hold more than 130 hostages in Gaza and carried out the most brutal mass murder against Israeli civilians in Israel’s history recently. Hamas is so brutal and genocidal that its attack on October 7 also targeted foreign workers and tourists, the organization spared no one. Hamas, like some other historic terrorist groups, like to benefit from the privilege these groups get from media, where they have an “armed wing” and a “political” wing.

There is no such thing as an “armed wing” of a terrorist group, any more than a country’s army is its “armed wing.” Terrorist groups nevertheless benefit from this by massacring people with one hand and then sending their leaders to appear on Western media channels.

Hamas has done this for years, appearing on Al-Jazeera in Doha, where Hamas leaders are based, or sending Hamas members to talk to UK or US media. At such meetings, they have crafted talking points that make Hamas seem open to negotiations. For instance, they pretend that Hamas might be willing to adopt the stance of the Palestine Liberation Organization and, therefore, recognize Israel.

Of course, the real goal here is not for Hamas to recognize Israel, but rather for Hamas to grow its presence in the West Bank. A recent poll has found that after October 7, Hamas is gaining in popularity in the West Bank.

In order for Hamas to come to power in the West Bank, it needs to get out from under sanctions in the West and to sell itself as a potential peace partner.


Seth Mandel: Jewish Safety and the Israel Factor
Indeed, Jewish organized self-defense as a nation, whether or not that nation was located in an independent Jewish state in the Land of Israel, became the consensus after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom, even on the left. The Jewish Socialist Bund, notes historian Monty Noam Penkower, “called for answering ‘violence with violence,’ rather than submissively awaiting salvation from God, friends, government, or other quarters.” The writer Ahad Ha’Am wrote that the government should “permit us the natural right of every living creature to defend itself inasmuch as it is able” by recognizing Jewish defense leagues in all Jewish communities. “Socialist-Zionist ideologue Nahum Syrkin wrote an article in Yiddish urging fellow Jews to go out to the street with weapons in hand. Poalei Zion activist Michael Helpern, under the rallying cry ‘Remember the shame!’, organized Jewish fighting groups in Vilna and other towns.”

Across the spectrum, the idea of Jewish national defense was uncontroversial. It is appropriate to be having this discussion on Hanukkah, a holiday with a similar theme and the potential to make some uncomfortable. New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres got it exactly right when he posted: “The Maccabean revolt is a story of Jewish self-defense in the face of an existential threat. Israel is the national embodiment of the Maccabean tradition of Jewish self-defense.”

Left-wing activist Benzion Sanders objected: “Hey Ritchie, please don’t lecture Jews about what our holidays are about. This is not what the Rabbinic tradition says. The focus of the holiday has always traditionally been on the miracle of the oil.”

In fact, this has it exactly backwards. The association of the holiday with lighting the menorah was a Talmudic innovation that came long after the events of the Maccabean revolt. It is not part of the text or of the initial decree to celebrate annually the Maccabees’ victory. But Jewish nationalism and Jewish self-defense are uncomfortable subjects of celebration for some.

Sanders served in the IDF, so I have no doubt his feelings are a genuine product of his personal experience. But most of the objections to Torres’s (demonstrably correct) message were far shallower. IfNotNow co-founder Yonah Lieberman didn’t like that “a non-Jewish Congressman is determining the meaning of a Jewish holiday.” But Torres wasn’t determining anything. He was merely reciting what had long been determined by reality.

After the Holocaust, Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann wrote of Kishinev: “Certainly it cannot compete with what we have become accustomed to in the fourth and fifth decades of this century.”

The state of Israel has undoubtedly changed “what we have become accustomed to.” That is indeed worth celebrating.
Caroline Glick: Biden Declares War on the Netanyahu Government
Biden tells the Netanyahu government that they'd better change or else while Israeli soldiers pay the price of American pressure on the battlefield.


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: The Biden-Bibi Babble
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti
Today’s podcast asks whether Joe Biden has turned on Benjamin Netanyahu and what role Bibi’s own electoral hopes and fears are playing in this seeming new confrontation. And: Will there be a big border/Ukraine/Israel funding deal, given that it’s in everybody’s interest to get the deal?


