Monday, January 08, 2024

01/08 Links Pt1: Hostages' families make desperate plea in UK's Daily Mail; IDF Is Redefining Counterterrorism after Oct. 7; Senior Hezbollah commander killed

From Ian:

Hamas hostages' families make desperate plea in UK's Daily Mail
The parents of four teenage girls who were kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7 have made a desperate plea for international intervention with the Daily Mail.

The four girls, Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa, and Agam Berger, have been in captivity for over three months since their abduction during the violent attack near the Gaza border.

Shocking images of the bloodstained and terrified girls have emerged, painting a harrowing picture of their plight. With the recent collapse of a ceasefire and stalled negotiations, the families are now publicizing these images, calling for global support and action.

Orly Gilboa, the mother of 19-year-old Daniela, implored parents worldwide to imagine the horror of their children in such circumstances. Eli Albag, Liri's father, described the agonizing uncertainty and fear that grips them every day.

"Think for one day that you don't have a connection with your daughter and you know they are in the hands of bad people," Eli said. "Then tell me what you would say after 90 days. This is killing us. Every minute is like an hour."

The girls were kidnapped from Nahal Oz during an attack that saw widespread violence and atrocities. Since then, rare footage showing the girls in captivity has only intensified concerns about their well-being.

Families united by grief
The families, united in their grief, have been supporting each other through this ordeal.

"We cry together. We speak a lot, we understand each other," said Shira Albag's mother.

Survivors who have been released from captivity shared disturbing accounts of sexual abuse and inadequate medical care for serious injuries, including gunshot wounds and amputations.
Daily Mail: The faces of the girls STILL being held by Hamas as their families make a desperate plea for their release three months after they were captured


Red Cross urged to secure Gaza hostages' well-being in petition
The leadership of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA), took significant action by submitting a petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

The petition, supported by over 5,000 members and backers of HWZOA, calls on the ICRC to intervene and ensure the well-being of Israeli hostages currently held by Hamas.

The delegation representing HWZOA, the largest Jewish women’s organization in the United States, included National President Carol Ann Schwartz, immediate past National President Rhoda Smolow, and Executive Director of Hadassah Offices in Israel Suzanne Patt Benvenisti. Their mission was to press the ICRC to take immediate action regarding the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.

Time is running out
Expressing deep concern, the petition addresses the ICRC’s apparent failure to fulfill its humanitarian obligations over the last three months since the infiltration of Hamas into Israel, leading to numerous atrocities. It also highlights the distressing conditions in which the 136 hostages are being held, enduring relentless physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.

The demands put forth by HWZOA in the petition are clear: the ICRC must cease its neglect of these hostages and take proactive measures to ensure their well-being. This includes providing essential medical aid and food, ensuring tolerable living conditions, terminating any form of abuse, and facilitating contact with their families.

HWZOA’s leadership met with ICRC representatives to personally deliver the petition, following a strongly worded letter sent by the organization to the ICRC in December. This letter urged immediate action to fulfill the ICRC’s established humanitarian role and emphasized the urgency of attending to the plight of the Israeli hostages.

The submission of this petition amplifies the mounting pressure on the ICRC to act swiftly and decisively, underscoring the gravity of the situation faced by the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Hostage families meet Red Cross, are very disappointed by lack of care for Jewish victims -as in WW2

UN experts demand accountability for sexual torture during Hamas attacks
UN experts on Monday demanded accountability for sexual violence against Israeli civilians during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity.

Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into possible sexual crimes during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history.

Hamas denies the abuses
"The growing body of evidence about reported sexual violence is particularly harrowing," two UN-appointed independent experts said in a statement on Monday.

The statement referred to allegations of sexual torture, including rape and gang rape as well as mutilations and gunshots to genital areas.

"These acts constitute gross violations of international law, amounting to war crimes which, given the number of victims and the extensive premeditation and planning of the attacks, may also qualify as crimes against humanity," the experts said.

"Each and every victim deserves to be recognized, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or sex, and our role is to be their voice," they added.

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva welcomed the statement
"The whole international community must fully recognize the brutal and terrorist nature of Hamas and the responsibility of those who have been shielding them for years, including the Palestinian Authority," it said.

Israel has previously criticized the global body for not doing enough to address the issue as part of a bid to get greater recognition for the alleged crimes.

The two experts on torture and on executions - Alice Jill Edwards and Morris Tidball-Binz - have raised the issue with Hamas authorities, they said.

They have also written to Israel's government and called for cooperation with their investigators.
These are the chronic diseases Gaza hostages are living with
Dozens of the 136 Israeli abductees suffer from chronic illnesses and are not being treated - the Red Cross has already stated that it has failed in its attempts to reach the abductees, check their condition, and provide the necessary medical treatment, to medical patients among them. Along with psychological terror, torture and harsh living conditions, many suffer from a disciplinary deterioration in their personal health conditions, many of which are life-threatening.

"From the testimonies of abductees who returned after seeing their friends in a difficult situation, we know about the difficult situation in captivity by the brutal Hamas," says Prof. Hagai Levin, chairman of the Union of Public Health Doctors and head of the medical department at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, "of course the mental issue is central, they are abused psychologically oriented, but in the midst of that there are people who suffer from previous problems, both mental and internal, need regular treatment and without it their condition is deteriorating."

