Wednesday, December 20, 2023

12/20 Links Pt1: Benny Morris: The Road to Israeli Victory Runs Through Tehran; Noa’s Fate and Israel’s Survival; The Shame of the Anti-Israel Cowards

From Ian:

Benny Morris: The Road to Israeli Victory Runs Through Tehran
Yesterday and the day before, the IDF conducted multiple air and artillery strikes on Hizballah forces in Lebanon, as the Iran-backed group continued to attack northern communities with missiles and explosive-bearing drones. The Houthis, Hizballah’s Yemeni counterparts, have meanwhile continued their blockade of the Red Sea, with exceptions liberally made for tankers carrying Iranian oil. While Washington has spoken of its commitment to keeping the sea lanes open, and dispatched naval forces to the area, it has not yet taken the sort of decisive military action that will be necessary to solve the problem.

Surveying the threats the Jewish state faces, Benny Morris paints a grim picture of its strategic situation. He is nonetheless convinced that there is “a way out.”

For decades, Iran’s fundamentalist regime has used its militias to undermine Israeli and American interests in the Middle East. So far, Tehran has gotten away with it. Fearing a wider and more apocalyptic confrontation, both Washington and Jerusalem have largely refrained from retaliating against Iran proper, generally confining their attacks to its proxies.

It is high time that this changed. And recent events may well inspire President Biden, and even the routinely hesitant and fearful Prime Minster Netanyahu, to strike at the heart of the problem, Iran itself. The facilities operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the organization responsible for the projection of Iranian power in the region, are known targets; as are Iran’s naval and air bases and underground nuclear installations, which, thankfully, have not (yet) yielded an Iranian nuclear weapon. Attacks on these assets would be morally justified and long overdue. By the time Iran finally does have the bomb, it will be too late.

Such action against Iran would not bog America down in a ground war—a prospect that, thanks to the U.S. experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, has little appeal in Washington. Instead, the aim would be to have the superiority of American and Israeli air power—backstopped by their anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense capabilities, as a means to inhibit retaliation—serve to persuade Tehran to stop promoting murder and mayhem in the Middle East.

This may be the only way to bring true peace to Israel. When seen on a map, the threats facing the Jewish state appear to come from all points of the compass. But trace them back to their source, and each leads back to the same address.
New force movements suggest US and UK strikes against Houthis increasingly likely
Alongside a U.S.-led naval task force that includes British, French, and Spanish warships, the Washington Examiner can report that the United States and the United Kingdom have moved other sensitive air and naval assets near Yemen. These movements indicate preparation for possible strikes against Houthi forces in that country.

Closely aligned with and supported by Iran, the Yemen-based Houthis have in recent weeks launched several attacks on civilian shipping vessels in the Red Sea. These attacks have led numerous shipping and energy companies to divert their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, adding significant time and cost to their operations. Amid mass disruption to international shipping flowing through the Red Sea, London and Washington may have concluded that limited use of military force is required to target Houthi positions.

The Washington Examiner is not disclosing the identity of the military forces now positioned closer to Yemen, but they include both strike and supporting platforms the deployment of which has not publicly been disclosed. It is public knowledge that the Eisenhower carrier strike group is operating off the Yemeni coast. Its embarked carrier air wing includes four F/A-18 fighter squadrons and an electronic warfare squadron. Other U.S. Air Force combat aircraft are also close by. It is also public knowledge that Britain's Royal Air Force also has several Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets stationed out of a base in Cyprus. It is unclear whether France would join in any strikes against the Houthis, but it also has limited forces positioned to do so.

Top line: It is increasingly likely that the U.S. and U.K. will carry out strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen in the coming days.


Richard Kemp: Israel’s Existential Campaign to Destroy Hamas
“Hamas wants to maximize the death of its civilian population. The purpose is to get the international community, the United Nations, the United States, other governments around the world, to condemn Israel, to vilify Israel, to delegitimize Israel, and undermine the Jewish state in that way.”

On December 8th, Colonel Richard Kemp, a highly decorated veteran of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns throughout the world, joined Merion West contributing editor Jonathan Church for an in-depth discussion about the war in Gaza. Colonel Kemp is a retired officer in the British Army. He has served in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, and Northern Ireland. In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his work in cultivating intelligence in Northern Ireland. He is the author of Attack State Red, a 2009 book about his experience as a soldier in Afghanistan and described as an “unputdownable account of a British battle group on the offensive.” He currently spends his time as a writer, commentator, consultant, and speaker on topics such as leadership, security, counterterrorism, defense, and intelligence. In their discussion, Colonel Kemp and Mr. Church discuss the November 24th to November 30th Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the hostage deal and its aftermath, the Jericho Wall document, strategic and tactical aspects of the ongoing war, and the humanitarian crisis.

