Tuesday, February 27, 2024

02/27 Links Pt1: Palestinian Incitement Is Central to Hamas’s Sadistic Wars; Israeli officials puzzled by Biden’s optimism on ceasefire; We need to talk about Gen Z’s Palestine mania

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Palestinian Incitement Is Central to Hamas’s Sadistic Wars
I don’t know that I’ve ever made my way through something as hard to read as the comprehensive report released last week by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel. Titled “Silent Cry: Sexual Crimes in the October 7 War,” the report lays out in gruesome detail what we know—not what is theorized or assumed, but what is known—about Hamas’s depravity on and after October 7.

People who still doubt and deny these atrocities aren’t searching for evidence, and it’s clear they never were. Despite that, the value in documenting Hamas’s barbarousness for posterity is obvious. In addition, the report was delivered to the United Nations, which has a special obligation to read it and act on it because it has a unique level of culpability in the crimes.

I don’t mean simply the fact that UN employees participated in the attacks, though that is certainly part of the picture. The report reveals something truly catastrophic about the society over which the UN has presided as its primary steward.

Palestinians in Gaza have been brainwashed beyond hatred to the point of sadistic reprogramming, and it is incumbent on the world to intervene.

The report is available online here, and readers can decide for themselves the level of detail they are prepared to handle. But one quote in particular has haunted me ever since I first read the report. An emergency responder on the scene described the mutilation of the victims this way: “There’s almost no body they were satisfied with (just) shooting.”

There is abundant eyewitness testimony, but the Gazans who carried out those crimes went to great lengths to leave no doubt. Victims—both men and women, but mostly women—were found with nails, grenades, knives, iron bars, and gunshot wounds in their genitals. There was, in fact, an overriding obsession with sexual torture and mutilation along with rape, and often with family members forced to watch. It is all consistent with the many videos Hamas took themselves of terrorists dragging mostly naked women through the streets as onlookers cheer. Internal organs were mutilated as well, and some victims were beheaded.

Put it this way: You know something is truly demonic when phrases like “just murdered” or “just raped” appear in a report.
'October 7, part two:' Iran plans for terror during Ramadan, Israel charges
Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are trying to use Ramadan to inflame the region to achieve another October 7 disaster against Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Tuesday.

According to Gallant, they hope to provoke Palestinians in the West Bank, Hezbollah, Arabs, and Muslims across the region to attack and turn their rage on Israel, using the Temple Mount and tensions in the West Bank as an excuse.

The defense minister has been a leading voice for smashing Hamas and earlier in the war, tried to convince the war cabinet to launch a preemptive strike on Hezbollah.

Gallant calls for reducing tensions
However, at this point, he believes that fighting the war without hesitation must go hand in hand with reducing tensions in areas where there is no reason for there to be tensions.

This means Gallant is strongly against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s push to reduce access to the Temple Mount for certain Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan, though this time he did not mention Ben-Gvir by name.

Further, he has pushed for over a month to allow Shin Bet-approved Palestinian West Bank workers to return to their Israeli employees.

Before the war, there were around 210,000 Palestinian West Bank workers constantly going to work for Israelis, with the number of those who committed terror attacks in single digits.

A vast number of terror attacks over the years have been committed by Palestinians who break through the security barrier illegally.

Based on these consistent factors, both the IDF and the Shin Bet have consistently recommended returning Palestinian West Bank workers, as opposed to Palestinian Gaza workers, which all authorities currently oppose.


Netanyahu and Biden clash over claim Israel losing world support
Israel risks losing the world's support if it keeps with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "incredibly conservative government," US President Joe Biden said in an appearance on the late-night show Seth Meyers on Monday night, where he joked about his age and Taylor Swift conspiracy theories before turning serious to discuss Israel and Gaza.

Netanyahu appeared to reply to Biden later on Tuesday, saying in a recorded address that "since the beginning of this war, I have been leading the diplomatic front, whose mission it is to block pressure exerted on Israel, while simultaneously gaining support."

