The UNRWA are ensuring the 'day after' includes more wars
Pompeo confirmed that of the 5 million identified as "Palestinian refugees" by UNRWA, fewer than 200,000 meet the international criteria for refugee status. Apparently, the number of Palestinians living today who meet the criteria for refugee status is less than 30,000. For the first time a senior American official revealed the numbers, before that administration after administration, both Democratic and Republican, allowed UNRWA to perpetuate the lie.White House forcefully defends UNRWA amid alleged terrorism ties: 'They do great work in Gaza'
Lying not only leads to waste and corruption, it is also a significant obstacle to peace. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which is responsible for all other refugees, has a mandate to pursue sustainable solutions for the refugees under its responsibility, through voluntary return, integration into the host country, or resettlement in a third country. UNRWA, on the other hand, has no such mandate. The agency admits that it does not have the authority to pursue long-term and sustainable solutions for refugees, Including resettlement in third countries.
UNRWA has encouraged generations of Palestinians to wallow in the hell of refugees, stuck between a possible new life and the "right of return" promised to them by radical factions committed to eternal war with Israel. It is clear to the Palestinians, who admit this in private conversations, that the "right of return" is not realistic, but it was and remains one of the main stumbling blocks in future peace negotiations. Instead of helping solve the problem, UNRWA is exacerbating it.
However, in April 2021, president Biden decided to renew funding for the agency, without explanation. The president has not explained why America is willing to support more than 5 million people through a refugee agency, when perhaps only 30,000 of them qualify to be called refugees.
The FDD has been calling for years to shake up the organization. Until the current war, the call to Congress and the Senate was not to cut aid entirely, but to work with the relevant regional actors to find bilateral solutions. It is time to call for the closure of this unnecessary and harmful organization.During the 2021 conflict, Matthias Schmala, UNRWA's operational director in Gaza, said in an interview that the IDF's operations during the war were carried out "with sophistication and precision." In doing so, he was seen as confirming that Israel acted within the boundaries of international law.
Shamala also noted, "During the 11 days of fighting, we did not run out of food, water or supplies, and from my point of view, there is no severe or acute shortage of medical equipment. Food or water." Finally, Shamala admitted that UNRWA "cannot work in a place like Gaza without coordination with local authorities and Hamas, this is true of any authoritarian regime of this kind."
Cooperating with Hamas terrorists
The interview was nothing short of amazing. He acknowledged that Israel had made an effort to avoid collateral damage, that it had helped ensure the flow of aid to Gaza even as rockets were being fired at Israeli civilians, and that UNRWA was coordinating with Hamas, an organization designated as a terrorist organization under existing law in most Western countries that support its agency.
Already in 2021, during an examination of the possibilities of shielding the UNRWA building, a hole and a tunnel were discovered in the location where missiles were launched. The depth of the hole, which was about 7.5 meters below the floor of the school, actually revealed the existence of a tunnel under the UNRWA building. UNRWA strongly condemned (only verbally and externally, of course) the fact that such tunnels may exist, and the use made by Palestinian armed organizations under its schools. UNRWA argued that it was inconceivable that students and staff would be put in danger in this way. UNRWA also "demanded" that all sides cease any activity or conduct that endangers the organization and its staff and impairs UNRWA's ability to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees in security and safety, but of course THEY did nothing to remove Hamas from its facilities.
The revelations during the "Iron Swords" War proved beyond any doubt that UNRWA schools serve as a human shield for Hamas tunnels, that Hamas fires from them and that it uses the aid given to UNRWA for its needs. Some UNRWA personnel have simply become Hamas.
Until the current war, a question hovered in the air about the real number of refugees in the Gaza Strip, but after the war, the refugee problem in Gaza will be real and painful. Gaza residents are entitled to a refugee aid agency aimed at providing real assistance to those in need. UNRWA has lost all rights to be this agency, because of its support for terrorism and corruption. Apparently, the time has come for the main donors to UNRWA: the United States and Germany, to divert their donations and support from UNRWA to another aid organization that will engrave on its banner a real desire to help Gazan refugees truly rehabilitate, under close supervision of the UN and donor countries.
The White House defended the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Thursday as Republican lawmakers are demanding investigations into reports that the aid body's staff has embedded with Hamas and aiding the terror organization in Gaza and throughout the Middle East.Evidence of the terrorist organizations’ use of civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby defended the agency, however, when asked if Republicans' calls to investigate the agency have shifted the administration's "strategy" regarding the organization. Former President Donald Trump forcibly cut ties with UNRWA in 2018, but the group again began receiving money from the U.S. after President Joe Biden entered office in 2021. Since that time, the U.S. has sent UNRWA more than $700 million.
"The U.N. relief agency does important work. In fact, they're doing a lot of heavy lifting right now in terms of trying to get food, water, medicine to the people of Gaza all up and down the strip. They're doing a lot of work, and they're doing it in harm's way," Kirby told reporters. "You can't hold them accountable for the depredations of Hamas and the way Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, for command and control or storage of weapons for the holding of hostages.
"I'll let the U.N. speak to their agency and what alarms they want to raise or not," he continued. "They do great work in Gaza, and they are important to helping get the humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza. And we're grateful for that work that they're doing very much in harm's way. I will let them speak to whatever concerns they have over Hamas' activities and the degree to which that they feel obligated to speak out or not."
Kirby reiterated that "it is not some state secret here that Hamas hides itself in hospitals and schools and digs tunnels under residential complexes and neighborhoods, and this is what the Israelis are up against, a group that absolutely doesn't abide by the laws of war and has no compunction about putting civilian lives in greater danger."
Longstanding concerns about UNRWA’s tolerance for terrorism escalated after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, and it took on a greater role in distributing the massive influx of humanitarian aid that is arriving in Gaza.
"For decades, funding UNRWA has been a form of automatic virtue signaling and support for the myths of Palestinian victimhood," Gerald Steinberg, president of the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor and emeritus political studies professor at Bar Ilan University, recently told the Washington Examiner. "UNRWA should have been closed years ago to transform the Palestinian economy from total dependence to jobs and growth.”
Hamas, Hezbollah and many other terrorist organizations use civilian facilities and populations as shields to hide their military-terrorist activities. The use of civilian facilities and the civilian population was exposed and documented many times during the Second Lebanon War and in various IDF operations against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, and in a very extensive way during the most recent war in the Gaza Strip.
Firing rockets and mortar shells from within population centers and public institutions such as hospitals and schools, and placing military facilities in or near them, are a well-known modus operandi used by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Its objective is to protect Hamas operatives from IDF responses and increase their chances of survival. Claims and documentation of the use of Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas, against the civilian population were raised as early as 2006. According to an article[2] by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, Hamas has been using the civilian population as human shields in conflicts with Israel since 2007.
The extensive use of civilian facilities, and of citizens as a “human shields” has many expressions, including the locations of headquarters and military bases, and hiding terrorists, in the heart of residential neighborhoods, in private homes or public institutions, launching rockets and mortar shells from populated areas, shooting from houses, mosques, schools and other public facilities, stockpiling weapons inside civilian homes, and using ambulances and rescue vehicles for operational needs. Obviously, the cynical and deliberate exploitation of a civilian population is a war crime, a crime against humanity and a flagrant violation of the basic principles of international law of armed conflict, which require a distinction between civilians and combatants.
