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Friday, February 16, 2024

02/16 Links Pt1: Netanyahu: Palestinian state recognition ‘huge reward’ to terror; 30 UNRWA employees participated in Oct. 7 massacre

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Shameful Biden tries to reward Hamas terror with a Palestinian state
On October 8th — as terrorists were still running wild across the south of Israel — Blinken told CBS “We think the best way to resolve [the Israeli-Palestinian conflict] remains a two-state solution.”

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A month later he could be found claiming that a two-state solution was “the only way to end a cycle of violence.”

By the time he was in Davos in January Blinken was telling the New York Times that creating a Palestinian state would solve all the problems of the region, including (bizarrely) regional instability caused by Iran.

By the end of January Blinken was reported to have ordered the State Department to review options for American recognition of a Palestinian State.

In recent weeks Blinken has been sending out his British counterpart — Lord Cameron — to bang on about the creation of a Palestinian state. He was doing it in Washington this week. Cameron is clearly acting as Blinken’s warm-up act.

Blinken recently boasted that he was in Ramallah with Mahmoud Abbas “to reiterate US support for reforming the PA and establishing an independent Palestinian state.”

But such a policy is an embarrassment.

As Israeli politicians of left, right and center have told me in recent months, even if you believe that the Palestinians should be given another state, now is not the time to discuss it.

To push for a two-state solution now is to say to the Palestinians “You carried out a horrific terror attack on October 7th, and as a reward you will be given another state.”

I wonder how many more terror attacks will come about by incentivizing terror in this way?

But the other reason why it is so wicked is that since 2005 we know what a Palestinian state in the West Bank would look like. It would not just be one more failed Arab state.

It would be another Palestinian terror state. One which had views over the entirety of Israel and where the rockets could this time easily hit Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ben Gurion airport.

So long as the Palestinians celebrate terror, encourage terror and pay for terror they should not have another state.

Two-states? It’s not a solution. It’s part of the problem.
Michael Oren: The US charge of ‘indiscriminate bombing’ is over the top
Another country, struck by the type and immensity of the atrocities committed against Israel on Oct. 7, would likely have responded with vastly greater force and inflicted far greater numbers of civilian casualties. But Israel is a Jewish state in the moral manner in which we defend ourselves. Even when the enemy is using its own population as a human shield, Israel must do its utmost to reduce the damage to civilians. This is not only a strategic interest but also a moral imperative.

The IDF takes unprecedented measures to warn civilians of impending actions and to evacuate them from combat zones. It's why Israel has maintained the lowest combatant-to-civilian casualty rate in modern warfare - as Hamas' own statistics show. How, then, can the Biden administration accuse Israel of "indiscriminately bombing" Gaza and of reacting "over the top" to the events of Oct. 7?

President Biden and his staff continue to uphold Israel's right to self-defense, to supply us with vital forms of ammunition, and to resist mounting calls for a permanent ceasefire. Yet, the accusations they level at Israel do far more than insult our soldiers. They fundamentally endanger our security.

By asserting that Israel is violating international humanitarian law, our American ally is bolstering those who accuse us of committing war crimes and perpetrating genocide. The next time Israel faces these charges in an international court, statements by the U.S. president and the secretary of state will be Exhibit A for the prosecution. That evidence, moreover, would be demonstrably false. Israel's efforts to reduce civilian casualties, often at the expense of our own soldiers' safety, are well-documented.

Outrage at the civilian casualties must be directed at those who cynically engineer them. Hamas' goal is to brand Israel as a war criminal. That is precisely the objective served by accusations of "over the top" reactions and indiscriminate bombing.
‘We’ll Be Seen as Losers if We Don’t Complete the Job:’ Israeli Historian Benny Morris Addresses the War Against Hamas
With the US maintaining its role as the leading outside power in the region, talk of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been revived, causing tensions between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden’s Administration. Morris believes that a Palestinian state alongside Israel is theoretically the correct solution, but he doesn’t see a “roadmap” — the phrase much used by successive US administrations in their peacemaking efforts — for getting there.

“The problem is that the occupation is immoral and bad,” he said. “It was forced upon us, but we didn’t do enough to get out of it.” Meanwhile, in the wake of the Hamas atrocities, Israelis have become hardened. “The Israeli public is staunch in its desire to destroy Hamas and pay them back for what happened,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of revenge, it’s understanding that without that, Israel will appear weak.”

As Morris explains it, the dilemma for Israel revolves around how to withdraw from the West Bank without turning it into a Hamas stronghold. Israel has been able to weather two decades of rocket and missile attacks from Gaza, but similar salvos from Ramallah, which is just a short drive from Tel Aviv, would amount to an “existential threat,” Morris said. “In the West Bank, there is no way of assuring the benign nature of a Palestinian state,” he said. “They want all of Palestine. That’s the essence of the problem.” Additionally, Morris has little faith in international guarantees, citing Hezbollah’s refusal to move its armed forces north of Lebanon’s Litani River, as part of a broader disarmament process envisioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of Aug. 2006, as an example of the difficulty of implementing compromises that are not enforced.

