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Sunday, January 28, 2024

01/28 Links: The U.N.’s War on Israel; Three US soldiers killed Iranian drone strike on base in Jordan; WH rejects report US slowing weapons sales to Israel

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Israel can limit the ICJ’s potential damage
Israelis on Friday displayed what is called Jewish joy—they celebrated that the pogromniks only broke the windows, but did not kill anyone. The good news was the International Court of Justice did not effectively order us to wait to be tortured and murdered, by demanding a halt to the Gaza War. That is certainly good—but only in the twisted world where the ICJ is putting Israel, not Hamas, on trial for the absolutely absurd charge of genocide.

Otherwise, the decision was horrible. The court accepted South Africa’s argument that it has jurisdiction and that Israel could possibly be proven to be committing genocide. The case is not over and will go on for years. In the meantime, the court has made clear that it considers itself to have authority to review and superintend every aspect of Israel’s war for survival—and demands monthly reports. No other country receives such treatment, and it is designed to make the military constantly look over its soldiers’ shoulders.

The ICJ is not an independent body—it is an organ of the United Nations. Its justices serve a renewable nine-year term, further undermining their independence. The judges are elected by the General Assembly and Security Council, and their positions largely track the foreign policy of their home countries. Thus while we might get lucky sometimes, over the long run, the policy of the court will reflect the policy of the United Nations.

The General Assembly’s obsessive condemnation of the Jewish state is well known—Israel would never agree to have its fate determined by them. But agreeing to the jurisdiction of the court indirectly does the same thing. In Israel it is thought unacceptable to have judges appointed by democratically elected politicians decide the meaning of ordinary laws. Yet we have agreed to have judges elected by dictatorial regimes decide the basic question of whether we can exist—whether we can defend ourselves.

It does not have to be this way: The ICJ does not automatically have jurisdiction over countries—they must specifically agree, typically by agreeing that The Hague can decide a specific dispute or questions under a specific treaty. In this case, Israel signed the Genocide Convention, which provides that “disputes between the…parties” about the treaty can be decided by the ICJ. But that does not mean cases like this, where a totally unrelated state has brought a purely political complaint in a matter it has no relation to. The court should not have accepted jurisdiction, and by doing so it effectively claimed for itself power to supervise the conduct of wars around the world, so long as some country claims genocide is involved.

Israel did not have to agree to the ICJ jurisdiction to be a member of the Genocide Convention, and in retrospect, doing so was a major mistake. Countries are allowed to opt out of ICJ jurisdiction in various treaties, and very commonly do so. Indeed, 16 countries have opted out of the Genocide Convention minus the ICJ jurisdiction—including the world’s largest democracies, the United States and India. Even the world’s biggest superpowers did not trust the ICJ to hear cases involving the use of force in an apolitical way.
WSJ Editorial: The U.N.’s War on Israel
What a day for the United Nations. Its International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling Friday in South Africa’s case against Israel that managed to be both outrageous and meaningless. At the same time, its special forever-refugee agency for the Palestinians, Unrwa, had to fire staff accused of involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Our global moral beacon in action.

The ICJ tribunal indulged South Africa’s genocide libel by going ahead with a trial and trashing Israel for self-defense against Hamas. But the justices rejected Pretoria’s request to order Israel to stop the war. The court instead instructed Israel to prevent acts of genocide, punish incitement and facilitate aid to civilians—which Jerusalem is already doing. Israel will have to report back in a month, and the court could take years to decide on the merits.

As law professor Eugene Kontorovich writes, “That’s Jewish joy—they defamed us, treated us like no other democracy, undermined our right to self-defense, put the victim on trial—but it could have been worse!” All true, and an order to halt the war while Hamas holds territory and 136 hostages would have put Israel in a tight spot.

The U.N.’s credibility is also on trial, especially through Unrwa, whose reports the court relied on. After Israel brought evidence that 12 Unrwa employees participated in the Oct. 7 attack, the U.S. State Department announced on Friday a pause in funding to the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency pending investigation.

A new U.N. Watch report, to be released and discussed in Congress on Tuesday, shows “how a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza celebrated the October 7th Hamas massacre.” The message group’s administrators, identified by name and Unrwa contract number, are seen praising Hamas’s “holy warriors” and praying for them to murder Israelis: “O God, tear them apart,” “kill them one by one,” “leave none of them behind,” “execute the first settler on live broadcast.” One urged that Gazans stay in place to help Hamas.
Caroline Glick: Israel’s isolated generals
Notably, all of the General Staff’s paradigms are shared by the U.S. foreign-policy establishment. So it isn’t surprising that a consistent position of the generals is that the United States, rather than the IDF, is the guarantor of Israel’s survival. Accordingly, the generals oppose actions that would limit or even end Israel’s strategic dependence on America. That dependence commits the United States to protect Israel, and that protection will be guaranteed if Israel maintains faith in its appeasement policies towards Israel’s enemies.

The public—and rank-and-file officers and soldiers on the ground in Gaza, along the border with Lebanon, and in Judea and Samaria—are unmoved by the generals’ demoralizing messages. They understand that Israel has no option other than to fight the war until victory, whatever the price. The notion of appeasement-based deterrence died on Oct. 7. In successive opinion polls since then, the Israeli public has made clear that it opposes cutting a deal for the hostages that will enable Hamas to survive the war. They oppose Palestinian statehood, and under no circumstances is the public willing to countenance a P.A. takeover of the Gaza Strip the day after the war.

The public’s unwillingness to accept anything less than victory has placed the General Staff in a bind. Reservists being sent home from the front have reacted not with happiness but with indignation at leaving before victory has been achieved. On Feb. 8, angry reservists are planning to hold a mass demonstration demanding to be permitted to fight to victory down the street from the Prime Minister’s Office.

On Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds of relatives of hostages, mothers of IDF soldiers and other concerned citizens blocked humanitarian aid trucks from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. These citizens recognize that humanitarian aid is just a euphemism for resupply to Hamas. The government, they say, may need to agree to humanitarian aid to placate the Biden administration, but private citizens are under no such constraints. And given the dire implications of the aid for the war effort, standing idly by while Washington compels Jerusalem to give Hamas a lifeline to remain in the tunnels is nothing short of insane.

The public’s operations are not limited to the domestic realm. A new group, Mothers of IDF Soldiers, sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday demanding an end to humanitarian aid to Gaza, arguing that the truckloads of fuel, food, water and medicine endanger the lives of IDF soldiers; is not being distributed to Palestinian civilians; enables Hamas to remain in charge of governing affairs in Gaza; and prolongs the war by giving Hamas terrorists the means to keep fighting from their tunnels and refusing to release the hostages.