A video version of this conversation can be found at the bottom of this page. The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Since Israel has resumed its [military] operations [on December 1st], does Israel confront a strengthened or refreshed Hamas? How much damage has Hamas sustained in the war so far, in terms of infrastructure, weapons, planning ability, manpower, and all of that?

I think Hamas has not gained a great deal from the truce that occurred for a short period of time. Obviously, it wouldn’t have hurt them. They were very enthusiastic to have this ceasefire, to give themselves time. I think their expectation, their hope, was that sufficient pressure internationally would be applied against Israel so that the fighting would not resume. I think that was their plan. That obviously hasn’t worked.

The IDF is now back in action and doing severe damage to Hamas. I think we’re beginning now to see the signs of the collapse of Hamas. Yesterday [on December 7th], there were a large number of prisoners captured. People surrendered to the IDF. At least a battalion-sized group of Hamas terrorists surrendered to the IDF. We’re hearing reports also of ordinary citizens in Gaza turning on Hamas.

Now, that doesn’t ordinarily happen. I don’t know how accurate the reports are. But, if it’s true, then it does indicate that Hamas has been severely weakened to the extent that citizens can be emboldened to attack a group that has basically oppressed and intimidated them for many, many years. So, I think a lot of damage has been done.

I would suggest 7,000 or so Hamas terrorists have probably been killed, but the figures have not been released yet. But it’s going to be something of that order—I would think—during the conflict, possibly more, possibly a few less, but clearly a great deal of damage.


Seth Mandel: Noa’s Fate and Israel’s Survival
NBC points out that this doesn’t disprove other possibilities, of course—that Noa was executed by Hamas, that she was killed inadvertently during battle, or that their treatment of her in captivity is such that Hamas doesn’t want her to be able to talk to her family or the media. Every scenario is unimaginably terrible.

The whole situation is made worse by the fact that Noa’s mother, Liora Argamani, has terminal brain cancer. She has already filmed a video with a goodbye message for her daughter should she be freed after Liora is gone.

Something else feels even more tragic about this theory of Noa’s fate, and I think it’s this: that Palestinians in Gaza who aren’t professional terrorists became carbon copies of Hamas at the first opportunity. That access to vulnerable Israelis brought out the monsters in them.

Some survivors of Oct. 7 have already given details of the “second wave” attacks, which came after the Hamas invasion. Jewish Insider reported that one family in Nir Oz huddled in their home’s safe room while Gazans tried to lure them out. Unsuccessful, they hung around the family’s home anyway for hours, eating their food and watching television and rummaging through their jewelry and clothing to steal when they were done.

Others’ home security cameras showed what happened after the Hamas forces left: “other Palestinians from Gaza, young children, women and elderly men, ransacked the kibbutz, stealing bicycles, scooters, and golf carts, with some loading up their cars with goods taken from people’s homes and the kibbutz’s various industries.”

One popular lie from those who chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is that they just want one large state with everyone living in peace. But after Oct. 7, no one should pretend that these activists want to see anything different from the plain meaning of the genocidal slogan. What happened after Hamas left Nir Oz, what may have happened to Noa Argamani—that would be the one-state reality.
Noa Argamani was abducted not by Hamas but by civilian mob, NBC report suggests

Seth Mandel The Shame of the Anti-Israel Cowards
Aside from getting their facts and conclusions right—which cannot be said for the nameless anti-Israel folks—there’s another pattern of which this letter is a part. Supporters of Israel against its barbarous terrorist enemy are unashamed of their position.

Sometimes the cowardice of the anti-Israel coalition is harmless and almost humorous. Last week a bunch of administration employees held a candlelight vigil for Hamas-run Gaza in front of the White House, draped in scarves and keffiyehs. The keffiyehs were not worn by Palestinian staffers, it should be noted, since the Palestinian staffers didn’t attend; they refused to show their eyebrows in public. The keffiyehs were worn by ridiculous people with preposterously inflated egos.

But often it is far from harmless, and in fact arguably presents a security threat in itself. The prime example of this is the protesters and rioters who accost passersby, beat and bloody up pedestrians, chase children, and vandalize Jewish-owned storefronts. They, too, cover their faces with keffiyehs, scarves, and masks. Many states and localities still have laws on the books banning masked protest of this sort, stemming from attempts to rein in the public menacing by the Ku Klux Klan.

Since Covid, these laws have gone unenforced. But the current pro-Hamas demonstrations are modern echoes of the KKK marches: they chant baldly genocidal slogans encouraging the massacre of Jews, and as mentioned, they destroy property, assault onlookers, and intimidate the public.