Bernie Sanders Pressures Biden To Cut Military Aid to Israel by $10 Billion

US holds up rifle shipment to Israel over ‘settler violence’

WATCH: Kirby Tries to Clean Up Biden’s Claim of ‘Indiscriminate Bombing’

Pro-Hamas Group CAIR Already Citing Biden Claim of ‘Indiscriminate Bombing’




Support for Israel is falling across US and UK
The US remains a global outlier in its popular support for Israel, but pro-Israel sentiments are declining. Americans continue to side more with Israelis than Palestinians, yet recent data shows that net support for Israelis dropped a full 14 percentage points from October to November amid continued fighting in Gaza.

Polling company YouGov has asked US respondents which side they felt more sympathy for in the Israel-Palestine conflict several times over recent years. Net support for Israel, calculated by subtracting the percentage of people who feel more sympathy for Palestine from the percentage who back Israel, has been in the teens to low-20s for years, but spiked to a high of +38% in the days after 7 October. In the weeks since, it has declined to +24%.

If the current opinions of young voters are any indicator of where public opinion is moving, American views on the issue will start to look more like those of the UK, where public support for Israel is much more tepid and has been for decades. British support for Israel over Palestine has been in negative territory for some time — like the US it surged upwards in the days after 7 October, but has been declining since.


As the graph above shows, net sympathy for Israel over Palestine spiked in both the US and the UK after 7 October and has been gradually declining since, but remains higher in both countries than the corresponding figures prior to the attacks. Net support for Israel has been consistently about 30 points higher in the US compared to the UK. Youth opinion has followed a similar pattern in the two countries, with net support lower for young people compared to the general population, spiking after 7 October and then declining. Unlike the general populations, net support for Israel is now lower than it was prior to October among Generation Z and younger millennials in both countries. It is worth noting that less recent data is available for the UK.

Opinions on Israel largely fall along party lines, with Right-leaning voters favouring Israel and Left-leaning voters holding more critical views of the nation and its military activities. Young people’s opposition to Israel is a reflection of the finding that Gen Z Americans lean further Left than previous youth cohorts, and show no signs of moving to the Right with age.
Hamas Thanks United Nations; Best Day for Terror Group Since October 7

Canada's UN ceasefire vote reveals what we've become — undependable, unprincipled and foolish

‘Diabolical’: Hamas responsible for ‘innocent souls’ suffering in Gaza
Former US Army vice chief of staff General Jack Keane has accused Hamas of being responsible for “innocent souls” suffering in Gaza as the terrorist organisation prevents its citizens from leaving.

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

General Keane said Hamas targeted civilians to make sure Israel would come into the Gaza Strip and attack them in retaliation.

“Here in Gaza they hold that population in place and they are the government who is supposed to protect their own people,” he told Sky News contributor Steve Price.

“This is diabolical on their part so what happens is we get a disproportionate amount of civilian casualties that we should not have because those people are not permitted to leave.”

General Keane also recognised the frustration it would cause for the Israeli soldiers who are trying to eliminate Hamas.


Government’s position on Israel-Hamas war must be ‘crystal clear’
The Prime Minister’s call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has left the Australian Jewish community “confused” about the government’s position, according to Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin.

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

Mr Albanese released a joint statement with his Canadian and New Zealand counterparts on Wednesday, calling for steps towards a “sustainable ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The letter also called for Hamas to be dismantled for their atrocities.

Mr Ryvchin stressed the government’s position on the issue must be “crystal clear”.

“There’s an incompatibility there on the government’s position and I think that is evidenced by the fact that the government felt compelled to issue a clarification on what its position was,” he told Sky News host James Morrow.




Hamas officials quit Qatar, shut down cellphones

Israel offers up to $400,000 for Hamas leaders’ whereabouts

Hamas terrorists surrender en masse as IDF fights inside Gaza hospital

IDF wraps up 60-hour operation in Jenin amid fighting in Gaza

IDF suspends soldiers for reciting Jewish prayer inside Jenin mosque

Study finds 84% of Israeli kids, 40% of parents suffering emotional distress over war

Two hostages confirmed dead, bodies held by Hamas

Mental abuse and infectious diseases: Medical condition of returned Israeli captives worrying, report says

'They're So Cruel': How Oct. 7 Destroyed an Israeli Peace Activist's Faith in the Palestinians ‘They’re So Cruel’: How Oct. 7 Destroyed an Israeli Peace Activist’s Faith in the Palestinians
Irit Lahav, 68, was a peace activist who believed in the decency of the Palestinian people. Then, on Oct. 7, ordinary Gazans joined in a terrorist attack that left more than one in four of her neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz dead of abducted.