Netanyahu, for his part, is not relenting. Nearly every day, he reiterates the war goals and insists that Israel will fight until it achieves all of them. He is demanding that the IDF provide him with benchmarks to measure its progress towards victory.

The generals in charge owe their positions to their full adherence to the strategic paradigms of the United States and the political left. They don’t want to move on. But the unanimity of opinion from the public below and the government above will leave them little choice. They will either get on board and deliver the required victory, or they will eventually be forced to resign and make room for others capable of doing the job.


In letter to Biden, ‘Mothers of IDF Soldiers’ calls for end of Gaza aid
The Mothers of IDF Soldiers grassroots organization has called on U.S. President Joe Biden to refrain from pressuring Israel to continue allowing aid to pass into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

“There is no ethical or moral precedent of a just society that places a higher value on the lives of enemy civilians than the lives of its own soldiers, and there can be none,” the mothers wrote.

“This is undoubtedly the case in our current context, where the enemy society as a whole supports the goal of eradicating our people and our state, and thousands of Gazans jubilantly participated in the Oct. 7th invasion and slaughter. Many more ‘ordinary’ Gazans continue to commit war crimes against us by hiding hostages and starving them, and by willingly acting as accomplices to Hamas terrorists on the battlefield,” they added.

“As a result, the aid going into Gaza does the exact opposite of what you want it to do. It enables Hamas to keep fighting by keeping Hamas terrorists supplied. The fuel going into Gaza enables Hamas terrorists to run their generators that keep air circulating in the underground tunnels, prolonging the war and place our soldiers in unnecessary jeopardy,” continued the letter.

The mothers demanded that Washington continue to support the war until Hamas is defeated and all hostages are freed; that no further humanitarian aid or fuel be allowed to pass into Gaza as long as Hamas is stealing it; and that pressure be applied on Egypt to permit Palestinian civilians in Gaza who wish to do so to pass into Sinai and then to third countries.

On Sunday, Israeli protesters converged on the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the aim of preventing aid from passing into Gaza.

“Thousands of people are descending on the crossing in order to block the convoys of supplies and aid to Hamas,” according to a statement released on Sunday by the “Order 9” movement.

“There are very large forces preventing us from reaching the site, and allowing the trucks to pass through to the murderous terrorist organization. … No aid goes through until all of the captives are returned,” it added.

For five straight days, protesters from “Order 9” have demonstrated at the crossing, bypassing police checkpoints set up to prevent their arrival.


Three US soldiers killed, 25 injured in Iran-linked drone strike on military base in Jordan
Three US soldiers were killed and 25 were injured in a drone strike on a US military base in northeast Jordan, close to the Syrian border overnight.

US President Joe Biden says that the attack was carried out by “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” the Reuters news agency reports.

The incident marks the first time that US troops have been killed in the Middle East since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.


Sheryl Sandberg on Hamas rapists and those who say nothing
In addition to being a Silicon Valley titan, Sheryl Sandberg is a feminist, known as much for her work encouraging women to “lean in” and reject marginalisation as she is for her key roles running Google and Meta. She is, in fact, a symbol of global feminism, working with organisations such as the G7 and the UN to campaign against gender-based violence.

When Hamas burst through Israel’s defences on October 7, clear evidence of widespread rape alongside the mass murder began to pile up. What happened that day, says Sandberg, was “premeditated, co-ordinated, multi-location, all on one day, rape and unbelievable sexual violence”. She expected that her allies in the fight would be with her. But she was met with silence. Many who had fought with courage and commitment against sexual violence over the years didn’t appear motivated to speak.

For many long weeks, despite mounting evidence, organisations such as the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (known as UN Women), as well as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) did not condemn Hamas’s gender-based atrocities.

Consequently, Sandberg has taken it upon herself to champion this issue. Her campaign began when she spoke outside the UN in New York and expressed her concern that the “silence” around these crimes threatened to undo progress made by women fighting against sexual violence.

It continues this week, when she will come to London for a press conference and an event in the House of Commons on Wednesday, alongside representatives from the Labour Party and the government, including Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary.

Sandberg, 54, announced in June 2022 that she was leaving her role as chief operating officer of Meta; she said this month that she would also be standing down as a director. She is now on a mission. The slow reaction of UN Women was, she tells me from her office in San Francisco, “unacceptable”.

Why were so many so slow to react? “These are very, very, very political times,” she says. “When times are this political, I think we sometimes are so busy arguing with each other that we forget to find our common ground. There is one thing that needs to unite us at all which is that rape is unacceptable ever, ever.”

With the group appearing on Wednesday will be Shari Mendes, an Israel Defence Forces reservist who was part of the forensics team that examined the bodies of female soldiers killed during the attack, and Mirit Ben Mayor, an Israel police chief superintendent, who received the victims’ testimonies. Sandberg, who is Jewish, is also visiting France and Germany with these witnesses, because she wants “people to understand and acknowledge what happened — sexual violence is not freedom fighting”.
Congressional reps, US Jews protest at Qatar's embassy to secure hostages
A group of American lawmakers and Jews demonstrated in front of Qatar’s embassy on Wednesday, in a new grassroots push to pressure Doha to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) launched the action. The JCRC posted on its X account (formerly known as Twitter) Halber’s remarks to the Jewish Insider.

“We purposely chose the word gathering… This is an event to speak to the Qataris, to ask them to maximize their leverage over Hamas, and to use it to strongly pressure Hamas to bring as many hostages home as possible.”

Halber added “We’re there to thank the Qataris and at the same time to press them to push Hamas. Those two things are not in conflict: you’ve done a good job, you really need to do more of a good job. We need you to work even harder now and get these people free.”

According to Jewish Insider, Ivey recognized the work of Qatar “but we need to make sure that they understand today that we’re not where we need to get to. More needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.”

Raskin said, according to Jewish Insider, “We call on Qatar — which is politically and financially in a place to make things happen — to put this at the very top of the priority list,” adding “The hostages must be returned to their families and their communities now. On behalf of the American people, we demand that the hostages be brought home and given their freedom.”
JPost Editorial: The ICJ ruling is a mixed bag
Only one judge voted against all measures, and it was not Israel's appointment
The ICJ ruling requires Israel to prevent and punish any public incitement to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and to preserve evidence related to any allegations of genocide there, as well as take measures to ease the humanitarian situation for Gazan civilians.

