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Saturday, December 16, 2023

12/16 Links: ‘Never Again’ Is Right Now; The Hostage Tragedy Deepens; IDF Chief on the Death of Three Hostages: “I Am Responsible for What Happened”

From Ian:

Michal Cotler-Wunsh: ‘Never Again’ Is Right Now
While 'Never Again' signifies a call for the global community to adopt a proactive, preventative, and comprehensive stance against antisemitism, for the 75-year-young Jewish nation-state and Jewish communities worldwide, 10/7 represents a reawakening and solidification of a collective consciousness. It underscores the Jewish peoples’ status, on equal footing with all other nations, reaffirming our identity and our equal place in the world.

What the genocidal perpetrators of 10/7 and their allies did not factor in, is that for the “new Jew,” who returned to Zion after millennia of yearning and prayer to rebuild a sovereign state, bowing our heads to avoid drawing attention or identifying friends who would hide us in the attic is no longer an option.

The 10/7 massacre marks a pivotal “Never Again is Now” moment, symbolizing 75 years of the Jewish nation-state's journey of return as a people, reclaiming our collective identity, roots, memory, and homeland. It epitomizes the self-confidence required for action and courage in equally confronting hate of all kinds, including antisemitism. It renews the hope of generations by rightfully assigning blame to the perpetrators rather than internalizing it.

This must be a moment of reckoning for the many spaces that allowed antisemitism to fester and percolate, in its many forms, for decades.

A true commitment to “Never Again” — one that effects lasting global change — will recognize the 10/7 massacre of Jews in their nation state as the assault on humanity that it was intended to be, and “the Jewish question” as a litmus test for civilization as we know it, under attack by genocidal terror organizations and their supporting authoritarian regimes.

Together, we must rise to the challenge, lighting the way forward with moral clarity and courage, renewing our shared commitment to combatting antisemitism, so that — post 10/7 — “Never Again” will indeed be “Never Again.”
John Podhoretz: The Hostage Tragedy Deepens
The news today that the IDF, working to free hostages in Gaza, instead shot and killed three of them in a tragic battlefield calamity is so horrible it’s hard even to think about. But the truth is that scholars of war have thought about such matters before, and have come to an unambiguous conclusion. The Geneva Conventions require combatants in war to wear insignias or clothing that clearly identify them as combatants. Hamas does not do so, and in failing to do so, it was impossible for IDF forces to know the difference between captive and captor.

Article 44: “In order to promote the protection of the civilian population from the effects of hostilities, combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from the civilian population while they are engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack.”

This language is mirrored in other places in the Geneva conventions to protect combatants should they be captured by the enemy—they need to be in uniform or wearing insignias indicating their status as combatants so that their opponents will know who they are and grant them prisoner-of-war status, which obliges humanitarian treatment.

Israel will mourn, and Israelis will rage and weep, and will demand to know how such a thing could have happened. The one thing they can be sure of is that the blame resides entirely with Hamas.


The colonel came to Gaza for Hanukkah
On the seventh night of Hanukkah my IDF unit was honored to have Colonel Richard Kemp CBE as our special guest on the Gaza border. The former head of the British military in Afghanistan and member of COBRA, who is neither Jewish or Israeli, Kemp is an outspoken, eloquent and effective defender of the IDF and the Jewish state. He was deeply moved by his meeting with the men and women of my unit.

My IDF unit is a reserve medical unit of composed of doctors, paramedics, combat medics and combat troops. Our mission is to provide rapid medical response, stabilization, and evacuation for our soldiers. Everyone has come here voluntarily from all over Israel and indeed, all over the globe. They are men and women who represent the entire spectrum of society, religious, and political beliefs. United by one desire — to destroy the evil forces who sowed terror and death upon Israel on the black Saturday of October 7. Captain Meir, Colonel Kemp and Tuvia on the Gaza border. Photo (c) T. Book, 2023

The colonel watched as I lit my special menorah, made up of IDF cartridge cases, together with my fellow IDF brothers-and-sisters-in-arms from all different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and mentioned that the Al Hanisim (“for the miracles”) prayer we recite on Hanukkah, which contains the words, “The few against the many…in those days and at this time,” has extra significance and meaning at this time in our history. I mentioned how the IDF are the “modern Maccabees” fighting against the darkness of radical Islamic terror, not just for Israel, but for the entire free world.

Colonel Kemp responded by reminding us that the British forces symbolically entered Jerusalem on the third day of Hanukkah in 1917 (a month after the issue of the Balfour Declaration). He told us how General Allenby dismounted from his horse outside the Jaffa Gate and entered the Holy City on foot, desiring to enter as a pilgrim. He contended that the ousting of the Ottoman forces, after 400 years in this land, and replacement by the British mandate, was part of a process that culminated in the independence of Israel in 1948. Finally, he reminded us that the Jewish Legion (fighting under the symbol of a menorah, with the word “Kadima” (forward)) was the first organized Jewish fighting force since the time of the Maccabees. The Force was the brainchild of Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky, who served as an officer in the unit, and that a certain private David Ben Gurion was one of the soldiers.