Since the beginning of the war (October 7, 2023), the IDF has exposed the full extent of Hamas’ use of civilian facilities for military-terrorist purposes[3] after finding that Hamas had set up a significant part of its command network in the extensive tunnel system it constructed under civilian facilities especially the hospitals. It also became evident that Hamas used school buildings to store weapons, such as rockets, anti-tank missiles, launchers and automatic rifles. The military warehouses were found in close proximity to functioning classrooms or to a civilian population that found shelter in the schools. Mosques and private homes were used to store weapons and as hiding places for shafts that led to tunnels and as factories for the production of weapons.
Hamas’ use of civilian institutions and facilities for military-terrorist purposes is a deliberate strategy with several objectives. Its primary objective is to reduce damage to the military-terrorist assets of Hamas and other terrorist organizations and to grant them a kind of immunity from IDF activity, exploiting the knowledge that the IDF will avoid harming civilians as much as possible and therefore avoids attacking institutions such as hospitals and schools or non-combatant population concentrations. It is also intended to allow Hamas and other terrorist organizations to gain political-propaganda advantages in the battle for hearts and minds by representing Israel as attacking innocent civilians.
BESA: A New Existential War: Israel's Perception of the Enemy's Goals
Many believed that in the era of peace with Egypt and Jordan, and with the collapse of Syria's army in the civil war, the era of threats from state armies had ended. Experts explained that while there were remaining threats from terrorist organizations, they did not pose an existential threat to the State of Israel. On Oct. 7, Israel received a painful wake-up call that this was a dangerously wrong assessment.
Israel had become accustomed to focusing on the nuclear threat as an existential danger. However, combined with the threat from Hizbullah in the north, Palestinian terrorist organizations now represent an overarching regional threat.
For years, it has been argued that economic development and prosperity for the Palestinians are the key to achieving stability and order. But Hamas' leadership has taught us that its conduct is guided not by the Palestinians' economic situation but by a deep religious rationale.
Western cultural observers, who for centuries have separated religious motives from the political, diplomatic, and military considerations of state leaders, have no tools with which to understand the leadership of Iran, Hizbullah, and Hamas, which are driven by religious conviction.
It is crucial that the Israeli leadership understand the religious logic guiding Israel's enemies. Mohammad Deif, head of Hamas' military wing, named the current war "Al-Aqsa Flood," in the belief that through this battle, a great cosmic salvation would unfold. Israel's victory must be decisive in a way that neutralizes the belief among the leadership of Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran that the day of Israel's destruction is at hand.
The central goal of the war for Israel should be that upon its conclusion, a profound disappointment will be instilled in the Islamic believers who started and sustained it. They must be forced to accept that once again, their time has not come, and the gates of heaven have not opened before them.
Victory is not only contingent on the magnitude of the achievement on the battlefield but on the trends in the struggle that develop in the days after the war. The Hamas vision will likely persist - but Israel's ability to force jihadist believers to recognize their weakness increases the chances of a temporary cessation of their struggle.
On November 28th, 1941 (prior to Israel's existence as a modern state), The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, traveled to Berlin to meet with Hitler.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) January 6, 2024
We happen to have minutes from that meeting:
The Grand Mufti conveyed that he admired Hitler and viewed the Nazis as… pic.twitter.com/xHVeP2Cawa
Middle East Aflame Because Iran Thinks Biden Is 'Mush,' Retired CENTCOM Commander Argues
President Joe Biden's administration has squandered the deterrence against Iran established under former president Donald Trump, retired Marine general Kenneth McKenzie argued in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
"Iranian leaders work with Lenin's dictum that 'you probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw.' Tehran and its proxies are pressing their attacks because they haven't confronted steel," wrote McKenzie, who led CENTCOM from 2019 to 2022.
Under McKenzie's command, American forces killed military commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. That action, according to McKenzie, was a key factor in deterring Iran from further coordinating strikes on American assets and allies in the Middle East.
"It takes will and capability to establish and maintain deterrence," McKenzie said. "We were able to reset deterrence as a result of this violent couplet. The Iranians have always feared our capabilities, but before January 2020, they doubted our will."
With Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis disrupting passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a "forceful response" is needed, McKenzie wrote. He added that taking such an action "isn't likely to lead to theaterwide escalation" and that doing so is especially important as the "Chinese are watching to see how we respond to a threat involving a narrow strait," a reference to Beijing's designs on Taiwan.
"To reset deterrence, we must apply violence that Tehran understands," McKenzie said. "Paradoxically, if done earlier, this violence could have been of a far smaller and more measured scale. Indecision has placed us in this position. There is a way forward but it requires the U.S. to set aside the fear of escalation and act according to the priorities of our strategic documents and concepts."
My take on Dahlan's interview: I've ben rooting for him, hoping that he'd come to Gaza as a savior who offers new style and new ideas that he learnt in the successful UAE, just like Rafic Hariri came with brilliant ideas to post-civil war Lebanon in 1993.
— Hussain Abdul-Hussain (@hahussain) January 5, 2024
What I found is that…
Memo gives Israel legal backing to prevent Gazans from returning home during war
A memo submitted Wednesday to Israel's political leadership claims that Israel has no legal obligation to allow displaced Gaza residents to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip for the coming months. The opinion was written in recent days in light of claims made within the security establishment that under international law, Israel had to allow residents to return to their homes.Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas Commander Yahya Sinwar Must Decide How He Departs
The memo is signed by Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Bitton from Sapir College, Prof. Eugene Kontorovich from George Mason University, and Prof. Avi Bell from the law schools of Bar Ilan University and the University of San Diego.
The three analyzed the state of war from a legal perspective and wrote, among other things, that the determination that there is an obligation to allow residents to return northwards would thwart a key military objective in war – finding and returning captives. They further explained that according to reports, the Israeli captives were transferred to the southern Gaza Strip under the cover of humanitarian corridors created by Israel, while being forced to disguise themselves as locals. Requiring the military to allow reverse movement (northward) is akin to requiring the military to lose its grip having its focus on the captives, they suggest.
The three jurists emphasized that returning the population to the north bears no relevance so long as the fighting continues. They detailed the state of war in the northern Gaza Strip and noted that one indication that there were still ongoing hostilities that prevent such a return is the fact that Israelis from border communities have not been allowed back home either.
However, they stressed that "even if fighting in the northern Gaza Strip stops, preventing enemy force movement is a lawful method of warfare." The three jurists concluded the memo by adding that "the IDF has no legal obligation to enable the return of the population to the northern Gaza Strip, and such a duty is unlikely to emerge in the coming months. The IDF has a vital military need justifying non-return of the population as long as fighting continues and as long as the goal of freeing the captives remains."
Under the current circumstances, it seems that Sinwar has three options.South Africa blames the victim of genocide
The first is to be killed by the IDF and go down into history as another shahid (martyr), like many of his predecessors, including Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
Second, Sinwar could surrender to the IDF with the hope of being released (again) in a future prisoner exchange deal with Israel.
The third option is for Sinwar to leave the Gaza Strip, willing or unwillingly. This means either escaping from the Palestinian coastal enclave through one of their tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt or leaving (together with other Hamas commanders) as part of an internationally sponsored deal similar to the one that allowed PLO leader Yasser Arafat and his forces to exit Lebanon in 1982.
The general sense among Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip is that Sinwar would opt for the first option – “martyrdom,” if and when Israeli soldiers surround his hideout. Journalists who have been meeting with Sinwar on a semi-regular basis since he was released from Israeli prison as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap are convinced that he would rather die as a shahid than surrender or be captured by the Israeli military.