Julia Sebutinde of Uganda was the sole judge to vote against all six measures adopted by the court, while Israel’s ad hoc representative, former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, voted against four measures but supported two others.

“I have voted in favor in the hope that the measure will help decrease tensions and discourage damaging rhetoric,” Barak wrote to explain his vote in favor of an order for humanitarian aid and another for the prevention of inflammatory speech. Sebutinde said in her dissenting opinion: “The acts allegedly committed by Israel were not accompanied by a genocidal intent.” v The response in Jerusalem to the ruling was defiant. While acknowledging that “Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war against “a genocidal terror organization” while facilitating humanitarian assistance and “[doing the] utmost to keep civilians out of harm’s way, even as Hamas uses civilians as human shields.”

He added, “On the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I again pledge as prime minister of Israel – Never Again!”

Very different responses, including between Diaspora Jewish organizations
Although the prime minister ordered ministers not to comment on the ruling without approval, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted on X, “Hague shmague,” echoing a contemptuous comment made by Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion about the UN, “Um-shmum.”

The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ruling, with Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki saying the ICJ “ruled in favor of humanity and international law,” whereby South Africa deemed it “a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people.”

Responses from Jewish umbrella organizations ranged from hailing to assailing the ruling. The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) called it “deeply flawed,” while noting that it “affirms Israel’s right to continue defending itself.”

The South African Zionist Federation called it “a blow to South Africa’s political gambit to falsely label Israel’s acts of self-defense as genocide,” whereas president of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzikant, stated: “This interim decision frankly rewards terror.”

So what now? The UN Security Council has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday to discuss the ICJ decision. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that the ruling is legally binding and he “trusts” Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Though there is now a legal precedent for international pressure on Israel to comply with the ruling, experts say it is not practically enforceable, and the US is expected to veto any Security Council resolution calling on Israel to stop the war so long as 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
Who is Julia Sebutinde, the only ICJ judge to oppose all measures against Israel?
In her dissenting view, she argued that the core of the dispute was fundamentally political, not legal, and asserted the absence of a credible indication of genocidal intent by Israel.

Adonia Ayebare, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, criticized Sebutinde on X. “Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine. She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo]. Uganda’s support for the plight of the Palestinian people has been expressed through Uganda’s voting pattern at the United Nations,” the ambassador tweeted.

Sebutinde is the first African woman to serve on the court
69-year-old Julia Sebutinde is a distinguished judge from Uganda, serving her second term on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since March 2012. She is the first African woman to hold this position. She has a rich background in law, having graduated from Makerere University, obtained a diploma from the Law Development Centre in Kampala, and a Master of Laws from the University of Edinburgh, after which she worked in various legal capacities in Uganda, the UK, and Namibia. Sebutinde's notable career includes serving as a judge in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, presiding over high-profile corruption inquiries in Uganda, and her election to the ICJ, reflecting her significant contributions to international justice.

“In my respectful dissenting opinion, the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one,” she wrote in her dissenting opinion. “Calling for a diplomatic or negotiated settlement, and for the implementation in good faith of all relevant Security Council resolutions by all parties concerned, to find a permanent solution whereby the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can peacefully coexist,” she wrote.


Palestinians, Hamas rage online after countries vow to cut UNRWA funding
The announcement by six Western countries that froze their aid to UNRWA over the participation of agency’s staff in the October 7 Hamas massacre has caused an uproar in Palestinian and Arab circles.

Sharp criticism from officials, ordinary citizens, and media outlets alike has been accompanied by praise for the nations which promised they’d continue their aid to the agency, such as Ireland and Norway.

The first official reply by Hamas yesterday accused “the Zionist entity” of inciting against UNRWA “in order to cut off its funding and deprive our people of their right to its services.” Later in the day, however, the terrorist group published a more detailed response, perhaps in an attempt to portray a distancing from the agency.

Hamas condemned the decision to terminate the contracts of employees based on “Zionist information about the alleged involvement… in the events of October 7,” as well as the statement’s “description of our people’s resistance as terrorism,” adding that “it is not the agency’s role to announce political positions on the conflict.” The terrorist group also denounced Israeli “terrorist attacks that amounted to genocide,” adding the claim that 150 UNRWA workers were killed during Israeli airstrikes.

Furthermore, Hamas denounced the agency’s call for the release of “prisoners held by the resistance [i.e., hostages kidnapped to Gaza during the October massacre]” as an “interference in what does not concern it,” adding that the agency “did not demand at the same time the immediate release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.”

Finally, the terrorist group insinuated that “UNRWA has been subjected to blackmail by countries that support Israeli terrorism,” adding that the refugee issue is not “a financial issue” but rather one of “political rights,” deeming that “it was the international community that created the Palestinian refugee problem” and must “bear its responsibilities in solving their problem by ensuring their return.”


Pause in US Funding of UNRWA Agency for Gaza Affects Only New, Not Existing, Obligations
On Friday, in response to allegations that employees of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) had been involved in Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, the State Department announced that it had “temporarily paused additional funding” for the United Nations agency. The funding pause, however, applies only to new and additional funding, not funding already obligated before the pause went into effect on Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson told Pluribus.

When asked for details on what obligations would and would not be affected by the pause, the spokesperson directed Pluribus to a fact sheet released by the State Department on January 16, 2024.

The fact sheet reports that funding already committed or obligated to the UNRWA for fiscal 2024 for work in the West Bank and Gaza totaled $51 million as of January 16. Although the State Department did not directly answer questions about the amounts or the timing involved in distribution of funds, the spokesperson stated that “we are pausing any new or additional funding. Contributions to UNRWA that were not obligated as of January 24 are suspended, contributions to UNRWA obligated prior to this date remain in effect.” [emphasis added]

Total contributions from the US to the UNRWA in 2022 were $343.9 million. According to a UNRWA announcement on June 1, 2023, the United States made a $153.7 million contribution on that date, increasing the total contribution for the year 2023 to $206.8 million, keeping the US the UNRWA’s most generous donor. In October 2023, the White House pledged $100 million for “humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank… through trusted partners including UN agencies and international NGOs,” but it is unclear how much of that aid was to be routed through the UNRWA.


White House rejects report US considering slowing weapons sales to Israel
The Biden administration is considering slowing weapons sales to Israel to place pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the war in Gaza, US officials told NBC News on Sunday, although the White House later rejected the report.

According to the NBC report, the Pentagon was reviewing what weaponry Israel has requested that could be withheld as leverage, although no decisions had been made yet.

Among the weaponry being considered as leverage are 155 mm artillery rounds and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs). JDAMs are used to convert regular bombs into precision-guided bombs.