After the ceremonial singing and lighting of the menorah with the unit, I asked Colonel Kemp why he is such an outspoken, eloquent, and effective defender of the IDF and the Jewish state? He began his answer with this statement:
I was taught when I was a child to know right from wrong. And when I hear some of the lies, the propaganda and the malice that’s churned out in the international media, in universities, in high schools and so-called ‘human rights’ groups, I know it’s wrong. I know it’s wrong what’s being said in relation to the IDF.
Amid outcry over civilian casualties in Gaza, experts note Israel's so-called 'dumb bombs' can be used with precision
The unguided, so-called "dumb bombs" used by Israel in Gaza can achieve heightened accuracy when deployed in conjunction with dive bombing and other tactics, experts tell ABC News -- an issue that has come to the forefront amid the outcry over mounting civilian casualties there.

Roughly 40-45% of the air-to-ground munitions used by Israel in Gaza have been unguided, so-called "dumb bombs," a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News, summarizing the findings of an American intelligence report. The rest of the bombs have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment added. Israel's rate of "dumb bomb" usage was first reported by CNN on Thursday.

The numbers assessed by the U.S. intelligence report would suggest a historically high level of precision weapons usage in urban warfare, according to ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard, a former State Department official and Marine Corps fighter pilot.

"Precision weapons are expensive and in short supply compared to 'dumb' bombs, but if Israel is using precision aerial weapons 55-60% of the time, then that is more than any country in the history of urban warfare," Ganyard said.

Furthermore, experts and U.S. officials told ABC News there are tactics that can be used to drop these weapons, which are more neutrally referred to as "unguided munitions," with precision, and to largely avoid needlessly killing or injuring civilians.

Whereas precision-guided munitions use on-board technology to reliably strike their targets, tactics such as dive bombing and dropping from lower altitudes can be used to boost the precision of unguided weapons, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the methods. Pilots can also use advanced ballistic computers to reliably predict where their bombs will land.

Israel is making use of these tactics, according to an official with the U.S. Department of Defense.

"Israel is doing everything it can to mitigate civilian harm and casualties, including with its use of unguided munitions," the DOD official said.
Bill Maher says Palestinians should 'move on' in pro-Israel monologue
Bill Maher, host of Real Time on HBO, argued that 75 years after their displacement, Palestinians should move on and that Israel cannot negotiate with people whose position is “you all die and disappear.”

Speaking in an eight-minute monologue on his show's season finale, Maher opens with a history of Bethlehem.

“In 1950, the little town of Bethlehem was 86% Christian, but now it is overwhelmingly Muslim. And that is my point tonight: things change."

He proceeds to discuss the rise and fall of various empires in the region, and how even though not everyone always liked the empire that took over, eventually everyone comes to accommodation, “except the Palestinians.”

Maher argues that 'From the river to the sea' is unrealistic
Maher then discusses the history of displaced people throughout the world, as a result of war and ethnic cleansing. He mentions the nearly one million Jews displaced from Arab countries and the Jews fleeing the cossacks in the Russian empire. He says that, although it was difficult, “they coped.”

Towards the end of his monologue, he discusses all the times peace deals were on the table between the Israelis and Palestinians, where Palestinians were offered their state and declined. He argued that “east Jerusalem could have been the capital of a Palestinian state that today might look more like Dubai than Gaza. Arafat was offered 95% of the West Bank and said ‘No.’”

Maher said, “wars end with negotiation, and what the media glosses over is, it's hard to negotiate when the other side's bargaining position is you all die and disappear.”
Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule: From the River to the Sea
It may be a “magical time of year,” but what we all really need right now is a good dose of realism about Israel and Palestine.


Benjamin Weinthal: Young generation of anti-Hamas activists in Gaza step up to serve but are snubbed by UN, aid groups
A rare Palestinian youth leader opposed to Hamas’ totalitarian rule has emerged amid Israel’s efforts to root out the vestiges of the jihadi terrorist movement in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking with Fox News Digital from within the war zone in Gaza, Moumen Al-Natour, 28, said he "advocates peace and for the establishment of a Palestinian state" that coexists with the Jewish state as part of a two-state solution.

The Hamas regime has imprisoned Al-Natour twenty times, including incarceration for "expressing my opinion and trying to organize additional protests."

Al-Natour was part of the 2019 protest against the deteriorating standard of living under Hamas rule.

"I organized a lot of young people in that 2019 protest movement called We Want to Live," he said.

Hamas violently crushed the 2019 protest of hundreds of demonstrators. Gaza has a Palestinian population of 2.3 million people.

According to the Meezaan Organization for Human Rights, based in Nazareth, Al-Natour was tortured by Hamas each time he was jailed.

When asked why the world is not hearing from people in Gaza who oppose Hamas, Al-Natour said, "Hamas is still in power. People, even during peace time, they do not criticize Hamas publicly. Now, specifically during wartime, the consequences would be much, much worse than during peace time.

"For sure, not all the people in Gaza are Hamas. They do not have access to social media and journalistic platforms where they can express what they think about Hamas."