“The sense among Israelis is that, along with the rapes of Oct. 7, Israel itself was raped,” Morris said. “The world didn’t seem to care about that, and there was an instant rise in antisemitic abuse and anti-Israel rhetoric even before the military response.” The political context is also changing, he observed. “The further away the western world gets from the Holocaust, particularly the younger generations, the less they know and care about World War II,” he said. At the same time, “Islam contains a large antisemitic element” that stems from the bombastic accounts in the Qur’an of the battles in the seventh century between the Jewish tribes of Hijaz and the prophet Muhammad and his followers. “There’s this inherent anti-Jewish element that’s been reinforced by Israel’s existence in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,” Morris said. “Israel is an innovation in that sense — a Jewish state projecting power at the Muslims. That was not the situation for 1400 years since the rise of Islam.”
Seth Mandel: The Rafah Hostage Rescue Was a Game-Changer
It’s impossible to say for sure how much has been changed by Israel’s dramatic hostage rescue in Rafah. But it’s clearly altered the conflict.

The fact that Israel wasn’t bluffing about going into Rafah, and the revelation to the world that the IDF had legitimate reasons to do so, convinced the other players in this conflict that the Israelis meant what they said and to prepare accordingly.

Hence we have a rather important story about the adjustments Egypt’s government is making for the possible influx of Gaza evacuees: An eight-square-mile walled camp is under rapid construction in the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian desert region that borders Gaza.

The history here is important. Rafah was divided between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, briefly reunited after the Six-Day War, and then divided again when Israel pulled out of the Sinai. It became, and remains, the only border crossing between Palestinian-controlled territory and Egyptian-controlled territory.

Given the history, the last thing Egypt wanted to do was accept a large number of Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza, and the last place they wanted to do it was Rafah, despite the fact that it would obviously save lives.

Egypt’s sensitivity toward an IDF operation in Rafah is twofold. One, tunnels running underneath have long plagued Egypt’s anti-smuggling efforts. (Though those efforts have gotten feebler over the years.) Two, Egypt does not want to take responsibility for any part of Gaza nor any Gazans. As Israel’s experience shows, that is a difficult entanglement to disengage from. Perhaps all the more so because of Rafah’s identity as a divided city.

The latter point has been a running theme of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict since 1967. Egypt does not want Gaza. Israel does not want Gaza (it went so far as to leave Gaza unilaterally, without a single guarantee about what the Strip would be used for thereafter). Hamas does not want Gaza—not in the traditional sense. Hamas does not want to govern the people of Gaza. It put all the Strip’s resources into building a second Gaza underground that is inaccessible to most Gazans, and it does not want statehood. There is nothing that Hamas wants, in fact, that is in any way beneficial to the Palestinians unless those Palestinians are members of Hamas (or UNRWA, the UN refugee agency that is essentially Hamas’s very own Learning Annex). Hamas is a terrorist army that is controlled and funded by non-Palestinian entities.


Netanyahu: Palestinian state recognition ‘huge reward’ to terror
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night pushed back strongly against the prospect of the Biden administration unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

“Israel categorically rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” said Netanyahu.

“Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement,” he added.

The comments came after The Washington Post reported that the Biden administration was preparing to make a major push for Palestinian statehood if a Gaza ceasefire agreement being negotiated in Cairo this week takes effect.

According to the report, the U.S. and Arab partners are “rushing” to finalize the plan to establish a Palestinian state, which could be announced in the next few weeks if a prospective deal to release the remaining 134 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza in exchange for a six-week pause in the war takes effect before Ramadan next month.

Netanyahu spoke for 40 minutes on Thursday with U.S. President Joe Biden, who “reaffirmed his commitment to working tirelessly to support the release of all hostages as soon as possible, recognizing their appalling situation after 132 days in Hamas captivity,” according to a White House readout of the call.


The Overwhelming Majority of Israelis Say "No" to a Palestinian State
When Israel's prime minister says "No" to a Palestinian state, he represents the majority of Israel's citizens, who understand exactly that this would mean a state entity whose residents would support terror regardless of its leadership. They support our massacre and want our destruction and elimination. With such people, no agreements can be made.

President Biden is a friend. He has domestic political constraints that have impacted his posture toward Israel. Israel is already taking into account Biden's internal travails in its decision to transfer humanitarian aid, food, and fuel into Gaza, even though this prolongs the war, boosts Hamas' military endurance, creates more serious risks for our soldiers, reduces pressure on it to release the captives, and enables continued Hamas influence over the Gazan population through the distribution of assistance.

Anyone who says "Yes" to stopping the war before achieving victory will figuratively spit in the faces of the soldiers and their families who sacrificed greatly for the state. Saying "No" to stopping the war represents almost all of us.