TravelingIsrael: 70% of Palestinians Support The Hamas Attack on Israel (This is a video about YOU, not Hamas)

‘Terrorist sympathiser’ allegedly helping Palestinians settle into Australia
Sky News host Sharri Markson has exposed a “terrorist sympathiser” allegedly helping Palestinians settle in Australia amid the war between Israel and Gaza.

Australia has granted visas to 860 Palestinians fleeing the conflict in the Middle East. The Opposition has expressed concern over the government's ability to ensure people who have terror affiliations are not allowed into Australia.

Laura Allam claimed to be helping the Palestinians arrive in Australia through her non-government organisation AJF Org.

Ms Markson exposed “extremist content” posted on Ms Allam’s social media accounts, including a comment about plans to “avenge the martyrs in Jenin and Gaza."

"It is a jihad of martyrdom or victory,” Ms Allam wrote on her Instagram post.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong was approached for a comment on the issue, with a spokesperson saying: “The Australian Government does not engage any NGOs in providing consular assistance to individuals seeking to leave Gaza”.

“People who obtain Australian visas are subject to appropriate identity, security and character checks,” the statement continued.

The Sky News host doubled down on the Coalition’s security check concerns, questioning how the government is ensuring Palestinians “share our values” and won’t import “hatred of Jews”.

“Instead of signing Australia up to a biased United Nations motion demanding Israel stop its war against Hamas, Albanese should make sure he is protecting Australian citizens,” Ms Markson added.

“Make sure he isn't providing safe passage to Australia for Hamas terrorists or sympathisers.”




Ben Shapiro: Oh, To Be A Black Harvard President
New details break in Harvard’s attempt to save Claudine Gay’s job; the Biden administration signals it won’t secure the border in return for Ukraine aid; and Joe Biden threatens Israel with loss of support.


Megyn Kelly: One of America's Top Rabbis Steve Leder Calls Out Former Allies on the Left For Anti-Semitism
Megyn Kelly is joined by Rabbi Steve Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple to discuss his disappointment in people’s inability to disambiguate Hamas' atrocities and the more nuanced situation in Gaza, the clear anti-Semitism from some on the left, the depth of Jew hatred and hypocrisy of some of his former allies, and more.


Megyn Kelly: How Those Who Hate Israel Flip the Script and Blame the Victim, with Rabbi Steve Leder
Megyn Kelly is joined by Rabbi Steve Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple to discuss how anti-Israel Americans flip the script and blame victims, who really are the perpetrators in Gaza and the Middle East, and more.


Megyn Kelly: The True Meaning of Hanukkah, and How All Americans Should Feel This Year, with Rabbi Steve Leder
Megyn Kelly is joined by Rabbi Steve Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple to discuss the true meaning of Hanukkah (and what First Gentleman Doug Emhoff got wrong), a powerful message to American Jews and supporters of Jewish people this tough year, and more.


Josh Szeps a supporter of ‘two states’ for Israelis and Palestinians
Former ABC radio host Josh Szeps has voiced his support of “two states” for Israelis and Palestinians.

Mr Szeps sat with Sky News host Sharri Markson to discuss his resignation from the ABC and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

“I’m the grandchild of Holocaust survivors,” he said.

“Obviously I try to explain my point of view but there’s so much that is unknown by a lot of these people.”

“I will sit down and I will listen to a Palestinian refugee's story all day, and I will listen to a Jew’s story all day.”


Jewish Congressman Max Miller Confronted By Anti-Semitic House Staffer
An anti-Semitic House staffer on Wednesday confronted Jewish congressman Max Miller in the halls of the Cannon Office Building to say: "Free Palestine." For the Ohio Republican, a staunch Israel supporter, it's the sort of exchange that happens "every day."

