Wednesday, February 28, 2024

From Ian:

The General Who Believes in Winning Wars
Hacohen is not a believer in peace with the Palestinians, but he does not think violence alone can solve Israel’s strategic dilemmas. Two days before I met him, the MEF group had been in the north of Israel, looking through binoculars into the dread stillness of communities that had been ghost towns since early October. The naked eye could spot a white building on a far ridge, a U.N. post 80 meters inside of Lebanese territory where Hezbollah staged a military demonstration in April of 2023. The evacuation of 60,000 Israelis from 43 towns within 5 kilometers of the border had created a free-fire zone for the Shiite jihadists, who have blown up over 500 Israeli houses since October, and severely wounded a 15-year-old in Kiryat Shmona earlier that same day. Without an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, Iran-backed militants seemed unlikely to withdraw to the Litani River, their farthest permitted position under the worthless U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Lebanon war.

Hacohen does not think such an invasion will be easy. “First of all it is a mountainous area,” he said. “We must learn from the Allied forces, the United States and the British in their march under the command of Patton from Sicily to Monte Casino. It took them too much time. … The Germans succeeded to stop them for nine months in Monte Casino.” Southern Lebanon “is a land, a very specific infrastructure, and a terrain giving all conditions for a small army to stand against a huge army,” he said.

Even if Hezbollah were chased back to the Litani, Hacohen thinks that peace would be unlikely to dawn over northern Israel, or any other part of the country for that matter, because so much of the Jewish state would still be within range of Hezbollah’s surviving arsenal. “They intentionally build themselves so that they can fight even by losing that southern part of Lebanon. They have depth,” Hacohen warned. Hezbollah would be able to bombard the center of Israel even if the IDF made it all the way to Beirut. “The idea that [Hezbollah] can go ahead with warfare, even though they are defeated in the battlefield, it is one of the [things] explaining the difference between the 1967 war and now,” he said.

There was one more crucial layer of complication: The Lebanese army, like the Palestinian Authority security forces, is a project of the United States, meaning Israel’s closest ally is now supporting two regional military forces who see their paramount foe as Israel, and provide practical support and political cover for Iranian-backed terror militias. “We must admit that there is huge strategic embarrassment for Israel,” Hacohen said.

“The first solution is to be aware about the dilemma,” he explained. The way out of the morass might involve careful diplomacy with the U.S., clever war-planning, and a high national threshold for chaos—above all, it means steeling the Israeli public for a second unprecedented national crisis in six months.

If Hacohen is optimistic about anything, it is the Israelis themselves, who “decided to fight for the honor of the Jewish people” after Oct. 7. Hacohen, who says he has 50 family members on active IDF duty, credits the army’s successes in Gaza to the rank-and-file rather than their commanders. The IDF had spent three decades avoiding massive face-to-face combat. Its soldiers have now dismantled three-quarters of Hamas’ brigades and chased its terrorists through hundreds of miles of cramped and booby-trapped tunnels without any sag in morale.

Hacohen used an unlikely example to illustrate how this fight for survival might change Israel. During World War II, Marlene Dietrich’s “Lili Marleen” became a favorite of both Allied and Axis soldiers. Dietrich, who as Hacohen noted performed in Israel in 1960, knew that she was the last female voice that thousands of young men would ever hear. In light of her significance to the deadliest event in human history, a postwar career in Hollywood proved unsatisfying to Dietrich, who opened a club that veterans from across America flocked to. The German actress, like the soldiers who had heard her over the radio and who now came to hear her sing in person, realized that the war had been more than just an episode, and that it had become a defining aspect of her own identity.

The point of Dietrich’s story is that “if you are a real warrior, a real general, participating in a war that is almost like independence warfare, it is just the highlight of your life,” Hacohen said almost wistfully. “After that, just to be something else, it is not really to respect what happened in that huge challenge that you overcame.”

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have fought in such a war for their national existence since Oct. 7. How they understand what they’ve fought for and why could determine the country’s future as much as any geopolitical event. Against a sometimes-bleak horizon of official failure and looming conflict, the strength of Israel’s people is perhaps the most important remaining unknown.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: The Origin of Hamas's Human Shields Strategy in Gaza
Hamas believed that as a people's militia and a righteous religious resistance group against the Israeli occupation, it had a moral right to operate amongst the population from which it derived its strength, legitimacy, and fighters.