Golda Meir insisted on continuing the encirclement of Egypt's Third Army in the Yom Kippur War; Menachem Begin defied the U.S. and took out the reactor in Iraq; successive Israeli governments have continued construction in Jerusalem. In all cases, Israel's leaders said "No" to the U.S.
The Mirage of the Two-State Solution
From every corner comes pressure upon Israel to acquiesce to a two-state solution. Israel's sovereignty and security are to be overridden by the EU and the U.S. to, if necessary, impose a Palestinian state. At best there will be so-called "robust guarantees" of Israeli and Palestinian security.

Here we should remember that earlier UN, U.S. and EU guarantees of Israeli security have always been found to be unavailing. Israel has fought by itself in 1967, 1973, 1982 and in the multiple intifadas and wars since then. Even in 2007 when Israel discovered that North Korea was building a nuclear reactor for Syria, Washington refused to act, leaving Israel no choice but to act alone to destroy it.

The idea of a two-state solution has been around for almost a century but has consistently failed because the Palestinian leadership has never been willing to accept the legitimacy of Israel. Palestinian leaders have rejected all offers of an opportunity to begin a state because they insisted on a one-state solution, i.e., a wholly Palestinian state that would be free of Jews. So the Palestinian leadership has exercised a veto on self-determination.

Instead, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have regularly resorted to terror, most recently on Oct. 7. Therefore, it should surprise nobody that Israeli public opinion, not just Prime Minister Netanyahu, uniformly opposes a two-state solution. Similarly, most Palestinians oppose this solution.

The effort to impose this solution in the wake of powerful historical and real political contradictions gives rise to the thought that many of those urging it do not know what they are talking about. Certainly, no state in the world would accept the presence of a terrorist movement or state on its border that regularly lobs missiles into its territory
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Caroline Glick: In Washington Post, the US Orders Israel To Commit Suicide
A Washington Post article lays out the US' dangerous plan that will ensure the establishment of a Palestinian terror state and the defeat of Israel.


Caroline Glick: Biden "Forgets" who Hamas and the Palestinians Really Are
The Biden administration demonstrates again that it is clueless as to who the Palestinians and Hamas really are and the pressure mounts on Israel to end the fighting and lose the war.


Seth Mandel: Why Biden Speaks Through John Kirby
Biden, you may have noticed, has a tendency to improvise and to ramble. His speed has changed noticeably over the years, as has his delivery and articulation of his own memorized talking points. But no matter where Biden goes with a particular rendition, Kirby’s right there, step for step. It explains why, according to the New York Times, Kirby has begun traveling domestically with the president as well.

That’s been causing some tension with Karine Jean-Pierre, the president’s press secretary. Kirby has regularly shared the podium with Jean-Pierre, and Biden has leaned on him even more since October 7. The basic dilemma is this: Jean-Pierre is bad at the job, and Kirby is excellent at it. Gossipy media reports have noted that Jean-Pierre is bothered by the fact that her boss has noticed this.

Jean-Pierre reportedly was annoyed at being upstaged by a lower-level colleague. Biden fixed this: He gave Kirby a promotion that elevated him officially to Jean-Pierre’s level.

It’s an odd setup, to be sure. There are essentially two press secretaries. And increasingly that means that one calls on the reporters and the other answers the questions those reporters ask. In other words, there are days when it’s unclear why Jean-Pierre is there at all.

The discrepancy is most noticeable on Israel. Jean-Pierre came to the White House from the world of progressive political activism, which is overwhelmingly hostile to Israel. Jean-Pierre can repeat the president’s talking points, but it’s clear she doesn’t mean it and doesn’t like doing it. Kirby, on the other hand, gets downright theatrical at times when he talks about the evil of Hamas or the fate of the hostages. In this, he reflects his boss: Biden can get emotional about Israel, and Kirby can show that emotion. When he was a spokesman for Barack Obama, Kirby was far less animated—as, of course, was Obama.


Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Warns Against Dark Predictions on U.S.-Israel Relations
Several U.S. officials leaked to American news outlets over the past week that President Biden has privately used expletives to describe Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Last week, Biden issued a memo setting new conditions for U.S. military aid, which the White House acknowledged was crafted in consultation with congressional lawmakers who have called for restricting assistance to Israel. Senior U.S. officials also said there was anger over Netanyahu's thwarting of U.S. postwar plans.

However, "The president understands that the relationship goes beyond any one prime minister and that allowing the relationship to fall apart would not be in the U.S. national security interest," said one senior U.S. official. A second official said the president "continues to believe" that excessively litigating disagreements out in the open will not be effective with Netanyahu.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog told Israel's Channel 11 on Wednesday, Biden "maintains a critical dialogue with us that has quite a few questions about how we are conducting the war and the direction in which we are taking it. I do not foresee an end of [U.S.] aid. I don't expect the U.S. to try to force a ceasefire on us in Gaza. I want to warn against all these dark predictions."

A third senior administration official said Sunday that Netanyahu's overarching war aim of dismantling Hamas and the need to operate in its last-remaining stronghold in Rafah is shared by the entire war cabinet, the majority of the Israeli public, as well as the Biden administration, even though the U.S. is clear about the need to simultaneously protect Palestinian civilians.