The irony of the situation is, of course, that the pro-Israel folks are the ones put in physical danger, yet they are willing to show their faces. There is justified pride in being right when the stakes are so high. In contrast, Hamas’s legions of advocates appear to be ashamed of their cause. In that, at least, they finally got something exactly right.
The accusations would be the same even if the IDF killed no one
Hundreds of thousands fill the streets of London, New York, and Sydney protesting against Israel and its actions in Gaza over the last two months. On college campuses across the Western World, thousands of students accuse Israel of the worst crimes imaginable. The United Nations has gone into overdrive in an attempt to force Israel to end its operation in Gaza and protect Hamas from being removed from power, with UN officials moved as never before by the suffering of the people of Gaza.

The accusations against Israel are endless. Disproportionate force (without knowing that the definition of proportionate force is force commensurate with achieving the goal of an offensive), collective punishment, colonialism, racism, Apartheid, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide. These accusations have been made for decades and reached a fever pitch in the months since the massacre of over 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

To an outside observer, some of these accusations may make sense at first. After all, more than ten times as many people have been killed in Gaza than were killed on October 7. Is that not disproportionate force? How many people have to die before something can be called a genocide?

However, none of these accusations against the State of Israel are made in good faith, and all of them would still be made even if the IDF was as perfect as a cartoon superhero and not a single civilian was killed in Gaza.

Want proof? Look at the response of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to an IDF operation that was in fact perfect. In July, following repeated terrorist attacks in which dozens of Israeli civilians were murdered, the IDF launched Operation Home and Garden, a two-day counter-terrorism operation in the city of Jenin. During this operation, twelve people were killed, all of them combatants. Not a single civilian was killed.

What was Guterres’ response to this remarkable achievement? His response was to say, “obviously in this situation, there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces.”
Netanyahu: We will fight until victory

FDD: Israel uses new defense technology on Gaza battlefield

Blinken: Not in world’s interest for conflict to end with Hamas still in power

IDF uncovers secret underground Hamas tunnels in Gaza's Palestine Square

The pope again appears to accuse Israel of terrorism

IDF dog recorded escaped hostage yelling for help five days before erroneous slayings — probe

FDD: Israel Strikes Hezbollah Terror Targets in Lebanon

I saw raw footage of Hamas horrors in Israel. These genocidal terrorists must not win.
At the end of the video, we were told we had witnessed about 10% of the killings. That’s hard to process, as what we saw felt too much to count. And those who hosted the film said there is “much worse” footage from the attack that wasn’t included.

“Bearing Witness” is not the only effort to create a record of what happened on Oct. 7. The Shoah Foundation, founded by director Steven Spielberg, is collecting first-person accounts of what people witnessed that day – much like it has done for survivors of the Holocaust.

While horrific to watch, people need to see what happened. Public perception shifts too easily. President Joe Biden has noted that Israel seems to be losing the world’s sympathy. And a shocking 72% of Palestinians say Hamas was correct to attack Israel on Oct. 7.

This war is not Israel’s fault. Hamas carefully plotted the vicious attack, and Hamas jihadists have openly said that they will launch rampage after rampage until Israel is destroyed. Hamas is not a liberation group, as some have claimed. They are genocidal terrorists.

This evil – what I saw with my own eyes – must not win.
After backlash, MIT president attends screening of Hamas horror compilation
MIT President Sally Kornbluth attended a special screening on Tuesday evening showcasing a film compiling atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Kornbluth, along with the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, recently faced criticism for their handling of antisemitism on their campuses during a congressional hearing earlier this month.

Kornbluth said that she faced pressure from some faculty and administrative members to cancel the screening, which was hosted by the MIT Chabad house and Israel's UN envoy, Gilad Erdan.

Attendees noted that Kornbluth appeared visibly shocked by the images displayed in the film, occasionally looking away. She promptly left the venue after the 47-minute film ended. Despite her attending the screening, the highest-ranking official in American academia to do so to date, Erdan reiterated his calls for Kornbluth to resign after she refused to say before Congress that calls for the genocide of Jews amount to harassment.

"Now that MIT president saw what despicable murderers receive support on her campus, and whom she had defended in Congress, I call her to resign tomorrow morning," he said. "I expect MIT to take the most stringent action against students who call for the genocide of Jews or who support Hamas and to fire professors and members of faculty who support Hamas. I call on Jewish organizations and communities not to send their children or to donate to universities that allow antisemitism on their campuses."