Unfortunately, and horrendously, this strategy ultimately failed and brought unspeakable death and suffering upon the people of Gaza. Over time, and in past and current wars, the IDF became less risk-averse and more willing to tolerate civilian casualties in pursuit of high-value targets and military infrastructure. Israeli airstrikes and bombardment would regularly hit and destroy entire neighborhoods, commercial areas, schools, mosques and hospitals.

While it is true that Hamas would use these places for its activities, it unfortunately became exceptionally easy for the IDF to justify civilian casualties, wrongful deaths, and questionable actions by blaming Hamas for embedding itself amongst civilian populations and infrastructure.

Hamas's immoral decision to normalize the self-described "human shields" strategy has not only been incredibly destructive for Gaza's civilian population. It has also proved ineffective as the IDF loosened its rules of engagement to allow for more risky and deadly strikes on Hamas targets.

Multiple things are true simultaneously: The Israeli military kills civilians in its pursuit of militants and subsequently attempts to absolve itself of moral and operational responsibility by blaming Hamas's use of Gazans as human shields. And Hamas absolutely disregards the safety and well-being of Gazans by deliberately and nefariously placing its infrastructure and armaments among civilians and crowded neighborhoods and cities throughout the Gaza Strip. The group gives itself the right to be anywhere it deems necessary in Gaza because the interests of the "resistance" far outweigh any harm done to innocent civilians in pursuit of the supposed "greater good" and the "liberation of Palestine."

What began as Nizar Rayan's human shields strategy to protect militants' houses from Israeli bombing has sadly and ironically ended up with Hamas turning innocent and uninvolved Gaza civilians into its own "collateral damage."
Noah Rothman: Hamas’s Death Cult Comes to America
‘We love death like our enemies love life.” That chilling mantra, expressed a decade ago by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has since become the terrorist outfit’s unofficial motto. “The Israelis are known to love life. We, on the other hand, sacrifice ourselves,” Hamas official Ali Baraka told a Russian interviewer less than a week after the October 7 massacre. “The thing any Palestinian desires the most is to be martyred for the sake of Allah.”

Neither Haniyeh nor Baraka, who respectively reside in Qatar and Lebanon, were speaking for themselves. Both are sufficiently removed from the war to which they’ve consigned Gaza’s people that they have little reason to anticipate their own glorious martyrdom. They are, however, happy to see their charges massacred in furtherance of the death cult Hamas has erected around itself. That cult extends well beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip, as the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell sadly illustrates.

Bushnell announced himself as an active-duty U.S. airman when he approached the gates of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. There, he declared his opposition to “genocide,” dowsed himself in a flammable liquid, and set himself alight. He died of his wounds shortly thereafter. Bushnell seems to have captured the hearts of Americans who are predisposed to share Bushnell’s outlook on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas and the Biden administration’s support for it. Their praise for his act of violence is evidence of both the depravity cultivated by Hamas’s obsessive bloodlust and an unspoken but apparently widespread desire to see more violence follow it.

“Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell, who died for truth and justice!” declared Cornel West, a professor emeritus at Princeton University and an independent candidate for the presidency in 2024. Indeed, the outright support (bordering on advocacy) for Bushnell’s suicide seems most common among Ph.Ds. Prolonged exposure to post-colonial agitprop explains a statement attributed to Biden “administration staff.” In an open letter, the fifth column in the White House explained that Bushnell’s “act of protest” represents “a stark warning for our nation” — a “haunting reminder for those who refuse to change course,” namely Joe Biden.

What is this sort of advocacy meant to achieve other than to convince other naïve, blinkered radicals to commit similar acts of violence — acts that may not be limited to self-harm? We’re left with no other conclusion, particularly given the strained efforts to maintain that Bushnell was of entirely sound mind when he committed this atrocity.


Seth Frantzman: There should be no ceasefire in Gaza
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on in Gaza, targeting the last Hamas-held bastion in Rafah near the Egyptian border. The US and other countries have opposed this operation. ‘Once we begin the Rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion. Not months,’ Netanyahu recently said. ‘It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach.’

It’s important for Israel not to be pressured into a timetable for these operations. Hamas decided to attack Israel on 7 October in an unprecedented terror attack that led to the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas systematically targeted civilian communities, massacring foreign workers and kidnapping people who hold citizenship from some two-dozen countries. Hamas began the war. If the international community wants to make sure that Gaza would have the peace that a ceasefire will bring, then it is incumbent on the international community to remove Hamas as a threat.