The White House said on Sunday there was no change in its Israel policy after NBC News reported the United States was discussing using weapon sales to Israel as leverage to convince the Israeli government to scale back its military assault in Gaza.

"Israel has a right and obligation to defend themselves against the threat of Hamas, while abiding by international humanitarian law and protecting civilian lives, and we remain committed to support Israel in its fight against Hamas. We have done so since Oct. 7, and will continue to. There has not been a change in our policy," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said.


US proposal calls for phased release of remaining hostages
American negotiators have drafted an agreement calling for the phased release of the remaining hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to reporting over the weekend by the New York Times and Associated Press.

The deal would also include a two-month pause in fighting in Gaza, U.S. officials confirmed to the news outlets.

According to Israeli estimates, 108 of the hostages are still alive, while Hamas is also holding 28 bodies, 24 of which belong to hostages captured on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists and other Gazans broke across the Israeli border, murdering 1,200 people, wounding thousands more and kidnapping 253. A hostage deal in November saw the release of 105 captives in exchange for a temporary ceasefire and the release of around 240 Palestinian security prisoners. Five hostages were freed prior to the ceasefire, four were released by Hamas and one was rescued by Israeli forces.

In the first phase of the proposed agreement, the conflict would stop for around 30 days to allow for women, elderly and wounded hostages to be released. During that period, a potential second phase would be worked out that would see Israeli soldiers and male civilians released over another 30-day period.

Additionally, the deal would include the release of Palestinian security prisoners and the entry of more humanitarian aid into the Strip.

“While the proposed deal would not end the war, U.S. officials are hopeful that such an agreement could lay the groundwork for a durable resolution to the conflict,” AP reported.

CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to discuss the framework of the agreement with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Paris on Sunday. David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will be in attendance at the French summit.


Two in three Jews favor IDF security control in Gaza post-war
Just over two in three Israeli Jews, or about five million people, believe Israel should retain full security control over the Gaza Strip after the war with the Hamas terrorist organization there ends, according to the most recent “Peace Index” survey released by Tel Aviv University this week.

The university’s Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences polled a representative sample of 605 Israeli adults—Jews and Arabs—between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15. (The margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%, Tel Aviv University said.)

According to the survey, 68.9% of the Jewish Israeli public favors Israel Defense Forces security control in Gaza, while a quarter favors rule by international and regional Arab forces. Only 2.2% think the Palestinian Authority should be in charge of security in the Strip.

Around 53% of the Jewish respondents said they support the establishment of Israeli civilian communities in the coastal enclave.

Of the entire sample, including Israeli Arabs, 58.5% said they preferred IDF security control in Gaza, 27.1% said they favored an international force and 5.8% wants the Ramallah-based P.A. to be in charge of security after the war.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has repeatedly said that Gaza must be handed over to the P.A. following hostilities. The solution “must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the P.A.,” the senior diplomat stressed late last year.

Asked whether they support the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, 66% of the Jewish respondents said they were opposed to such a move, while 27% expressed support for the creation of a “Palestine.”
Seth Frantzman: Will Hamas win if it gets a deal for months of ‘pause’ in fighting?
The Hamas tentacles are waiting to grow back. If Hamas gets a months-long ceasefire, it can restore its tentacles, go back to the tunnels, recruit more terrorists from people in the humanitarian zone, and exploit the aid coming into Gaza to grow wealthy and powerful again.

These should be top concerns. Israel has been told that when the war is over Hamas won’t be in Gaza. That claim has been downgraded to: there won’t be a Hamas threat from Gaza.

With the first pause in November, reports said that military pressure had led to the successful release of hostages. Now, two months later, with additional military pressure, it appears that Hamas is trying to stack the deal to avoid releasing many hostages up front.

Considering that Hamas began this war with a genocidal attack on Israel, considering its known crimes, and considering that it violated the first deal, and has continued to influence Israel psychologically with hostage videos, granting Hamas a months-long ceasefire where it doesn’t have to fulfill its obligations immediately, is problematic.Was this the Hamas plan all along? To attack on October 7, commit mass murder, rape, and destruction; then run back to Gaza with hostages, to hide in tunnels and wait out the war, which it expected would last maybe two months.

It did this in 2009 and 2014. Then it expected the international community to pressure Israel for a ceasefire, leaving its leadership intact and channels of funding from abroad open to rebuild its arsenal.

At the same time, it wanted to use the war to win concessions from Israel and broaden support for Hamas in the West Bank.

So far the Hamas leadership is mostly intact and its terror infrastructure too, even if damaged.

Hamas expects money and humanitarian aid to flow in so that it can continue to control Gaza’s civilians, whom it uses as human shields. It thinks time is on its side. Its push for a long ceasefire is evidence of this. It may have lost 15,000 terrorists, killed and wounded, but it can replace them slowly.

Therein lies the danger of a long ceasefire. Time is not on Israel’s side.
Up to 40% of Hamas tunnels damaged or destroyed—report
The Israel Defense Forces has damaged or rendered inoperable 20% to 40% of Hamas’s expansive tunnel infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing Israeli and U.S. officials.

The report noted that Israel has sought various methods to clear the tunnels, including installing pumps to flood them with seawater, destroying them with airstrikes and liquid explosives, searching them with dogs and robots and raiding them.

The IDF is “thoroughly and gradually dismantling the tunnel network,” the military said in a statement to the WSJ. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Hamas’s network of terror tunnels was even more extensive than previously thought, with new assessments indicating it has upwards of 5,700 entry shafts.

In the wake of intensive counterterror combat operations in the southern Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis during recent weeks, Israel now believes the Islamist group built between 350 and 450 miles of subterranean terror infrastructure, up from a previous estimate of 250 miles.


Defense experts paint ‘day after’ scenario with Israel firmly in control
While the world pressures Israel, even before its war against Hamas has ended, to turn the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinian Authority, Israeli security experts delivered the opposite message at a security conference Thursday, saying Israel must remain in Gaza for a long time.

The Israel Defense Conference 2024, which took place in Ashkelon on Jan. 25, was organized by the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF). Thursday’s conference was the third held by the organization, and the most successful, with 500 attending.

The IDSF has grown in reputation following Oct. 7 as it has been warning for years that Israel needs to reevaluate its security posture. The group, comprising thousands of former security officers, was founded in 2020 by senior retired IDF personnel concerned that Israel was entering a dangerous period.

“For two years now, we have warned that the State of Israel has been on the road to war,” said Israel Defense Forces Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, co-founder and chairman of IDSF, in his opening remarks.