Not only chronic diseases threaten the condition of the abductees, but also the treatment of the acute injuries that happened during their abduction and in their stay in captivity: "The abductees tell of complete darkness or dark lighting, poor hygiene conditions, the wounds are neither disinfected nor dressed, and there is evidence of severe infections, infections, lice, and scabies, they all testify to the severe sanitary conditions in captivity," says Prof. Levin.

This is the list of chronic diseases from which some of the abductees suffer, the names of most of them are kept confidential in the system, for the others, the families agreed to publish their medical conditions. Here is the list that is known so far:




BESA: Warfare Has Changed and the Israeli Security Concept Must Change with It
The audacity of the IDF leadership and Israel's war cabinet to deploy the IDF for an attack deep into Gaza's densely populated and fortified urban terrain, both above and below ground - with an intensity not seen before - must be recognized as an achievement of strategic significance.

The political and military leadership clearly understood that they were heading into a prolonged war, and they declared this to be the case from the outset. However, the public is struggling to understand why this war needs to last longer than any other war since the War of Independence.

The Israeli need to end wars quickly was clearly understood and effectively integrated into the perception of warfare developed by Hizbullah and Hamas, with the backing of Iran. They formulated a concept of warfare based on dense defensive lines containing obstacles and explosives, both above and below ground, in the heart of built-up areas in cities and villages. Under these conditions, a rapid advance into enemy territory becomes a very complex task.

Moreover, in Gaza the enemy's military force is made up of local residents. When IDF forces penetrate deep into the territory, Hamas fighters, who are locals, can easily blend into the population, ready to reemerge when opportunity strikes. This is why operations to clear Gaza or to combat Hizbullah require extensive force deployment and prolonged durations. Another significant change is the jihadist religious consciousness that motivates the forces built up in the last decades to combat Israel. When the IDF faces Hamas and Hizbullah, it encounters Islamic fighters who are believers, presenting a challenge not previously recognized.

The IDF has not weakened since June 1967, but Israel's enemies have changed. They have evolved creatively and are much stronger. Since 1967, the world of warfare has changed completely.
Gaza War: It isn't Over Until it is Over
The usual suspects in the Middle East peacemaking industry are already beginning to recycle their old and discredited ideas. President Joe Biden, sounding like a dummy for the ventriloquist Barack Obama, is talking of "a two-state solution: one for the Israelis and one for the Palestinians."

The optimists forget that what turned Gaza into the hell-hole it has become wasn't economic hardship. Before October 7, Gaza had a lower unemployment rate than the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt. In the first two quarters of 2023, the Gaza economy grew by four percent while that of the West Bank remained almost static.

One Iranian IRGC analyst, writing in the force's Fars News site last week, indicates that Tehran does not expect a Hamas victory but wants it to "continue fighting as long as possible" so that more and more Israelis see that the best option is to leave.

Tehran also promises to throw more of its regional assets, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis and various outfits in Iraq and Syria into the fray, albeit in small doses so that Iran not be dragged into the war itself.
Clifford May: All the ayatollah's men
Why are the Houthis and their patrons in Tehran attempting to rule the waves adjacent to Yemen?

I think they hope to demonstrate that the US is a "weak horse," frightened and feckless, unwilling even to acknowledge that most of the conflicts in the Middle East have roots in Tehran, and incapable of containing Iran's Islamic Revolution.

If Operation Prosperity Guardian fails to silence Houthi guns, President Biden will face a choice: Capitulate or escalate.

The latter would mean at least directing the Pentagon to eliminate Houthi weapons warehouses, the vessels and helicopters used for hijackings, and perhaps command-and-control centers.

But such a response would be only tactical. A strategic approach would focus less on the puppets and more on those pulling the strings of the Houthis – along with the strings of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Shia militias.

On Monday, an Iranian warship passed through the Bab al-Mandab into the Red Sea. And in recent days, Iran's rulers have increased their production of enriched uranium. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, they may now have enough to produce three nuclear bombs.

A nuclear-armed regime in Tehran would be more difficult to contain and deter – and a more valuable partner for Beijing and Moscow.

President Biden, like his predecessors in the White House, has said that for Tehran's jihadis to possess nukes would be "unacceptable."

Mr. Khamenei, who will be 85 in April, may think it's time to find out whether that's a bluff. Expect an eventful New Year.
Daniel Greenfield: Biden Promised Gaza Aid Wouldn’t Go To Hamas. He Lied.
So much for Biden’s commitment “to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance, without diversion by Hamas.”

And the $100 million in “humanitarian aid” promised by Biden is just the beginning of a larger program to “reconstruct” Gaza. Much as the program to reconstruct Afghanistan put a fortune in the pockets of the Taliban that enabled them to retake the country, programs to reconstruct Gaza after previous wars had allowed Hamas to build its vast network of tunnels and develop massive fortunes: some of which were then plowed into terror programs.

The Biden administration issued a press release “welcoming” the appointment of Sigrid Kaag, as the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for aid to Gaza.

Kaag’s actual last name is Al-Qaq, she’s a former leftist Dutch politician who married Anis al-Qaq, a deputy minister in Arafat’s PLO government, and has been caught funding terrorists.