The challenge Israel faces is that Hamas has many backers who have used its attack to their benefit. Russia and Iran have profited from the attack. Iran has used to encourage its proxies to attack US forces in Iraq and Syria and to target shipping in the Red Sea. It has also pushed Hezbollah to carry out daily attacks, amounting to thousands of rockets fired, since 7 October. Russia has benefited from the Gaza war in that it has distracted the West from the conflict in Ukraine. China has also excused Hamas attacks. In short, Hamas has exploited the shifting world order to try to meet its goals in Gaza. A ceasefire that caters to Hamas demands and does not release hostages or end the Hamas threat is not acceptable to Israel, and shouldn’t be to the rest of the world either.

The war on Hamas has been compared to the war on Isis. There was no ceasefire in Mosul in 2017 when Isis was on the ropes. Hamas is on the ropes in Gaza. It sees defeat looming. It wants a ceasefire so it can continue to control the border with Egypt and steal aid from Gazans and rebuild its strength. A ceasefire must come on Israel’s terms. Hamas started this war, and has done irretrievable harm to Gaza by embedding its terrorist claws throughout the enclave. Peace demands Hamas be defeated and be defanged from ever threatening Gazans, Israel and the region again.
Netanyahu counters Biden: Most Americans support Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night hit back at U.S. President Joe Biden for claiming that the Jewish state’s “incredibly conservative government” risked losing it international support.

“Since the start of the war, I have been leading a diplomatic campaign to block pressure designed to end the war prematurely and to secure strong support for Israel,” said Netanyahu in a video message.

“We have had considerable success. Today, a Harvard-Harris poll was published which shows that 82% of the American public supports Israel, meaning that four out of five U.S. citizens support Israel and not Hamas,” he continued.

“This will help us continue the campaign until total victory,” added the premier.

Speaking with Seth Meyer on NBC’s “Late Night on Monday,” Biden noted that the Israel Defense Forces campaign against Hamas in Gaza has so far “had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations.”

However, “if it keeps this up without [changing]—this incredibly conservative government they have, and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and others, most—I’ve known every major foreign policy leader in Israel since Golda Meir—they’re going to lose support from around the world. And that is not in Israel’s interest,” said Biden.

The American president also signaled that a ceasefire in Gaza could be imminent, claiming that Israel had agreed to pause its military offensive during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early March.

“There’s a process underway that I think if we get that—that temporary ceasefire, we’re going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution immediately, but a process to get to a two-state solution, a process to guarantee Israel’s security and the independence of the Palestinians,” stated Biden.

However, Israel’s Ynet quoted senior Israeli officials on Tuesday morning as saying that they do not understand “what the American president‘s optimism is based on.”
Harvard poll reveals large majority of Americans support Israel in war against Hamas
A new Harvard Harris poll reveals that 82 per cent of Americans support Israel in its war against Hamas, with 68 per cent saying they believe Israel is doing what it can to avoid civilian casualties.

Conducted online from 21-22 February, the latest Harvard Harris monthly poll shows steadfast support for Israel even among the youngest demographic of registered voters in the US. 72 per cent of 18–24-year-olds responded in favour of Israel over Hamas, up from 57 per cent in the January poll.

Sixty-seven per cent of Americans think a ceasefire should only happen after all the hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power as opposed to supporting an unconditional ceasefire that would leave everyone in place. However, 53 per cent of 18-24-year-olds expressed favour for an unconditional ceasefire.

Sixty eight per cent or respondents believe Israel is doing what it can to minimise casualties, and 63 per cent support Israel’s continued war efforts to root out the final elements of Hamas despite the displacement of 1.2 million civilians.

Consistent with last month’s poll, 78 per cent of respondents believe Hamas should be removed from power in Gaza but remain split on how Gaza should be administered: 34 per cent believe it should be administered by Israel, 28 per cent by the Palestinian Authority, and 39 per cent believe it should be administered by a new authority set up through negotiations with Arab nations.

Also consistent with last month’s polling, 67 per cent of respondents say they support the US actively striking Iran-backed terrorist groups, though over half of those surveyed say Biden’s response to such groups has been too weak.