In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Miller said he was speaking with NBC News's Ali Vitali outside of a coffee shop when the staffer approached him.

"We're just having a casual conversation, and out of nowhere, this guy beelines up to me visibly shaking—he's very upset in my presence because he's a snowflake," Miller told the Free Beacon." And he just comes right back up to me and was like, ‘Free Palestine.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ … I'm not going to give him a reaction because that's what he wants."

Miller said Vitali was shocked by the exchange. "She was like, ‘Wow, that was blatant anti-Semitism from a staffer, and you're a member of Congress,’" he continued. "And I said, ‘Ali, this happens to me every day. … And I hope that you say something about it.’" Vitali, who did not return a request for comment, refrained from calling the exchange anti-Semitic in a social media post, writing instead that it was "stunning to see staff challenge members to their faces this way."


Ami Horowitz blasts 'tit-for-tat' politics in the United States





Simple map shows why there are cracks at the highest level of Anthony Albanese's government over Israel-Hamas war - as PM and Penny Wong pull shock move at the UN
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong's decision to vote in favour of a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict sparked fierce criticism from Israel and Jewish groups.

But it should not have come as much of a surprise given the comments four neighbouring Labor frontbenchers have made about the conflict.

Industry Minister Ed Husic, Leader of the House Tony Burke, Education Minister Jason Clare and Energy Minister Chris Bowen have each spoken sympathetically about the plight of Palestinians.

Some drew fire for veering from the government's position at the time. Each of the ministers represent neighbouring electorates with large Islamic communities in western Sydney.

Australia's first Muslim minister Ed Husic represents the western Sydney community of Chifley, which takes in suburbs such as Quakers Hill, Riverstone and Schofields and was one of the first Labor MPs to veer from the party line.

Husic said in October that Palestinians were being 'collectively punished for Hamas' barbarism' by Israel.


Deputy prime minister's office is attacked by pro-Palestine supporters who left a disturbing message

Left continues to deny anti-Semitism being promoted at pro-Palestine protests
Sky News host Sharri Markson says for weeks, we've seen many on the Left reject the suggestion that “anything anti-Semitic” was chanted at the October 9 Pro-Palestine rally on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

Video footage of protestors at the Opera House shows them yelling out “gas the Jews”.

Ms Markson said Upper House Labor MP Stephen Lawrence questioned the “legitimacy of the footage” in NSW Parliament.

“Suggesting AI might have even had a role in making the video.

“I've obtained the raw footage from that protest and the audio is exactly the same as what was posted online.”


Sharri Markson rips into ‘unintelligent’ influencers spreading ‘vile hatred’ on social media
Sky News host Sharri Markson has ripped into “uninformed” and “unintelligent” influencers spreading vile hatred through their social media accounts.

Ms Markson pointed to comments made by Clementine Ford on social media where the left-wing writer called women who support the existence of Israel “pathetic” and “gross”.

"You're pathetic, you disgust me and I pity you for being so f**** basic and gross that you think others should cheer on the murder of thousands just to make you feel better,” she wrote in a social media post.

Mummy bloggers Constance Hall and Lauren Dobois have also been accused of making anti-Semitic comments, with Ms Hall comparing Israeli hostages to dogs.

“It is extremely anti-Semitic to compare hostages to dogs – it’s kind of distressing to see so many people ‘like’ that sort of content,” Ms Markson said.

The Sky News host also called out social media influencer Abbie Chatfield for telling her podcast viewers she won’t platform a Zionist.

“I haven't wanted to waste my time with these uninformed, unintelligent, inconsequential people who mean so little to us,” Ms Markson added.

“But the reality is they're spreading vile hatred online and they're encouraging their huge number of followers to despise Jews who support Israel.”


ABC ‘finally found some backbone’: Company sacks Triple J presenter over genocide remarks
Sky News host Steve Price says the ABC has “finally found some backbone” after the company sacked a Triple J presenter after she made remarks about genocide relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Miss Kaninna was fired while a number of other staff were disciplined for airing the controversial episode.

“Last month Andrew exclusively revealed on this program some very distressing comments from a guest presenter,” Mr Price said.