“We predicted that Israel was going to face a Six-Day War scenario, or a Yom Kippur scenario, in which we would find ourselves completely surprised.”

In the 1967 SixDay War Israel struck first, quickly defeating its enemies. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War Israel was taken by surprise, hesitated to carry out a last-minute preemptive strike, and suffered heavy losses.

“Unfortunately, we found ourselves in the Yom Kippur reality that we so feared, a surprise scenario that caught Israel off guard,” he said, referring to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas invasion.
Tunnel by tunnel, Israel demolishes Gaza underground network in hunt for Oct 7 mastermind
I ask Lt Col Ansi what winning looks like as we survey the rubble and the mayhem, the loud bangs and the gunfire making conversation not always easy. He pauses and looks at me. “That’s a good question,” he says. He pauses again.

“It [winning] is accumulative. There is no Iwo Jima and a flag goes up,” he explains, in reference to the famous photograph of American troops victorious on the Japanese island in the Second World War.

“This infrastructure of tunnels has been built over the course of a decade. This,” he says pointing at the tunnel below us, “is one of thousands and thousands. Every 24 hours we uncover another 50, 60, 70 shafts and blow up two tunnels. You do the maths. It will take time but we have a solution. We go shaft by shaft, tunnel by tunnel.”

The Khan Younis tunnels appear more extensive than elsewhere in Gaza. It’s estimated the network stretches for 160 miles in and around the city.

The tunnels are often connected, but Israel has discovered that they have different purposes. Some, like the one we are staring at, are designed only to attack. Others are for smuggling goods into Gaza and some are described as “VIP tunnels”, available for the Hamas leadership to stay below ground, avoiding assassination attempts and linking grand villas to Hamas offices.

Those tunnels are, says Lt Col Ansi, offering a glimpse into how the Strip was run, lined with marble. “Our main goal is to destroy the system. We are not going to get to every Hamas militant although we are trying. But we are dismantling Hamas as an organisation. That is the main goal,” he said.

From the tunnel, we are taken in a soft-topped ‘Hummer’’ along a dirt road built by the IDF that runs into Khan Younis. The road weaves its way through a wasteland that was once home to the Strip’s wealthier residents. Their villas are destroyed.

A quick calculation suggests maybe one in 20 has been left standing but it’s impossible to be precise. The vehicle travels swiftly along the bumpy road and it’s hard to know where a villa might once have stood. The homes that were destroyed contained tunnel shafts, many of them booby-trapped, which Israel says show a link to the Hamas terror network. They are claims that are impossible to verify.

“We have controlled this neighbourhood for more than a month,” explains Lt Col Ansi. The route is used to maintain logistics to back up IDF forces fighting in Khan Younis, but the colonel adds: “The front line is everywhere. Active battles are about a mile from where we are. It is door-to-door. It is difficult.”


IDF expands closed military zone near Gaza as protesters block aid
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday announced it expanded the closed military zone surrounding the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza as Israeli protesters continue to converge with the aim of preventing aid from passing into the Hamas-ruled enclave.

The military order was announced by the IDF in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Thousands of people are descending on the crossing in order to block the convoys of supplies and aid to Hamas,” the “Order 9” movement said earlier on Sunday.

“There are very large forces preventing us from reaching the site, and allowing the trucks to pass through to the murderous terrorist organization. … No aid goes through until all of the captives are returned,” it added.

For five straight days, protesters from “Order 9” have demonstrated at the crossing, bypassing police checkpoints set up to prevent their arrival.

Bat-Zion, the aunt of 30-year-old hostage Avinatan Or, told JNS on Sunday morning that she came “to protest the injustice that is being done with the transfer of aid to the terrorists who are holding our dear ones. We came to strengthen the leaders and to say, the people are behind you, stand up to the pressure. Do not transfer the aid to the enemy. We need to defeat Hamas, That’s the only way we’ll get our children back. We can’t defeat the enemy if in the process we help them and send them aid.”


IDF arrests Palestinian smugglers, comes under fire in West Bank
IDF and Border Police officers, along with the Shin Bet, arrested ten wanted persons in the West Bank overnight on Saturday, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced on Sunday.

They arrested two wanted persons who were involved in transporting and smuggling infiltrators.

In the Shuyukh village in the Etzion regional Brigade, IDF reservist troops arrested a suspect who operated a transport network that smuggled infiltrators, along with an additional suspect, the IDF noted.

Furthermore, the forces found and confiscated the vehicles used by the two suspects.

In Wadi Burkin, in the Menashe regional Brigade, the forces arrested two other suspects while under fire from the opposing force, the IDF reported.

In the village of Kalkas, within the Yehuda regional Brigade, the troops confiscated weapons they found, in addition to tens of thousands of shekels, which were reportedly designated for terrorist activities.

The suspects were arrested and transferred to be further investigated by security forces, the IDF said.

Since the start of the war, more than 2,950 suspects have been arrested throughout the regional Judea and Samaria Division, and over 1,350 suspects in the Bekaa and Valleys Division, who are associated with the Hamas terrorist group, the IDF concluded.


Lebanese patriarch to Hezbollah: We refuse to be sacrificial lambs for cult of death

Einat Wilf: October 7th did not occur in a vacuum
A lecture by Dr. Einat Wilf in the US Congress on the profound reasons for the massacre and the reactions to it in the world and the possibility of change.

The talk was sponsored by American Jewish International Relations Institute-Bnai Brith International (AJIRI-BBI)


travelingisrael.com: The Nakba (I’m famous! But also wrong?)

‘They celebrated’: UNRWA staff caught praising Hamas for October 7 massacre
Sky News host James Morrow says people knew UNRWA staff “celebrated” the October 7 attacks on Israeli people before the UK finally suspended its funds to the organisation.

The UK’s decision came after UNRWA staff were accused of participating in the massacre of October 7.

“Back in November I reported on this at The Daily Telegraph that many, many, many people who were teachers, officials, doctors, nurses with UNRWA, they were all on their social media ‘oh glorious day’ ‘how wonderful the rape and murder of all these Israeli citizens couldn’t come soon enough, thank Allah for that’,” Mr Morrow said.

“But there’s a broader point to this, when I went to Penny Wong’s office about that, they said they seemed quite concerned – it did seem at the time like they knew that there was a problem here.

“This whole idea of the UN refugee works agency, the whole point of that, that has created three or four generations of people who still consider themselves refugees.”