In 2019, Rina Shnerb was hiking with her family when a bomb went off.

“I wanted to believe it was just a dream,” Rabbi Shnerb, her father, said. “I have experienced several bombs in my life and been saved, thank God, but this one got us,..I immediately called to Rina, shouting ‘Rina, Rina,’ I looked down and saw that she was not alive.”

One of the terrorists who was accused of aiding the attack had taken pictures with Dutch officials while working as a director at a non-profit linked to terrorists and financed by the Dutch government. Despite multiple warnings, Kaag claimed she had been unaware of the connection.

Geert Wilders had condemned Kaag for having been “photographed with terrorist Arafat and financed Palestinian terrorists.”

The Shnerb family told JNS that, “Kaag was in a position to decide whether to fund homicidal terrorists who, like the Nazis, were trying to murder Jews simply for being Jews. Kaag ignored all the warning signs and insisted on funding the PFLP terrorists. Those terrorists then murdered Rina.”

Now, Kaag is in a position to do it all over again with the backing of the Biden administration.

Kaag had previously accused Israel’s government of being “racist” and denounced Jews living in parts of the country claimed by terrorists as “illegal colonists on confiscated land.”

After violating its commitment to stop Hamas from seizing aid, the Biden administration has approved of the appointment of an official who had funded the terrorists who killed Jews.

The Biden administration has focused all of its efforts on a plan to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and have it take over Gaza. It’s doing so even though elements of the PA actually took part in the Oct 7 massacres and Fatah, which is the ruling part of the PA, endorsed it. Fatah’s Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub declared that, “what happened on October 7 was in the context of the defensive war our people are waging. Hamas is part of our political and social fabric.”

Furthermore, the PA has reportedly begun paying salaries to arrested Oct 7 perpetrators.

It’s not a question of whether our aid to the terrorist areas goes to terrorists, but which terrorists.
IDF Is Redefining Counterterrorism after Oct. 7
The IDF's Multidimensional Unit - also known as the Ghost Unit - is an elite combat unit founded in 2019 to develop innovative combat techniques and fighting methods as well as new tools for use in the battlefield.

These include deadly drones that traverse tunnels or rooms inside buildings to kill the enemy, and special radars for infantry forces to detect the enemy in hiding.

The unit's commander, Col. Dvir Hever, says, "It's not just about tools and technology - it's about methods of locating weapons in enemy territory, locating terrorists, exposing concealed tunnels, shooting down enemy drones, as well as finding terrorists at a range of several miles and hitting them."

"No soldier asks when we're finishing up and going home. There's no burn-out."
Boobytraps and explosions in the hunt for Hamas tunnels
The shaft was next to the home of a senior commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a rival militant organisation to Hamas. But the locations of the tunnels have led Israeli intelligence to believe that the two organisations may have been sharing their networks.

“We located the main shafts next to a big school building,” said the tank battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel Ido, who is chief executive a of technology company in civilian life. “Driving over the school’s football field in my tank was like an arrow though my heart.

“I’ve been going to football since I was four and it felt sacrilegious. But there’s no other way to fight here. What can we do when rockets were fired from this neighbourhood and even the school’s electricity is being used for the tunnel?”

Even as the Israeli military said it had concluded most combat operations in the north of Gaza, Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said that scattered fighting was to be expected, along with rockets launched sporadically towards Israel. He said that Hamas militants “without a framework and without commanders” were still present.

Hagari said that Israeli forces would act differently in the south than in northern Gaza. He said that urban refugee camps being targeted by the military were packed with gunmen and that “an underground city of sprawling tunnels” had been discovered underneath Khan Yunis.

According to reports, among those killed on Sunday were two Palestinian journalists, including the son of Wael al-Dahdouh, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent who had lost his wife, two other children and a grandson — and was nearly killed himself — earlier in the war. Dahdouh has continued to report on the fighting between Israel and Hamas despite the toll on his family.

Back in Shujaiya, with the mapping over and the area around the tunnel shafts cleared, the battalion begins the demolition operation. Some tunnels and shafts are usually destroyed by sappers using land-mines or demolished by armoured bulldozers.

This one needed a much larger quantity of explosives trucked in. After the perimeter had been secured, the demolition team finished the job. For Israel, however, the war goes on. Echoing Israeli political leaders, Hagari said the fighting “will continue throughout 2024”.
A New Reality Needed on the Gaza-Egypt Border
Israel cannot allow Hamas' tunnel network to stay in place in Gaza. Israel must make it clear that as long as there are tunnels, the war will continue.

In addition, it is clear that arms smuggling into Gaza cannot be prevented without effective control over the Philadelphi Route and the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Supervision mechanisms and reliance on other arrangements have always turned out to be a resounding failure. As long as there is a free flow of weaponry from Sinai to Gaza, it will not be possible to ensure the demilitarization of the strip.

An effective buffer between Gaza and Egypt will serve not only Israel's security needs but will also contribute to Egypt's national security - it will prevent Hamas terrorists in Gaza from reaching Egyptian territory. Hamas is the strongest armed group in the Muslim Brotherhood, a bitter foe of the regime in Egypt.