Daniel Greenfield: Biden Admin Considered Sanctioning Israeli Cabinet Members
The Biden administration has a plan for the Hamas-Israel war. It’s the same plan that past administrations have unleashed on Israel. Pressure Netanyahu or whoever is in office into ignoring voters and conservative members of his coalition, push him into making a deal with the Islamic terrorists, and go back to advocating for a terrorist state. The problem is that things fundamentally changed in Israel on Oct 7 even if they didn’t change in D.C.

When the Biden administration wanted Israel to stop its offensive at the end of 2023, it didn’t get its wish. Now it’s fighting to keep Israel from going into Rafah and finishing off Hamas in its last stronghold.

So the Biden administration has ramped up a pressure campaign, much of it under the radar, but that is playing out across various fronts. The administration has enabled the “monitoring” of Israeli attacks on Hamas for “human rights violations” in a way that may trigger a shutoff of arms sales. It also tested the waters by sanctioning four Israeli Jewish activists for allegedly harassing terrorists and their supporters.
With new UN ceasefire resolution, Algeria all but dares US to veto
Washington is out of reasons for rejecting a U.N. Security Council resolution insisting upon a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror organization, according to Algeria, which plans next week to put forward a resolution to that effect to a vote at the United Nations.

A final version of the resolution, which has circulated among members of the council, is the latest attempt by Algeria, the council’s de facto representative of the Arab and Muslim world, to stop Israel’s military operation in Gaza to eliminate Hamas and free the hostages, whom terrorists have held since Oct. 7.

The North African country, which once had one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities but now has no Jewish presence, has a long history of virulent opposition to Israel.

The United States has vetoed all previous resolutions demanding a ceasefire, with Washington insisting early in the war that Israel had the right to defend itself against Hamas. More recently, the Biden administration declared that council members should defer to ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas through intermediaries, including Qatar, Egypt and France.

Algerian diplomats said this week that a cycle of rejections of the terms of a humanitarian ceasefire by the warring parties puts to bed Washington’s diplomacy-first efforts, necessitating, the anti-Israel country said, action from the council.
House members threaten ‘fast-track legislative options’ to squeeze Qatar over hostages
Sixteen House members sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday expressing deep concerns about Qatar’s failure to help secure the release of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza, and threatened to pursue punitive measures if the hostages are not released soon.

The letter comes amid growing criticism in the U.S. Jewish and pro-Israel community of Qatar as hostage talks flounder, and is one of multiple emerging threats from Congress to impose punitive measures on Qatar. The lawmakers said they’re “deeply concerned that Qatar has not fully leveraged its relationship with Hamas to ensure all hostages are released without delay.”

“If we do not see the release of more hostages, including all American citizens, in the days ahead, we will consider a menu of fast-track legislative options to hold Qatar accountable,” they wrote.

The letter was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Young Kim (R-CA), joined by Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Jim Costa (D-CA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), David Trone (D-MD), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Brian Steil (R-WI), Jared Golden (D-ME), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) and Susan Wild (D-PA).

The lawmakers called on the administration to “continue to employ every tool of leverage with Doha” and to “make clear to Qatar it will be held accountable for every hostage not brought home” and that its “failure to deliver on its commitments will harm bilateral relations.”

They noted that Qatar “benefits immensely” from its relationship with the U.S. as a major non-NATO ally, serves as the host of the U.S.’ main air base in the Middle East and is a beneficiary of lucrative investments in the U.S. and protection from terror victim lawsuits.
Hamas rejects Israeli proposal to release 1,500 inmates for hostages - report
Hamas has rejected an Israeli offer to free all hostages taken into the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of 1,500 Palestinians from Israeli prisons, Saudi media outlet Al-Arabiya reported on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that a deal on the release of hostages held by Hamas remains possible, but there remain "very hard" issues to be resolved.

Asked whether an agreement could be reached on a break in hostilities before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on March 10, Blinken said an earlier response from Hamas on a potential deal had included some "clear non-starters" but offered the possibility of working toward an agreement.

"We're now in the process with our counterparts from Qatar, from Egypt, from Israel, in working on that and working very intensely on that with the goal of trying to find an agreement, and I believe that it is possible," Blinken said at a news conference during a visit to Albania.

"There are some very, very hard issues that have to be resolved. But we're committed to doing everything we can to move forward and to see if we can reach an agreement," Blinken said.

Blinken was speaking at a news conference during a visit to Albania days after talks involving the US, Egypt, Israel, and Qatar on a deal that would see a pause in fighting in Gaza ended without a breakthrough on Tuesday.
Eurabia is the major sponsor of Hamas
The mayor of Marseille gave 80,000 euros to the United Nations agency for Palestinian Arabs, UNRWA, of which dozens of members are accused of participating in the October 7 massacre. Socialist mayor Benoît Payan had initially suspended the decision due to the controversy.

Why give money to an agency whose complicity in the massacres is proven and under whose headquarters in Gaza a Hamas tunnel and bunker have just been found?

Because Eurabia is Hamas' best ally.