The last two options – surrender or arrest – entail an element of humiliation, and this is not something Sinwar can tolerate. After all, he sees himself as one of the Palestinians’ and Arabs’ great “warriors” in modern history because of the Hamas invasion of Israel and the high death toll and damage inflicted on Israel. For someone like Sinwar, death is preferable to being shown surrendering or being arrested (perhaps in his underwear) by IDF soldiers. In Sinwar’s world, it is better to die as a “martyr” than to be depicted as a defeatist or coward. One of the recurring slogans chanted by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past few years is: “Death is preferable to humiliation.”
Yet, this does not mean that if given an “honorable” way out of his predicament, Sinwar would not go for it. If, for example, he was allowed to leave the Gaza Strip in an agreement engineered and supervised by some Arab countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, he would find it hard to turn down the offer.
Such a deal could elevate the Hamas terror chief to the equal of Yasser Arafat and send a message that he is leaving the Gaza Strip triumphant because Israel was not able to kill him or capture him. Moreover, Sinwar knows that living in exile hardly spells the end of Hamas’s leaders’ political and military careers. He sees that Hamas leaders based in Qatar, Lebanon, and Turkey are continuing to operate from their offices and homes in Doha, Beirut, and Ankara, and there’s no reason why he should not join Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashaal, and Saleh al-Arouri in pursuing the bloody fight against Israel from these countries.
Blind condemnation
South Africa’s application to the ICJ blindly condemns the blockade on Gaza that Israel imposed in the wake of its 2005 withdrawal from the territory. It does not address the reasons for this blockade: a sharp increase in rockets fired at Israeli civilian targets from within Gaza, bombs placed in export goods, and the redirection of aid or other imports to the manufacture of rockets and other weapons.
If Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had laid down their weapons, there would have been peace, and there would have been no blockade. They didn’t.
Hamas even made war against other Palestinians, in the form of Fatah, which nominally governs the West Bank.
South Africa’s application does not explain why, if genocide was Israel’s intent, it completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, instead of using its vast military superiority to simply push the Palestinians into the sea. Or why it didn’t do so as soon as Hamas was elected in 2006 and sharply increased the number of rockets it lobbed at Israel.
A project of genocide could have been completed decades ago, if that is what the Israelis had in mind. But that never was the objective.
Instead, it kept coming back to the negotiating table, kept offering Palestinians a road to sovereignty, and kept going as far as it could – while protecting itself from Palestinian violence – to build a rapprochement with the Palestinian people.
Dilemmas
South Africa’s application to the ICJ does not recognise the dilemma in which Israel found itself, in that Israel’s own offers of a peaceful two-state solution, and its own disengagement from Gaza, and its own evacuation of Israeli settlers in Gaza, were met only with more and more violence against Israeli citizens.
It rejects the claim that Israel is not deliberately targeting civilians, but then cleverly tries to blame Israel for the evacuation of 1.9 million Gazans from their homes. Therefore, whether Israel evacuates civilians or not, as they go after Hamas fighters and infrastructure, they get to be blamed for supposedly genocidal actions.
They’re literally damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
And since, technically, any number of civilian deaths can be made to fit the Genocide Convention criteria, no effort on the part of Israel will be enough.
The ICJ application blames Israel for destroying civilian buildings, without recognising that Hamas and other militant groups operate from inside and among these very buildings.
That urban warfare is ugly should not be news to anyone. That it automatically amounts to genocide, however, is a leap.
In making that leap – for purely political reasons of ‘solidarity’ – South Africa ignores the actual genocidal intent of the 7 October attack, and blames the victim for the violence with which it is defending itself.
Quote 1: Bibi promised “to operate forcefully everywhere.” Does this prove "specific intent" to genocide? NO. Tweet literally says opposite, attacking only Hamas and telling civilians to leave! Lie #1 by South Africa, this is the FIRST evidence claiming Bibi intends genocide. 2/ pic.twitter.com/g3CEnlIbyM
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 5, 2024
Quote 3: South Africa claims AFTER airstrikes that killed 2,670 Pals Bibi said soldiers “understand scope of mission” & stand ready “to defeat bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against [Israel] to destroy us.” There are 2 lies here, one shows shoddiness of court document. 4/
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 5, 2024
Second, Bibi said absolutely nothing, zero, about killing Palestinians, genocide, anything like this. Here is the entire statement. It specifically names Hamas as the monsters, not civilians. Lie #3 by South Africa. 6/ https://t.co/5fgJWyVTWV pic.twitter.com/Zny0bvtIFL
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 5, 2024
As Israel seeks allies’ support against UN genocide charge, Canada won’t say whether it will intervene in case
The court’s members, including Canada and Israel, have a right to intervene in cases to support one side or the other. Over the past two years, Canada has used this legal avenue to support cases at the ICJ against Russia, Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
So far, aside from Israel itself, only the United States has publicly opposed South Africa’s court application. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, said Wednesday that the case was “meritless, counterproductive and completely without basis in fact whatsoever.”
The Globe and Mail asked federal officials whether Canada plans to intervene in the case and whether it would support the court’s ruling, but they did not answer directly. “Canada is aware of the filing by South Africa,” said Geneviève Tremblay, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada.
“Canada strongly supports the role of the ICJ in the peaceful settlement of disputes,” she added.
“We recognize Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself. In defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”
Most other Western countries have not commented on the case. Nicolas de Rivière, the French ambassador to the UN, told journalists that France will not “encroach” on the court’s mandate, but added: “We’ll make sure that we’ll support the outcome of the decision.”
A growing number of Muslim countries are supporting South Africa’s application, with Turkey and Jordan becoming the latest. “We welcome the application,” Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said in a statement Wednesday. “We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible.” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said the government will appear before the International Court of Justice next week “to challenge South Africa’s absurd blood libel.” South Africa is “giving political and legal cover” to the Gaza-based Hamas militant group for its Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis, he said in a statement this week.
Three months ago Hamas committed a terrible massacre against us.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 6, 2024
My government directed the IDF to go to war to eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.
The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of the goals. pic.twitter.com/Fmt6qx1JKZ
IDF, Shin Bet chiefs visit tunnels in heart of Khan Yunis
IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar on Saturday visited a Hamas tunnel in the heart of Khan Yunis, signaling Israel’s progress in the fighting in southern Gaza.
Halevi said, “You have a great advantage over those who fight against you. There is no place anywhere in the Gaza Strip where there is a force at your level,” referring to the seven full brigades fighting in Khan Yunis.
The IDF also announced the death of Lt. Col. Roee Mordechai, 31, a commander at the Nahal Brigade’s training base, from Tel Aviv, killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip,. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Head Ronen Bar in Khan Yunis (credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Also on Saturday night, IDF chief spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed an up-to-date photo of Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif .
The photo, the second to be revealed in recent weeks, shows Deif holding a stack of US dollars and a plastic cup of juice – further confirmation that despite wounds from past IDF assassination attempts, he is in better condition than expected.
Hagari said that “Hamas’s military framework in the northern Gaza Strip has been completely dismantled,” signaling the end of the recent campaign in the Darag – Tuffah area, the last northern Gaza stronghold after Jabalya fell on December 19.
IDF seizes weapons, destroys tunnels throughout Gaza
The military has seized tens of thousands of weapons in that area and millions of documents, Hagari said.
The IDF also announced it had killed Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion commander Ismail Saraj and his deputy.
The IDF discovered Hamas Nukhba military vests hidden in UNRWA bags stashed in a medical clinic in northern Gaza. The raid was directed by intelligence after Israeli troops came under fire in the area in previous days.