There is no reason why Hamas should be allowed to continue controlling the distribution of aid. This allows it to maintain power and govern. To topple Hamas' rule, Israel must prevent it from having a grip on the distribution and other resources that only help it cement its status as the governing authority of Gaza. This is the only way that will lead to a real collapse of the regime in Gaza.

Victory over Hamas requires creating a reality in the strip that will not allow the resurgence of terrorist elements. Such a fundamental change requires Israel to act with resolve and over a long period, without standing with a stopwatch in hand.
Why China Is Siding with the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas War
In the days after Oct. 7, there was widespread surprise about China's hostile stance toward Israel. Chinese media barely reported the atrocities of Hamas, emphasizing instead the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. The surprise in Israel at China's approach is heightened by its contrast to China's former distant, uninvolved stance.

So what happened? The answer lies in China's broad global ambitions and in its years-long confrontation with the U.S. American support for Israel's war in Gaza is perceived in China as an opportunity to respond to Washington's critical rhetoric regarding China, such as a determination by the U.S. State Department in 2021 that China was guilty of "genocide" against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. China's current stance also serves to reward its Muslim allies in the Middle East for their past support; Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example, have not criticized China despite its harsh treatment of the Uyghurs and other Muslims.

Moreover, China's stance reflects its growing presence in the Middle East in recent years. China is currently involved in several large projects in the region, including a fast rail line from China to Iran, a rail line from Mecca to Medina, and an overhaul of the Suez Canal. China's prominent anti-Israeli approach is a clear manifestation of the limits of cooperation between Israel and China.


The Biden Admin Lobbied Lebanon To Stop Promoting Anti-Israel Boycotts. That Diplomacy Failed.
The Biden administration lobbied the Lebanese government to stop promoting economic boycotts of Israel, according to a non-public State Department report to Congress. But those diplomatic efforts failed to produce any results.

U.S. diplomats stationed in Beirut repeatedly pressed "senior Lebanese government officials to temper Lebanon's Israel boycott legislation" throughout 2022 and 2023, the State Department reported to Congress in a Jan. 2, 2024, notification obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

"The embassy also raised Lebanon's corrosive BDS policies in diplomatic engagements" surrounding an October 2022 maritime agreement brokered between Israel and Lebanon, the State Department said. "BDS" refers to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which wages economic warfare on the Jewish state.

The notification does not indicate that these lobbying efforts worked. Regional experts, as well as a senior congressional source familiar with the State Department's diplomacy in Lebanon, told the Free Beacon that Beirut's government effectively rebuffed the Biden administration's overtures. The failure to move Lebanon into more pro-Israel territory indicates that the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah continues to influence Beirut and ensure the country does not normalize relations with the Jewish state.

"Lebanon is a failed state run by an Iranian proxy, Hezbollah," said Jonathan Schanzer, a regional analyst who serves as the vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. "The notion that State Department officials could convince this government to pursue anything resembling a sane policy toward Israel, or much else for that matter, strikes me as purely wishful thinking."
IDF finds pieces of Hamas rockets that could reach 100km.

Children, women and the elderly: Hamas observers who pass info to Sinwar
Khan Yunis has been visited recently by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, with intentions of helping to concentrate the military's efforts in the Gaza Strip. They are hoping to help forge the path to finding the hideouts of the Hamas military leadership, who are using hostages as their "human shields."

One of the challenges the forces face in the Gaza Strip is a branched system of tunnels. The tunnels and shafts are used for several purposes, including logistics (food, water, medicine, etc.), ventilation, electricity, and the entry and exit of activists and senior officials from area to area during battle. The deeper they went, the greater the passage of the activists in the tunnels.

Another important challenge that must be faced, which allows Sinwar to partially control the Gaza Strip, is a command and control system, which provides him with a situational picture of what is happening on the ground.

According to estimates in the security establishment, Hamas surrounds the tunnel system in Khan Yunis - where the top of Hamas is hiding - in various circles of observers and messengers.

Who are Sinwar's observers?
These observers can be women, boys, and men of all ages, who report on the location and extent of the IDF forces, and any unusual activity in the area, which can be useful to Hamas's plans. According to army officers, "some of the observers will stand on the roofs of houses or under the cover of buildings without weapons, only with a walkie-talkie or a telephone, and some of them will probably communicate what is happening with shouts or other signs. Some women will also cross the street with a baby carriage or children in order not to arouse suspicion."

But the cynical and cruel step, according to army officers, is the use of children who are sent to battle zones and places occupied by the IDF, where there is no reason for civilians, especially children, to be.

"You know that the child arrived at Tzafat, you know that he is part of a larger system, but in the end he is a child and we as commanders are in a dilemma, to shoot or to carry out a pursuit while risking our fighters. So we do not shoot at children under any circumstances, but Hamas certainly puts us in a very complex dilemma. We feel that we are getting closer to the goal. In the end it will happen. We will crack what is needed. We need a lot of patience. Every day that passes we are more than enough," explained one of the officers who left the Khan Yunis area.


2 Palestinian doctors and a nurse arrested as suspects in deadly West Bank shooting
Two Palestinian doctors and a nurse from the West Bank were identified Monday as the suspects in a deadly shooting the day before that killed an East Jerusalem Palestinian man and seriously injured a woman.