Marseille is the second largest city in France and is already 30-40 percent Muslim. George Soros' Open Society also certifies this. Causeur magazine writes that “well over 50 percent of the Marseille population is North African and black African.”

The president of the Jewish community of Marseille, Zvi Ammar, asked fellow believers not to wear Jewish symbols on the street. Too dangerous. Like in Gaza. A student attempted to assassinate a Jewish teacher, "in the name of Allah," because he was wearing a kippah.

Arab countries have distanced themselves from the Palestinian Arabs, considering them “troublemakers and liars,” says the Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal. “The Palestinians have thus turned to the West. All European countries have decided to support the Palestinians, financially and diplomatically. The Palestinians gained more from the West than from the Arab countries that sought to exploit them for internal reasons. The Palestinians have embassies in Paris, London, in the United States... This lobbying worked magnificently and we began to see more and more condemnations of Israel from Western countries."

-Donation to UNRWA from Norway.

-Donation to UNRWA by Belgium.

-Donation to UNRWA by Scotland's Muslim Prime Minister Humza Yousef.

Islamic fundamentalists know the soft underbelly of the West and they slide into it like a knife through butter. And if there is a country that is more slacker than others, it is Spain.
Defeating an Ideology Takes Time
As Israel continues its just war against Hamas, a psychological war is being fought by those who contend that destroying Hamas is a pipe dream.

They hold that since Hamas is an idea, an ideology, it cannot be destroyed. This is patently incorrect.

The ideology of Nazism was defeated. So was the ideology of imperial Japan. Communism in Europe was defeated. So was fascism in Spain and Italy.

Segregation was a way of life in the southern U.S. for a century, as was apartheid in South Africa, but both were eventually relegated to history.

ISIS and al-Qaeda, which once controlled vast territories, are nowhere near the threat they once were. The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, once controlled Egypt but was ultimately toppled.

Why should Hamas be any different? History proves evil ideologies can be defeated, but sometimes history demands time.
THE DAY AFTER: What Israel Can Do To Protect Its Borders From Hamas and Hezbollah | Our Middle East
The Oct. 7th attack by Hamas in the south and the daily missile barrage from Hezbollah in the north has everyone asking how Israel can defend its borders and cities in the future? What must be done to ensure that terrorists don't pose a threat once more after the dust settles?

JCPA President Dan Diker and Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh discuss the future of Israel's security.


Gallant: 30 UNRWA employees participated in Oct. 7 massacre
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, told journalists that the Jewish state has intelligence showing that 30 employees of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency took part in Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.

The minister shared the names and photos of 12 UNRWA employees, whom Israel had previously said took part in the Oct. 7 attack, in the press briefing. The 12 include Faisal al-Naami, an UNRWA social worker who Israel says was visually identified in Israeli territory on Oct. 7 and was involved in kidnapping a soldier from the town of Beeri.

Another, Ala Jouda, is an UNRWA Arabic religion teacher who is also a company commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion. He was arrested in Israeli territory.

According to Gallant, 1,468 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff members in Gaza are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.


WSJ Editorial: Taking Rafah Is Essential to Defeat Hamas
Ever notice how it is always deemed a humanitarian imperative to let Hamas survive? The diplomatic pressure on Israel to stay out of Rafah, Hamas' final stronghold, has become enormous. Warnings descend daily from the White House, Europe and the Middle East, plus the UN-NGO complex.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his military chief have already said that civilians will be evacuated from Rafah before Israel advances. Safe zones and a corridor out are being designated.

There's no defeating Hamas and freeing the hostages without turning to Rafah. Hamas hasn't been toppled if it still governs territory. Hamas hasn't been destroyed if its four Rafah battalions remain intact. Hamas can't be destroyed while it has access to the Egyptian border and control of the flow of aid at Rafah. Israel rescued two hostages in Rafah, and it believes many others are held there. How could Israel abandon them?

After Oct. 7, President Biden pledged his support for destroying Hamas. But lately his administration has increased its criticism of the war effort. He is rolling out initiative after initiative to pressure Israel: a sanctions regime against some Israelis with the potential to expand, a threat of automatic recognition of a Palestinian state, media leaks about investigations into Israel's war tactics, and new strings attached to weapons shipments.

Once Rafah falls, Israel's fighting can shift to a lower-intensity, mopping-up phase, bringing the war to an end. Rafah is Hamas' last stand as a governing force, so expect it to pull every political lever to stop Israel. The question is why the Biden Administration is cooperating.
Israel officials say they’re badly in need of additional U.S. military aid
Israel has an immediate need for additional U.S. military aid, Israeli sources told Jewish Insider, as the support remains mired in Congress amid disputes between Republicans and Democrats, and the House and Senate, over Ukraine aid and border policy, among other issues — with no clear path or timeline moving forward.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein said that when he was on Capitol Hill last week, he told all of his interlocutors that the aid “is extremely urgent.”

“This is aid for immediate needs, not for something we’ll use in a matter of years,” he emphasized to JI on Thursday.