‘People need to wake up’: Funding to Gazan aid agency paused amid UNRWA allegations
Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus warns people need to “wake up” after allegations staff from Gaza’s primary United Nations humanitarian agency were involved in the October 7 attacks.

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced on Saturday Australia would be suspending funding to the UN humanitarian relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, amid fresh allegations by Israeli Authorities that 12 of its staff members were involved in the Hamas attacks.

“Allegations UNRWA staff were involved in the abhorrent October 7 terror attacks are deeply concerning,” the Foreign Affairs Minister said in a statement on X.

Ms Marcus praised Ms Wong for her “sensible” decision to suspend funding as she called for a review into Australia’s funding situation.

“We should have frankly pulled our money years ago as many of the UN watchdog groups have pointed out,” she said.


ICJ ‘perverse’ for ruling against Israel over genocide accusations
Former South African Institute of Race Relationships CEO Frans Cronje says the International Court of Justice is “perverse” for ruling against Israel after South Africa had accused the nation of committing genocide against Palestinian people.

Mr Cronje joined Sky News host Rowan Dean to discuss the effect of the ICJ ruling on Israel’s relationship with the world and how this would affect its war with Hamas.

“The ICJ has bought into the South African thesis far too deep in extent,” Mr Cronje said.

“The kind of messaging that you do need out of the Western world is to thank the Israelis, and thank the brave soldiers of the IDF, and thank their family members because what they are doing in Gaza today and in other parts of the Middle East is heading off a very dangerous threat to the Western world.

“If that fight can’t be won in Gaza, if it can’t be won in the frontline states around Israel, then the fullness of time, you, your family, and your kids in Western capitals are going to face the consequences of that.”


‘Disgusting linkage’ of pro-Palestinian activism to pro-Indigenous activities
Sky News host Rowan Dean has criticised “Invasion Day protests” that took place on Australia Day.

Mr Dean says Australians saw the “most disgusting and ongoing linkage” of pro-Palestinian activism to pro-Indigenous activities.

“We saw joining the flags,” Mr Dean said.

“This is that same oppressor vs oppressed narrative.

“It’s infected so many areas to the detriment of our public life.”


‘The sensible Democrat’: John Fetterman lauded for pro-Israel stance
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has proved there is a “cure for lefty lunacy” through his staunch support of Israel, says Sky News host Rowan Dean.

Mr Fetterman had been discharged from hospital after treatment for clininal depression last year – since then, he has taken a bold stance for Israel after the October 7 attacks.

“He was a lefty loony when he went into hospital and he comes out quite sensible,” Mr Dean said.

Protestors gathered outside of Fetterman’s home with Palestinian flags, shouting “Fetterman, Fetterman, you can’t hide. You’re supporting genocide.”

The Senator responded by waving the Israeli flag on his rooftop.

Sky News host Rita Panahi says Fetterman has now become the “sensible Democrat”.




Pelosi urges FBI probe of Gaza ceasefire protests in US and suggests Russia links
Former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that she thinks some protests in the United States demanding a ceasefire in Gaza could be linked to Russia, and that the FBI should conduct a probe into their funding.

Pelosi, who made the remarks in a CNN interview, provided no evidence for her claims. Furthermore, she was asked whether opposition to President Joe Biden's policy in the war in Gaza could hurt the Democrats in November's US presidential election.

A spokesperson for Pelosi said her three decades on the House Intelligence Committee informs her awareness of how foreign adversaries meddle in American politics to "sow divisions and impact our elections," according to a statement The Post obtained from Pelosi's office after the interview aired on CNN.

"As Speaker Pelosi said on CNN, we have to focus on stopping the suffering in Gaza, and she will continue demanding that all hostages be freed now. Speaker Pelosi has always supported and defended the right of all Americans to make their views known through peaceful protest," the statement said.

Pelosi wants to see further investigation ahead of the 2024 election, according to the statement.
Rape crisis centre may lose funding over pro-Hamas politics
It’s a sick and twisted world when those who are supposed to help women suffering sexual violence instead stand with those who perpetrate it. That’s the case with one Toronto organization that claims to support a “world free of sexual violence.”

If you haven’t heard, the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre, which has been silent on the issue of Israeli women being raped during the Oct. 7 attacks, has decided to join the “pro-Palestinian” side by sponsoring an event this weekend. The problematic part is that they are co-sponsoring the event with two groups that regularly issue demands and statements that read like talking points for Hamas apologists.

So now, the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre is in danger of losing more than half of its annual budget for getting involved in politics. The TRCC has been informed by an official with the Ministry of Community and Social Services that the organization is in breach of their funding agreements over their latest political stance.

If it were up to me, the centre would be cut off immediately; for now they are being warned to stop the sponsorship and come into compliance with the rules.

“Under Article 6 of the Ontario Transfer Payment Agreement, a conflict of interest includes circumstances including ‘outside commitments … that could or could be seen to interfere with the Recipient’s objective, unbiased, and impartial judgment relating to each Service, the use of the Funds, or both,’” wrote Cynthia Campoli, Community Program Manager with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

Under the funding agreement signed between the province and the TRCC, the centre is required to inform the ministry promptly of any possible conflict. Not only did that not happen, but the letter from Campoli stated that the ministry had tried to contact officials at the centre multiple times with no success.
Hundreds of pro-Palestine campaigners target Barclays' 54 bank branches over allegations they are funding Israel's attacks

This Is How You Do It: NYPD Stops Hamas Supporters From “Flooding” JFK Airport

When extremist activists drive the left to oblivion, what will remain?
In November, Toronto police arrested 11 people – the so-called “Indigo 11″ – on charges of hate-motivated mischief for allegedly postering Indigo founder and chief executive Heather Reisman’s face over a fake quote on the company’s flagship store in downtown Toronto and smearing the windows with blood-red paint. In early January, the first of the defendants arrived in court, and it has turned out that most of them are, for lack of a better word, intellectuals – many with PhDs, and many employed by universities, schools and other cultural institutions.

Their trial, therefore, is about more than an act of vandalism: It is a painfully clarifying reflection on the ideological state of the Canadian establishment.

The Indigo case is shocking not because the alleged perpetrators attacked a Jewish business on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, and not because the incident happened during a week in which Jewish schools were shot at and a Montreal synagogue was firebombed. Neither was it shocking because the targeting of Jewish businesses would later develop into a tactic of the anti-Israel movement in Toronto, with a Jewish grocery store burned in January and a highway off-ramp to a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood occupied by protesters.

No: The shocking part is that the people of Canada effectively paid for the vandalism – which turned out to be entirely consistent with the politics of our cultural institutions as they have devolved over the past decade.