Asked if the war will bring change to Gaza, Al-Natour said, "To be able to defeat Hamas on an ideological level is almost impossible because they have a lot of scholars, they have a lot of books. So, it will not be easy to just wipe out all of that.
Inside the Hamas media operation
More broadly, though, October 7 represented the moment Hamas’s emphasis shifted from legacy to social media — and, critically, when the main driver of output switched from Hamas itself to its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. “Since October 7, the group’s media operations are unsurprisingly dominated by the Al-Qassam Brigades’ media and its spokesman, Abu Obayda,” Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, Fellow of the Middle East Forum, tells me. “This reflects the reality of the war in which it is Hamas’s operatives in Gaza who primarily control the narrative and not its political leaders in exile in Qatar and elsewhere. And, it is, after all, the group’s status as a military ‘resistance’ force that matters most to supporters around the world and observers more generally.”

As far as social media campaigns go, it has undoubtedly been a success. In the days following Hamas’s attack, the group’s Telegram channel tripled in followers, from 340,000 to 1.3 million followers. Prior to the massacre, its average post received 25,000-30,000 views, a figure which increased tenfold to more than 300,000. Similarly, Al-Qassam Brigades’ account grew from 205,000 subscribers on 7 October to 619,000 on 12 October. Both accounts remain active, though they are barred in certain regions, such as the EU, UK, US and Israel.

Also noticeable was the style of their content. In late October, I attended an IDF screening of footage from Hamas’s attack. What struck me was the video-game-like nature of the violence; terrorists ran around shooting civilians as if they were in Grand Theft Auto. In the weeks since, the first-person has remained their favoured style, with much of Al-Qassam’s content designed to portray its troops as elite soldiers.

If this all seems crude, its impact cannot be discounted. On 13 October, Hamas released a video on Telegram that purported to show its terrorists soothing a crying baby; another fighter bandages the foot of an Israeli toddler. This type of footage may not have much purchase in the West, but more than 1.4 million watched it on Al-Jazeera’s Facebook page for Egypt. Former advisor to Palestinian Authority, Ghaith al-Omari, said the videos had convinced many in the Arab world that, unlike Isis, Hamas “are humane and respect Islamic laws of War”.

Such widespread dissemination follows a simple but effective structure. Content begins at the primary level: from official Hamas and Al-Qassam Brigades’ channels and accounts. It then travels to unofficial accounts and supporters (though these are also increasingly becoming banned as social media companies crack down). These accounts typically reshare official content but also generate their own material. Examples include the Gaza Now Facebook account (which had 4.9 million followers before being banned) and Instagram’s @eye.on.palestine (which has 9.6 million and can still be accessed in certain countries).

The third level consists of a range of informal pro-Palestinian groups and channels, including those set up by influencers. This is arguably the most effective level of dissemination as it uses ordinary people — seemingly unaffiliated to Hamas – to tell “authentic” stories of suffering. What emerges is often described as the “true” picture or story from Gaza and is coupled with the popular hashtags — #IsraeliCrimes, #AlAqsa, #FreePalestine, #StandWithPalestine — that allow this sort of content to go globally viral.= If Israel is overwhelmingly dominant on the ground, it is hopefully outmatched by Hamas and its supporters online. #freepalestine is found on 39 times more Facebook posts than #standwithisrael. On Instagram, pro-Palestinian hashtags are found on 26 times more posts than pro-Israel ones.

This is war fought on two planes; and if Israel is doing its best to level Hamas in Gaza, it is losing badly across the world online. The irony, of course, is that nowhere is Hamas clearer about who it is and what it wants than in its output. As an IDF official told me recently: “if Western audiences actually listened to the interviews given by Hamas officials, the Israeli media effort could just shut down. Hamas makes the case for Israel’s war against them better than any Israeli official ever could.”
Majority of Americans 18-24 think Israel should 'be ended and given to Hamas'
A majority of young Americans said they believe Israel should “be ended and given to Hamas,” according to a shocking poll.

The survey, conducted THIS WEEK by Harvard-Harris polling, found 51% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 said they believed the long-term answer to the Israel-Palestinian conflict was for “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”

Only 32% said they believed in a two-state solution, and just 17% said other Arab states should be asked to absorb Palestinian populations.

The figure was in stark contrast to other age groups, which all dramatically preferred a two-state solution. Just 4% of Americans 65 and over said they felt Israel should be ended.

“These individuals siding with evil over democracy should be a wake-up call,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) told The Post. “Ideological rot among young Americans, driven by woke values and victim culture, has gotten so bad they’ve convinced themselves to sympathize with actual terrorists who hate America,”

A full 60% of the same demographic said Hamas’ Oct 7 terrorist attack could be “justified by the grievance of Palestinians” — a position held by just 27% of Americans overall.

At the same time, 58% of 18-24 year olds agreed that “Hamas would like to commit genocide against the Jews in Israel.”

When asked if “Israel is committing genocide against those in Gaza or is it just trying to defend itself and eliminate Hamas,” 60% of Americas age 18-24 said Israel was committing genocide —a view held by just 37% of Americans overall. Meanwhile 53% of young Americans said students should be free to call for the “genocide of jews” without consequences.