An Israeli security official said that “the aid package is critical for Israel’s security and for our ability to maintain readiness and defense on all fronts.”

Another source said that Israel is already beginning to tap into stockpiles of munitions and air-defense interceptors that would be needed in the increasingly likely event of a war with Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border. Israel’s needs would be especially great in the event of a protracted conflict, the source added.

That source noted that the situation would become critical if Congress is unable to pass additional military aid by March or April, given issues in military production supply chains.

Israeli sources denied that March was a specifically problematic date in terms of supply, simply saying that the need is immediate.

But Edelstein explained that the problem comes from the intersection between congressional politics and the Knesset’s schedule. Even if Congress approves the aid package in the coming weeks, it will still take time before Israel will be able to spend the money – by his estimate, not before the second half of 2024.


Terrorist kills two Israelis, wounds four in shooting in southern Israel
A terrorist shot and killed two Israelis and wounded four others on Friday afternoon at a bus stop near the Re’em Masmiya Junction, near Kiryat Malachi in the northern Negev Desert, medical officials said.

Magen David Adom paramedics tried to resuscitate a man in his 20s, but he was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Another man in his 20s, a teenage boy and a man in his 60s were seriously wounded, and two others, including an elderly woman, were moderately hurt.

It was not immediately clear which of the victims was the second to die. The injured were treated at Assuta Ashdod Hospital and Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

Police said the terrorist arrived in a vehicle and opened fire on people waiting for a bus. A civilian at the scene shot and killed him.

Israeli media identified the assailant as an Arab from Shuafat, in the eastern part of Jerusalem.


Israel Says UN Failing to Distribute Aid in Gaza
The Israel Defense Ministry's liaison unit to the Palestinians said Thursday that the UN was not keeping up with the flow of humanitarian aid inspected by Israel that is waiting to be picked up and distributed in Gaza.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) posted photos on X of "the contents of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom, AFTER Israeli inspection, waiting to be picked up."

"It is the 3rd day in a row that hundreds of trucks are not picked up. The UN needs to scale up their operations," COGAT said.


Gazan riots erupt near Rafah's border with Egypt, fire breaks out
Riots have erupted in the border area between Rafah to Egypt, with footage circulating showing gunfire and explosions near the crossing, Israeli and Palestinian media reported.

Channel 12 reported the riots broke out after a Gazan teen was shot dead by Hamas policemen while attempting to gather humanitarian aid.

Four sources told Reuters that Egypt had begun preparing an area at the Gaza border that could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive on Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, emphasizing this was a contingency step.

The head of Egypt's State Information Service said the sources' accounts had "no basis in truth."


Bridget Phetasy: Naomi Petel Survived October 7th - WiW 272
Naomi Petel spent 19 hours locked her shelter with her husband and 3 sons on October 7th. She sits down with Bridget to tell her story, what she, her family, and her neighbors endured, those who were murdered or taken captive, and the series of events that allowed her family to survive. She describes the heartbreak and devastation of that day, and how her heart has continued to break since then because the trauma is ongoing. She does not know if she'll ever be able to go home again, she does not think about the future, right now daily survival is her only focus. She and Bridget discuss the reaction of the world to the October 7th attacks, the shocking amount of denial there is to something Hamas admits to having done, and her commitment to telling her experience to anyone who will listen because all she can do is tell the truth. They discuss why we should teach our kids to get comfortable being uncomfortable, how life is more powerful than anything else, the reality of facing people who don't want her to exist, and why you shouldn't ask her how she's doing.


Israel finds boxes of medicine intended for Gaza hostages in hospital
Israel has updated families of Gaza hostages on Friday that IDF found boxes with medicine, intended for their loved ones in Hamas captivity, at the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, the IDF confirmed following a Channel 13 report.

The names of hostages were written on the boxes with the medications, which appeared to have never reached the captives. The finding is being examined, the IDF said.

Israeli forces launched a targeted operation within the hospital on Thursday, aiming to apprehend Hamas terrorists and recover the bodies of hostages.

IDF: We have credible intel hostages' bodies are at Nasser Hospital
In a Thursday briefing, IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari stated, “Sadly, we know that some hostages are no longer alive. We are committed to finding and returning the bodies of those hostages in Gaza.

“We have credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and that there may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital facility,” Hagari continued.

The IDF also announced that they had located weapons in the hospital and detained dozens of suspects for questioning, including more than 20 terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre.

Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkelman, commander of the Southern Commander, said "This was a precise, high-quality, and focused operation, which so far has helped us arrest dozens of terrorists, including murderous terrorists inside the hospital. We will continue, act, and fight everywhere, including here in the city of Khan Yunis, in the heart of the city, and everywhere in the Gaza Strip."


German Minister of Justice Expresses Support for Israel
German Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann spoke this week on the challenges that have arisen in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and the resulting war. "Jews were so indisputably the victims" on Oct. 7, he explained.

He said the German government "has banned the use of the slogan, 'From the River to the Sea/Palestine will be Free.'"