Officers in the police’s Yamam counterterrorism unit arrested the three suspects overnight, security officials said Monday.

In a joint statement, the police, Shin Bet, and Israel Defense Forces said the trio were detained some 15 hours after the attack on Route 465, near the West Bank settlement of Ateret.

Two of the suspects were detained in Ramallah, and the third was nabbed in the nearby Jalazone refugee camp, the statement said.

Hebrew media, citing Palestinian reports, identified them as Issar Barghouti, an anesthesiologist from Bayt Rima near Ramallah, Khaled al-Harouf, also a medical doctor, and Morid al-Atar from ‘Atara, who worked as a nurse.

Israeli security officials are still assessing that the shooting was carried out with nationalist motives, meaning it is considered a terror attack, the Ynet outlet reported.


IDF: Journalists killed in Rafah were with drone-operating terrorist
The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday night that two Palestinian journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza earlier in the day were traveling in a vehicle with a terrorist operating a drone that put troops at risk.

Al Jazeera reported that two of its employees were killed in the strike in the Rafah area. The Qatari state media accused Jerusalem of deliberately targeting the freelance journalists.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria died in the attack. A third freelancer, Hazem Rajab, was seriously wounded. Two other journalists reportedly survived the strike—Amer Abu Amr and Ahmed al-Bursh.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry confirmed the deaths. Witnesses told AFP that two rockets were fired at the car, with one hitting the front of the vehicle and the other striking Hamza in the front passenger seat.

The IDF told AFP that it “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops”, adding that it was “aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it an “unimaginable tragedy” on Sunday in Qatar.

“I am a parent myself, I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he has experienced, not once, but now twice. This is an unimaginable tragedy and that’s also been the case for far too many innocent Palestinian men, women, children,” said the top American diplomat, who was scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday.

Israel threatened to shut down Al Jazeera‘s news operations in the country in the weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, accusing the Qatari network of promoting the terrorist organization and putting IDF troops in danger by revealing their locations.




EXPOSED: Gaza Photojournalists Shared Call to Infiltrate Israel on Oct. 7
A Gaza photojournalist working for international media called on residents of the coastal enclave to cross the border into Israel on October 7, after Hamas terrorists had breached it, an HonestReporting investigation has found.

Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, a freelancer who has been working for Reuters, made the comments while excitedly displaying footage of Hamas atrocities on an Instagram Live hosted in Gaza by another photojournalist, Ashraf Amra.

Amra has been working for AP, Reuters and APA Images, as well as for Turkish agency Anadolu. The investigation also found Amra had been honored with kisses by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on two previous occasions.

The revelation casts doubt on the journalistic impartiality of the two freelance photojournalists and the vetting procedures of media outlets that have relied on their work.

The following information was compiled based on a probe of Amra’s and Abu Mostafa’s social media accounts. We also looked at articles and visuals published online and checked image databases of relevant media outlets.

“Whoever Can Go – Go”
On October 7, Amra hosted an Instagram Live from Khan Younis to provide updates following Hamas’ deadly cross-border assault on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and some 240 taken hostage.

During the broadcast, Amra willingly let a thrilled Abu Mostafa, who had just returned from Israeli territory, display the brutal acts that he had captured on his phone at the breached border area.

Amra can be seen laughing and smiling while Abu Mostafa presented footage of the lynching of an Israeli soldier:

Abu Mostafa went on to say: “We were there two hours ago, since the beginning.”

He detailed what he saw at the border and deep inside Israel, in Sderot. He described breaking into a room where Israelis were hiding before being taken by Hamas terrorists.

He then called on people to cross into the sovereign Jewish state: “Advice, whoever can go – go. It is a one-time event that will not happen again.”

And Amra replies: “Really, it will not repeat itself.”

Abu Mostafa’s border photos, one of which seems to show the lynching he had shared on Amra’s Live, were recently selected by Reuters and The New York Times to be included in their 2023 “Images of the Year.”


Daniel Greenfield: Al Jazeera is an Islamic Terrorist Organization
Al Jazeera is a terrorist organization. We’ve bombed it several times because it happens to be where the terrorists are.

In 2004, even Kerry didn’t want to be associated with Al Jazeera. But Qatar has spent a fortune buying influence in America until not a word of criticism can be aired about Al Jazeera or Qatar.

The historical revisionism is so complete that a comedy skit like this looks like it’s coming from some alternate reality in which we hadn’t spent the last two decades kissing the boots of our oppressors and asking how we can appease them some more.


Senior Hezbollah commander killed in alleged Israeli strike as border tensions mount
A senior commander of a secretive Hezbollah force was killed in an alleged Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Monday, ratcheting up tensions as violence along the border threatened to escalate into all-out war.

Wissam al-Tawil, a commander of the terror group’s elite Radwan force, was killed in the Lebanese town of Majdal Selm, when a missile slammed into the SUV he was in, according to Lebanese security sources, in a strike that analysts said represented a significant blow to the Iran-backed group.

The apparent assassination will likely also complicate US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s bid to keep Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip from expanding into a second front, as the top US diplomat makes a whirlwind tour to the region.

Hezbollah confirmed that Tawil was killed, naming him as one of the group’s fighters but provided few other details.

The Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including sites where the terror group’s members were operating, but did not confirm that it had killed Tawil.

Tawil was from Khirbet Selm, which neighbors Majdal Selm, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from northern Israel.

While reports initially called him a deputy commander of a unit within the Radwan force, he was later identified by various news agencies as a commander, with some Israeli reports claiming he was the elite unit’s top official.

Lebanese security officials said a second Hezbollah operative in the car with Tawil was killed in the same strike.

Tawil was one of the most senior Hezbollah commanders killed since hostilities broke out on the Israel-Lebanon border exactly three months ago, said a source in Lebanon familiar with the matter.
Gazans to IDF: Hamas steals URNWA food, kills civilians who ask for aid
Gazan civilians have testified to officers of the IDF's Unit 504 how Hamas murdered Gazan civilians who tried to get help from UNRWA and that Hamas terrorists steal food from US aid organizations and seize civilian properties for military use.

In one recorded call, a Gazan civilian testified that Hamas murdered his cousin because he tried to seek help from UNRWA. In another conversation, a civilian said he does not leave his home because he fears Hamas will seize it and use the property to fire toward Israel and destroy his house.

One civilian is heard on a recording saying, "When will you get rid of [Hamas]? They killed my cousin yesterday because he went to UNRWA."

"They killed him in Rafah," the civilian tells the IDF officer.

A different civilian is recorded telling the IDF how Hamas terrorists steal food from civilians.

"I work at the American organization called WKSA [The American World Kitchen], when I was preparing a dish, some of [Hamas] came. They tried to steal food from me but I prevented them. They steal from the warehouses of UNRWA.

"When the supplies arrive, they try to steal," the civilian stated.

A third civilian explains howhe does not want leave his home because he fears Hamas will seize it and use the property to fire toward Israel and destroy his house.

"[Hamas] want us to leave our homes so they can take control of them in order to shoot at you," the man tells the IDF. "We keep our houses so that no one takes them over."

Israel has long help Hamas responsible for its use of civilian infrastructure and aid organization as cover for terrorist activities, and now Hamas's grip on power is falling in the Strip, more and more citizens are providing proof of their activities.


Golden Globes: The Meaning of the Yellow Ribbons Worn by Attendees
Red carpets may be a chance to talk up current projects while wearing high-wattage fashion, but they’re also an opportunity for stars to express their support for vital issues — that’s why viewers of Sunday’s 2024 Golden Globe Awards are seeing some attendees wearing yellow ribbons at tonight’s ceremony.

J. Smith-Cameron of Succession and John Ortiz of American Fiction are among the stars who have arrived sporting a yellow ribbon to show support for the roughly 130 hostages who are still being held in captivity by Hamas since the terrorist organization attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The symbolic effort was organized by Bring Them Home, an Israeli hostage advocacy organization that has been working behind the scenes to supply the ribbons, and is being coordinated by Ashlee Margolis, founder of Beverly Hills-based branding agency The A List. While the Israeli hostages are the main focus of the effort, the hostages reportedly represent 30 nationalities.

Others who wore yellow ribbons at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards include Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon president and CEO Brian Robbins, Amazon Studios’ Julia Rapaport, Mattel chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz, Skydance Media president and COO Jesse Sisgold and Skydance Sports president Jon Weinbach.

The choice of yellow is rooted in the origins of the symbol. Yellow ribbons became a popular emblem of support during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held in captivity in Tehran for 444 days. Worn on lapels and seen on front porches and trees across the U.S., the yellow ribbon became the most widely used symbol of bringing the hostages safely home.
A Jewish baby turns 1 in Hamas captivity, and the world doesn’t care
The Red Cross will not speak for him, nor will the UN, Human Rights Watch, or Amnesty International. We must speak for him everywhere. Op-ed.

Little Kfir Bibas has spent a quarter of his life as a hostage, and there are many who want the world to forget him and Israel to abandon him.

This past week, Kfir Bibas turned one year old. He has now spent a quarter of his young life as a captive of Hamas terrorists, assuming he is even still alive.

And it seems as if only Jews care.

Kfir was just nine months old when he was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, along with his four-year-old brother Ariel, his mother Shiri, and his father Yarden. He is the youngest of the 240 people who were abducted by the Hamas savages that terrible day.

After three months in captivity, likely in an underground tunnel built with cement provided by the international community, a baby like Kfir would have no memory of a time when he knew light and went unhungry. If his mother and brother are still with him, then hopefully he still knows love.

What has been revealed about the treatment and food received by those hostages who have been released leaves little hope the butchers of Hamas would provide the nutrition a growing infant needs.

Amazingly, Kfir’s first birthday came and went with little fanfare. The media has been largely silent. No large protests filled the streets of Western cities, demanding that Kfir be freed. The Red Cross has never once demanded that Hamas allow it to do its job and visit Kfir and check on his medical condition. He has been forgotten.

Kfir is forgotten because he is guilty of a terrible crime. An unforgiveable crime committed before he could learn to smile, let alone to walk and talk. The crime of being born a Jew.