In 2022, York University paid Lesley J. Wood, one of the Indigo 11, an annual salary of $168,878.14 plus benefits as a prominent scholar of social movements. “Cops are cops are cops, right?” she wrote in her 2014 book Crisis and Control: The Militarization of Protest Policing. “We expect certain behaviors from police officers and are perfectly comfortable with stereotyping this ‘armed gang,’ given that their power puts them outside ordinary social life.” Another defendant, Karl Gardner, is currently on administrative leave from the University of Waterloo pending the outcome of an investigation. Nisha Toomey was working as a curriculum-design consultant for Toronto Metropolitan University, and in 2023 served as a research consultant for the federal government, before being charged earlier this month.

The situation in which the accused academics find themselves must, I imagine, be confounding to them. The state, which has actively funded their research and the promotion of their ideology, has now suddenly charged them with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence for allegedly performing it.

Current debates about Gaza in Canada will have exactly zero effect on the future of the Middle East, obviously. Canada has no power to alter its messy reality one iota. The effects of the Gaza conflict on Canadian electoral politics will also be negligible; the appetite for left-wing extremism in the Canadian population is highly limited, a fact that even the Ontario NDP understands, having removed MPP Sarah Jama from caucus in October. Ms. Jama has actively denied Hamas’s rape and torture of Jewish women. (“There’s no actual evidence of these rapes and the babies with their heads cut off. All of these are pieces of misinformation,” she said.)

But the Gaza debates will certainly have an effect on Canadian institutions. They have set off the implosion of progressive activism as a force in public life here, particularly cultural life, because its pure toxicity is actively driving people and institutions away.
Andrew Pessin: To Campus Presidents: You Can Stop This Madness Now
As campuses gear back up post-break, a good time to revisit this piece, published in November, before the disastrous Congressional testimony of the three university presidents—which rightly predicted the slew of lawsuits now underway. Feel free to borrow or adapt and send to every university president to whom it is relevant.

Dear Presidents of Elite Universities,

Thanks for reading Pariah--But The Truth, You Know, Ain't A Democracy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

You have a crisis on your hands. Jewish students are not merely facing a threatening atmosphere of repeated angry rallies celebrating their mass murder and calling for more (“Intifada!”), openly celebrating the terrorist entity Hamas (with social media images of homicidal hang gliders), but in many cases they are facing direct threats and even physical assaults, finding themselves having to hide on your campuses, be barricaded inside libraries, school buildings, dorms, being escorted to safety by campus police, to say nothing of the vandalism and anti-Jewish graffiti popping up everywhere. But it is not merely the Jews who are victims here–it is also the large majority of your other students who are paying exorbitant sums for the education you provide, whose education is being badly disrupted by the nearly ceaseless rallies and demonstrations and “occupations” occurring on your campuses, and it is your brands as well that are being sorely damaged. It is hard not to imagine that there will be some serious lawsuits coming your way, which nobody wants. Numerous Title VI cases have already been filed; several class-action lawsuits are pending in Canada and the US; things are about to get ugly.

But you can stop this all now — in time for final exams — if you have the courage and political confidence and will. It is simple:
(1) ENFORCE YOUR ALREADY EXISTING CAMPUS CONDUCT (AND ‘HONOR’) CODES.
(2) SUSPEND or EXPEL ANY STUDENTS WHO VIOLATE THEM.

It is not sufficient merely to suspend the student organizations (such as Students for Justice in Palestine) that several brave universities have already done; you must suspend the students themselves who violate your already existing rules.

It is that simple. Stop selectively enforcing your rules, doing of which may well both reveal an unacceptable institutional bias and actually be illegal, and enforce them consistently. And lest you think there are “free speech” issues at stake–“free speech” issues that you would never invoke were the targets of campus rallies, intimidation, violence, hostility any other identity group besides Jews, as most of you have had no trouble “taking sides” and making various political pronouncements over the past several years–please read the important article by leading attorney Mark Goldfeder that I have linked to below.

You can stop this outrageous madness–and save not only your cherished brands but higher education itself–which is now collapsing underneath the brown-shirt thuggery that you are permitting to fester on your campuses.

NOW–not tomorrow, not next week–but NOW.

Thank you for your consideration.

Andrew Pessin


Pro-terror college instructor who claimed victory at not being fired … is fired
In the wake of a Langara College instructor loudly claiming that she’d suffered no professional consequences for openly endorsing Hamas terrorism, the institute has announced that she’s subsequently been fired.

In November, Natalie Knight was suspended from her job as an English instructor and Indigenous curriculum consultant after she made openly pro-terror remarks at a Oct. 28 “All Out for Palestine” rally in Vancouver.

Speaking to a crowd in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Knight had characterized the Oct. 7 attacks as an “amazing, brilliant offensive.”

This week, after Knight was quietly reinstated at her Langara job following a three-month investigation, she immediately told a small anti-Israel rally on the Langara campus that the move represented a complete vindication of her Oct. 28 comments.

“It means we won. It means I did nothing wrong. It means none of you are doing anything wrong,” said Knight in comments published by The Voice, the Langara student paper that broke the story.

According to a lengthy statement issued by Langara, it was her comments at this rally that apparently ultimately got her permanently dismissed.

Although Knight is never mentioned by name in the statement, the college said they allowed her to return to work with the expectation that she would “take care to ensure any future remarks could not reasonably be interpreted as celebrating violence against civilians.”

“The employee proceeded to engage in activities contrary to the expectations laid out by the College and as a result this employee is no longer an employee of Langara College,” it reads.
Canada’s university presidents say a call for genocide is wrong, regardless of context—but don’t agree that calling for the destruction of Israel violates their codes of conduct

Abbas spokesman: If Hamas were to win Palestinian elections, we’d hand over government to them
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the deputy prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, says that were Hamas to win in future Palestinian general elections, Abbas would be ready to hand over control of the PA to the terror group.

In an interview with the Saudi news channel Al Arabiya yesterday, Abu Rudeineh stresses that the Palestinian people need to find common ground and formulate a unified position, and that for the time being “the address for political decisions is the Palestine Liberation Organization and its President Mahmoud Abbas,” but after the war the PA “is ready to hold general elections, and if Hamas wins, the president will hand over the Authority.”

The Palestinian Authority has not held general elections since 2006, when Hamas won a majority of the seats in the legislative council, and subsequently staged a violent coup in the Gaza Strip.

Since the outbreak of the war, various PA officials have called for integrating the political wing of Hamas in a future Palestinian government, claiming that it is an essential component of Palestinian society.