Biden said it's a principle agreement that there will be a ceasefire while the hostages are released. He said Netanyahu agreed they would not engage in fighting during Ramadan, a point the Prime Minister later contested.

Biden said Netanyahu made him a commitment that they're going evacuate significant portions of Rafah before beginning ground operations.

“That gives us time to begin to move in directions that a lot of Arab countries are prepared to move in," Biden said, saying Saudi, Jordan, Egypt, and six other countries were ready to recognize Israel.

'Take advantage of the opportunity'
Biden said Israel has to take advantage of an opportunity to have peace and security for Israelis, and Palestinians who are being used as pawns by Hamas.

“I think that if we get that temporary ceasefire, we're going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic," Biden said.

Biden issued cautious criticism of Netanyahu and Israel's government.

"If it keeps us up without this incredibly conservative government they have and Ben-Gvir and others… they're going to lose support from around the world," Biden said.

At least 50 anti-Biden protestors were arrested inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where Myers' NBC studio is, according to Jewish Voices for Peace NYC, an organizer of the protest.


Israeli officials puzzled by Biden’s optimism on ceasefire deal
Senior Israeli officials said on Tuesday that they were unaware of any basis for U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks on Monday that a hostage-for-ceasefire agreement in Gaza is imminent.

During an unannounced visit to Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in Manhattan, near Rockefeller Plaza, Biden was asked about when a ceasefire in Gaza might start.

“I hope by the end of the weekend,” Biden said, per the pool report.

“My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden said. “My hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.”

Ynet quoted the senior Israeli officials as saying on Tuesday morning that they do not understand “what the American president’s optimism is based on.”

The Hamas terrorist group also weighed in on Biden’s comments, with a source telling Reuters that the statement was premature and did not align with the situation on the ground.

“There are still big gaps that need to be bridged before there is a ceasefire,” he said.

A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that there has been no breakthrough in the negotiations that can be announced, while expressing that Doha is “optimistic” that a deal can be reached, even though Hamas and Israel don’t agree on any of the main issues. He added that Qatar has no intention of responding to Biden’s comments.

Reuters reported on Tuesday morning on the details of the proposal discussed at the Paris summit last weekend and submitted to Hamas for review.
Hamas: There are big gaps to be bridged before the next ceasefire deal
The Hamas terrorist organization said on Tuesday that "there are still big gaps that need to be bridged," Maariv reported.

Hamas's comments came in response to US President Joe Biden saying that he hopes a ceasefire will be reached in the Gaza Strip by next Monday.

The source said, "Biden's comments on the cessation of hostilities are premature and do not correspond to the situation on the ground."

"We're close, but it's not over yet"
Maariv noted that on his way out of NBC studios, Biden said that his "National Security Adviser said we are close, but it's not over yet."

In an interview he conducted before with the network, he emphasized that "Israel agreed not to carry out 'activities' in the Gaza Strip during the month of Ramadan" and that "there is an Israeli commitment to evacuate the residents of Rafah before it begins the operation to eliminate what is left of Hamas."
Lebanon's Hezbollah will halt fire if Hamas OKs Gaza truce, sources say
Lebanon's Hezbollah will halt fire on Israel if its ally Hamas agrees to a proposal for a truce with Israel in Gaza - unless Israeli forces keep shelling Lebanon, two sources familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters on Tuesday.

Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon's southern border since October 8, a day after the October 7 massacre that initiated the Israel-Hamas war.

A temporary truce between Hamas and Israel to allow for hostage and prisoner releases led to a week of calm across the Lebanese-Israeli border in late November.

Hamas is now weighing a new proposal, agreed by Israel at talks with mediators in Paris last week, for a deal that would suspend fighting for 40 days, which would be the first extended pause of the five-month-old war.

Hezbollah to adhere to truce
"The moment Hamas announces its approval of the truce, and the moment the truce is declared, Hezbollah will adhere to the truce and will stop operations in the south immediately, as happened the previous time," one of the two sources close to the heavily armed, Shi'ite Muslim group said.

But if Israel continued shelling Lebanon, Hezbollah would not hesitate to carry on fighting, both sources said.

