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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

01/17 Links Pt1: We need to face up to the scale of the axis against Israel; Time to ‘Curtis LeMay’ the Houthis; The Girls I Met in the Tunnels

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: We need to face up to the scale of the axis against Israel
The Conservative MP Andrew Percy has accused the BBC of putting British Jews directly at risk through its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Absolutely. The BBC’s relentless portrayal of the Israelis not as the victims of genocidal terror but as hard-hearted, vengeful and wanton killers of children and the innocent has channelled ancient antisemitic tropes of Jewish blood-lust and helped fuel an enormous increase in attacks on Jews.

As Percy said, the BBC’s double standards on Israel, treating patently absurd civilian casualty figures from Hamas as reliable while casting doubt on Israeli statements, present Israel rather than Hamas as the aggressor and rogue actor.

A principal offender has been the Today programme presenter, Mishal Husain. Interviewing the Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on Monday, she unleashed a barrage of distorted and out-of-context quotes to demonise Israel as a bloodthirsty aggressor.

Claiming that the IDF spokesman, Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari, had said in October that “our focus is on creating damage not precision,” and that Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, had said “we will eliminate everything” in Gaza, Husain said these remarks suggested Israel wasn’t acting within international law and might be why “so many Palestinians have died”.

Yet as the Guardian acknowledged on 5 December, Hagari had been mistranslated. He had actually said: “While balancing accuracy with the scope of damage, right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage”.

Gallant’s words have been taken out of context. He had said: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before, and Hamas will not exist. We will eliminate everything”. He meant eliminating Hamas, not Gaza’s civilians.

In any event, what matters is not what’s said but what Israel does. For the ratio of civilians to combatants killed by Israel is around two to one.

This is far fewer than the proportion of civilians killed in war by any other nation’s army — and when taking into account the Hamas rockets falling short into Gaza and killing its people, fewer still.

Most disgusting of all was how Husain twisted Benjamin Netanyahu’s reference to the ancient Israelites’ biblical foe, Amalek, when he said: “We remember, and we are fighting.”

Husain claimed that “Amalek” involved the injunction to spare no-one and destroy “every man, woman and child, sheep, camel and donkey”. And she suggested this was the cause of Israel’s rate of death and destruction in Gaza.
Col. Tim Collins: There's No Solution in Gaza or the Red Sea until Iran Is Contained
The Iranian mullahs must be disabused of the notion that war is a viable pathway for them by a strong and coherent international response led by the U.S. Iran has a long history of directing its coalition of the damned, carefully constructed by the late Major General Qassim Soleimani, against the West, to achieve Iran's revolutionary aims across the Middle East.

The Houthi rebels, Shia tribesmen from Yemen, are part of Iran's al-Quds Force network of subversive groups. It also includes Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilization militias in Iraq, the regime forces of Syria, and Hamas, until lately in control of Gaza.

It is time to raise our collective gaze to the real cause of the attacks: Iran. Iran acts directly as well as through its proxies, boarding and seizing ships not only close to its coast in the Strait of Hormuz but further afield as well, most recently in the Gulf of Oman.

The international community must present a course of action toward Iran aimed at curtailing its activities and those of its proxies. It would be a waste of time to do this through the UN.

Only once Iran is contained can we get back to finding a solution to the conflict in Gaza without a gun to our heads.
No Israeli Would Ever Be Safe amid Capitulation to Hamas
Israel must destroy the military capabilities of Hamas and prevent its leadership in Gaza from holding on to power there. This means the IDF must not at this time, or in the near future, end the fighting and withdraw from Gaza. If the Hamas infrastructure remains in place and its senior leadership remains unharmed, then no Israeli can be safe. An IDF withdrawal of forces from Gaza would be regarded as a capitulation to Hamas. It would be a complete sacrifice of the security of Israelis and would have significant strategic consequences.

We would all be at risk of being kidnapped by any Iranian proxy. No Israeli would be able to travel safely abroad without fearing abduction, and that is especially true for the young travelers who visit third world countries. Furthermore, even a weekend getaway in the north would be risky.

If Israel allows Hamas to remain in power in Gaza, they would only prepare for the next murderous assault from that border, while Israel's deterrence for all of its enemies would be lost, and any will of moderate Arab nations to normalize their relations with Israel would diminish.

For Israelis to live with a modicum of security, the IDF must be allowed to complete its mission to destroy the Hamas military infrastructure above and bellow ground and remove its leaders.


US Senate rejects Bernie Sanders’ bid to condition aid to Israel on human rights record
The US Senate rejected a resolution on Tuesday that would have forced the State Department to produce a report within 30 days examining whether Israel committed human rights violations in its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

The vote, forced by progressive senator Bernie Sanders, sought to freeze all US security aid to Israel unless this report was produced, tapping for the first time a decades-old law that requires that any arms or military aid must be used in accordance with international human rights accords. While senators have voted to try to halt foreign arms sales to other countries in the past, this was an untested mechanism.

The resolution was voted down 72 to 11, with Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Martin Heinrich, Laphonza Butler, Ed Markey, Ben Ray Lujan, Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch and Elizabeth Warren and Republican Rand Paul voting for it. Sanders is an independent who caucuses with Democrats.

While the measure was handily defeated, it reflected growing concern among some of US President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats, especially on the left. The outliers who supported the measure are a small but growing far-left flank of the Democratic Party, sometimes along with a handful of Republican libertarians who oppose all foreign aid.

“We must ensure that US aid is being used in accordance with human rights and our own laws,” Sanders said in a speech before the vote urging support for the resolution, lamenting what he described as the Senate’s failure to consider any measure looking at the war’s effect on civilians.

The White House had said it opposed the resolution, which could have paved the way toward the imposition of conditions on security assistance to Israel. The Senate side of the Capitol is seen in Washington, early Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, as lawmakers rush to complete passage of a bill to fund the government. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senators who opposed the measure said it sent the wrong message, at a time when Israel had said it was shifting to a more targeted campaign.

“This resolution is not only off-base, it’s dangerous. It sends absolutely the wrong signal at the wrong time,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
Israeli left pushing PA control of Gaza and future Palestinian state
While for most Israelis, Oct. 7 was a wake-up call to the dangers of a Palestinian state (a Jan. 10 poll found 74% opposed to the idea), within weeks of the massacre a New Israel Fund (NIF)-supported think tank started working to shape Israeli policy for the “day after.”