Under expert eyes, objects retrieved from rubble help document October 7’s horrors
Yad Ben-Zvi’s work forms part of a massive, multi-pronged attempt by many institutions to record what happened on October 7 that also includes taking verbal testimony (Shoah Foundation) and collecting visual evidence from the internet (the National Library).

The army was first into the kibbutzim, to flush out remaining terrorists and check that everything was secure. Zaka was next, to carry out the grim task of removing corpses and searching for DNA where no body parts could be found.

The Defense Ministry then sent teams into homes to help families pack and move their belongings to the hotels or other facilities to which they had been evacuated.

Before Shalev-Khalifa got going, the Heritage Ministry found the architects who had created kibbutz masterplans and asked them to carry out surveys to ensure some continuity when homes and public buildings are renovated or replaced.

The Israel Antiquities Authority carried out photogrammetry — a process by which multiple images are combined to create three-dimensional digital models of physical things both outside and inside damaged buildings. Think Google Street View.

Shalev-Khalifa has only good things to say about both the Heritage Ministry’s professionals and the Tekuma (Revival) Administration set up by the government to manage the rehabilitation of the Gaza border area.

Tekuma enabled the team to coordinate with the IDF, the Defense Ministry, and the local authorities, Shalev-Khalifa explained. “From the moment it was set up, it’s been working fantastically, taking care of everything. We’re working with a young female captain who arranges our meetings because she’s in contact with all the people who’ve come back to the communities.”

This project not only documents what happened through artifacts.

Shalev-Khalifa said it helped people whose homes had been damaged — not all of whom have come back since October 7 — to let go, to move on, or to renovate, in the knowledge that the evidence of what happened will be preserved.

The team works closely with each kibbutz, which allocates space for an archive where the objects can be temporarily stored.

The next stage will be to conserve the objects and either to return them to their owners or give them to the relevant kibbutz.

“When I create an exhibition, I choose things. Here, I gather as many things as possible. I don’t know what they’ll be used for,” Shalev-Khalifa said, noting wryly that with so much evidence, the historians of October 7 will be busy.

She added, “I’m glad I’ll no longer be around.”


Israel's 9/11: Israel-Hamas War 3 Months On — Astute Assessments and Reasoned Expectations
As we enter 2024 and near the end of three months of fighting in response to the massive Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7, two expert observers participate in CIE’s 12th weekly webinar on the war: Haviv Rettig Gur, a journalist for The Times of Israel, and Einat Wilf, a former Knesset member and a leading commentator on Zionism and antisemitism. They offer insights into why Israel must fight this war, why media coverage falls short, why Israelis aren't prepared to provide public explanations desired by American Jews, what has held the Palestinians back from pursuing peace, and whether Israel should care about protests on college campuses and foreign capitals. Ken Stein, CIE’s president and an Emory University emeritus professor of Middle East history and political science, moderates the discussion.


Conversations with Bill Kristol: Peter Berkowitz on Israel at War: A Nation United and Divided
Three months after October 7 and amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, what is the national mood in Israel? How are the partisan divisions which gripped Israel in recent years playing out in wartime? How will this war change Israel? To discuss these questions, we are joined by Peter Berkowitz, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and longtime analyst of Israeli politics and society. Having just returned from Israel, Berkowitz observes that the enormity of the Hamas attack within Israel’s borders threatens a core principle of Zionism, which promised that Jews would be safe in their own homeland. In the face of this, Israelis have displayed a remarkable unity around the cause of defeating Hamas and returning the hostages. Yet the partisan divisions that existed before the war persist, along with a deep trauma and anger stemming from recriminations about the failure to protect the nation from the attack on October 7. Across the political elite and among Israelis more generally, there is a new reckoning about the profound threats Israel faces—not only from Hamas, but also from Hezbollah, and from Tehran.


‘We have to change the paradigm’: IDF Lieutenant Colonel’s updates on Israel conflict
IDF Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner says Israel must “change the paradigm” in the war against Hamas.

Mr Lerner sat with Sky News Australia to provide the latest updates on the ongoing conflict.

“We are moving forward, we are achieving our goals,” he said.

“We are implementing the government’s directive of dismantling and destroying Hamas as a government entity … as a governing terrorist entity that utilise the powers of government and built the terrorist army that came into our bedrooms, butchered our babies, and abduct families exactly three months ago.

“Yesterday we had announced that we completed the first phase of our war effort in the northern Gaza Strip indeed dismantling all of the battalions, killing some 8,000 terrorists on the battlefield.”




The Israel Guys: Is Israel Backing Out of the Gaza Strip? Will They Finish Hamas?
There are rumors going around on the internet that Israel is backing out of the Gaza Strip and is not going to eradicate Hamas. Many are wondering if Israel will actually finish what they started or will they cave to international pressure and negotiate a ceasefire with one of the greatest evils that has raised its head in the last decade? Are these rumors true? We are going to find out on today’s show.

Also, Iran claims that one of the biggest threats facing humanity is the nation of Israel, and a Professor at a university in Kansas City made some shocking statements on the October 7th attacks.




Leaders who promote anti-semitism have largely gone ‘uncriticised’ by government
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma says the few leaders within the Islamic community who promote anti-semitism have largely gone “uncriticised” by the government.