A full 67% of 18-24 year olds said they believed Jews “should be treated as oppressors” — a position which 73% of Americans disagreed with and called a “false ideology.”


US, UK forces down 15 drones over Red Sea as Houthis vow to keep up attacks on Israel
A senior Houthi official has vowed that the Yemeni rebels will continue operations against Israel, as repeated attacks by the Iran-backed group have disrupted international shipping through a key Red Sea waterway.

“The Houthis will not abandon the Palestinian cause, regardless of any US, Israeli, or Western threats,” Houthi politburo member Ali al-Qahoum told Al-Mayadeen, according to Reuters, while warning any hostile move against Yemen would have dire consequences.

He also claimed: “Yemen is concerned in protecting international maritime navigation in accordance with international laws and norms.”

Houthis said they fired a barrage of drones Saturday toward the port city of Eilat in southern Israel.

US Navy forces said they shot down 14 drones over the Red Sea Saturday morning. Egypt’s state-run media also reported that Egyptian air defense had shot down a “flying object” off the Egyptian resort town of Dahab.

A British destroyer brought down a suspected attack drone in the Red Sea, UK Defense Minister Grant Shapps said. The overnight action was the first time the Royal Navy has shot down an aerial target in conflict since the 1991 Gulf War.

Shapps said attacks on commercial ships in the global trade artery by Yemen’s Houthi rebels “represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security.”

“The UK remains committed to repelling these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade,” he said in a statement.
Shipping firms MSC and CMA CGM are latest to suspend passage through Red Sea

Egyptian Forces Down Houthi Drone Targeting Eilat

IDF Chief of Staff on the Death of Three Hostages in Gaza: “I Am Responsible for What Happened”
IDF Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi, released a statement taking responsibility for the tragic killing of three Israeli hostages who escaped their Hamas captors in Gaza.

The initial investigation revealed a violation of the military’s rules of engagement during the incident.

Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer El-Talalqa, who had survived seventy days of captivity, were shot by IDF forces on Friday during operations in Gaza City. The preliminary findings of the investigation were disclosed in a virtual briefing to journalists on Saturday.

Herzi Halevi expressed deep regret and sorrow over the incident, recognizing the pain it has inflicted on the families of the victims. In his statement, he emphasized the IDF’s unwavering commitment to rescuing abductees alive and ensuring their safe return home.

Halevi explained, “I think that the three abductees did everything so that we would understand – they moved without shirts so that we would not be suspected of carrying a load on their bodies and held a white cloth so that we would understand”

“The shooting of the hostages was carried out contrary to the opening fire instructions,” admitted Halevi. “It is forbidden to shoot at those who raise a white flag and ask to surrender. But this shooting was carried out during combat and under pressure.”
‘Deep remorse,’ after IDF kills three Israeli hostages it misidentifies as terrorists
The Israel Defense Forces mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as threats and killed them amid combat in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shuja’iyya, the Israeli military stated on Friday.

“During searches and checks in the area in which the incident occurred, a suspicion arose over the identities of the deceased,” the IDF stated. “Their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, after which it was confirmed that they were three Israeli hostages.”

Upon further examination of the bodies, Israel identified the three hostages: Yotam Haim, 28, whom Hamas terrorists kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza; Samer Fouad Talalka, 22, whom Hamas kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Am; and third hostage, whose family asked that his name not be publicized at this time.

“Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our hostages,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This is an unbearable tragedy and all of Israel is grieving their loss this evening. My heart goes out to the bereaved families at this difficult time.”

Netanyahu added that Israel’s “courageous soldiers” engage “in the sacred mission of bringing home our hostages, while risking their lives in doing so.”

“Today, on this painful evening, we will dress our wounds, learn the lessons and continue the most important effort of bringing all the hostages home,” he said.

“The IDF began reviewing the incident immediately,” the military said. “The IDF emphasizes that this is an active combat zone in which ongoing fighting over the last few days has occurred. Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field.”

The Israeli military “expresses deep remorse over the tragic incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences,” it added. “Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home.”
Israeli hostages killed by IDF fire screamed 'help,' held white flag
According to an initial probe, the hostages were standing near a building with the words "help" and "SOS" spray-painted on its exterior walls.

In addition, the IDF also found a message saying "three hostages - help," on the buildings two days before the deadly altercation.

Initially, the IDF avoided the buildings with those messages believing that they were Hamas traps.

Eventually, one IDF soldier came into direct eye contact with the three hostages at a distance of dozens of meters.

The three hostages raised a white flag, cried for help, and kept their upper bodies bare so that no one would suspect they were hiding a bomb under their shirts.

The one IDF soldier fired on the three hostages.

Subsequently, the IDF has concluded that this initial fire killed two of the hostages, but only wounded the third hostage.

The third hostage ran back into the building from which he had exited with the other two.

At this stage, the battalion commander called on all IDF forces to cease fire as an operational matter to allow various IDF forces in nearby buildings to exit without being hit by friendly fire.

Some minutes later, the wounded third hostage exited the building again, again pleading to be saved. Two different new sets of soldiers other than the original soldier shot him dead.