In their vision, the “day after” means a two-state solution in which the Palestinian Authority would become the government of the new country.

Mitvim (its full title is The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies) partnered in October with the Berl Katznelson Foundation, another NIF-funded organization, to form a working group composed of “Israel-Palestinian experts from various disciplines, research institutes, academia and civil society organizations.”

Aware that public opinion has soured on a Palestinian state, the Mitvim-Katznelson task force nevertheless argued that it would be missing a “historic” opportunity if matters were to be swept along by public opinion rather than trying to shape them.

Documents on Mitvim’s website, first brought to light by Israeli news site HaKol HaYehudi, describe the working group’s main goal as the creation of “a stable political-regional order, based on the two-state solution, and on a regional defense alliance, led by the United States with inter-Arab involvement.” This would lead to what Mitvim terms “deep security.”

To achieve this goal, the group will present the Palestinian Authority as the “only alternative” to Hamas. According to the documents, the group will work to create a distinction in the minds of Israelis between Hamas—pro-terrorist and against any kind of settlement with Israel—and the P.A., portrayed as opposing terrorism and in favor of agreement.
The Palestinian Authority says it is ready to ‘take charge’ of Gaza
The Palestinian Authority has said it is ready to immediately “take charge” of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Husam Zomlot, who leads the Palestinian territory's mission to the UK, spoke about the possibility of Palestinian leaders taking control of Gaza and other territory once Hamas has been eradicated at a press conference in London, The Times reported.

Zomlot said that the PA would not accept that Gaza’s governance is treated differently to the other territories and that it was not necessary to wait until the end of the conflict.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian leaders taking over Gaza, however.

Zomlot said: “This is the time now. The state of Palestine is ready to take charge of the whole territory of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza immediately.

Husam Zomlot (pictured right, shaking hands with then Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, left, as Foreign Minister, Riyad Al Maliki looks on) denied there was discrimination against LGBT people in Palestine

“We refuse any military or partial ­solutions for Gaza. Gaza is an ­integral part of the state of Palestine. We do not accept Israel’s goal to separate Gaza from the rest of us.”

Earlier this month, political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh said he was “open to” having a single Palestinian administration to govern in Gaza and the West Bank.

However Lt. Col. (res) Maurice Hirsch, director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs and the former director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria, explained to JNS why many members of the Israeli government strongly oppose the idea of the PA taking responsibility for Gaza.

The PA holds a lot of firsts, Hirsch said. It was the first to turn all its energies to delegitimising and demonising Israel, the first to come up with “pay-for-slay” –rewarding terrorists financially for carrying out attacks against Jews – and the first to educate the murderers of October 7.

“The people coming across the border [from Gaza] were not 16-year-olds, i.e. those who grew up solely under the rule of Hamas. These were people who grew up and were educated in PA schools, even before Hamas took control,” he said.
Blinken: Jewish lives don’t matter more than Palestinian ones
Palestinian lives are as important as Jewish ones, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when quizzed on the matter by veteran journalist Thomas Friedman.

“Do Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian and Muslim and Christian lives, given the incredible asymmetry in [civilian] casualties” in the Gaza war, Friedman said. Blinken quickly replied: “No.”

He then expanded on the answer, stressing that “for me and for so many of us, what we are seeing every single day in Gaza is gut-wrenching. The suffering we are seeing among innocent men and children breaks my heart. The question is: what is to be done?”

US efforts to provide aid to Gazans
The Biden administration has been harshly criticized for not forcing Israel to halt the Gaza war in light of Hamas assertions that over 24,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza war-related violence. Israel has claimed that 9,000 of those fatalities have been combatants.

Blinken spoke of US efforts to reduce Palestinian casualties and increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza. “But that in no way, shape, or form takes away from the tragedy we have seen and continue to see.

“All I can tell you on a purely human level is it is devastating, but it reinforces the conviction to do everything we can in this moment to try and make a difference in the day and day out,” as well as to arrive at a larger resolution for Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians the Middle East.

“There has to be another way that answers Israel’s most profound concerns and questions,” Blinken said.
Blinken: Arabs won’t fund Gaza rebuilding without path to Palestine statehood
Palestinian statehood is the best path to the reconstruction of Gaza and normalized Israeli ties with its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNBC on Monday.

He said Arab countries are saying, “Look, we’re not going to get into the business, for example, of rebuilding Gaza, only to have it leveled again in a year or five years and then be asked to rebuild it again,” as he spoke to the network on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, that drew top policymakers from around the globe, including the Middle East.

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a two-state resolution to the conflict, and the potential revival of a deal between Riyadh and Jerusalem are expected to be among the key discussion points.

As Israel shifts to a lower-intensity assault phase and displaced civilians have begun to return to northern Gaza, world leaders have begun to tackle the issue of Gaza reconstruction.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani addressed the Davos forum with sentiments similar to Blinken’s, stating that Arab countries won’t inject funds into rebuilding Gaza “unless we address the real issue, which is the two-state solution” to the conflict, he said.

“Right now, unfortunately, there are some politicians who thought this matter can be just put under the rug and people will forget about it,” Thani said.

The war in Gaza, which began on October 7, has shown that this is not possible, he said. The only active talks now, Thani said, are for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire, but one also has to focus on the larger peace process.


Israel forbids doctors from speaking to UN group investigating Oct. 7 atrocities
The Health Ministry on Monday instructed members of the healthcare system not to cooperate with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, citing its perceived anti-Israel stance.

In recent weeks, senior physicians and hospital staff who treated October 7 victims and released hostages have received letters and emails from the commission, which operates under the UN Council for Human Rights. The commission requested information and interviews for its investigation of international and gender-based crimes since the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war.

The findings of the commission’s investigations will be presented in its reports to the Human Rights Council in June and to the UN General Assembly in October.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported that the Justice Ministry instructed the legal department of the Health Ministry to tell Israeli doctors and others involved in the care of October 7 victims and released hostages not to speak with the committee of inquiry.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat called the commission “an anti-Israeli and antisemitic body” and said Israel would not cooperate with it.

When asked by The Times of Israel what these claims were based on, Haiat said, “The commission of inquiry is there to investigate Israel without any time limits, unlike any other commission of inquiry from the UN system.”