"Antisemites hate Jews, but in doing so, they hate people. In fact, they hate humanity itself because those that oppress a particular group of people would do the same to another. In this conflict, we stand beside Israel. That is where Germany belongs."

He said those who say Germany should look at both sides of the conflict must know that is "exactly what we do."

"On the one side, we see a fanatical Islamist regime, on the other, we see a liberal democracy. We know exactly where we stand. We stand with the victims, with liberal democracy, with Jews; we stand with Israel. We stand with Israel because we know who started the terror on Oct. 7."
Pro-Palestinian groups file legal action against German politician over Gaza war
Pro-Palestinian activists have filed criminal charges against a German politician for suspected incitement of hate and denial of war crimes in Israel's war in Gaza, they said on Friday.

The charges against Volker Beck, a former member of parliament and the head of the German-Israeli Society, were brought by Palestinian solidarity groups Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East.

"This is the first step in holding public figures who publicly make genocidal statements legally accountable," the group wrote on its Instagram.

The charges, filed at five prosecutor offices across Germany, cite Beck's statements on social media, in opinion pieces and media interviews in which he expressed support for Israel's military operation in Gaza, calling for making humanitarian aid conditional on Hamas freeing Israeli hostages.

Rejecting accusations of genocide
Beck rejected the claims as "nonsense."

"There is no genocide in Gaza and I do not advocate genocide," he told Reuters, adding that he had filed complaints against the groups for defamation.

"These people have a disturbed relationship with the rule of law if they believe that many complaints lead to more investigations."


Matisyahu calls out hypocrisy after having his sold out show canceled without warning
Jewish musician Matisyahu called out hypocrisy after his show in Santa Fe was canceled without warning at the last minute on Thursday night.

Matisyahu posted to X on Thursday night to vent his frustration after a show at a venue in Sante Fe and another show at a venue in Tucson were both canceled at the last minute.

According to local news channels, the Santa Fe venue canceled due to safety concerns after it had been inundated with social media posts and phone calls.

The venue expected there to be protests during the show leading to 150 members of staff expressing concern over the lack of safety.

Local pro-Palestinian groups claimed to have been responsible for the cancelation.

However, Matisyahu disputed this saying that venues had misinformed fans that the cancelation was due to security concerns, saying that the shows had actually been canceled due to a group of staff who were unwilling to work his show.

He said that his team had offered to cover replacement staff out of pocket, but this too was rejected.

"They do this because they are either antisemitic or have confused empath for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians," the musician said in his post.

"Tearing down posters of kidnapped children does not bring peace," he wrote, "Preventing fans of all ethnic and religious backgrounds from singing together in Santa Fe or Tucson does not make peace."

"It may make some people feel good to express anger publicly in hopes that it will obscure the hypocrisy of us Americans living on actual colonized land taken through an actual genocide of Native Americans."

Matisyahu apologized to his fans in Tucson and Santa Fe for the cancelation and promised he and his band would return.

"We will not respond to hate with more hate. We will be together again. We will make music together again. We will sing together again One Day soon..." he wrote.
Democratic senator’s wife helps lead group behind Jewish artist Matisyahu’s show cancelation
The wife of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) is a top staffer for a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company whose venue was accused by Jewish American singer Matisyahu of antisemitism after it canceled his concert this week, records show.

Matisyahu, a Pennsylvania native famous for songs such as “One Day” and “King Without a Crown,” had his sold-out Wednesday show unexpectedly canceled by Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf, prompting pro-Palestinian activists to take credit for pressuring the venue, KOAT reported. Meanwhile, Meow Wolf counts its chief impact officer as Julie Heinrich, who was also chief of staff and executive director of its foundation until May 2023, according to tax forms reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

“Without our permission or approval, the venue in Santa Fe misinformed our fans canceling the show due to ‘security concerns,’ when the only concern was a group of staff unwilling to work my show,” Matisyahu, whose birth name is Matthew Paul Miller, said in a statement on Thursday on X.

That Martin Heinrich’s wife is involved with Meow Wolf could serve as baggage for the Democrat, who has called for the United States to resume aid to the Hamas-tied United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which Israel says employed 12 people who participated in the Oct. 7 attack against the Jewish state. Martin Heinrich joined 10 senators in January to vote in favor of a resolution led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have tasked the State Department with investigating Israel for war crimes and may have resulted in the U.S. cutting Israeli aid, Jewish Insider reported.


Susan Sarandon joins Squad member Rashida Tlaib in Congressional protest demanding US stop 'funding genocide' - three months after apologizing for saying Jewish Americans 'are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim '
Susan Sarandon joined Squad member Rashida Tlaib in a protest on Capitol Hill, demanding for the US to stop 'funding genocide.'

The actor made a statement to members of the press on Thursday, calling for a ceasefire during an 'advocacy day,' organized by the left-wing anti-war women's organization CODEPINK.

'There's never been peace that's been attained through violence,' Sarandon said, ironically just three months after issuing a groveling apology for saying Jewish Americans 'are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country.'