Just over half of those surveyed said that Congress should pass $14 billion in aid for Israel and humanitarian aid for Gaza to help Israel defeat Hamas, while voters were split on whether Congress should approve an aid package for Ukraine in its war against Russia.


Hamas’s Haniyeh calls for terror attacks during Ramadan
Ismail Haniyeh, the Doha-based leader of Hamas’s “political” wing, on Wednesday urged the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” to step up attacks on Israel during Ramadan, calling for a “broad and international movement to break the siege on Al-Aqsa mosque” in Jerusalem.

“Any flexibility in negotiations, out of concern for the blood of our people, is matched by a readiness to defend it,” Haniyeh said in a speech, referring to ongoing talks for a ceasefire deal with Israel.

The “Axis of Resistance” includes Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the Middle East.

In his speech, the terror leader also called on Palestinians in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount on the first day of Ramadan, which falls around March 10 this year.

Haniyeh’s comments came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that terrorist groups are plotting to increase their violent attacks on the Jewish state under the guise of Ramadan.

“The main goal of Hamas is to take Ramadan, with an emphasis on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, and turn it into the second phase of their plan that began on October 7. This is the main goal of Hamas, and it is being amplified by Iran and Hezbollah,” Gallant said following an assessment at the headquarters in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood of the IDF Central Command, which is responsible for Judea and Samaria.

“We must not give Hamas what it failed to achieve during the beginning of the war and [let it achieve] ‘unity of the battlefields,'” he added, in reference to the terrorist group’s attempts to spark a multi-front war.


JPost Editorial: A 'revitalized' PA can't be the same policies with a new public face
The leader of the Palestinian Authority, the man calling the shots there – and who has done so since 2005 – is none other than 87-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas. He sets the PA’s tone and its policies.

This is obvious. So why is it important to point this fact out now? Because some may erroneously believe the resignation of PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Monday heralds a refreshing, reformative process now under way inside the Palestinian Authority.

It is, however, much too early to draw any such conclusion, because as long as Abbas remains at the top of the pyramid there, all the moves underneath him are largely cosmetic.

Differences between the US and Israel began to publicly emerge regarding the Palestinian Authority and its possible role in the post-war Gaza Strip as early as mid-November.

US President Joe Biden, in a November 18 op-ed in The Washington Post, wrote, “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”

Don't read too much into Shtayyeh's resignation
That was one of the first uses by Biden of the term “revitalized” in referring to a PA that he believes should have a future role in Gaza. It then became a US catchphrase used often by Biden and other senior US officials, sometimes substituted by another word, “revamped,” and at other times replaced by the word “reformed.”

The meaning behind these words was simple: the corrupt and ineffective PA that has been in control of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank for some three decades cannot rule Gaza, but a revitalized or revamped PA certainly should be able to do so.
Real PA Reform Requires More Than Just a New Prime Minister
Commenting on the recent resignation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet—while the octogenarian president Mahmoud Abbas continues to show no interest in stepping down—and Western pressure for reform, Ghaith al-Omari writes:

In the longer term, the presence of a reformed, capable PA is also necessary for achieving a two-state solution or even taking steps in that direction. Otherwise, the outcome would likely be another failed state in a region rife with such destabilizing models. Two questions will determine whether these conditions are met. First, will the new prime minister be empowered to undertake the necessary reforms? . . . The more independent Shtayyeh’s replacement is, the more confidence there will be in the prime minister’s ability to confront Abbas and senior Fatah figures, many of whom will likely try to undermine meaningful reform.

Second, who will control the cabinet-formation process? . . .

Recent polls indicate that around 60 percent of Palestinians want to dissolve the PA and around 90 percent want Abbas to resign. Appointing a new prime minister may not be enough to fix this wider legitimacy problem, especially if there are doubts about the next cabinet’s independence and empowerment.


Besides all this, both Palestinians and Israelis would be better off if the PA stopped its constant incitement against Jews and Israel and its policy of rewarding terrorism with cash.
WSJ: Hamas' Agricultural Terrorism
At Kibbutz Alumim, 2 miles from the Gaza border, 300,000 chickens died following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Three coops were burned to the ground. Terrorists also destroyed the automated food and water dispensers for the remaining five structures housing the flock. After the attack, no one was around to tend to the chickens and the birds died of hunger and thirst.