“Furthermore, the three people chosen to head it are famous antisemitic and anti-Israel people,” Haiat added.

The commission’s chair is Navanethem (Navi) Pillay from South Africa, who served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014 and is currently a judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
I Saw How Hamas Is Embedded within Gaza's Population
While Gaza is perceived by the world as an overcrowded, third-world territory, I saw a wholly different picture during 100 days in the reserves inside Gaza. Gaza City is a modern, well-developed city. Big houses, a big plaza, parks, well-maintained walkways right on the beach and so much more. It looks far more like Tel Aviv. The world's "most crowded"? Not by a long shot. Homes are loaded with fancy belongings, furniture, and appliances. Most places are bigger than my Tel Aviv apartment. Blaming their will to fight Israel on their poor living conditions does a disservice to the truth.

In most homes, every school and every public institution, the single most prevalent object seems to be a map of Israel. Of course, it doesn't say Israel, as it refers to the entire territory as Palestine. They chose to inhabit an alternate reality, making it far more difficult to find common ground.

In every single neighborhood we were in, weapons, tunnels, explosive charges and launchpads were all conveniently located inside residential buildings. The Palestinian civilians who reside there are acutely aware of all this. Hamas operatives are fully aware that if they walk around unarmed in civilian clothing, the IDF is highly unlikely to view them as hostile.

Not only is Hamas embedded within the Palestinian population, the population is embedded within Hamas. Its ideology can be found in practically every home. Hamas would never have become this powerful without active assistance from the locals.
North Korea training, providing weapons to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis - report
During the war in Gaza, the IDF recovered large quantities of weapons from the Gaza Strip that apparently were produced in North Korea, as reported by the South Korean National Intelligence Service.

Since these weapons were seized, new information has been published revealing the current and historical relationship between North Korea and Hamas, as well as other terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Syria, and the Houthis, according to a study by the Stimson Research Institute.

On October 16, Israeli Ambassador to South Korea Akiva Tor expressed concern that Hamas had used North Korean weapons against Israel and vowed to destroy North Korean weapons stocks in the Gaza Strip.

On October 17, a senior official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed that “Hamas is believed to be directly or indirectly linked to North Korea militarily in various areas, such as the weapons trade, tactical guidance, and training.”

North Korea’s state Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) called the allegations that it arms Hamas “a groundless and false rumor.” It accused the US of creating the conspiracy to deflect from its own complicity in the Gaza war.

This statement was undermined by the North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenades from Hamas’s arsenal that were captured by Israeli forces. In addition, Israeli forces found North Korean Bang-122 artillery shells on the Israel-Gaza border, and a Hamas-aligned terrorist group in Gaza possesses North Korean-made 122-mm multiple rocket launchers. North Korea's history of partnership with Iran and Syria

North Korea has a long history of partnership with Iran and Syria, detailed in the Stimson report, and as a result, its military technology has reached Iran’s terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Since the start of the war, North Korean state media has repeatedly illustrated violence perpetrated by Israel and has whitewashed Hamas. North Korea’s party daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, stated that the international community believed “Israel’s constant criminal acts against the Palestinian people” caused the war. The state media has not shown the carnage of the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.

North Korea historically has described Israel as an “imperialist satellite state” and recognizes Palestinian sovereignty over the entirety of Israeli territory, except the Golan Heights.

During the 2008-2009 and 2014 Gaza wars, North Korea said Israel was committing crimes against humanity. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman, Yasser Arafat, received North Korean weapons from Kim Il Sung.

North Korean intelligence officers provided training to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) commander George Habash and facilitated the PFLP-Japanese Red Army 1972 terror attack at the Lod Airport in Israel, the report revealed.
Blast damages Greek office of Israeli shipping firm
A small explosion occurred on Tuesday outside the Greek offices of the Israeli company Zim Integrated Shipping Services, in a suspected attack by anti-Israel activists.

According to police sources cited by Shipping news service Tradewinds, an improvised explosive and two gas canisters were used in the pre-dawn blast in the port city of Piraeus, which caused slight material damage to a wall and a fuse panel.

Greek officials believe the attack likely targeted Zim, as pro-Palestinian leaflets were found near the crime scene. Police detained suspects who were later released, Tradewinds said, citing local media.

In addition to Zim, the targeted office building also houses the Greek branch of maritime security firm Diaplous Group, a Cypriot company.

Last month, Israel’s National Security Council warned that since the start of the war with Hamas, “increased efforts have been detected on the part of Iran and its proxies, as well as on the part of Hamas and elements of global jihad, to attack Israeli and Jewish targets.”

On Dec. 26, Jerusalem confirmed that the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, India, was targeted by an explosive device. The explosive was set off near the diplomatic mission. Embassy staff was present at the time of the blast.
Mission Brief: The Official Podcast of the Israel Defense Forces: How do Israelis Protect Themselves from Hamas Rocket Fire?
This week's episode of Mission Brief focuses on the safety warnings and procedures taken here in Israel during times of war.

LTC Itay speaks on the hard work the Home Front Command has done from behind the scenes. From warning Israelis of incoming threats to operating under fire. Additionally, he answers how even deaf people can hear the siren and ways to introduce and explain the complicated topic to children.




Israel-Hamas war: IDF destroys source of Gaza rocket barrage at Netivot
In a joint operation conducted by the IDF and the Israel Security Service (Shin Bet), Bilal Nofal, a key Hamas operative responsible for interrogating individuals suspected of espionage against the terror organization in the southern Gaza Strip, was eliminated by an Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft. Nofal played a crucial role in advancing Hamas's research and development processes, and his elimination is expected to significantly impact the organization's capacity to develop and enhance its capabilities.

The operation comes in the wake of a rocket attack on the city of Netivot on Tuesday when 50 rockets were fired at the southern Israeli city. Following the attack, IDF troops successfully located the launch compound within the Gaza Strip, from which the rockets were fired.

The troops discovered three launchers, each equipped with ten barrels, some of which were loaded with rockets. The compound and the launchers were promptly destroyed by the IDF, thwarting potential future attacks.


Three IDF soldiers killed in Gaza fighting, another dead in car crash
The IDF announces the death of St.-Sgt. Oriya Ayimalk Goshen and St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Anwar Serhan on Wednesday.