Caroline Glick: Young Americans Want to See the End of Israel
A shocking poll shows young Americans' hateful attitudes towards Jews, the Biden administration sets up Israel to be charged with war crimes and continues a policy that sides with Israel's enemies.




UNRWA Must Be Dismantled, Keeps ‘Fantasy’ of Destroying Israel Alive: Expert

Trudeau gave $32 million to UNRWA in 2021, the UN agency linked to Palestinian radicalization
UNRWA has 30,000 employees, which is 60 percent more than the total number of UN employees for all other refugee crises combined. The majority of them are employed in education. However, these schools teach curricula that praise suicide bombers and martyrs who kill Jews.


The Israel Guys: SHOCKING Video Shows Israeli Hostages Being Mistreated by Hamas
What do you think? Is Hamas in violation of international law by holding, mistreating, torturing and forcing Israeli hostages to appear in propaganda-style psychological warfare videos, whilst forcing them to shave their beards in the style of terrorists? And if they are, why is no one talking about it?

While the UN General Assembly already passed a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, it really holds no weight. However, the UN Security Council is now also trying to pass a similar resolution, which may actually be binding….if is passed, and if Israel decides to submit to their “rules”. Bottom line….the UN does not stipulate international law.


‘Hamas needs to be utterly destroyed’: Malcolm Davis
ASPI Defence Strategy and Capability Senior Analyst Dr Malcolm Davis says Israel “can’t have a ceasefire” in their war with Hamas.

Mr Davis told Sky News Australia that if Hamas is not destroyed, then the events that happened on October 7 will “happen again”.

“The Israelis do need to continue the war.

“They need to do so in a way that is more precise and less indiscriminate.

“But at the end of the day, Hamas needs to be utterly destroyed.”


Hamas ‘cannot be left in power’ if Middle East wants ‘enduring peace’
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma says if there is to be “enduring peace in the Middle East” Hamas “cannot be left in power”.

“If you want an enduring peace in the Middle East, if you want a better future for the Palestinian people, if you ultimately want a two-state solution – Hamsa cannot be left in power,” he said.

Mr Sharma criticised Anthony Albanese, saying “how can Australia be voting for a one-sided, unilateral ceasefire resolution in the general assembly which would do exactly that?"

“Would leave Hamas in power,” he said.

“Free to keep the Palestinians people's hopes and dreams captive to their own nihilistic visions.”




‘Revolting’: Anti-Semitism on streets around the world is ‘skyrocketing’
Anti-Defamation Commission Chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich says there has been “skyrocketing anti-Semitism” on streets around the world.

Mr Abramovich told Sky News contributor Steve Price that the rising anti-Semitism “worries” him.

“It’s disgusting, it’s revolting,

“It’s no wonder that the Jewish community feels under siege.

“People that we thought were our friends and allies and supporters have walked away.”




Melbourne council voted to boycott companies and supplies with ‘links to Israel’
Sky News contributor Steve Price says Melbourne's Darebin council has been “accused of anti-Semitism”.

Mr Price said councillors unanimously voted to boycott companies and suppliers with “links to Israel”.

“The motion calls for the council to investigate how to end contracts.

“With companies and suppliers that support, what they claim is the illegal occupation of Palestine.

“Or profit from it, especially companies which supply equipment to Israel's Defence Force".




Disenfranchising of ‘religious maniacs’ part of Israel-Palestine solution: Sam Harris
Philosopher and Author Sam Harris part of the remedy for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine would be to “disenfranchise the religious maniacs on the Israeli side”.

Mr Harris’ comments come as Israel faces criticism against the scale of their attack in Gaza with some claiming it to be religiously motivated.

“Those religious claims upon real estate in the Middle East are not justified,” Mr Harris told Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan.

“The settlements in the West Bank are certainly provocative and they should be disallowed.

“If we’re ever going to get to a two-state solution part of the remedy there is to disenfranchise the religious maniacs on the Israeli side.




Dozens arrested in Capitol Rotunda at anti-Israel rally led by Linda Sarsour

Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with Democrats at holiday party

East London Café reported to EHRC for refusal to serve drinks associated with Israel SHOCKING VIDEO: Melbourne anti-Israel protest riddled with Jew hatred, ignorance

Maher Arar returns to spread antisemitism and misinformation

CN Rail Says Anti-Israel Protests Caused 'Irreparable Harm' to Freight Lines Police response to anti-Israel railway blockades is a lot different than the Freedom Convoy response
Despite anti-Israel protesters blocking critical infrastructure in various parts of the country, politicians and police have treated the demonstrations much differently than the Freedom Convoy. Alexa Lavoie from Rebel News shines a light on the double standard for public expression in Canada.






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