A building next to the raided medical clinic contained RPGs, AK-47s, and ammunition.
Separately, in Khan Yunis, Israeli forces located and destroyed a weapons storage facility containing dozens of Kalashnikov rifles, the IDF added.
Troops, both on the ground and airborne, eliminated many terrorists in the south Gaza area on Friday, the IDF said. A number of tunnel shafts were also uncovered and demolished.
The facility also contained remotely detonated explosive devices, RPGs, and more than 100 ammunition cartridges, the military added.
In Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, and the neighborhood of Al-Furqan, troops identified drone operators targeting IDF personnel. In response, troops directed UAVs to strike at the terrorists.
Signaling to Hamas that one of its major hubs is being dismantled, the Chief of the General Staff, the Head of the ISA, the Commander of the Southern Command and the Head of the Intelligence Directorate held a situational assessment yesterday (Friday) in the heart of Khan Yunis. pic.twitter.com/6Ic2US7RvJ
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 6, 2024
The Chief of the General Staff, the Head of the ISA, the Commanding Officer of the Southern Command and the Head of the Intelligence Directorate held a situational assessment at the heart of Khan Yunis yesterday (Friday).
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 6, 2024
LTG Halevi spoke with special forces operating in the… pic.twitter.com/LhNbxYJfmK
Former US VP Mike Pence to Israel: 'The American people are with you'
Former United States vice president Mike Pence visited the headquarters of Israel’s Northern Command on Friday night during his solidarity trip to the country, the IDF and Israeli media reported.
Pence met with Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin, who presented him with an up-to-date picture of Israel’s activity in the northern sector. Gordin noted that Hezbollah had violated a regional ceasefire established by the United Nations at the end of the Second Lebanon War.
Pence also met with reserve soldiers of the 7338th Artillery Brigade, who have been protecting the northern border since October 7.
In this meeting, Pence commended the commitment of the reserve officers who left their jobs and families to protect their country, as well as their determination to continue to do so until security is fully restored in the North.
In an interview with CBN News, the former vice president discussed American support for Israel, antisemitism, and his own beliefs as a Christian Zionist.
“I came to Israel to say to the people of our most cherished ally that the American people are with you,” Pence said.
Former VP @Mike_Pence signs some autographs at the Northern border. 🇺🇲🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/bYm9FNzTjR
— The Mossad: Satirical, Yet Awesome (@TheMossadIL) January 6, 2024
Hamas chief Haniyeh tells Blinken to focus on ending Israeli ‘aggression’
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to use his current Middle East tour to end Israel’s “aggression” as war rages in Gaza.Blinken, Borrell call for diplomatic solution to Israeli-Hezbollah conflict
The top US diplomat arrived in Turkey on Friday at the start of a trip that includes planned visits to Israel and the West Bank as well as several Arab and Gulf states.
US officials have said that Blinken, in his fourth regional tour since fighting erupted with Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel, would focus on getting more aid into the Strip.
In a video message posted late Friday on Hamas’s social media channels, Haniyeh, who lives in exile, said he hoped Blinken had “learned the lessons of the last three months.”
The war was sparked by the October 7 onslaught, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians slaughtered in their home communities and at a music festival amid brutal atrocities, and seizing an estimated 240 hostages.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a wide-scale military campaign in Gaza aimed at destroying the group’s military and governance capabilities and returning the hostages.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 22,700 people have been killed in the Strip since the war erupted on October 7. The Hamas figure does not differentiate between civilians and combatants and includes Palestinians killed by errant rocket fire from Gaza. Israel says it has killed 8,500 terrorists since launching the war.
US support for Israel’s military campaign “has caused unprecedented massacres and war crimes against our people in Gaza,” Haniyeh said.
Evacuated Israelis must be able to return to their homes on the country’s northern border, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday night as he called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Hezbollah.
“It is very important that Israelis have security in the North,” Blinken said as he wrapped up a trip to Turkey and Greece and prepared to head for what he said is his fourth tour of the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. It will include stops in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.
Blinken’s trip is focused on the Gaza war, freeing the hostages held there, and preventing an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
“We have an intense focus on preventing this conflict from spreading,” he said, as he noted, in particular, the plight of Israelis who had been evacuated from their homes on the northern border 90 days ago at the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in northern Israel because of the threat posed by Hezbollah,” Blinken said.
“We are looking at ways – diplomatically – to try and defuse that tension so that people can return to their homes; so they can live in peace and security. This is something that we are actively working on,” he said.
#Hezbollah rains down 60+ missiles & projectiles at Israel today, in major escalation in the region. Meantime, the EU foreign policy chief @JosepBorrellF is in #Lebanon, and not once thought to actually mention Hezbollah or UNSC Resolution 1701. 🤔 🤔 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ZEPO86R3F6
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) January 6, 2024
Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets in ‘initial response’ to killing of Hamas leader
Starting just after 8am and continuing for an hour there were sirens across Israel’s north; commenting on the first salvos the IDF said
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) January 6, 2024
“Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel, approximately 40 launches from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were… pic.twitter.com/O2SyhqzmgB
Footage has just been released by the Israel Defense Force showing a Strike on a Hezbollah Launch Site which Participated in the Rocket Barrage earlier against the Town of Meron in Northern Israel. pic.twitter.com/4WNWEwVnW1
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 6, 2024
Hezbollah mourns the death of four fighters killed by Israeli strikes. pic.twitter.com/7aUf4ljY9l
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 6, 2024
Obviously. Because the Israelis are famous for their willingness to roll with thousands of casualties. https://t.co/WJOQ3Qytcr
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) January 6, 2024
🔴ELIMINATED:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 6, 2024
Commander of Hamas’ Nuseirat Battalion, Ismail Siraj, and his Deputy Commander, Ahmed Wehbe.
During Hamas’ murderous Oct. 7 invasion and massacre, the Nuseirat Battalion was responsible for the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri and other Israeli communities.
The… pic.twitter.com/OzKJH1JNQI
IDF Eliminates Major Tunnel, 20 Terrorists Beneath Gaza’s Once-Luxurious Blue Beach Hotel
Israel Defense Forces have uncovered and eliminated a major Hamas tunnel beneath Gaza’s Blue Beach Hotel, a luxury beach resort hotel that opened in Gaza in the summer of 2015 and featured cabana boys serving clients on its private beach, along with an Olympic-size swimming pool. Guests were hosted in 162 “chalet-style” rooms set in landscaped grounds with views of the Mediterranean — until Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The hotel was part of the entertainment district along Al-Rashid Street in Gaza City that featured “dozens of new and modern resorts, chalets and coffee shops. The Washington Post described the hotel as one of a number of luxury businesses catering to wealthy Gazans. According to economic analyst Nizar Sha’ban, “Most foreigners who visit the Strip and stay in its hotels are journalists, aid workers, UN and Red Cross staff.”
But no longer.
The 162nd Division’s 14th Brigade, in cooperation with the Yahalom Special Engineering Unit, discovered and eliminated the subterranean passage, complete with seven tunnels shafts, including several containing terrorist living quarters.
The tunnel found near the entrance to the beachfront Blue Beach Hotel in the Shati area of Gaza City was booby-trapped with explosives.
Yahalom Unit forces identified the tunnels’ routes using a range of methods and destroyed the infrastructure this week.
Hamas exploited the hotel, using it as a shelter from where they planned and executed attacks both above and below ground.