The Hezbollah media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said earlier this month the group's attacks on Israel would only end when Israel's "aggression" against Gaza ends.

Hezbollah is one of several Iran-aligned groups around the Middle East that have entered the fray since the Gaza war began, waging campaigns they say aim to support Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthis of Yemen have been firing on shipping in the Red Sea, prompting US strikes on the group, and Iran-backed Iraqi groups have fired on US troops at bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. A drone attack late last month in northeast Jordan killed three US soldiers, prompting US retaliatory strikes.


IDF presses on in Gaza ahead of Rafah op
The Israeli Air Force struck the source of rocket launches carried out from the central Gaza Strip at Israeli communities on Monday, the military reported on Tuesday.

An operational center that directed several of the launches was hit as well as a launcher used to fire several rockets. An additional operational center from which terrorists fired on Israeli forces was also destroyed.

Also in central Gaza over the past 24 hours, several terrorists were killed and dozens of weapons were located. In addition, IDF engineering forces demolished dozens of “strategic sites” belonging to Hamas.

Targeted strikes continue in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, both from the ground and the air. IDF forces found a weapons manufacturing facility, rocket launchers and combat systems. Troops also destroyed a tunnel shaft and eliminated the terrorists inside.

Israeli forces are clearing Hamas terrorists out of the Zeitoun neighborhood in a weeks-long operation ahead of a pilot program in the district to empower local leaders to replace Hamas in governing the Gaza Strip and to end anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement in the education system.

Additionally, IDF troops are continuing their offensive in western Khan Yunis before the fighting moves to the southernmost city of Rafah along the Egyptian border, where four of Hamas’s remaining six battalions are concentrated.

Israel has destroyed 18 of the terror group’s 24 battalions so far.

Once the IDF launches the Rafah operation, it will be “weeks away from total victory,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News on Sunday.
Gaza's humanitarian crisis: Yahya Sinwar sets up a trap for Israel
Despite Israeli voices raising cautious optimism over a potential hostage and ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip, Hamas again upped its demands following talks in Paris, requesting a permanent ceasefire as well as a complete retreat of Israeli forces.

The question that must be asked is: Which card is Hamas holding that allows them to up their demands?

It is not a coincidence that the negotiating party craving a truce would be the same one that would toughen its stance. The unexpected answer is, that Hamas understands it holds the humanitarian card.

Reports of ever-growing hunger in Gaza are gathering pace. Hamas is attempting to ride this humanitarian wave by creating the false narrative that Gazans are starving and dying as a result.

Who is Yahya Sinwar depending on in the international community?
Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is betting on international authorities forcefully stopping the IDF's invasion of Gaza in its tracks after images of starving Gazan children start spreading on social media.

To create this narrative, Hamas is working on multiple fronts. On one hand, it is willing and able to send the United Nations to do its bidding.

Three UN agencies - the WFP, the World Health Organization, and the children's agency UNICEF - said last week that food and safe water were "incredibly scarce and diseases are rife...resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition" in Gaza, more than four months into the Israel-Hamas war.

On another hand, Sinwar is ensuring that food does not reach the Gazans, for the right picture to be painted across the globe. Sinwar does that by denying his people food.


Hamas tactics revealed: IDF recovers footage from terrorist's camera
The IDF's 932nd Battalion combat team located a camera last week belonging to a Hamas terrorist in the Zeitoun area in the northern Gaza Strip that contained footage exposing the terrorist organization's method of firing anti-tank missiles from built-up areas and inside buildings, as well as how the enemy operates in the area, the IDF reported on Monday.

This was when IDF St.-Sgt. Abraham Wovagen fell in battle, and terror cells that were suspected of shooting at the soldier were eliminated by an IDF aircraft.

Israeli forces carried out a targeted raid on a structure used to fire at the troops later that day, where weapons used by the terror organization were located, including a short-range anti-tank missile, pistols, sniper rifles, and ammunition.