The IDF is still clarifying whether the three hostages had escaped Hamas’s captivity, whether their captors had been killed, or some other scenario.

Meanwhile, four separate hostages' bodies were retrieved by the IDF.

Three were announced on Friday, including: 28-year-old French citizen Elia Toledano, Cpl. Nik Beizer and Sgt. Ron Sherman.

The IDF said that an "identification procedure" had been carried out by medical officials, military rabbis and forensic experts.


IDF Conducts Operation in Hamas-Controlled Hospital, Apprehends 90 Terrorists
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) successfully concluded a strategic operation in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital, previously exploited by Hamas as a central command and control center in Jabalya.

Over the past few days, IDF and ISA (Israel Security Agency) units carried out targeted actions, resulting in the apprehension of 90 terrorists and the discovery of a cache of various weapons.

Among the captured militants were approximately 80 individuals directly involved in the October 7th massacre, showcasing the IDF’s commitment to dismantling key elements of terrorist infrastructure. The operation included the destruction of terror-related facilities in the area.

The mission exposed the hospital’s involvement in supporting terrorism, as IDF and ISA forces questioned hospital workers. Workers confessed to concealing weapons in incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a space intended for treating premature babies.

Subsequent searches by IDF troops unveiled hidden weaponry, classified documents, and tactical communications equipment.
IDF Soldiers Find Hamas Weapons Even in Incubators at Adwan Hospital

IDF opens probe of troops filmed shooting dead already-neutralized Palestinian suspect
IDF Military Police on Friday opened a probe after a rights group released security camera footage showing troops in the West Bank recently shooting dead two Palestinians at short range.

In the video published by B’Tselem, which was filmed in the al-Faraa refugee camp in the Jordan Valley on December 8, the army was engaged in a chase after a group of Palestinian men who are seen trying to flee the scene upon the arrival of an IDF jeep.

Soldiers then fire from the jeep, striking 25-year-old Rami Jundob who appears to be holding an explosive device. Jundob falls down, and the jeep moves closer to him before one of the soldiers inside fires at him again.

Jundob is then seen lifting his hand before the soldiers again proceed to fire repeatedly at him from close range. After a brief pause in the video, the soldier driving the jeep briefly gets out of the vehicle to photograph Jundob, who according to B’Tselem died of his wounds the next day.


Daughter murdered by Hamas, Israeli tech-billionaire maintains hope
Despite the murder of his youngest daughter on October 7 by Hamas, Israeli tech-billionaire Eyal Waldman, the founder of Waldo Holdings and the former president and CEO of Mellanox, told the BBC this week that he believes in the possibility of a near-future two-state solution.

Waldman’s daughter, Danielle, was murdered along with her boyfriend, Noam, and their friends as they attempted to flee from the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im.

"She was an amazing girl," Waldman told the British broadcaster. "She loved to dance. She loved animals. She loved people. She had many, many friends. She loved to snowboard, to scuba dive, to go on a motorcycle with Noam."

In a video published by the BBC that Waldman describes as taking place several minutes before they were murdered, Danielle can be seen in the backseat of a car next to two others. At the end of the clip, the driver, reportedly Noam, shouts, “Left or right?”

According to the BBC, as soon as Waldman heard his daughter was missing, he rushed back home to Israel from a trip to Indonesia, getting permission to land despite the country’s closed airspace, and immediately began searching for her by tracking her Apple watch.

"We were close to an engagement with seven terrorists, creatures, call them what you want," the BBC quotes him as saying. "They had killed three or four soldiers. After that we took three officers in a jeep and went down south."


Israeli Hostage Inbar Haiman, 27, Murdered in Gaza Captivity

She Planned To Send Her Daughter on a Holocaust Education Trip. Hamas Made That Unnecessary.
Ola Metzger, 45, had planned to send her daughter on a Holocaust education trip to Poland. But on Oct. 7, days before the trip was to depart, a holocaust came to them.

Early that the morning, hundreds of heavily armed shock troops from the Gaza Strip stormed their kibbutz, Nir Oz, slaughtering, burning, and rounding up Jews. About one in four of the some 400 members of the community were killed or taken hostage.

"I told her to hide under the bed because bad guys were out there shooting all over, all around," Metzger said in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon. "And all I was thinking [was] what happens if they get in?"




Debunking The Nova Music Festival Myth
After proudly taking credit for murdering civilians on October 7, the narrative has now flipped. Pro-Palestinian activists are blaming the IDF for the horrific deaths at the Nova music festival. Any responsibility for instances of friendly fire lie squarely with Hamas for starting this war and turning a music festival into a war zone.




Call Me Back PodCast: What starts with the Jews, rarely ends with just the Jews – with Yuval Levin
Hosted by Dan Senor
On previous episodes of this podcast we’ve discussed the origins and history of antisemitism. But what does this antisemitic moment tell us about society more generally? If you look back throughout history, the persecution of Jews has often coincided with an even bigger crack-up in society.