Oriya Ayinalk Goshen, 21, was a Sayeret Givati soldier from Jerusalem. He fell in combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Gad Spector, the head of the Hanaton pre-military academy, fondly remembered Ayimalk Goshen, a notable figure among their graduates. Spector described him with deep affection and respect, "Oriya, of blessed memory, was the glue of our group. The world will undoubtedly be a sadder and less wonderful place without him. Our hearts are shattered. He was dearly loved by every trainee, both male and female, in his cohort. They not only loved him but also deeply connected with him and greatly admired the journey he undertook.

"Oriya was a uniquely funny and sensitive individual, always wearing a big smile and possessing a huge, inquisitive heart. A true people person, he consistently challenged us to rethink and reevaluate our perspectives. He balanced a delicate soul with an impressive mix of charisma and strength. A magical child from a remarkable family, he leaves behind a legacy of profound longing," Spector said in a statement.

Anwar Serhan was 26 years old from Hurfeish and a soldier in the 910th Battalion. He was killed in a car crash during operations in Gush Etzion, the IDF said.

Two more soldiers killed in northern Gaza, IDF says
Earlier on Wednesday, it was announced that two IDF soldiers were killed in action in the northern Gaza Strip.

Maj. (res) Zachariah Pesach Haber, 32 years old, from Jerusalem, an armored fighter, and Sergeant Maj. (res) Yair Katz, 34 years old, from Holon, a fighter, both in the 87th Battalion, 14th Strike Brigade, fell in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip.

In addition, a reserve fighter in the 52nd Battalion, Iron Footprint Formation (401), was seriously injured in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip, and a reserve combat medic in the 6261st Brigade, Brigade 261, was seriously injured near the Gaza border.


Time to ‘Curtis LeMay’ the Houthis
The Yemeni-based Houthi rebel attacks on global commerce and trade finally produced a response from the Biden administration (and the United Kingdom) in the form of targeted air strikes on Houthi military facilities, such as “command and control nodes, munitions, depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems,” according to a CNN report. A Houthi spokesman said that the strikes killed five people and wounded six others. The same spokesman stated that the strikes “would not deter further … attacks on shipping.” On Sunday, U.S. warplanes targeted a radar site with strikes, which a Houthi spokesman described as causing no “material damages” and no injuries.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a press release that the strikes are “intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to endanger mariners and threaten global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways.” Austin also claimed that the strikes will “send a clear message to the Houthis that they will bear further costs if they do not end their illegal attacks.” The Naval War College’s James Holmes, channeling the great strategic theorist Admiral J.C. Wylie, is skeptical of that approach. (READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa: The Arctic Thaw, Sino-Russian Partnership, and Control of the World-Island)

Holmes distinguishes between “cumulative” operations and “sequential” operations. Cumulative operations — like those described by Secretary Austin — involve “wearing down an opponent through pinpricks” by “inflicting small-scale damage at many places on the map.” This kind of response, as Austin admitted, is designed to send “messages” instead of inflicting decisive punishment. It is what President Bill Clinton did in Serbia and Bosnia in the mid-1990s to little strategic effect. On a larger scale, it was what Robert McNamara and his “whiz kids” in the Pentagon did during much of the Vietnam War — bombing to “send signals” instead of “strategic bombing” once advocated by Giulio Douhet in The Command of the Air (1921) and practiced by General Curtis LeMay against Japan at the end of World War II.
Biden renews limited terrorism sanctions pressure on Houthis
President Joe Biden intends to brand the Shiite Islamist Houthis a “specially-designated global terrorist,” but not a foreign terrorist organization, in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on international shipping, according to U.S. officials.

“These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism,” a senior administration official told reporters. “We’ve taken this action to pressure the Houthis to cease their terrorist activities, including missile and drone attacks against international shipping.”

The designation represents a partial reversal for Biden, who took the Houthis off this blacklist and another more punishing one just weeks after his inauguration in 2021. The concomitant easing of U.S. sanctions was justified on the grounds that the terrorist designations would have unacceptable humanitarian costs for the people of war-torn Yemen, but the rash of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea has put new pressure on an administration anxious to curb the Iran-backed proxy while avoiding a major military confrontation.

“The ultimate goal of sanctions is to convince the Houthis to deescalate and bring about a positive change in behavior,” the senior administration official said. “If the Houthis cease their attacks, we can consider delisting the designation.”

The Houthis have proven persistent in their targeting of shipping in the Red Sea. They hit a Greek-owned cargo ship early Tuesday, though the vessel reportedly sustained only “minor” damage, in the latest sign that the joint British and American bombardment of Houthi positions last week has not deterred the group. Yet Biden’s team is stopping short of renewing the stiffer foreign terrorist organization, or FTO, designation.

“We believe that the SDGT designation is the appropriate tool, at the moment, to pressure the Houthis,” the senior administration official said. “With all sanctions, we are looking to make sure that our sanctions are effective in putting pressure on actors to cease activity that is problematic, to achieve the foreign policy goals … We’re always trying to make sure that the impact of our sanctions achieves the desired foreign policy effect while minimizing unintended consequences.”


Redesignating Houthis, Biden admin hopes terror group will become ‘constructive actor’
The attacks have almost completely diverted international shipping around the Red Sea, disrupting some 20% of global trade, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month.

The Houthis’ ability to carry out these attacks is enabled by Iran, which supplies them with missiles, small arms, and other forms of material and operational support. Semafor reported Monday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is deployed in Yemen to directly assist the Houthis.

The senior Biden administration officials said they hope that the sanctions will press the Houthis to sever ties with Iran, as part of a “comprehensive strategy” combining diplomacy at the United Nations and with coalition partners, sanctions and military action.

“We believe this designation will apply additional pressure on the Houthis to change its behavior and turn away from Iran, and then for the Houthis to become a constructive actor in the United Nations Security Council process,” one of the senior officials said.

“I think we have a pretty comprehensive strategy already underway,” another senior official added.

A spokesman for the Houthis responding to the designation on Wednesday said that the sanctions will have no impact on the group’s operations.

“The American designation will not deter us from our support for Palestine,” said Mohammed Abdulsalam, the official Houthi spokesman. “The recent American decision will only make us more committed to our position in support of the Palestinians.”


The secret Houthi plan to move missiles, drones beyond Red Sea - report
The Houthis may be repositioning some of their missiles and drones after US and UK airstrikes and also to present more challenges to shipping, a new report says.