IDF: Islamic Jihad commander, 2 other gunmen killed by troops in West Bank
Three Palestinian gunmen, including a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander, were killed by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank on Tuesday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian health officials.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said two of the men were killed in Tubas, located about halfway between Nablus and Jenin in the West Bank. The third was killed in Far’a, a nearby refugee camp.

The ministry identified the men as Ahmed Jamal Daraghmeh, 26, Muhammad Samih Bayadseh, 32, and Osama Jabr Zalat, 31.

The IDF and Palestinian media identified Daraghmeh as the commander of a local wing of Islamic Jihad in the area, known as the Tubas Battalion.

According to the IDF, Daraghmeh was previously involved in shooting and explosive device attacks against troops operating in the West Bank. It said he was killed by troops of the elite Duvdevan unit during a counter-terrorism raid in the area.

The IDF said the other two men — Bayadseh and Zalat — were also gunmen and killed by the commandos. The troops also found a command room where local terror operatives would use surveillance cameras to observe army activity, it added.


Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at Upper Galilee
The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah fired a “significant” rocket barrage at northern Israel on Tuesday morning. The Iranian proxy said the attack was a response to an Israeli strike the previous day in the Beqaa Valley which killed a senior Hezbollah commander.

According to Hezbollah, the barrage targeted the Israeli Air Force’s air control base on Mount Meron, which has been attacked multiple times since Hezbollah joined the war in support of Hamas a day after the Oct. 7 mass invasion of southern Israel.

The IDF later in the morning confirmed that 35 launches were identified in the direction of the Mount Meron area and that there were no injuries or damage to the Meron base.

The rockets set off air-raid sirens in Upper Galilee communities, with the Magen David Adom emergency medical services saying that they received no initial calls of injuries or damage.

Following the rocket attack, IAF fighter jets struck several areas in Southern Lebanon, including the areas of Hanniyeh, Jibchit, Baisariyeh and Mansouri, according to the military, which also said that artillery struck in the area of Yaroun “in order to remove a threat.”


UN claims Israel stalled evacuation from Gaza hospital, IDF refutes claim
The IDF on Tuesday refuted claims made by the United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA), which said the Israeli military had stalled a medical evacuation convoy in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, detaining a paramedic and forcing others to remove their clothes.

According to OCHA, the incident occurred on Sunday during the evacuation of 24 patients from the city's Al-Amal Hospital. The hospital complex has been under siege during Israel's military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, aid agencies and Palestinian officials say.

According to the IDF, after it had accepted a request to evacuate patients from Al-Amal, it received information about the presence of Hamas terrorists among those evacuated from the hospital.

Three Red Crescent workers were detained on suspicion of involvement in terror activities, the IDF said, with one being released back into the convoy. The IDF continued, saying the convoy resumed its evacuations after the three were arrested.


Lawmakers & Aid Experts Call to Replace UNRWA at Geneva Summit
Lawmakers from UNRWA donor countries, senior former UNRWA and UN officials, aid experts, America’s former Middle East peace envoy, and the mother of a victim kidnapped by an UNRWA staffer convened today next to the UN to plan how to replace the failed agency.

The first-ever International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA, hosted in Geneva by the non-governmental human rights organization UN Watch, took place as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was next door defending UNRWA at the annual opening of the UN Human Rights Council.

In recent weeks, it was revealed that 42 UNRWA employees took part or assisted in perpetrating the atrocities of October 7th, and an estimated 1,400 belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

As a result, an unprecedented worldwide movement has emerged to replace UNRWA. In the 24 hours preceding the summit, over 100,000 people signed UN Watch’s petition to replace UNRWA.

One of the employees who took part in the October 7th massacre was Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, who was caught on video kidnapping the lifeless body of Israeli civilian Yonatan Samareno in an UNRWA vehicle, taken into Gaza.

Yonatan’s mother, Ayelet Samareno, spoke at the summit, demanding to meet UN chief Guterres as he was meeting next door with Iranian foreign minister Amir Abdollahian.