Many weapons were found beneath the hotel, including AK-47 assault rifles, explosives, and drones. During the course of combat, dozens of Hamas terrorists entrenched in the hotel fired anti-tank missiles at IDF forces, who returned fire and eliminated the terrorists.
The IDF discovered Hamas tunnels in the northern Strip under the Blue Beach Hotel. The mines housed rooms for barracks and caches of weapons. pic.twitter.com/vq5TRfNEld
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
IDF troops operated at a Hamas terrorist quarters under the Blue Beach Hotel by the beach in northern Gaza, using a range of methods and destroyed the infrastructure earlier this week.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 5, 2024
Hamas terrorists exploited the hotel, from where they planned and executed attacks both above…
The Hamas Human Shield Strategy™️ is sick.
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 6, 2024
Hamas redesigned Gaza to hide its military infrastructure under homes, schools, and mosques, to make it impossible for Israel to reach it without going through them.
Also HOTELS: @IDF found 7 tunnel shafts in Gaza's Blue Beach Hotel. pic.twitter.com/SI1RILizI5
IDF reveals most recent photo of Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif
🔴 IDF just revealed latest photo of Hamas’ ‘military wing’ commander Mohammed Deif.
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) January 6, 2024
Let there be no doubt, Deif is a dead man walking! 🎯🎯🎯 pic.twitter.com/vDFboTMBoU
IDF soldiers of the 51st battalion of Golani took a pic of themselves sitting in the lounge of the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
Apparently he wasn't home. pic.twitter.com/qgvd1CTS4k
Another great pic of an IDF soldier sitting in the lounge of the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar pic.twitter.com/BunGKmhlF5
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
IDF troops located Nukhba military vests that were concealed by Hamas in UNRWA bags in a medical clinic in Gaza City. https://t.co/pBAcprgnjz pic.twitter.com/LEjKCAVJ2Y
— COGAT (@cogatonline) January 6, 2024
IDF commando unit locates weapons along with dolls, games inciting hatred
Israel pulled out of Gaza 18 years ago. The youngest terrorists who perpetrated the October 7 Massacre were raised playing games like this. That’s why in the Day After Hamas, the world must get serious about deradicalization so Palestinian children are brought up to want peace. https://t.co/FmXgEmxFO1
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 6, 2024
We are heartbroken to report on the death of an additional IDF soldier: 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Roee Yohay Yosef Mordechay was killed in #Gaza during this current operation against #Hamas terrorists. May the memory and heroism of this brave @IDF soldier forever be a… pic.twitter.com/UBpZHmIBWo
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) January 6, 2024
At first nobody attended this soldier's shiva as people were not aware that he was a lone soldier with no family in Israel. A post was made by people on social media & like that hundreds of Israelis arrived without hesitation to pay their respects.
— Documenting Israel (@DocumentIsrael) January 5, 2024
This is the Israel I love! https://t.co/eBaGf8AMIB pic.twitter.com/jpggfAqfTs
The UN spent 15 years watching as Hamas stole international aid to build a terror state while attacking Israeli civilians and using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 6, 2024
It's galling to see the organization wake up and wag it's finger now. Notice he can't even bring himself to… https://t.co/Ecl4tLlAmC
Just as quickly as intenrational aid is sent into Gaza, Hamas takes control of it.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 6, 2024
Here you see Hamas members sitting atop the trucks that entered from Rafah crossing. Hamas is also in the white pickup trucks accompanying the convoy. pic.twitter.com/1Ctry4TVEv
An average of 70 food trucks a day prewar, vs. an average of 110 food trucks now.
— COGAT (@cogatonline) January 6, 2024
2 million pita breads a day.
Food entering Gaza from Jordan.
Don't be misled. pic.twitter.com/gFi6I5fSBT
There’s still excess capacity at the land crossings. https://t.co/BpdD2r5lvm
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 6, 2024
136 hostages are still trapped in the Hamas Terror Dungeons. Why are YOU silent? Why do you release only occasional and perfunctory tweets instead of making them a priority? https://t.co/ZWrUCRaSUO
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 6, 2024
"denouncing one side in a war only happens when all other options are exhausted"
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 6, 2024
136 hostages have been held by murderers, rapists, and torturers for 92 days. Hamas has rejected negotiations and instead chooses to fight a war while hiding behind Palestinian civilians.
How many… https://t.co/x9hSfQlLJi
12 weeks ago today, Israelis awoke to blaring🚨warning of incoming rockets; ‘cover’ for mass war crimes that burned, raped, murdered & abducted… Thousands. Families. Babies. Youngsters at a peace festival. Holocaust survivors.
— מיכל קוטלר-וונש | Michal Cotler-Wunsh (@CotlerWunsh) January 6, 2024
12 weeks since, in response to the worst atrocities… pic.twitter.com/121wpdK7HB
Released Gaza hostage tells of trauma, Hamas's sexual violence
Agam Goldstein Almog, a 17-year-old released after 51 days of captivity in Gaza, shared her harrowing experiences at a gathering in Tel Aviv's Square of the Kidnapped, marking 100 days of war. Her testimony highlighted the event, attended by thousands, including families of IDF casualties and kidnapped individuals.
Recounting her kidnapping, Almog described the terror: "My father was shot immediately as he stood by the safe room, clutching my sister's bed board. He screamed 'No no no' as we, huddled in a corner, were forcibly taken, stepping over his body without a chance to say goodbye. The chaos was deafening."
In captivity, Almog faced the constant threat of death, unsure of how or when it might come – through torture, shooting, or air force bombings. She also witnessed the plight of other girls, "Many experienced severe sexual assaults and complex injuries, left untreated. We had to bandage ourselves or help each other."
Regarding her experience in captivity, she said: "You live death. You don't know when it will catch you and what it will look like, whether it will happen through torture or if they just shoot you or from the air force bombings. You constantly think about what death will look like."
The conditions the hostages were subjected to
After moving from a house to a tunnel, Almog was exposed to another harsh experience. "Suddenly a door opens and six girls were waiting, and then we realized that there are girls who were alone. Many girls experienced severe sexual assaults, they were wounded with very severe and complex injuries that are untreated. They bandaged themselves or we helped them do so." She added, "I can't even imagine what their condition is, what hope they are clinging to."
Romi Cohen, whose twin brother, Nimrod, remains captive in Gaza, expressed her anguish, "We're stuck in the day of his kidnapping. He's enduring starvation, cold, sleep deprivation, and psychological trauma. At 19, he's just a child, his life barely begun."
He is in harsh conditions - severe hunger, cold, lack of sleep, and in a difficult mental state. He is 19, still a child. Just started life. It's unreasonable that he's in captivity," she said.
The chilling testimony of Agam Goldstein Almog, 17, who was held captive by Hamas for 51 days: "One day we moved from a house to a tunnel. Suddenly the door opened and we met six girls. Many girls experienced severe sexual abuse, they are injured with very severe and complex… pic.twitter.com/rXFe7t8J47
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) January 6, 2024
Captivity survivor Doron Asher-Katz says she assumes her captor was a Hamas member, but it was his children who kept watch on her and her two little girls most of the time. pic.twitter.com/miL326jDhU
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 6, 2024
Israeli witness recounts seeing Palestinian civilians laugh as they raped a woman who they pulled out of a car. They then slaughtered her with a knife and continued to rape the dead body, laughing.