The 77-year-old, who was wrapped in a red keffiyeh scarf while posing for pictures, said, 'We have to have a permanent ceasefire and save the lives of all those people that are now just being shot at like fish in a barrel.'

The Oscar-winning actor was dropped by her Hollywood company in November over anti-Semitic remarks. Her demonstration comes after a $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate on Tuesday morning, including $14.1 billion for Israel's war against Hamas.

'Well I wish that I had $1,000,000 plus which is what Jeffries has received and Torres also to try to have a conversation,' she added. 'But they clearly don't want to have a dialogue, they don't want to have a conversation which to me makes it seem as if they're afraid to know the truth about what's going on.'

'And I guess their AIPAC donors make that very difficult should they start to listen to what actually the rest of the world, the rest of the United States, the bulk of the United States wants a ceasefire.'

'I just can't bear any longer to see this kind of devastation with so many victims are children and women. I don't understand how people cant turn a blind eye to that,' said Sarandon.

Sarandon has made no effort to call out violence against Israelis on October 7, nor has she advocated for the release of the hostages - including as many as six Americans, who are still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.


Hostage poster defaced at Gottheimer’s office
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) reported an incident at his office he described as “truly deprived and heinous.”

On Thursday, an unknown individual affixed a “Boycott Israeli Apartheid” sticker in the colors of the Palestinian flag onto a poster of Adina Moshe, the 72-year-old Israeli grandmother and former hostage who was released after 49 days of imprisonment in Gaza.

Her husband, Sa’id David, was killed by Hamas terrorists.

“To vandalize the poster of an innocent civilian who was violently ripped from her home as Hamas terrorists shot and murdered her husband is nothing less than a blatant act of antisemitism and hate,” Gottheimer said. “I have submitted a request to Capitol Police for video of the individual responsible. I refuse to be silent in the face of this horrific behavior, which only serves to perpetuate and amplify the skyrocketing levels of antisemitism across our nation.”

On Feb. 15, Gottheimer led a letter of legislators calling for U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support the resignations of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, commonly known as UNRWA.


Woman who escaped jail after wearing 'paraglider' image at pro-Palestine demo could be DEPORTED as her immigration status is reviewed: CPS also considers judicial review into judge's decision
The refugee who wore a paraglider image at a pro-Palestine protest will reportedly have her immigration status reviewed.

Heba Alhayek, 29, came to the UK claiming to be fleeing from Hamas and previously claimed her life would be at risk if she went back to Gaza after her family's criticism of the terror group.

Now the Home Office is reportedly looking into her immigration status after she was convicted under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Home Office told the Telegraph that 'supporting banned terrorist groups will not be tolerated'.

Alhayek, Pauline Ankunda, 26, and Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, displayed paraglider stickers on a London march on October 14 last year - just seven days after Hamas terrorists used paragliders to enter Israel before randomly slaughtering 1,200 people.

They were found guilty this week following a two-day trial, but judge Tan Ikram said he had 'decided not to punish' the women and gave them a 12-month conditional discharge instead on the basis that he did not believe they were true Hamas supporters and 'emotions' had 'run very high' at the time of their offence.

This caused the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider seeking a judicial review, a decision former Home Secretary Suella Braverman praised as she told the Times: 'It's clear that something has gone very wrong here.'

It comes following calls by MPs and campaigners for his decision to be revisited after he 'accidentally' liked an anti-Israeli post online.

Ikram, who is a deputy senior district judge, says he accidentally liked a video on LinkedIn claiming 'justice will be coming' to Israelis.

It came to light a day after he let the women walk free from Westminster Magistrates' Court.


Amira Elghawaby defends antisemitic protest in front of Toronto hospital
It’s hard to imagine Monday’s rally outside Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital — in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the entrance, held signs glorifying terrorists and chanted in support of committing violence against Israelis — endearing anyone to the Palestinian cause. But it seems to have worked on Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Islamophobia czar, who used the opportunity to excuse the protesters’ reprehensible actions and opine on geopolitical issues.

Monday’s protest snaked through downtown Toronto, eventually making its way to the Israeli consulate. While demonstrating in front of the consulate of a foreign government whose actions you disagree with is perfectly legitimate, the choice to target this particular hospital shows that the protesters had far more sinister motives. Article content

Mount Sinai is located on a stretch on University Avenue known as “Hospital Row,” because it’s home to five different hospitals. Mount Sinai just so happens to be the only one with a logo resembling the Jewish Star of David. It was opened in 1923 to cater to the city’s growing Jewish immigrant population, who faced discrimination and language barriers at other medical facilities, and employ Jewish doctors, who were barred from working in the city’s other hospitals.

It’s now a public hospital that serves everyone, but it still offers special accommodations for religious Jews, including kosher meals and Shabbat elevators. Like the weeks-long protest at the Avenue Road overpass, in the heart of one of the country’s largest Jewish neighbourhoods, the targeting of Mount Sinai was clearly intended to send the message that these demonstrators are not merely voicing their opposition to a foreign government, but to Jews in general.




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