Al-Ain media in the United Arab Emirates said it has learned from “Yemen military sources” about how the Houthis are moving their drones and other munitions to carry out attacks.

The Houthis are an Iranian-backed group that controls part of Yemen. Yemen also has an official government and other factions within the country.

New plan to attack international shipping
The report says that the sources revealed these details over the weekend.

“The Houthis arsenal is moving under cover of darkness.” This represents a “new plan” by the Houthis to carry out attacks against international shipping routes. These types of reports are worth examining because even if the claims are not verified, the report itself illustrates growing concerns in the region about Iranian-backed Houthi escalation.

US Central Command said on January 16 that the “US conducts strikes in Yemen as Houthi attacks against international shipping continue.”

That report noted that “earlier in the day at approximately, 4:15 a.m. (Sana'a time), US Forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.”


Hamas to take 1,000 boxes of medicine for every one to hostages
Medicines destined for Israeli hostages, but most of which will end up serving the Hamas terrorist organization, entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Ynet reported on Wednesday night.

“A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent in for Palestinians,” per AP.

As part of an agreement brokered by France and Qatar, Israel also agreed to allow more aid trucks into Gaza.

The terms of the deal were mired in controversy after it became clear Israel initially agreed to allow the shipment to pass into the coastal enclave without IDF inspection.

According to Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he didn’t deal with the inspection arrangements, pointing to the army as the authority responsible for overseeing the shipment.

“The prime minister instructed that medicine be delivered to the hostages, but did not deal at all with the inspection arrangements for their entry, which are determined by the IDF and the security forces,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

However, the IDF denied that it had been asked for its opinion on the matter, saying it only learned of the deal from remarks by senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk.

Queried on the issue by JNS on Wednesday, Prime Minister’s Office Spokesman Eylon Levy said that he couldn’t comment on the “specific modalities” of how the aid would enter Gaza.

The issue was eventually resolved, with Ynet reporting that five trucks passed a security check at the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the Israel-Gaza border.

Under the deal brokered by Qatar and France, two Qatari military planes delivered the aid to Egypt’s El Arish airport near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
Isaac Herzog is bringing hostages’ families to Davos conference
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be accompanied by representatives of family members of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip when he travels on Wednesday to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the annual World Economic Forum.

The central purpose of the trip is "to promote the issue and to increase political pressure to see the swift and safe return of all the hostages held by Hamas," according to a statement from Herzog's office.

"In addition, the president will continue to reveal to world leaders in a clear and in-depth manner details of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7," it added.

Herzog will also emphasize to global leaders the humanitarian efforts that Israel is making, which are an integral part of the military campaign against Hamas.

"He will stress the severity of the security threat faced by the State of Israel and the entire region as long as the terrorist organization Hamas continues to control the Gaza Strip," said the statement.

Herzog will be interviewed on-stage as part of his appearance at the conference.

In addition, Israeli first lady Michal Herzog will participate in a panel on antisemitism, together with Douglas Emhoff, second gentleman of the United States, and Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
House members introduce resolution condemning Hamas for rape

The Girls I Met in the Tunnels
I was in a dark and damp tunnel deep underground when, in hushed voices, I heard the stories from the young women. Not stories so much as bits and pieces of living nightmares.

I was with my mother, my protector, who did everything she could to keep me alive while we were in Hamas’s captivity. Together with my two young brothers, aged nine and eleven, the four of us had been taken from our home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the morning of October 7, but not before terrorists shot my father, Nadav, point blank, and afterward went after my older sister, Yam, the bullet tearing through her face.

Their blood spattered everywhere. We stepped over my father’s dying body as the terrorists screamed at us, took us out of our home, and drove us into Gaza.

I never got to say goodbye. Any hopes we had that they were still alive were dashed when we heard over the radio that they had been murdered at some point during our captivity.

We were moved a lot during our time in confinement, transferred through a series of homes, apartments, tunnels, and even a mosque in Gaza. Our captors were cruel. During our captivity, they told us they “would be back” to our kibbutz. The fear was paralyzing. It overtook me. I remember saying to my mom when we entered the city, “They’re going to torture me. They’re going to rape me.”

It was in the tunnels that I met other young women. Most of them were just a year or so older than my 17 years. Some still had bloody gunshot wounds that had been left untreated in makeshift bandages. One had a dismembered limb.

I heard from them accounts of terrifying and grotesque sexual abuse, often at gunpoint. They told me that when they were sad and cried, their captors took advantage of their helplessness even more, stroking and caressing them, and then shoving and grabbing intimate parts of their bodies.

They were treated like playthings.
WaPo: A former Israeli hostage fears for the women she left behind in Gaza
In a tunnel where her family spent a week before their release, Agam met six women. Some were badly injured; Agam said she and her mother helped dress wounds with dwindling supplies. One woman, whose skin had already started to scab over her stitches, bandages black from overuse, told Agam she looked forward to receiving proper care in Israel. She remains in Gaza.

Some had been kept alone, apart from the others, in small rooms with their captors. They told Agam and her mother — some immediately, others after days — “with great difficulty and tears” that they had been sexually assaulted.

“That was the first question we asked when we understood they were alone: ‘How did they treat you?’” she said. “Suddenly they had a friend to tell, someone they could unburden themselves to. We cried together.”

Agam did not say whether she was sexually abused. She was released on Nov. 26. “They suddenly charged in and told us to be ready at 9 a.m.,” she recalled. “And they told the other girls, who weren’t going home, maybe tomorrow — inshallah — God willing, tomorrow, tomorrow.”

It was another lie. They are among 19 women still held in Gaza.

What they missed: Freed Israeli hostages return to tragedy and joys

Thirty-nine children and teenagers were released by Hamas. They were thin and pale, some with light shrapnel wounds. Many had learned Arabic phrases like “Uskut — be silent,” and some had to be told they no longer needed to whisper.

At Schneider Children’s Medical Center, which received many of the released families, personnel worried about re-feeding, the risk of overwhelming malnourished bodies. Many of the children had been conditioned to tiny portions. Mothers had often gone hungry so their children could eat; even in the hospital, they kept their children close, terrified they would be taken again.