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) January 5, 2024
These civilians then went on to find a couple running away and they butchered the… pic.twitter.com/Pd7HwtKaLh
Families of Israeli Hostages Plan Protest at Kerem Shalom Border Crossing Into Gaza
Relatives of Israelis being held captive in Gaza announced plans to demonstrate on Tuesday at the Kerem Shalom border crossing to highlight lack of humanitarian access to the hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
Shai Wenkert, father of a hostage suffering medical issues, told Israel’s Channel 12 that the protest aims to contrast daily truckloads of Gazan aid against deprivations forced on the hostages.
There are reportedly 100 supply trucks now entering Gaza daily, below pre-war levels but still significant given barred access to the captives for months. Organizers say withholding overall aid is not the objective.
“It’s not because we don’t think they don’t deserve aid,” Wenkert said of Gazans, explaining the protest was not a move to hold the aid from reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Former hostage Ohad Munder joins the rally in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and holds a sign for his grandfather, 78-year-old Avraham Munder, who remains in the hands of terrorists in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/qyCWvCu3Ny
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 6, 2024
The Ricochet Podcast: Finding the Way Back
Hosted by James Lileks, Peter Robinson & Rob Long
With guest Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The trio is back for 2024! The reunited gang is happy to welcome back Ayaan Hirsi Ali to discuss the West’s crisis of confidence and its fumbling attempt at post-Judeo-Christianity. Plus James, Rob and Peter have a few thoughts about Claudine Gay’s resignation, and they divulge their philosophies on new year’s resolutions.
The Israel Guys: Hezbollah RETREATS from Israel’s Northern Border
Word broke yesterday that Hezbollah is retreating from Israel's northern border to create a buffer zone. This comes in response to intense pressure Israel is placing them under to do this very thing. Despite what you are seeing in the news, Israel is actually winning this war. Also Israel announces their plans for a post war Gaza.
A remarkable interview worth watching. Egyptian writer @daliaziada - a profile in morale courage - says that on October 7, Egyptian media reported that Hamas attacked Israeli soldiers.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 5, 2024
Some days later she joined 300 journalists, writers, activist from the Arab world to see… pic.twitter.com/il8RE8wcJX
When protests become acts of intimidation
Toronto city officials and police should make it clear to the Avenue Road protesters that their demonstration must move elsewhere. Protests that seek to make Jewish-Canadian residents feel insecure and fearful in their own neighbourhoods are not an attack on a government or a state. They are an attack on a people. This is rank antisemitism that opens the door to more extreme acts.Comment: After weeks of demonstrations, enough is enough
Toronto police report that there were 98 hate crimes in Canada’s largest city between last Oct. 7 and Dec. 17, more than twice as many as in the previous year. Fifty-six of those hate crimes, more than half, were antisemitic.
And while the violence in Israel and Gaza is clearly behind this spike, Statistics Canada reports that hate crimes have been on the rise for years.
Many Canadians struggle to find balance in assessing the grim events of the past three months in the Middle East.
But one thing is beyond debate: Jewish Canadians should not be targets for vitriol and violence because of events in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Anti-Zionist demonstrations in or near Jewish neighbourhoods are, in their own way, acts of vitriol. And they accompany other, similar, acts.
Protesters demonstrate in front of and deface Jewish-owned businesses, as though such acts do not encourage others to go farther.
In Victoria, the management of the Belfry Theatre cancelled a play that explores the morality of the conflict between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East, after rowdy protests that culminated in the theatre being vandalized.
Jewish students and faculty report that they feel fearful and intimidated on college campuses.
This cannot stand. Supporters of the Palestinian people have every right to express their views and to protest actions by Israel, but they have no right to intimidate and to threaten people on the street, on campuses, in theatres or in neighbourhoods. To tolerate such misbehaviour is to encourage much worse actions that inevitably follow. Enough.
The tactics were out of any anarchist’s handbook. A 33-page manual is circulating with the anti-Zionist crowd outlining tactical manouevres for protests and potential confrontations.House Democrats' Jan. 6 press conference interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters
Very concerned with our touching their cars — “personal property” — they were much less concerned with surrounding and shoving and slugging.
A young woman full force slugged my husband on the side of his face, and then ran away. We were outnumbered. But you know, and I know, sometimes you just have to say No.
Enough is enough.
And where were the police while all this was going on? They had to know this group’s plan — they certainly knew mine! They were nowhere to be seen.
When I spoke with the constable that afternoon, I had assured her that I appreciated their concerns and potential for protection.
However, I told her, and I do not stand alone here — the police must not continue to allow these illegal blockades of our streets.
Jews in Victoria are frightened. The father of one of the women with me that night was a survivor of the Shoah. She looked at me and said this feels like 1939.
When you watch the cavalcades of cars blocking airports, or marches of thousands of threatening and yelling pro-Hamas demonstrators, think of what happens if Israel does not fight back.
And as we have watched even our local politicians deny reports of the rape and massacre of Israeli woman — even after an 80-day delay in confirmation by the Israel-hating UN — as Jewish women we feel particularly vulnerable.
We know where hatred, anti-Semitism (a Jew-washing phrase coined by Wilhelm Marr to identify and victimize German Jews) leads. To our rape and murder.
So yes, enough is enough. We want our politicians to also say enough. No more hate-fests on the grounds of the legislature. No more taking over our streets. No more hate-filled cavalcades. No more attacks.
No more screaming and chanting instead of dialogue.
Enough. Enough.
I will attend all upcoming demonstrations. I will hold posters of the Israeli hostages, still illegally held in some dank tunnel in Gaza. We have no idea who is alive and who is dead.
But this Jew is standing up in the face of hate, and saying every week: Enough is enough.
The anti-Israel protestors have been escorted across the sidewalk, but they continue to yell as Congress members attempt to carry out their Jan. 6 press conference
— Cami Mondeaux (@cami_mondeaux) January 5, 2024
“Shame!”
“This is on you! You are genociders!” pic.twitter.com/k35CKMUYMr
Anti-Israel protestors are interrupting a press conference being held by Rep. Raskin this morning on anniversary of Jan. 6
— Cami Mondeaux (@cami_mondeaux) January 5, 2024
One protestor yells out what Israel is doing is “worse than Jan. 6.”
Capitol Police escorted protestors away pic.twitter.com/579VHFvbde
University of California Medical Prof Defends ‘Zionist Doctors’ Conspiracy, Calls for Investigation
Rupa Marya, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, argued in a recent social-media post that the presence of “Zionists” in U.S. health care may be harming patients and should therefore be investigated.
Marya’s comments came in response to a post from “anti-racist” activist and former Democratic congressional candidate Saira Rao.
“Realizing how many American doctors and nurses are Zionists and genuinely terrified for Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, South Asian and Black patients — even more than usual. And usually it’s bad,” Rao wrote in a New Year’s Day post on X.
The comments were widely condemned as antisemitic, even by vocal advocates of the Palestinian people.
“It is a lie. Stop that nonsense against [the] health system. its [sic] racist,” Ahmed Tibi, an Arab-Israeli Knesset member, responded on X.
Mehdi Hasan, an MSNBC contributor and frequent critic of Israeli policies, denounced the anti-racist organizer for flirting with the boundary of antisemitism. “I’ve long argued that antizionism shouldn’t be equated with antisemitism but, sorry, these kind of ‘antizionists’ takes are nothing but antisemitic,” Hasan wrote on X in early January. “You can’t just make sweeping bigoted remarks about millions of Jewish doctors & nurses and hide behind ‘Zionists.’ It’s just wrong.”
However, Marya rushed to Rao’s defense, arguing that her concern about the malign influence of Zionist doctors was in fact legitimate.