“Someone called Miss Kaninna, an Aboriginal woman on Triple J, the ABC’s youth music channel.”

“Well the ABC says it is unbiased and impartial, well now the ABC has not only deleted that episode, but also a number of staff have been disciplined.”




Germany arrests four Hamas terrorists for plans to attack Jews
Four members of Hamas have been detained on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, German prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.

Three of the suspects were detained in Berlin and another was detained in the Netherlands, according to the prosecutors.

Dutch national Nazih R was arrested by police in Rotterdam, while Lebanon-born Abdelhamid Al A and Ibrahim El-R, as well as Egyptian national Mohamed B, were arrested in the German capital, they said.

All four have been longstanding members of Hamas with close links to the leadership of the group's military branch, said prosecutors.

Abdelhamid Al A had been tasked by Hamas leaders in Lebanon with sourcing weapons. The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept at the ready for potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions, said prosecutors.
Danish police nab suspects over alleged Hamas plot against Jewish, Israeli targets
Danish police arrested at least four suspected Hamas operatives who were planning to carry out a terror attack on Jewish or Israeli targets, Jerusalem said Thursday, as authorities in Denmark said they would up security at Jewish sites.

The arrests, which were carried out in coordinated actions across Denmark and the Netherlands, “thwarted a terror attack plot that aimed to kill innocent civilians in Europe,” according to a joint statement from the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security service released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Danish police announced the arrests of four suspects — three in Denmark and one in the Netherlands — while the PMO statement cited seven arrests. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

In the Netherlands, broadcaster NOS reported that a 57-year-old Dutch man was arrested in Rotterdam based on a request from German authorities.

The Netherlands recently raised its terror alert level, citing Israel’s war with Hamas. Get The Times of Israel's Daily E
France rocked by two Islamist horrors: Knifeman storms nursery and tells staff 'I'll rape you Jews and cut you up like in Gaza' as cops reveal schoolgirl, 12, who threatened to kill teacher was inspired by 'jihad' murderer

Large menorah destroyed, thrown into Oakland’s Lake Merritt

Los Angeles area plagued by antisemitic attacks in 'tsunami' of hate: Advocates

The Genderfluid Quran Scholars of TikTok

Trans child of Connecticut deputy associate attorney general arrested over antisemitic felony hate crime
The 28-year-old trans child of Connecticut's deputy associate attorney general was arrested on Thursday over a felony antisemitic hate crime incident in Newtown.

Sarah Stofko, who goes by the alias “Isaac,” was arrested on Dec. 7 by the Newtown Police Department following an investigation into the vandalism of an Israeli flag that had been cut down. According to the police report, a witness reported the incident to law enforcement and police were able to obtain a vehicle description and registration belonging to Stofko. The report lists Stofko’s sex as “m” though she is an adult female.

Stofko, an alumna of Hunter College in New York City, is facing charges of third-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony, and third-degree criminal mischief. Stofko is the child of Deputy Associate Attorney General Carolyn Signorelli, a Democrat and liberal activist. Stofko’s arrest record shows an address belonging to her mother, confirming she was living with the high-level state attorney in their 2,000-square-foot house in the state’s wealthiest county when she allegedly committed the hate crime.

Signorelli works closely in the state’s civil rights department with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who was previously a Democrat congressman. She was involved in anti-Donald Trump activism previously and her social media posts show activist content around transgender and queer ideology. She serves on the Board of Ethics for the Town of Newton and is a House of Delegates member for the Connecticut Bar Association. (Both organizations were reached for comment.)

“Our police department has no tolerance for any crimes that have the potential to create fear and anxiety amongst members of our community,” Lt. Scott Smith said in a press release. “Our patrol officers worked diligently to identify and arrest this individual and will continue to fulfill our mission statement by working together with the community to seek justice for all. We are grateful to members of the community for assisting in this investigation."

Suspect Stofko is currently working as a contract amateur web developer and until September this year was a barista at a local Starbucks—a chain violently targeted in recent weeks by anti-Israel activists.


Why Usman Khawaja IS wearing his pro-Palestine shoes at Pakistan Test despite being banned from making statement - as he blasts cricket bosses as hypocrites



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