Is this antisemitic moment the first sign of something bigger going on – is it a vessel for broader and deepers trends? This is what we will discuss with Yuvan Levin. Yuval currently wears three hats: At the American Enterprise Institute think tank, he’s the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies. He’s the editor-in-chief of National Affairs, a quarterly journal of essays about domestic policy, political economy, and political thought. He’s also authored numerous books. “The Fractured Republic” is especially relevant to today’s conversation.


Megyn Kelly: Bari Weiss on Why So Many Liberal Jews Became Instantly More "Conservative" After October 7
Megyn Kelly is joined by Bari Weiss, founder and CEO of the Free Press, to discuss former liberals becoming instantly "conservative" after October 7, what's behind so many Black Americans opposing Israel and Jews, and more.




Ben Shapiro
26min: A Hamas terror plot is foiled in Europe while the United States keeps pressure on Israel.


Ryan McBeth: Decoding the Controversial Demolition of Monuments in Gaza
On November 16th, 2023, IDF forces destroyed a monument to fallen Turkish Aid workers of the IHH . This video covers a history of why that happened, why the monument was built, why someone might destroy a monument during wartime and the legal justifications for doing so.


Watch Bizarre Footage from Inside Radical Occupied Ivy League Building
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to Jeffrey A. Tucker and Ronald Coleman about pro-Palestine protesters taking over a building at UPenn.




My Son Faced Antisemitism. His School Tried to Buy Our Silence
The school district then told our lawyer they'd be willing to provide enough money for roughly one year of tuition, but they again did not answer the questions we'd posed. The money was less than needed to get him through middle school, but, exhausted, we said we'd accept.

Then we read the proposed settlement agreement and came to the only reasonable conclusion one could: The money they were offering was not to help our son, it was to buy our silence.

Our lawyer explained that many settlement agreements have language that prevents you from discussing the terms of the settlement itself. That is, you're expected to keep secret that you received a payment, and you are not to share the amount. This is standard.

But this agreement went much further. It read:

"...the Settling Parties agree that all aspects of this Settlement Agreement, including, but not limited to, the facts and circumstances leading to this Settlement Agreement and all communications in all forms (e.g., oral, written) that occurred during the settlement process, shall be kept confidential by all Settling Parties to the extent permitted by law.."

This meant that if we agreed to the terms, we'd be obligated to be silent about the "facts and circumstances" of what happened to our son. In other words, I, my wife, and most importantly, our 12-year-old son could never speak about the antisemitism he endured and how he was bullied.

The agreement also stated that if we ever broke this rule, we'd also need to pay Westport Public Schools a $15,000 fee. After pressure from our attorney, they later agreed to remove this.

In a spectacular demonstration of being tone deaf, the school had sent their version of the settlement agreement with their disturbing confidentiality terms just days after Hamas attacked Israel.

In the painful wake of more than a thousand Jews being violently murdered, this was incomprehensible. And it was made all the worse since it came from the people we hoped would place the interests of children first.

Now, more than ever, speaking out about antisemitism is needed. Remaining silent was simply something we could not do.

We responded in no uncertain terms that we viewed this as hush money. We'd agree to keep the settlement and money terms confidential, but we couldn't agree to be silent about our experiences.

It seemed especially inhumane to ask this of a 12-year-old. Preventing a traumatized child from speaking about their pain only traumatizes them more.

The school refused our request to remove the confidentiality terms. So we declined their money.

We agreed as a family that being silent about the cruel experience of what happened to us and to our son was not something we would sell to the Westport Public Schools District.


The Canadian university teacher facing firing for daring to denounce Hamas
As anyone who uses social media knows, anger erodes our self-control and makes us do things we often later regret.

Paul Finlayson can certainly relate to that, after responding to a post on LinkedIn last month.

The 59-year-old marketing lecturer at the University of Guelph-Humber came across a post from an educator in Pakistan, who was using what Finlayson considered genocidal language about the conflict in Gaza, by calling for a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”

Incensed, Finlayson responded with a post that he admits was “hot-headed and unwise.”

Most reasonable people would probably consider the response to be slightly over-caffeinated but well within the bounds of fair comment.

But most reasonable people do not work as administrators at North American universities in an age when the illiberal left has deemed that anything that makes students or faculty feel “unsafe” must be rooted out and destroyed.

A student who saw the post, responded: “REPORT, REPORT, REPORT.” Another said he or she was “absolutely ashamed” by her professor’s comments, “filled with hate and Islamophobia.”

Finlayson has no right to work in academia in future, the student said, a position that appears to correspond with that of the Guelph-Humber administration, which called him in and told him he was suspended with pay, pending an investigation. Courses that he was scheduled to teach next semester are no longer being offered.

In the real world, that investigation would last the time it takes to read Finlayson’s post. I quote it in its entirety to let readers make up their own minds.

“It is frightening that an educator is essentially a pro-Nazi zealot,” Finlayson wrote. “If you say ‘from the river to the sea’, you’re a Nazi. I’m not neutral. I stand with Israel. I stand against anti-Semites who want nothing but dead Jews; who take millions from their education and health care budgets and spend it on making war. Israel has a full right to their land. You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don’t want peace, you want dead Jews. Just like Palestinians who freely admit this to pollsters. They murdered 1,400 innocents and took 250 hostages and the people celebrated rapist monsters as heroes. They want a barbaric, primitive Islamic caliphate and hate all post-Enlightenment values. They murder their own people for being gay and you stand with them. Disgusting. Move there.”