“The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity,” Marya wrote on X. “Zionism is a supremacist; racist ideology and we see Zionist doctors justifying the genocide of Palestinians. How does their outlook/position impact priorities in US medicine?”
Marya expanded her thoughts on Instagram: “There are so many Jewish doctors who don’t espouse an ideology of supremacism and justification of land theft, apartheid and genocide. They are not the issue here.”
Have you seen this Ad Truck in New York City?
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 5, 2024
I'm told the photo was taken at 71st and Broadway. (Google Maps appears to confirm the location of the stores.) Do you know the organization running it? Ad on back of truck appears to reference planned DC march on Jan 13th. pic.twitter.com/2ujyErnu6c
Boston City Council attempts to pass a resolution standing with Israel but member Tanya Fernandez Anderson had other plans stating “it’s pretentious and it’s horrible … Hamas military group launched a massive military operation … we only talk about people with money and… pic.twitter.com/WjX8krLKof
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 6, 2024
NY girl's basketball game called off after 'disgusting' antisemitism
This was flagrant and foul.
A high school girls’ basketball game in Yonkers was canceled this week when players on the home team shot antisemitic slurs at their Jewish opponents, who needed security guards to escort them off the court to safety.
The girl’s varsity teams from The Leffell School, a private Jewish school in Hartsdale, and Roosevelt High School, a public school in Yonkers, faced off in the non-league game Thursday evening.
“I support Hamas, you f–king Jew,” a Roosevelt player snarled at a Leffell opponent, according to The New York City Public Schools Alliance, a group of parents and teachers fighting antisemitism.
From the outset, there was hostility and aggression with “substantially more jabs and comments thrown at the players on our team than what I have experienced in the past,” senior player Robin Bosworth wrote in an op-ed for Leffell’s student-run newspaper, The Lion’s Roar.
At the end of the third quarter, her teammates were getting injured by the rough plays, and “players on the opposing team started shouting ‘Free Palestine’ and other antisemitic slurs and curses at us,” wrote Bosworth, also editor-in-chief of the school paper.
“I have played a sport every athletic season throughout my high school career, and I have never experienced this kind of hatred directed at one of my teams before,” Bosworth said.
“Instead of responding to hatred with more of the same, we chose to separate ourselves from the situation and leave with dignity and pride in who we are and what we believe in,” she continued.
🚨NYC NOW: Outside Rep. Torres Harrased by Pro-Hamas villains for receiving Jewish money (AIPAC $367k in 2023)
— Shirion Collective (@ShirionOr) January 6, 2024
👉FOLLOW for RT coverage. pic.twitter.com/vzSgqg872R
Cambridge University is embroiled in antisemitism row after college refused to discipline students who called for a 'mass uprising' against Israelis to 'free the Palestinian people'
BDS blow to Big Mac, Jewish student attacked in UK, shul threats
Pro-Palestinian protesters stage sit-in on Westminster Bridge in first demo of 2024
Surprise pro-Palestinian protest blocks bridge outside UK parliament
People who still call hateful protests in support of terrorists "peace marches" are either woefully uninformed or deeply dishonest.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
Manchester, earlier today.
Palestinians "have every right to resist in whatever way they have to". pic.twitter.com/vziyKuXCG2
🚨🚨🚨 Please Share: This might be the UNBELIEVABLE thing I’ve seen during these marches. @BTPLondon !!
— Inc.Monocle (@IncMonocle) January 6, 2024
A man with a tombstone poster saying
“Glory to the martyrs” &
“Killed by British taxpayers”
Walks onto London Underground totally unchallenged. I bring it to the… pic.twitter.com/UejD1eXF9M
HAPPENING NOW CAMDEN TOWN
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) January 6, 2024
Police step in when speaker crosses the line into antisemitism. Note they try to use the Neturei Karta as cover for their antisemitism. Police are having none of it.
Have to commend this officer, the patience needed in dealing with the nutters 🤯 pic.twitter.com/bN12SuElqF
The pro-murder, pro-rape, pro-Hamas mob are blocking London’s Westminster Bridge.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 6, 2024
🎥 @IncMonoclepic.twitter.com/Lnk74kgyXo
The Houthi slogan:
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
"God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam"
Just perfect for London "peace activists". https://t.co/XbF1XqhTzZ pic.twitter.com/PVyHVfWQAE
"Intifada! Revolution!"
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
Jew haters shouting for Jew murderers, right next to Parliament. All ever so exciting, comrades. pic.twitter.com/irDTe4XAAD
Englander! Wehrt euch! Kauft nicht bei Juden!
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
A fun day out today for the "Palestine Solidarity Campaign" in Hastings.
Can you imagine the left wing uproar if people demanded shops stop selling Palestinian products?
Here, the comrades either support thuggery or just look away. pic.twitter.com/cH2fZWc50o
Pictured is Simon Hindmarsh from “Labour Against the Witch Hunt”, an antisemitic group banned by the party. https://t.co/1Ra9y2dB4e pic.twitter.com/rmzG1dUbWy
— Alex Hearn (@hearnimator) January 6, 2024
"Shout at Starbucks in Leeds to Free Palestine!"
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
The "Palestine Solidarity Campaign", an antisemitic hatred movement, out and about yet again today. pic.twitter.com/uqFoU3CjvW
🚨🚨🚨 Clashes with police on Westminster Bridge. Tensions high. pic.twitter.com/rDIig5I40G
— Inc.Monocle (@IncMonocle) January 6, 2024
🚨March now moving towards Parliament pic.twitter.com/vhl9IT6n6P
— Inc.Monocle (@IncMonocle) January 6, 2024
Overnight, radical leftists surrounded the Chicago Police headquarters in a direct action calling for police and IDF to be abolished. pic.twitter.com/wLBMdCxANf
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 6, 2024
Further information on Jahan's support for terrorism and antisemitism here 👇https://t.co/uldkIieiGs
— GnasherJew®גנאשר #IStandWithIsrael (@GnasherJew) January 5, 2024
Encino, CA - woman spotted tearing down posters of kidnapped Israelis (corner of Hayvenhurst Ave and Ventura Blvd).
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 6, 2024
More than 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists, including Americans.
Recognize this woman? DM us. pic.twitter.com/WrLHLSt766
Further information here 👇https://t.co/IEtbqBrXcE
— GnasherJew®גנאשר #IStandWithIsrael (@GnasherJew) January 6, 2024
🚨EXPOSE: Evidence of organized Hamas terrorism in the Swedish parliament! 🇸🇪
— Luai Ahmed (@JustLuai) January 6, 2024
Jamal El-Haj, a Swedish parliamentarian of Palestinian descent, organized and participated in a Hamas conference in Malmö, Sweden in 2023. Co-hosting the conference was Amin Abu Rashid, a Hamas… pic.twitter.com/KN5VsiCRbs
What appears to be a car bomb explodes close to Israeli troops operating in Nour Shams (West Bank) on Thursday. This is certainly a concerning security event that did not result in mass casualties. pic.twitter.com/S8teynDpen
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 5, 2024
Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub offers condolences to the mother of slain Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri. Earlier, Rajoub called Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to offer his condolences. pic.twitter.com/QmfPZE5rye
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) January 6, 2024
The Palestinians are unique in the world, perhaps in world history. I can't think of any other example of a people who repeatedly start wars they can't win and then brag to the world about the destruction & suffering they brought on themselves. https://t.co/T00jS9tapb
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) January 6, 2024
Lebanese Hezbollah’s scouts performing the allegiance to the Mahdi; the long awaited absent Messiah, the 1200 year old fairytale!