In the early days, “everyone was in this kind of high, alongside a deep sadness and mistrust,” said Efrat Bron-Harlev, the head of Schneider. A number of hostages had been drugged with clonazepam, a powerful tranquilizer, before they were released, “so they would look happy,” Hagar Mizrahi, an official from Israel’s Health Ministry, told the Knesset last month.

As the drugs and adrenaline wore off, doctors said, there were night terrors, anxiety attacks, tantrums.

For Agam — who has been free now for almost as many days as she was in captivity — the return to Israel is still hard to comprehend. She visited her old home once and has learned the full scale of the Oct. 7 atrocities.

She said her captors told her, repeatedly, that the attack was justified, and that it was only “an opening blow.”

“They would be yelling at us, that this country is theirs,” Agam recalled. “They said that their aim was to pray in Jerusalem. They told us that when they come back, they’ll come back bigger and stronger. They told us Hamas in Gaza is about 40,000 fighters, and that next time, all 40,000 will come, and not 3,000.”

The militants advised her family not to return to their kibbutz, suggesting they move to Tel Aviv or New York.

And Agam said they had a parting message before setting her free: “Don’t remember our faces. And Gaza people — good.”
Gazan 'Civilians' Involved in Every Stage of Hamas Hostage Scheme, Freed Israelis Say
Israeli women and children have in recent weeks begun speaking publicly about what they experienced during nearly two months in Hamas captivity late last year.

In primetime Hebrew TV interviews, the released hostages have confirmed that ordinary Gazans were deeply complicit in every stage of the hostage scheme. Unarmed teens helped to abduct Jews from their homes on Oct. 7, while Gazan women and children held some of the Israelis captive. In other cases, Gazan doctors collaborated with Hamas terrorists to covertly treat kidnapped Israelis and imprison them in hospitals.

When the Israelis encountered Gazans on the streets, the results were often terrifying.

The revelations underscore the urgency of Israel's 100-plus-day war to destroy Hamas and bring home the 132 hostages who, officials believe, remain captive in Gaza. At the same time, though, the released hostages' accounts indicate how difficult it could be to extricate either the remaining hostages or Hamas from a radicalized population.

"The main issue is that the organization is very much melted into the social structure of Gaza," Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer and a leading expert on Hamas, told the Washington Free Beacon. "There is no way you can really know who is Hamas. Someone might have a grocery store where he sells tomatoes and water, but he might also have storehouse of weapons and give religious lessons there."

And his wife and kids might be keeping an Israeli hostage at home.

"Hamas is not only a political matter in Gaza. It's a way of life," Milshtein said. "We can and should ruin Hamas militarily and change the political arena in Gaza. But ultimately the Gazan people will have to do some soul searching. And here in the Arab world, not only the Palestinians, soul searching is very rare."
Why are so many feminists supporting abusive men?
“He was the former president of Syria, a dictator. This is what corruption looks like.”

It was week three of my sophomore year in college, and I didn’t know where to hide. “Oh no,” I whispered, as my college professor pointed to a picture of Hafez al-Assad and his 1970s mob squad regime. I was frozen, afraid they’d find out: standing next to Assad is my father.

My father was the Syrian military attaché under President Hafez al-Assad’s dictatorship rule. Childhood for me was as abusive as you might imagine as the daughter of a high-ranking military officer in the Syrian army. My therapist used to say that kids from abusive homes are taught to normalize dysfunction. Turns out, she was right. I had, in fact, embraced life with a mentally ill abuser, and its name was Feminist Theory.

Sadly, a movement that started off as a legitimate movement for social justice now erases women’s stories. A lack of empathy and a distorted belief that raping women is a legitimate means to achieve a political goal: this is what feminism looks like today.

I’m a Canadian-Arab physician who stands at the bedside of survivors of abuse; and — since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists raped, murdered, and abducted hundreds of Israeli women at the Nova music festival and from their communities in southern Israel — an ex-feminist.

I wasn’t always an apostate: I graduated from law school, finished medical school, won a Fulbright scholarship, and studied at Stanford University. Through it all, I declared myself a feminist activist. I even wrote a book about it, and dedicated my story to the movement I loved. I thought feminists cared about protecting women from abusive men. I thought we were on the same side. But I was wrong.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas released a video of 23-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist, Shani Nicole Louk. It showed Hamas terrorists parading Shani’s near-naked body along the streets of Gaza in the back of a pick-up truck. “God is great!” the men chanted proudly, pointing their AK-47s to the sky. One man’s leg dangled over Shani. She was lying face down, dead.

Two days later, the Interim Revolutionary Feminist Committee-Southern California Chapter (IRFC) published an article. They claimed Israeli women’s stories of mass rape by Hamas during the music festival massacre were “unsupported.” They also said the video of Shani Louk did not show “any conclusive evidence of sexual assault.”

IRFC denies the existence of “rape as genocide.” But the focus on rape’s scale as a marker of injustice erases Shani Louk’s individual story. We don’t need a mass scale of rape to happen, for it to be a problem; what happened to Shani Louk was enough.


Witness to Hamas Rape Targeted by Antisemites and Accused of Lying
Raz Cohen who escaped from the Nova music festival on October 7th and witnessed a gang rape and murder committed by Hamas reports that he has been attacked on social media and called a liar for his public testimony, as reported by Ynet.

Cohen described the incident to CNN journalist Jake Tapper and The New York Times reported on Cohen’s testimony.

He reports, “I’ve received endless antisemitic comments. Many messages on Instagram and calls from abroad in which people called me a liar.”

Cohen added, “I don’t respond to them; there won’t be an end to it. No matter what, we are Jews, and we’ll be hated no matter what we say.”

He also says he’s received positive feedback “from Americans and people all over the world.”

However, he expressed frustration and asked why people who speak out about the rapes perpetrated by Hamas should be criticized at all.

“Why are we being criticized for telling about the rapes? Is it because there’s no documentation, so it means it didn’t happen?”

However, forensic evidence has proved that bodies showed signs of sexual assault, including broken hips, legs, bloodied groins and genital mutilation.

In addition, doctors examining the released hostages reported that many of the hostages, both male and female, had been sexually assaulted.


The Josh Hammer Show: The People of Israel Live
Josh discusses his recent trip to Israel, where he saw first-hand the brutality and devastation of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks and the ongoing war in Gaza (and, increasingly, in Lebanon


“Indoctrinates Civil Servants!” Douglas Murray Slams King’s College Counterterrorism Course
A former civil servant has revealed that a counterterrorism course is being taught to civil servants, with lectures warning that 'labelling terrorism as terrorism' is "problematic".