The Washington Post Covers for CAIR, Again
The Washington Post is providing cover for antisemites. When the newspaper isn’t busy regurgitating claims by Hamas, it is failing to shine a light on antisemitism in the United States. Take, for example, the Post’s ignoring of a self-styled civil rights organization supporting the largest massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust.

On Nov. 24, 2023 Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), expressed delight about the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre perpetrated by Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups. Awad’s remarks were delivered before the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) convention in Chicago.

Awad told the convention that he was “happy to see the people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their own land.” Israel, Awad said, “did not have the right to self-defense.”

The CAIR leader’s decision to praise the October 7th massacre is noteworthy. Hamas burned people alive, raped women before executing them, dismembered parents in front of their children, and murdered children in their nurseries. All these crimes were well documented by the time that Awad spoke in Chicago. Awad knew what he was celebrating.

CAIR’s support for Hamas is unsurprising. Although it is often depicted as merely a civil rights organization for Muslim Americans, the group is far more extreme than many mainstream outlets would have readers believe.

As CAMERA and others have documented, CAIR has a long history of both antisemitism and support for terrorism.
Cynthia Nixon Pushes False Claims and Holocaust Inversion on The View
In light of the obvious falsity of her comparison of Gaza casualties to those in Afghanistan, Nixon also should have been asked to substantiate her claims about child casualties, both her claim about the number of them and her claim that “the amount of [Palestinian] children who have been killed … is now twice as many children as were killed across two dozen war zones in all of last year in just eight weeks.” Even if that’s accurate (which seems unlikely), it should have been pointed out that in making these claims, Nixon has taken into account neither Hamas’s use of human shields nor its use of child soldiers.

One of the hosts on The View did challenge Nixon about the actions of Hamas. Nixon responded:
Every time I speak on this, I say really loudly that the atrocities committed by Hamas, they’re brutal, they’re devastating, they’re unforgiveable, all people of conscience must condemn them, but I, at the same time, I don’t think that is any justification for the starvation and slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian children who had nothing to do with the events of October 7th and I think, I think this is really a moment for moral clarity and I think we need to look into our hearts and ask ourselves, do Palestinian children deserve the same safety as all other children do?”

Nixon condemns Hamas’s atrocities – “really loudly” – but she has no plan to avoid a repeat of them. Without such a plan, her condemnation is not enough. She asks whether Palestinian children deserve safety, but seems to have forgotten to ask about Israeli children. On October 7, Israeli children were kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and orphaned. Since then many have been displaced. Doesn’t Nixon think they deserve to live without the threat that Hamas will repeat the attack of October 7?

If Nixon really cares even about only Palestinian children, she would do better to call on Hamas to surrender. This would provide safety for both Israeli and Palestinian children. A letter signed by 682 Rabbis – who are surely more representative of American Jewish opinion that Nixon’s own children – stated “the majority of pro-Israel Americans, especially clergy of all denominations, believe that a ceasefire before the eradication of Hamas leadership and a return of all hostages, is a grave danger to global security. … The fastest way to end the bloodshed in Gaza is for Hamas to surrender, lay down their weapons and return all the hostages they continue to hold.”


‘Not the life I wish for us’: In Berlin, ‘afraid to be visibly Jewish or talk Hebrew’
October 6 was a beautiful day for German-Israeli Sarah Cohen-Fantl. Together with her husband, an Israeli chef from Jerusalem, Sarah was taking measurements in their new house in Berlin. On the same day, they were also checking out premises that they were about to rent to open a kosher Israeli restaurant in the city.

A day later on October 7, Sarah said, she and her family got a call from her mother-in-law who lives in Jerusalem, which she described as unusually early on a Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. They turned on the news and soon realized that this was not just another terror attack.

Some 3,000 Hamas terrorists had burst into Israel from Gaza by land, air and sea, sweeping through communities on the southern border, brutally killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including babies, children and the elderly. Many were murdered in their homes, hundreds were massacred at an outdoor music festival and some 240 of all ages were taken hostages, all under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.

In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, launching a campaign that has left swaths of the Strip in ruins and thousands of people dead according to unverified Palestinian claims. The toll has drawn international criticism and pressure on Israel along with a rise in antisemitic incidents around the world.

Sarah recalled that for a very few days following the Hamas-led onslaught, there was some solidarity with Israel on Berlin’s streets. But once the army responded with large-scale airstrikes on Hamas targets, the sentiment changed — and with it their plans to build a life in Germany. The ongoing war with the Hamas terror group has amplified a spate of increasingly violent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the streets of Berlin.

Born and raised in Germany, Sarah moved back to Berlin last year with her Israeli husband and their two small kids, after living in Israel for five years. In 2021, Sarah, along with many Israelis, was running for shelter as Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at cities and towns throughout Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls. Now she is seeking shelter for herself and her family from the rising antisemitism and hatred against Israelis in Germany.