“Mr. Guterres, look me in the eyes and answer me now: Where is my son? Bring him back home. You are next door. You’re here, and you have the opportunity to meet me and tell me what are you going to do and how can you bring me back my son,” said Samareno.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN European headquarters, Meirav Eilon Shahar, told the summit that “there must be an alternative to UNRWA.”

“Mr. Guterres and Mr. Lazzarini need to ask themselves: How many of the attackers on October 7 were not only directly employed by UNRWA, but educated by UNRWA schools? We are talking about thousands of terrorists that infiltrated into Israel. How many were educated by UNRWA schools?”

“I don’t see a way for Israel to continue to work with UNRWA in Gaza,” said the Israeli ambassador.


Congressman Ritchie Torres at the International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA
Hello, I’m Congressman Ritchie Torres from NY-15 in the Bronx.

Associate Justice Robert Jackson served as the chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials. In his opening statement he said, “the wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish are so calculated, so malignant, so devastating, that we cannot tolerate their being ignored because we cannot survive their being repeated.”

Those same words should be said about October 7th. Israel cannot tolerate October 7th being ignored, because the Jewish state cannot survive it being repeated. For me, October 7th was a crime against humanity so barbaric that it cannot be ignored, it cannot go unpunished.

Hamas must be removed from power, and the perpetrators of October 7th must be brought to justice.

Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas in the aftermath of October 7th for the same reason the United States had a right to defend itself against Al Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11. Self-defense is the right, and responsibility, and raison d’être of every nation-state, including the Jewish nation-state.

I want to commend Hillel Neuer for turning the light of truth upon the systemic antisemitism of UNRWA, and the larger Palestinian refugee industrial complex. Not only did your reporting and Israeli intelligence implicate several UNRWA employees in October 7th, but UNRWA itself has long been indoctrinating its students with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate.

Let me be clear, hate will never bring peace, it will only bring more violence and more senseless suffering. We must stop perpetuating the ideologies and institutions that perpetuate hate. Pure and simple. We must be clear-eyed about the incestuous relationship between Hamas and UNRWA.




Released hostage Ohad Munder gets to watch his football heroes
A child who spent his ninth birthday in captivity in Gaza has been to England to see his favourite football club, Liverpool, play at Wembley.

Former hostage Ohad Munder was released from captivity after 49 days as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the first ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the USA.

He was held with his mum, Keren, 54, and grandfather, Avraham Munder, who remains in captivity.

This week, members of the Munder family met congregants of the Liberal Synagogue Elstree (TLSE) while on a visit to the UK. The synagogue is raising awareness of the plight of Avraham Munder, who recently turned 79 in captivity, as part of the Board of Deputies’ “Adopt a Hostage” scheme.

Speaking about the family's ordeal on October 7 during her trip to the UK, Keren said: “We were lucky they didn't shoot as they kicked the door in. In what world would a person count themselves lucky for getting abducted without being shot?”

The Munder family’s life was turned upside down on October 7 when Keren’s brother, Roi, 50, was among the 1,200 victims slaughtered by Hamas terrorists.

Meanwhile, Keren, Ohad and Keren’s mother, Ruti, were abducted from the family home on Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Avraham fought to hold the door shut against the terrorists as they tried to break in. He was injured and taken away separately.

Avraham’s family had hoped he was safe in Israel until they heard from other ex-hostages who said they had seen him in the tunnels.


Caroline Glick: From Seinfeld to Ben-Gvir, Antisemites Attack Jews
Jewish businesses or anybody who supports Israel in any way are being attacked across the world by far-left and Islamist mobs. Is this causing an awakening and a new realization about the nature of antisemitism?


Israel-Hamas: "You're Waging a War on CHILDREN" | Piers Morgan vs Naftali Bennett
Piers Morgan delivers his latest monologue on the the extremism that's emerged from both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate before interviewing former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett brands Brazil’s President Lula “an idiot” and blasts critics of Israel as “unfair” and “wrong”, telling Piers: “I will not apologise for defending my children, for defending my country”.

Piers also presses him on the chances of a ceasefire over Ramadan and quizzes Bennett on plans to bomb Rafah refugee camps before the pair clash on the number of civilians being killed and Bennett’s use of the term “Hamas civilians”.