‘Prestigious' university King’s College London hosted a course for the civil service discussing what whistleblower Anna Stanley says is "indoctrination".

The lecturer also claimed that the writer Douglas Murray and the American commentator Joe Rogan were both examples of the “far right” and should be “suppressed”.

TalkTV’s Mike Graham is joined by Douglas Murray who slams the course: "They don't want to be focused on what is the primary threat to the security of citizens in the UK which is Islamist terrorism."




National Republican Club Hosts Israel-Bashing Authors
The Capitol Hill Club, a private Republican club in Washington, D.C., whose membership roster includes every Republican in Congress, is hosting an event for anti-Israel authors who claim the "Israel lobby" controls the government.

The event on Tuesday night, titled "Where is the War in Gaza Going?" is slated to feature Max Blumenthal, a writer who has compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and anti-Israel activist Miko Peled, who has criticized "spheres of Jew­ish influ­ence here in the U.S."

According to the invitation, the speakers will provide "unique first-hand knowledge" of the "Israeli lobby, and congressional cravenness."

Blumenthal and Peled will also "unveil the massive de facto or de jure censorship that has rendered Palestinian viewpoints virtually inaudible in the establishment media amidst the daily thunder of Israeli propaganda," the invitation said.

It is unclear which member of the Capitol Hill Club is sponsoring the event. Members of the Republican club include lobbyists, campaign staffers, and political consultants, in addition to lawmakers.

The event’s organizer is the Committee for the Republic, which "sponsors speakers monthly on challenges to the American Republic, including the military-industrial complex," according to its website. The group’s board includes anti-Israel former Republican officials, including ex-ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman.
Blinken Dodges on Firing Employees Who Walk out over Israel Support: ‘Their Decision’ If They Can’t Keep Working

Shadow defence minister discusses Penny Wong’s approach to her trip in the Middle East
Sky News host Sharri Markson is joined by Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie to discuss Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong’s approach to her trip to the Middle East.

Ms Wong has received criticism from Australia for her decision to not visit the sites of the October 7 Hamas massacre.

Ms Wong, in her tour of the Middle East, has continued to advocate for peace; however, she is walking a diplomatic tightrope trying to reach a middle ground between both sides.

The foreign affairs minister announced $21 million in assistance for the humanitarian crisis stemming from the Israel and Hamas conflict in Gaza.

The funding boost announced on Tuesday night in Jordan takes Australia’s total contribution since Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7 to over $46 million.


'Watch out': Concerns ABC's bias could 'get even worse'
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says ABC management now “faces a challenge” after the sacking of fill-in radio host Antoinette Lattouf.

“Its coverage is already quite anti-Israel, but will it now give in and let its staff go in even harder?", he said.

"Especially its staff with Middle Eastern or Muslim backgrounds. Especially now with a pro-Palestinian government in Canberra watching?

“I ask because several staff have now played the race card against it, including another Lebanese Australian, journalist Nour Haydar, who quit the ABC last week saying it doesn't support culturally diverse staff and its coverage of the war was terrible."

He said the ABC last year already publicly apologised for the racism supposedly in its newsrooms.

"Watch out. You may think the ABC is biased enough already. It could get even worse."




Dave Sharma 'demands answers' after Cricket South Africa strips Jewish player of captaincy
Liberal Senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma has written to Cricket Australia, demanding answers after Cricket South Africa removed the captaincy of under-19 player David Teeger, who is Jewish.

Cricket South Africa said it was because they could not guarantee his safety.

"Sharma asks that if Jewish cricket players are indeed at risk of attack, has Cricket Australia taken any steps to mitigate these risks for their own players?” Sky News host Sharri Markson said.

“He asks, or are such security concerns made up, and are instead a cover-up for political and religious posturing?

“Of course, if they are the latter, Sharma rightfully insists that they should be roundly criticised by our national cricket league.”


Seth Mandel: It’s the Strangest Thing
I don’t know if there’s a more darkly comic headline than “‘Stranger Things’ star Noah Schnapp opens up after ‘Zionism is sexy’ controversy.”

In a story that sounds cribbed from a Howard Jacobson novel, one of the young stars (Schnapp is 19) of the hit Netflix series found himself in hot water when a video surfaced of him hanging out with friends who were holding stickers that said, “Zionism is sexy.” A punching-up pop singer successfully garnered herself some attention on Twitter by responding to the video with a psychotic anti-Semitic rant, which was promptly shared far and wide by actor John Cusack.

There were calls for firing Schnapp from the series for the “offense” of not only brazenly being Jewish in public but of smiling about it.

In the same video, Schnapp’s pals compared Hamas to ISIS. In the wake of Oct. 7, Schnapp held the controversial opinion that mass rape and child murder are bad. This was very hard for the screeching banshees of social media to handle, for a very simple reason: Anti-Semitism is no longer bigotry but instead a preexisting condition that automatically puts the sufferer in a protected class.

The equating of Zionism and racism (or the newer version, that Zionism is colonialism) is meant to disqualify it from polite society because people believe they need to be protected from the very concept. This was Schnapp’s transgression: he shamelessly hung out with some Zionists, showing no concern for the pain that anti-Zionists would experience at merely seeing the word.
Brett Gelman Says Noah Schnapp Didn't Need To Apologize Over Israel-Hamas Views
Brett Gelman doesn't see anything in Netflix costar Noah Schnapp's views on Israel that warrants an apology ... and he's not afraid to speak his mind about what's going on in Gaza.

We got the "Stranger Things" star at LAX and our photog asked him about Noah sharing a video restating his position on the Israel-Hamas War.

Brett says he actually liked the viral photos of Noah with stickers reading "Zionism is sexy" and agreed with Noah calling out Hamas as a terrorist organization.

BG goes even further ... telling us anyone who is not pro-Israel is consciously or subconsciously being antisemitic.

To be clear, Brett says he's not blindly for everything that's going on in Israel, acknowledging there are some issues just as there are in every country and telling us he's not a fan of Benjamin Netanyahu ... but Brett says he supports Israel and the Israeli people.

Brett says Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas attacks ... he says he's been over to Israel recently and there are still being rockets launched by Hamas, who he also accuses of using civilians as human shields.