Terrorists targeted farmland, livestock, plants and infrastructure as they made their way across the western Negev, which produces 70% of the country's vegetables, 20% of its fruit and 6% of its milk. "The attack was designed to intentionally destroy agricultural production, but more than that, it was meant to destroy the identity of the region, to break the community," said Danielle Abraham, executive director of Volcani International Partnerships, an NGO that addresses global hunger using Israeli technological innovation.

Hamas killed 30 milking cows at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Those that survived went unmilked for nine days. Many developed a painful condition that contaminated their milk and killed 70 of the herd. Some that have recovered still aren't producing milk. Trauma from the sounds of explosions and gunfire seems to have suspended their production.

Hamas terrorists damaged greenhouses and barns, many beyond repair. They slashed crop nets and flooded orchards. They burned irrigation pipes and destroyed the filtration system for the local reservoir. Estimates of income losses and infrastructure damage total more than $500 million.

Attacks on Israel's environment and natural resources aren't new. In 2005 Palestinian looters damaged roughly 900 of the 3,000 greenhouses Israelis left behind after they withdrew from Gaza. In 2018 terrorists launched more than 800 incendiary balloons from Gaza, setting fire to 6,100 acres of agricultural land in the Negev. Raids on Israel's northern farms and arson in its forests have been regular occurrences. Hamas attacked Israel's blooming desert, a national symbol of innovation and resilience.

Michal Uziyahu, liaison to the mayor of the Eshkol region, a cluster of 32 communities near Gaza, says that more than 4,000 of Eshkol's 17,000 residents are already back home. Half of the region's Thai workers have also returned.
End UNRWA funding permanently, Israeli politicians urge Canadian government
A month after Canada temporarily halted funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, some Israeli politicians want Ottawa to make the funding freeze permanent.

Sharren Haskel, the Canadian-born member of Israel’s Knesset, said in an interview that Canada — as a significant backer of the contentious relief agency for Palestinians — should help lead the way by stop sending UNRWA money.

“The Canadian public doesn’t really understand,” she said.

“(Many Canadians) have no idea what UNRWA really is, and I don’t believe they understand how much the existence of UNRWA is sitting at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Einat Wilf, an Israeli politician who served in the Knesset, agreed.

“This is an opportunity to create public pressure to make the pause permanent,” she said.

“I know (Canada’s) foreign office doesn’t want to do it, and I’m pretty sure the government is not eager to do it, but this is precisely the moment to put the pressure on to make the pause permanent.”


Achieving the Aims of the War in Gaza
The aims of the war in Gaza as defined by the Israeli Cabinet are the destruction of Hamas' military and governing infrastructure and the release of the hostages. The aims relating to Hamas are both necessary and achievable.

Since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza, it has become clear that both the IDF's regular and reserve forces function at an exceptional level. The close cooperation between the ground forces, air force, fire power, and intelligence is unlikely found in any other military today. Their fighting spirit and determination are admirable, and naturally so, given the crucial nature of their mission in their eyes.

The tunnel system in Gaza is far more complex, advanced, and vast than previously estimated, and Hamas had enormous quantities of weapons and ammunition. Nevertheless, the IDF took control of Gaza City and are close to a similar achievement in the Khan Yunis area. This cost over 200 Israeli soldiers' lives so far, a heart-breaking price, but far lower than the assessments and fears prior to the operation.

Militarily, it is possible to destroy Hamas' command, military units, and infrastructure. After their destruction, the IDF must prevent Hamas from reviving by continuous action on the ground. Yet the IDF is unlikely to eliminate Hamas as a guerrilla force. Its popularity is strong, necessitating "mowing the grass" operations similar to those in the West Bank for any foreseeable future.


IDF-Shin Bet-IAF nab one terrorist, kill another in Jenin op
In Jenin, in northernmost Samaria, IDF troops arrested a wanted terrorist under the guidance of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and located explosives intended to harm soldiers overnight Tuesday. In addition, an IAF craft attacked an armed terrorist identified in the area.

Israeli security forces arrested 10 wanted terrorists in operations throughout Judea and Samaria overnight Tuesday, the IDF said on Wednesday.

Forces also made arrests and confiscated weapons in other raids across Judea and Samaria.

The detained individuals and weapons were transferred for interrogations and further processing.

There were no casualties to Israeli personnel.