00:00 Piers monologue on Islamophobia and hypocrisy
03:50 Introduction to Naftali Bennett
04:40 "We do all we can to prevent unnecessary deaths"
05:22 "When you are working with ideologies, first you have to win"
05:57 Why would Hamas surrender?
06:25 "If thousands of Hamas have surrendered, where are they?"
07:30 What is a Hamas civilian?
09:05 "I would call civilian deaths ‘collateral damage’"
10:44 "You’ve just admitted to me that you are killing civilians"
11:45 Ukraine and Gaza wars: "You are comparing apples and oranges"
15:15 "How can you justify attacking a refugee camp?"
17:10 There are many people dying of malnutrition, what is Israel doing?
18:14 Brazil’s President Lula 'is an idiot'
19:30 Piers points out the possible disproportionate response
21:25 "You’re basically waging a war on children"
24:05 "How likely is it that we’ll get another ceasefire?"
25:11 "Do you think Netanyahu should step aside?"
25:50 The plan for Gaza




The Israel Guys: REVEALED: Hostage Exchange Details Released as Israel Prepares to Invade Rafah
Israel’s Channel 13 has revealed the details of a new hostage exchange proposal, in return for which Israel would agree to a multi-week ceasefire, as well as releasing hundreds of convicted terrorists who are in Israeli prisons. At the same time, Netanyahu just announced that the Israeli cabinet will meet this week to approve the IDF’s invasion of Rafah, Hamas’ Gaza stronghold, where four Hamas battalions are located.


Andrew Bolt slams UN as ‘useless’
Sky News host Andrew Bolt has slammed the United Nations as “useless”.

Mr Bolt joined Sky News host Steve Price to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

“There’s a river … four to seven and a half kilometres from the actual border with Lebanon and Israel,” Mr Bolt said.

“And Hezbollah’s not supposed to be there … it’s not supposed to be there under a deal signed with UN approval, etc.

“They’re useless, the UN is supposed to be monitoring that Hezbollah does not have rockets there.“




Brendan O'Neill: We need to talk about Gen Z’s Palestine mania
That image of a man screaming ‘FREE PALESTINE!’ even as fire envelopes his body points to a broader ailment in our societies. ‘Free Palestine’ really is everywhere – in social-media bios, on banners held aloft by the self-righteous chattering class, even in death. The omnipresence of this slogan is enough to make me wary of it. It feels like a kind of cultural tyranny. Everywhere you look, ‘Free Palestine’. The jealous elevation of this one cause brutally excludes every other troubled or oppressed people from the affections of virtuous Westerners. Darfurians, Uyghurs, Kurds, even the West’s own working classes – be damned, it’s ‘Free Palestine’ or nothing.

The singularity of Palestine in the woke brain is curious, to say the least. To return to tragic Aaron – why did he not feel as much fury over his own military’s horrendous actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya as he did over Israel’s pursuit of the pogromists of Hamas in Gaza? Such is the singularity of Palestine that it appears to blind people even to the crimes of their own colleagues. All that matters is hating Israel and loving Palestine. There is a powerful vicarious streak in Gen Z’s Palestine mania – unable, perhaps unwilling, to confront the crises of their own societies, they take comfort in the fairytale narrative they have fashioned around Israel-Gaza. Where fixing what ails the West is complicated, pontificating over Palestine is easy. It provides an instant glow of righteousness to a generation reluctant to address the legion problems their own nations and communities face.

Palestine mania unnerves me. This is not normal politics. It has nothing in common with the anti-war or anti-imperialist campaigns of old. Witness the swarms of Gen Zers and millennials on social media confessing to feeling bereft or devastated or plunged into turmoil by Gaza. This is luxuriant emotionalism masquerading as radical critique, therapy disguised as politics. Palestine mania represents the subjugation of the complex conflicts of the Middle East to the psychosocial needs of privileged Westerners. There is an ironically neo-colonialist bent to this exploitation of foreign grief for domestic gain. I’m sorry that Aaron Bushnell thought that Israel is so uniquely cruel, so unjust, that he had no choice but to sacrifice himself in opposition to it. He was wrong. The Palestine mania hit him hard. RIP.