— Aimen Dean (@AimenDean) July 6, 2022
Nazi salute is a common feature in Hezbollah’s indoctrination of kids! pic.twitter.com/8gIUP1vNoi
According to reporters in Syria, today, while anti-Israel activists were busy complaining about Israel, Assad and Russia reportedly bombed residential neighborhoods in Idlib with white phosphorus.
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) January 6, 2024
pic.twitter.com/mnS4Y2SUOJ
This image, claiming to show a row of Palestinian children's bodies, is unrelated to the current Israel-Hamas war.
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) January 5, 2024
The graphic photo was taken in 2013 after the Ghouta chemical attack by the Syrian government, which resulted in hundreds of deaths, including children. pic.twitter.com/AnTNDy4CYC
An update from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) regarding the terrorist attack that took place in Kerman near the gravesite of Qassem Soleimani:
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 6, 2024
- The MOI says that they have identified one of the suicide bombers as a Tajik national.
- They found… pic.twitter.com/eMrjUCgfHb
An Iranian woman, lashed 74 times for defying the hijab law, is now a hero to millions.#Roya_Heshmati, a Kurdish woman, was punished with 74 lashes for protesting the mandatory hijab. Defiantly, she refused to wear it even during her punishment. Her story is echoing across… pic.twitter.com/eq0WgLpBOW
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 6, 2024
Scott Ritter in Chechnya lmao
— bigSAC™ (@bigSAC10) January 6, 2024
Daily reminder that Scott Ritter is a pedophile who was charged with (and convicted on all but one) unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communications facility, corruption of minors, indecent exposure, possessing instruments of crime,… pic.twitter.com/ddLatocw8f
Public Nazism in Yerevan, Armenia: Neo-Nazis march through the capital city, displaying the Hitler salute. pic.twitter.com/QebZ9w7R7U
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
Are protests on college campuses “independent of the Hamas party line”?
When the current war between Israel and Gaza is over and the reporting of it is reviewed and judged, this sentence written by Graeme Wood in The Atlantic will rank among the silliest written:
Those on U.S. college campuses and in European capitals calling for a cease-fire are demonstrating their admirable independence of the Hamas party line.
This was written in the context of an essay that argues that “Hamas Doesn’t Want a Cease-Fire” (January 2, 2024). While it may be true that Hamas does not actually want a ceasefire right now, and it’s certainly true that it would not adhere to a permanent one, this claim about campus protests shows how little its writer actually understands either Hamas and its goals, or the campus protest movement.
To start with, as The Atlantic itself reported in early November, in the immediate aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, National Students for Justice in Palestine promulgated a “toolkit” that states, “we as Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement,” and “this is a moment of mobilization for all Palestinians. We must act as part of this movement. All of our efforts continue the work and resistance of Palestinians on the ground.” (Emphasis added.) Commenting on those passages from SJP, Conor Friedersdorf wrote, “the declaration that SJP is united with Israel’s attackers, rather than a faction that is merely allied with them, seemingly cuts against claims of uncoordinated or independent advocacy.”
But set that aside. Even if nominally there may have been some cases in which campus protests explicitly called for a bilateral ceasefire (though I’m not actually aware of any that have), in reality, calls for ceasefire are not directed at Hamas. Hamas is, after all, the party that broke the ceasefire on October 7, 2023, as well as on November 28, and that no one sane imagines would adhere to one permanently. In many cases, the protests also call for “intifada,” that is, continued armed attacks against Israel. If they stop their primal drumming and chants long enough for speeches, you might hear about the effects of the war on the people of Gaza, but it’s unlikely you’ll hear about the continuing rocket fire into Israel. The calls for ceasefire, functionally, then, are of course directed only at Israel.
Meanwhile, what Hamas, which no one thinks can extract a military victory over Israel, wants is for Israel to be demonized for the fighting. Campus protests accomplish that. As Matti Friedman wrote recently in the Free Press, “In Europe and North America, as we’ve now seen on the streets and on campuses, many on the progressive left have arrived at an ideology positing that one of the world’s most pressing problems is the State of Israel – a country that has come to be seen as the embodiment of the evils of the racist, capitalist West, if not as the world’s only “apartheid” state, that being a modern synonym for evil.” The hostility to Israel embodied in these protests is part and parcel of Hamas’s plan.
Jennifer Chavez-Veyna, a student @Princeton, blamed Israel for Hamas war crimes after Oct.7, speaking at an anti-Israel rally & previously posting: “I will never, ever condemn hamas. I will only, I repeat, ONLY ever condemn Israel..." https://t.co/eK5kFdu71m pic.twitter.com/nInjdVOm8N
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) January 5, 2024
Henderson, Nevada - Iqra Saqib is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine who shares antisemitic content on social media including:
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 5, 2024
- comparing Holocaust victims to Hamas terrorists
- compares the Jewish nation to the Nazi regime
Such comarisons are deemed antisemitic by the IHRA… pic.twitter.com/YScFydOl33
Nabil Jibawi, a pharmacy tech in the Chicago area, said during the 2021 Hamas war, “So I don’t want to hear none of that ‘is*ael is defending themselves’ bulls**t or any ‘but hamas this, hamas that’ bs.” He should let us know if he's changed his mind. https://t.co/aboCgZ0813 pic.twitter.com/ZD2hnCd5Yd
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) January 6, 2024
Fadi Kablawi is an imam & dentist who asked Allah to "support our brothers in Palestine against the tyrannical Jews" & called for the annihilation of Zionists while giving a sermon at the Masjid As-Sunnah An-Nabawiyyah Miami mosque in Florida. https://t.co/TO3V3JOwCw pic.twitter.com/WyiefFM3MK
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) January 5, 2024
Too bad I never use photos due to the privacy of the victims… but that shouldn’t stop you from spreading lies🙏 pic.twitter.com/g1MP8EVMOb
— Cochav Elkayam-Levy (@CochavElkayam) January 6, 2024
An AP reporter publishing Israeli military installations was reported to the Israeli authorities. pic.twitter.com/B8eUjfSorm
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
Twitter user @CaptCoronado is very likely to be a disinformation bot. Special thanks to @TheCyabra for allowing me to use your analytics software. This video tracks how disinformation accounts are "born" in three phases: Crafting, Connecting and Deceiving.https://t.co/Y1mFRnRBHg
— Ryan McBeth (@RyanMcbeth) January 1, 2024
I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, that Al-Jazeera has given a platform to the ultra racist David Miller to rant about Zionists for nigh on ten minutes. pic.twitter.com/EsyHbH5Z69
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 6, 2024
If you're human and scroll through pro human X accounts and comments are filled with Hamas videos, know how it works:
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
Al Jazeera releases a statement that Hamas is about to release a video. After that, pro Hamas accounts on twitter and telegram publish a request followed up by… pic.twitter.com/hkbksX1Tzd
TikTok is a proganda tool of Chinese Communist Party which they are using to promote disinformation and silence pro-democaracy and human rights voices.
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) January 6, 2024
Lets see how long it take TikTok to remove this video I made, or shadow ban the content.
Trash platform that should be… pic.twitter.com/Nwvcs68eU4
Special moment captured during Itay Levy’s concert in Tel Aviv over the weekend.#BringThemHomeNow pic.twitter.com/1YYMPYSQXU
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) January 6, 2024
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
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