“Within a few days, we [my husband and I] looked at each other and there was not a big conversation needed: We decided that we will not move to the new house, which was built by a Jew in the end of the 1920s who had to run from the Nazis and that we were actually hoping to fill with Jewish life,” said Sarah. “We explained it to the people and thankfully they were very nice and understanding and let us out of the contract.”

“We also canceled the plans for the restaurant,” she said.


Biden Admin Gives $34 Million to 'Confidential' Aid Groups in Gaza. Watchdog Warns the Money Could Enrich Terrorists.
The Biden administration is poised to funnel millions of dollars in taxpayer cash to aid groups inside the Gaza Strip but is keeping the identities of those organizations a secret, making it difficult for congressional appropriators to determine if the money will enrich Hamas or other terror entities known to steal American aid dollars.

The White House earmarked at least $34 million in U.S. taxpayer funds for "confidential" nonprofits and United Nations agencies operating in the Gaza Strip, according to a review of U.N. funding channels by NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that tracks the international organization.

"This lack of transparency prevents congressional oversight and independent assessment of the ultimate recipients of U.S. government funding," the watchdog group wrote in a briefing document earlier this week. "The potential for abuse in the Palestinian context is acute and indisputable."

Hamas is already known to have stolen international aid pumped into the Gaza Strip since the terror group launched its war on Israel in October. But the Biden administration is allocating more than $120 million to various U.N. organizations and nonprofits operating in the region. It remains unclear what safeguards have been placed on these funds to prevent Hamas from stealing them, raising questions about how Congress can adequately vote on an appropriation package without knowing who exactly will benefit from the American funds.

"At a time when the U.S. is pressuring the Israelis to dial back on the intensity of the war in Gaza, the least thing the U.S. could do is demand greater transparency from the U.N., as money and assistance from the multilateral organization has been diverted for Hamas’s benefit for decades," said Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department who is the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

Per the United Nations’ financial tracking database, the U.S. government is slated to award $9 million to a "confidential" assortment of "U.N. agencies and NGOs" for various "health and nutrition" programs.


John Fetterman insists he is NOT a progressive in stern message to liberal Democrats: Senator hints border policy should be tougher and he wants to be on the 'right side' of Israel
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman denied being a progressive in an interview released Friday, as he's broken from the far-left of his party in recent weeks.

Unlike members of the so-called 'Squad,' Fetterman has shown strong support for Israel since the October 7 Hamas terror attack.

Additionally, he's hinted that the U.S. should toughen up its southern border policy, a stance some on the left think is inhumane.

'I'm not a progressive,' Fetterman told NBC News. 'I just think I'm a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I'm going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.'

Fetterman has also voiced - loudly and in creative ways - that Democrats should push Sen. Bob Menendez out of the Senate, after the New Jersey lawmaker was indicted on charges including that he was acting as an agent of Egypt.

Fresh funding for the war in Ukraine and to support Israel has been held up in Congress thanks to Republican demands to tighten up the U.S.-Mexican border.

Fetterman said it was 'not ideal to have this conversation' about immigration linked to funding Israel and Ukraine, he added that 'it's still one that we should have,' given Republicans have made it an absolute condition to press forward on Biden's $110 billion supplemental funding request.

'Progressives better do that because we can't leave Israel - we can't sell them out, and we can't sell Ukraine out, and we have to deliver on that,' Fetterman told the network. 'I just would very much like to get a deal to deliver this critical aid.'

As for immigration, Fetterman - whose wife arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant at age 7 - argued he can be both pro-immigration, while also favor policies to restrict the flow of immigrants across the southern border to a manageable level.


Iran Executes Man Accused of Spying for Mossad, Other Intelligence Agencies

Kanye West raps about wanting another BABY at Las Vegas party after already having four kids with ex Kim Kardashian... before rapper spews unhinged anti-Semitic rant
Kanye West rapped about wanting to expand his family in a song he performed at a contentious party on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

The 46-year-old rapper was heard in video from the event rapping about wanting another 'baby.'

'You already know I’m impulsive / and another baby is my end goal,' he raps in the clip, via Page Six.

Although the line's presence in a song doesn't mean it necessarily represents his own mindset, West — who shares four children already with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian — is no stranger to personal and confessional lyrics.

The striking moment was captured shortly before the rapper spewed an anti-Semitic rant in which he seemed to compare himself to Hitler and Jesus Christ.

In addition to his anti-Semitic statements, West delivered a screed about abortion at the raucous party.

He was joined in Vegas by his wife Bianca Censori, 28, who was later seen leaving a hotel in Vegas with him by her side on Friday morning.

Bianca has apparently been trying to bond with her husband's oldest daughter North, 10, after she took her on a quick trip to Disneyland on Thursday.

He also shares a son Saint, eight; daughter Chicago, five; and son Psalm, four, with Kardashian.

The three oldest children appear to have joined him at some of his recent events and featuring offensive displays and rap lyrics.

On Monday, West put on a pointy black hood reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan robes while performing songs from his upcoming album Vultures in Miami.




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