Seth Frantzman: How is Iran exploiting the self-immolation of US airman Aaron Bushnell?
Iranian state media has sought to exploit the death of Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old member of the US Air Force who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy on Sunday.

Bushnell died as a result of his actions, which he claimed to have carried out because of the war in Gaza. He created a short video that showed him dousing himself in liquid before setting himself on fire. First responders attempted to help and put out the fire but were unsuccessful in their attempt to save him.

Iran’s Press TV put out an image of Bushnell on X, formerly known as Twitter, and has sought to exploit the tragedy. This is clear from the fact that Iranian media in Farsi does not appear to have the same level of adoration for the act, which is likely because burning oneself alive is not considered acceptable in Iran. However, the Iranian regime, using media in English, wants to use this incident to create more of a crisis around the war in Gaza.

The Press TV post notes that “Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, set himself on fire outside the embassy of the Israeli regime in protest against the campaign of death and destruction in Gaza. He died Saturday night, US officials say.” They then added a hashtag with his name on it. Press TV also created an image of the airman, citing his plan to engage in an “extreme act of protest.”


Mohammed El-Kurd laments not being allowed to hijack planes in protest
Palestinian activist Mohammed El-Kurd likened hijacking planes and other extreme acts of violence to more peaceful forms of protest, and complained that none of them were acceptable on a post on X, late Monday night.

"You can’t protest peacefully. You can’t boycott. You can’t hunger strike. You can’t hijack planes. You can’t block traffic. You can’t throw Molotovs. You can’t self-immolate. You can’t heckle politicians. You can’t march. You can’t riot. You can’t dissent. You just can’t be," he said in the post.

Shortly after posting, the unorthodox statement gained a lot of traction on X and warranted hundreds of replies, including from the Israeli government spokesman, Eylon Levy.

"Imagine associating your whole being with hijacking planes," Levy said in his response.

Mohammed El-Kurd made this post as a response to US airman Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in New York while yelling "Free Palestine."


'Father God, just be with us': Terrifying moment cop prays as she prepares to confront mom who dragged her son, seven, inside Joel Osteen's Texas megachurch and started spraying bullets from an assault rifle before being shot dead
This is the moment a female shooter used her seven-year-old son as a human shield as she entered celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch to open fire.

Genesse Moreno, 36, entered the church on February 11 with her son Samuel and began firing an AR-style rifle until she was gunned down by off-duty police officers. Samuel was shot in the head and remains hospitalized in Texas in critical condition.

Security camera video from Lakewood, released on Monday by police, showed the terror of the brief attack, which started with Moreno in a trench coat arriving at the church in a white SUV and taking her son out of the back seat and walking toward the building.

At one point in the footage, Moreno could be heard saying, 'you killed my son.' She later said, 'stand down, I have a bomb. I have a (expletive) bomb.' Gunfire could be heard as she talked.

Footage from one body camera showed people chatting before suddenly jolting at the sound of the first gunshot. Confused, some began running and then rapid gunfire ensued. Bystanders could be seen taking cover in rooms and hallways.


‘It is a jihad of martyrdom or victory’: Laura Allam
A prominent advocate for victims in the Middle East has been accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man because he worked for a Jewish employer.

Laura Allam – a 28-year-old mother who claims to do humanitarian work and has tens of thousands of followers on social media – has been charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, false imprisonment, unlawful assault and assault by kicking.

But an extraordinary suppression order relating to her case prevents the Herald Sun from running Ms Allam’s image, referencing some ethnic groups or providing certain detail about her advocacy activities.

The alleged attack on the 31-year-old man occurred in a residential area in St Albans on Friday, February 16.

A Victoria Police spokesperson last night said in a statement: “It’s alleged a man was pulled from a car near the intersection of Gladstone and Cleveland streets about 9.30pm. “He was then allegedly placed in another car and assaulted and robbed before being released in Braybrook.”