Noah's message was about unity, hope and peace ... and Brett says he's staunchly against the death of innocent Palestinians, but wonders why those deaths are being blamed on Israel and not Hamas.

It's rare to see a celebrity being so open about the Middle East these days ... but Brett's not shying away.

Bottom line for Brett ... everyone in Israel wants peace, and they aren't the ones who started this war.


Ben & Jerry’s board demands permanent cease-fire in Gaza war
The board of ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is once again wading into the political hot potato that is the Middle East conflict by demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as Israel battles Hamas terrorists holed up in the territory following the Oct. 7 massacre.

The board of directors of the Vermont-based ice cream giant — founded by childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who are both Jewish — demanded “peace and a permanent and immediate cease-fire” between Israel and Hamas.

“Peace is a core value of Ben & Jerry’s,” board chair Anuradha Mittal told Financial Times on Monday.

“From Iraq to Ukraine [the company] has consistently stood up for these principles. Today is no different as we call for peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire.”

Cohen and Greenfield sold the company to conglomerate Unilever in 2000 for $326 million and don’t serve in any official role with Ben & Jerry’s.

Last week, North Carolina pulled its retirement funds from Unilever in protest of Ben & Jerry’s stated desire to boycott Israeli settlements.

Mittal told FT that it was “stunning” that “millions are marching around the world but the corporate world has been silent.”


Dennis Prager: If You Say Men Give Birth, We Know Your Position on Hamas
If you say “men give birth,” we all know your position on Hamas.

Now, why is that? Why, if a person says “men give birth” or says that men who say they are women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, can we be virtually certain that the person sides with Hamas in its war to eradicate Israel?

Theoretically, the two claims — that men as well as women give birth and Israel is the villain in its war against Hamas — have absolutely no connection.

But they do — for two reasons.

Reason No. 1:
When people have a distorted moral value system, that distortion applies to just about every issue. Just as a broken compass will almost always point in the wrong direction, a broken moral compass will do the same. However, to be more precise, people who say “men give birth” and who side with Hamas, i.e., progressives and leftists — liberals don’t believe men give birth or side with Hamas — do not merely have a broken moral compass. They have a moral compass that works in the way progressives and leftists have configured it: North always points south and east always points west.

Reason No. 2:
People who say that men give birth also say that Israel is the villain because these positions emanate from the same aim: the destruction of Western civilization, beginning with the destruction of the West’s moral and social norms.

When people say that men give birth and that men can compete in women’s sports, they are seeking to undo the bases of Western civilization: truth, science, and the belief that we live in an ordered universe. That is why the left is so adamant about denying that sex (“gender”) is binary. The fact that there are only two sexes represents order — natural and, worse, divine.

Those on the left unwittingly acknowledge the connection between their anti-Western positions and their Israel-hatred. They routinely attack Israel for being an “outpost of Western civilization.” That is precisely what Israel is. Which tells you a great deal about both of Israel’s enemies — the left and much of the Muslim world.


Eric Clapton releases fundraising concert for Gaza kids, ignores hostage
An online taped concert from December by legendary British rocker Eric Clapton was going online Wednesday in a benefit to raise funds for the children of Gaza, his website announced. Proceeds from tickets to the online broadcast - called ‘To Save A Child’ - will be earmarked for aid relief to Gaza, which has been the target of Israel’s war against Hamas since the October 7 massacre.

Before a small audience, Clapton performs with a guitar painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag. The set included “Tears In Heaven,” “Got To Get Better In A Little While,” and George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” featuring Dhani Harrison.

A new song dedicated to Gaza

During the concert, Clapton reportedly didn’t mention the more-than-130 hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.The show, available in the US and UK, will be rebroadcast on Thursday in Australia and Asia.In November, Clapton released a new song accompanied by a video featuring images of extensive destruction in the Gaza Strip and pro-Palestinian protests around the world.

The song, called “Voice of a Child,” overlooks the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas, which slaughtered 1,400 victims and sparked the war.

Clapton, who has performed in Israel in the past, last year endorsed a petition denouncing the Frankfurt City Council’s decision to cancel Roger Waters’ concert, citing Waters’ antisemitic and anti-Israel statements.
Pop Star Dua Lipa Calls for ‘Humanitarian Ceasefire’ in Gaza, Ignores Israeli Hostages Held by Hamas
Pop star Dua Lipa is calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, making her the latest celebrity to pressure Israel into giving Hamas a military reprieve following the terrorist organization’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis.

Dua Lipa made her plea in an interview with Rolling Stone in which she made no mention of the Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.

“I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on Oct. 7,” she told the magazine.

“At the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza, and the innocent civilians, and the lives that are just being lost. There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that’s happening, the humanitarian cease-fire that has to happen.”

Lipa said celebrity activism on matters like Gaza is “important.”

“It’s probably easier to be apolitical,” she reportedly said.

“I think there’s no kind of deep discussion about war and oppression. It just is something that we’ve seen happen time and time again. I feel like just being a musician and posting about something doesn’t make enough of a difference, but hopefully, just showing solidarity, which is sometimes all you feel like you can do, is important.”

Hamas is still holding and even executing Israelis hostages.


Masked mob targets Jewish youth group for hosting British IDF soldier
A Jewish charity event to help disaffected young boys has been mobbed by anti-Israel protestors after the address was leaked by a provocative social media activist.

Disturbing footage shows a number of masked men abusing Jewish passers-by in Hendon while being blocked by police.

Dilly Hussain, the editor of Muslim blog, 5 Pillars, shared information about the event on social media, including the charity’s address and charity number. Hussain appeared to call on his followers to attend the event, claiming that Simon: “Posted a video of himself rummaging through a Palestinian woman’s nightwear after her house was evacuated in Gaza.”

Hussain provoked criticism late last year after interviewing former BNP leader Nick Griffin about the war in Gaza.

The event was also mentioned on the hard-left website Novara Media.

The Boys Clubhouse is a Jewish charity that provides a safe environment for disadvantaged teenage boys in crisis.

The charity’s founder and Chief Executive, Ari Leaman MBE, told the JC that Levi Simon had been invited “to inspire the boys to do well in life, it had nothing to do with the army.” Simon was due to speak to four disaffected boys who had been excluded from school, “it was a talk about overcoming adversity and not doing drugs.”




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