“This has been a pattern of behaviour by admittedly a small number of leaders within the Sydney Islamic community preaching hatred, incitement, intolerance from Friday prayers at local mosques,” he told Sky News Australia.

In a new legal push by Jewish Leaders – hate preachers could be put in front of the nation's courts and human rights tribunal.

It comes as two Sydney clerics called Jewish people hate-fuelled names but police could not lay charges due to it not reaching the criminality threshold.

Jewish leaders are asking those in positions of influence to denounce anti-semitism or they would take legal action.




New York congressman’s district office besieged by anti-Israel demonstrators
Rep. Pat Ryan’s (D-NY) district office in Kingston, N.Y., was besieged on Friday by a group of anti-Israel activists who attempted to force their way inside past staff members physically blocking the doors and onto the building’s roof, according to Ryan and video of the incident obtained by Jewish Insider.

Ryan, a staunchly pro-Israel lawmaker who represents a Hudson Valley district with a sizable Jewish population and who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on Friday that the group had “attempted to forcibly enter” the office and “directly threaten[ed] my staff.”

Responding to Ryan on X (formerly Twitter), some individuals purporting to have been involved in the demonstration denied that anyone attempted to force their way into the office. But in a video shared by a Ryan staffer, staffers for the congressman can be seen using their bodies to hold shut a partially opened door being obstructed by a demonstrator.

A Ryan staffer who was present at the time described the incident as deeply frightening and said that they could also hear demonstrators on the roof. One individual on X who said they were part of the demonstration said some participants had climbed up to hang signs from the office’s roof.

“The fact that they had to experience this today and fear for their safety is deeply unsettling and totally unacceptable,” Ryan said in his statement. “Forcibly entering and vandalizing federal property is not free speech, and it gets us no closer to a lasting peace.”

Ryan is the latest in a growing number of pro-Israel lawmakers who’ve had their district offices vandalized or public appearances interrupted by anti-Israel protesters. But many of the incidents at lawmakers’ offices have taken place after hours and when no staff is present; the altercation at Ryan’s office took place during the day.

Also on Friday, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) was escorted out through a back entrance from an event where she was delivering a speech, after the event was interrupted by three anti-Israel protesters. Other individuals protested outside.

Rosen’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the incident. The organizer of the event, Fernando Romero, told The Nevada Independent that the protesters “antagonized people so much that they frightened people, to the point that they were not hearing what they were protesting about.”


Anti-Israel protesters cut off Manhattan as they block Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and Holland Tunnel by sitting across middle of road

Organisers of Palestine protests could pay towards policing costs, review by Home Office suggests - as Met Police mission to control marches cost £17m

East London borough led by disgraced mayor once barred from public office for five years for corruption is accused of 'criminal offences' over failure to take down Palestinian flags

Toronto police defends delivering coffee to anti-Israel activists
The Toronto Police Service is evidently taking a page from the motto of the Los Angeles Police Department: “To protect and to serve.”

Canadian lawyer Caryma Sa’d posted a video on Saturday of Toronto police officers delivering coffee and food to anti-Israel protesters blocking a bridge in the most heavily Jewish part of the city.

“How did you get coffee from the police?” a protester is asked in the video. The keffiyeh-clad protester responds: “Somebody bought it for us, but the police won’t let them in. So the police is now becoming our little messengers.”

Laurie McCann, a spokeswoman for the police, told the National Post that officers were “managing a dynamic situation” and had not intended to endorse the protest.

“Their top priority is maintaining order in a tense environment on the Avenue Road bridge,” she said. “In performing a helpful act today, our officer’s motivation was to help keep tensions low and should not be interpreted as showing support for any cause or group.”

Others were unconvinced.

“Police bringing food and coffee to demonstrators in the current context of the protests in Toronto was a very poor decision by Toronto Police Service,” wrote Anthony Housefather, a Jewish member of the Canadian Parliament. “Unless the goal is to further undermine confidence in the way the force is handling the demonstrations.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote that it spoke with Toronto police Saturday night “about the impact of the continued rallies” on the Avenue Road bridge over Highway 401 “and how our community feels about images of officers handing coffee to ‘anti-Israel protestors.'”

“Our message was clear: The constant disruption of this major route must end now,” CIJA said. “This isn’t a typical protest site. It’s an overpass in the heart of a residential neighborhood, one that’s home to many Jewish families. Toronto cannot become a city where a few dozen ‘activists’ can harm an entire neighborhood on a near-daily basis.”

“Protesters illegally blocking a road and being gifted coffee. This is Canada in 2024. Embarrassing,” wrote HonestReportingCanada.


Pro-Palestine kids T-shirts featuring Aussie cartoon character Bluey spark uproar
The Australian cartoon Bluey has been drawn into a heated controversy after an 'unauthorised' website used its image to sell pro-Palestinian merchandise.

The stickers and kids t-shirts feature the cast of Bluey wearing Palestinian scarfs, known as keffiyehs and waving a Palestinian flag under a banner that says 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!'.

Many Israelis regard the rallying cry as an 'anti-Semitic' slogan calling for the eradication of the Jewish state.

The 'Freedom Fighter Bluey' items were up for sale on Free Palestine Printing's website but has since been removed after a furious complaint from the BBC, who own the global commercial and broadcast rights to the TV show.




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

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