Sources said the man needed extensive treatment in hospital for injuries sustained in the “horrific kidnapping and torture”.

They added that Ms Allam, who lives in Fraser Rise in Melbourne’s northwest, had orchestrated the vicious assault.

The police spokesperson confirmed that Brimbank Divisional Response Unit detectives had charged two people in relation to the alleged kidnapping.
7th February: ‘Disgrace’: Andrew Bolt slams Greens for sharing stage with Laura Allam
Sky News host Andrew Bolt has slammed the Greens as a “disgrace” to the country after senators stood beside Al-Jannah Foundation founder Laura Allam at a protest in Canberra.

Three Greens senators took part in the Palestine to Parliament protest in Canberra on Wednesday where Ms Allam was a speaker.

Ms Allam has previously tweeted pictures of four Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza with the caption “good riddance”.

On the morning after Hamas murdered about 1,200 people in Israel, Ms Allam also made a post on social media saying, “Woke up to some great news for our beloved Palestine."

Mr Bolt questioned why the Greens would share a stage with someone who “barracks” for an Islamist terror group.

“That's one of the people now sharing a stage with the Greens. The Greens may not have known of Allam’s past, but this is who they find next to them in their gutter,” he said.

“What a disgrace to this country."




Government urged to deny visa for Palestinian plane hijacker
Liberal MP Julian Leeser has joined calls for the government to deny a Palestinian convicted plane hijacker from coming into Australia.

“This should be the easiest decision Andrew Giles ever made because why would we give a visa to somebody who has been a multiple airplane hijacker,” Mr Leeser told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“Who’s coming to Australia to promote a range of views that are well outside the mainstream and may well be inciting behavior here.”

Leila Khaled took part in two plane hijackings in the late 1960s and is now set to appear at a socialist conference held in Perth this year.

There is a push to deny Ms Khaled an Australian visa due to her actions.

In an interview, she said that Hamas were “freedom fighters”.


Pro-Palestinian protesters storm into 30 Rock as Biden films interview with talk show host Seth Meyers: Demonstrators say they will NOT vote for Joe until there's a ceasefire in Gaza and call for an end to the 'genocide'
Protesters backing a ceasefire in Gaza stormed the lobby of New York City's Rockefeller Center to send a message to President Joe Biden, who was taking part in a taping of Late Night with Seth Meyers upstairs.

The group signaled they were made up of Jewish-Americans, sporting T-shirts that read 'Not In Our Name,' and large signs that said, 'Jews to Biden: End Israel's Siege of Gaza.'

They chanted 'end the siege of Gaza now' and 'Biden, Biden you can't hide ...'

In one video from the scene, a New York City Police Department officer uses a megaphone to tell the crowd they will be arrested for trespassing if they don't disperse.

Several protesters were then seen getting arrested by the NYPD.


Far-Left Attacks The Left For Attending Nancy Pelosi Event
An angry crowd of anti-Israel protesters surrounded the driveways leading into the famously fancy Beverly Wilshire because former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was having an event inside. While the protesters, clad in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, did not see or get close to Pelosi, that didn’t matter because they had ample access to people going inside the hotel. Protesters were blocked by Beverly Hills police and private security from entering hotel property. At first, the crowd heckled and shouted at cars pulling into the hotel to park. While the group allowed the cars to pass, they surrounded the vehicles to shout at the drivers and passengers. As more cars pulled in, the intimidation tactics escalated. Protesters started to block front windshields with signs and flags, creating a hazard as drivers couldn’t see where they were going in a tight space. Objects such as eggs were smashed on the cars. With the traffic jam being created, some attendees decided to park somewhere else. While it solved the traffic problem, it created another: They had to walk through the hostile crowd. It didn’t matter who it was, families, the elderly, or women who were by themselves, if someone was dressed up, they were quickly targeted by the mob. Protesters got in people’s faces, shouting, shoving, and sometimes physically blocking their path. Hotel security had to go into the mayhem and help people get inside the perimeter.




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