Elections are seen by many in the international community as a key stage in the reform and revival of the Palestinian Authority, a body that is perceived as corrupt and ineffective, in order to boost its legitimacy and potentially enable it to take control over the Gaza Strip after the war.

Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that their goal in the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught is the eradication of the terror group.


Success for CAA as Holocaust-denier Vincent Reynouard loses extradition appeal
Vincent Reynouard, a French Holocaust-denier, will be extradited from the UK after his application for leave to appeal was rejected on Friday.

Mr Reynouard, 54, a convicted Holocaust-denier, was awaiting a decision from the court on the appeal after a court in Scotland granted an extradition request from France. Mr Reynouard was a fugitive in the UK who was caught following appeals from Campaign Against Antisemitism.

His extradition hearing followed several preliminary hearings and false starts to allow time for the content of videos, which were alleged to have been made by Mr Reynouard, to be translated into English, as well as other delays due to ill health on his legal team.

Mr Reynouard continued to post updates on his far-right blog, Sans Concession, despite being incarcerated as he awaited his extradition hearing.

The extradition request was granted after the court considered that the postings for which Mr Reynouard was found guilty in France would also be crimes in the UK under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

In a different case in 2018, Campaign Against Antisemitism secured a legal precedent that Holocaust-denial is “grossly offensive” and therefore illegal when used as a means by which to hound Jews. When it is delivered via a medium of communication, it can fall within the purview of the Communications Act. That English precedent has effectively been replicated in Scottish law in this case now as well.

Mr Reynouard was sentenced to jail for four months on 25th November 2020 by a court in Paris and again in January 2021 for six months, in addition to fines. His latest conviction is in relation to a series of antisemitic postings on Facebook and Twitter and a 2018 YouTube video for which fellow French Holocaust denier, Hervé Ryssen (also known as Hervé Lalin), received a seventeen-month-jail term earlier that year.

However, Mr Reynouard fled the country before serving his sentence and settled in the UK, where he reportedly worked as a private tutor teaching children mathematics, physics and chemistry. Private tutors are not required to undergo background checks.
Indigenous Coalition for Israel opening embassy in Jerusalem
A group of indigenous leaders from around the world is opening an embassy in Jerusalem to recognize Jews as indigenous to Israel and counter rising antisemitism in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre.

The Indigenous Coalition for Israel (ICFI)’s embassy will be housed within the Friends of Zion Museum in the historic Nahalat Shiva neighborhood of downtown Jerusalem. The museum is dedicated to showcasing Christian Zionism and its contributions to Israel.

“I congratulate ICFI on the decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem and thank them,” Dr. Mike Evans, an evangelical leader and the museum’s founder, said in a statement announcing the embassy opening, which will take place on the evening of Feb. 1 in the presence of Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

“We are grateful to the ICFI leadership for pursuing this initiative, especially during a time of war. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of Israel, and so we are thrilled with the support of the global First Peoples community,” said Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who spearheaded the initiative with ICFI.

According to the statement, the embassy will open with strong expressions of support from indigenous leaders worldwide, including from American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Taiwan and Tonga, as well as Native American chiefs and paramount chiefs from Southern Africa.

The statement notes, however, that the embassy will not officially represent any government.
Allies of Jewish US students visit Israel after Oct. 7 – and come back armed with info
After a fall semester of nearly non-stop anti-Israel protests and an atmosphere that has become increasingly uncomfortable for Jewish students — if not downright antisemitic — Aidan Bloomstine is determined to shift the tenor at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles.

“Students for Justice in Palestine [SJP] sucked up all the energy last semester. We need to reclaim some of that energy now. The goal is to increase visibility as well as give comfort to Jewish students,” Bloomstine, a public policy major, said in a Zoom interview with The Times of Israel.

“It’s been absolutely shocking to see people blatantly disregard atrocities and support a group whose sole purpose is to terrorize Israelis and eliminate them,” he added, referring to the Hamas terror organization, which perpetrated a brutal massacre on October 7 that saw 1,200 people murdered in southern Israel, most of them civilians, and another 240 abducted to the Gaza Strip.

A self-described ally of Jewish students but not Jewish himself, Bloomstine recently returned from an eight-day fact-finding trip to Israel in early January sponsored by the Maccabee Task Force (MTF). Just as he did during the trip, Bloomstine continues to share his experience on social media with his peers and campus organizations like the bipartisan student advocacy group Trojans for Israel. It’s work he’s determined to do even though he faces certain backlash.

“I walked into my public policy class this week and several students who knew I went to Israel wouldn’t look at me,” said Bloomstine, 21. “I have been asked if I am a tool of the Israeli government. I can only say, this was my true experience — this is what I saw, this is what I heard.”

He and the other 40 non-Jewish and Jewish student leaders from dozens of US universities saw the places where thousands of Hamas-led terrorists murdered, raped and kidnapped civilians on October 7, and heard firsthand testimony from massacre survivors.


Why images of Holocaust survivors were projected onto NYC landmarks on Saturday night
Larger-than-life images of Holocaust survivors and their stories were projected on nearly two dozen New York City landmarks on Saturday night in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Gillian Laub, the acclaimed Jewish photographer, took many of the pictures of the survivors at a November 1 event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, when more than 200 Holocaust survivors gathered to raise awareness for Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza.

In addition to raising awareness for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is marked on the January 27 anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the campaign is also the launch of “Live2Tell,” a digital project documenting the world’s remaining Holocaust survivors through photography, video and first-person interviews. The project is being produced by Jewish actress and comedian Amy Schumer and digital storyteller Kira Pollack.

Laub created the project in response to “the recent, dramatic rise in antisemitism in the US and around the world,” as well as in response to the declining number of survivors around the world, according to a press release.

Today, there are some 245,000 living survivors, according to a recent demographics report from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Creating conversations between 'past and present'
The project aims to “elevate consciousness and spark conversation about the parallels between past and present,” the press release added.

In addition to the projections, the initiative will share interviews, photos, and videos of Holocaust survivors on social media and its website.

“With the painful endurance of antisemitism throughout history, survivor stories need to be shared and passed down from generation to generation,” Laub said. “Hoping to foster connection and understanding, Live2Tell will help preserve survivor stories and amplify their voices through a contemporary lens. I’m extremely grateful to all the survivors for once again bearing witness and to everyone who has contributed to elevating the consciousness about the atrocities faced by the Jewish people, past and present.”

According to a report in The New York Times, the project was designed to minimize the chance of vandalism and did not seek a permit for its projections.




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