Since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 3,400 terrorists have been arrested throughout Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, 1,500 of whom are members of Hamas.
IDF targets area in Gaza from which rockets were launched into Ashkelon, kills terrorists
Forces of the Southern Command, in conjunction with the Air Force, attacked eight important targets in Gaza, in the area from which rockets were launched towards Ashkelon on Tuesday, the military said on Wednesday.

Troops also targeted terror shafts and infrastructures from which terrorists exited to carry out terror activities in the Gaza Strip.

In western Khan Yunis, the combat team of the 7th Brigade raided buildings where troops found weapons and military equipment.

IDF eliminates terrorists in the Strip
In parallel, the troops killed five terrorists by firing a precise missile at a vehicle in which they were traveling. In addition, IAF jets attacked two military compounds, killing terrorists who were located in them, the military said.

Forces of the Paratrooper Brigade killed terrorists with sniper fire. Furthermore, two terrorists were killed by an IDF aircraft after soldiers of the Givati Brigade identified it and directed the aircraft towards them.

Similarly, forces of the 98th Division directed a fighter jet that struck terrorists who were readying to ambush the forces in a military compound in the Khan Yunis area. The attack triggered secondary explosions, illustrating the presence of additional weapons in the compound, according to the military.

In Zaytun, in the center of the Gaza Strip, forces of the 162nd Division 162 continued to operate. In the past day, a task force of the Nahal Brigade killed terrorists and found weapons in the area. During one of the operations, troops identified a terrorist squad, which was subsequently eliminated by a combat helicopter.


Hamas fires missile barrage at Kiryat Shmona from Lebanon
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the “military wing” of Hamas, fired 40 Grad rockets in two barrages at army bases near Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday morning.

Only 10 crossed the border and several were intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

A building in Kiryat Shmona was hit, causing damage but no injuries according to police.

Police said they were dealing with rocket debris at several sites in the Kiryat Shmona area.

“Property was damaged and there are no reports of casualties at this stage,” they said.

In response, the IDF said that it was striking the sources of the launches.
'Lebanon will be next': Iran greenlights Hezbollah attack on Israel - report
Iran has given Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah the green light to escalate its attacks along Israel's northern border, the Arabic Post reported on Wednesday, citing high-level Iranian and Lebanese sources.

The Islamic Republic has reportedly set conditions for Hezbollah, ordering it to launch a large-scale attack on Israel only after it "had become certain of Israel's intention" to carry out an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

As per the report, Tehran gave the go-ahead amid fears that, after the IDF completes an invasion of Rafah, southern Lebanon "will be next." Nasrallah calls emergency meeting with Quds Force chief over Israeli threats

A source from Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) told Arabic Post that Esmail Qaani, the IRGC's Quds Force commander, visited Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Monday to discuss "the latest developments" along Israel's northern border.

The meeting between the two was reportedly held at the request of Nasrallah, who called for the "necessity" of holding an emergency meeting after "information was obtained" indicating Israeli intention to launch a large-scale assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Hassan Nasrallah told Qaani that the attack is likely to be very imminent, most likely in the month of Ramadan, or with Israel’s invasion of the city of Rafah," an IRGC source told Arabic Post. "Nasrallah said that he is completely certain of [Israel's] intention to launch a large-scale attack on Lebanon, and he asked Qaani to give him complete freedom in how he intends to attack," another diplomatic source in Iran said.

Tehran disapproved of Hezbollah's 'uncoordinated' attack on Safed
According to the same sources, Qaani expressed Tehran's disapproval of a reportedly uncoordinated launch of rockets by Hezbollah on the northern Israeli city of Safed, with one hitting the entrance to the Ziv Medical Center. The director of the hospital, Dr. Salman Zarka, wrote after the attack, "We are very lucky here. The missile did not explode."

Another rocket launched during the same barrage hit a military base, killing IDF Staff.-Sgt. Omer Sarah Benjo and wounding 10 other soldiers.

Hezbollah's attack on Safed "angered Tehran to some extent" due to Iran's insistence that Hezbollah adopts a "policy of strategic patience in the face of Israeli and American provocations," the Arabic Post added, citing Iranian sources.


Biden Admin Exempted Itself From Anti-Terrorism Laws To Send Aid to Gaza. Senate Republicans Want To Strip That Authority.
Senate Republicans want to strip the Biden administration of its power to skirt federal anti-terrorism laws in order to pump millions in taxpayer funding into the Palestinian territories, including the war-torn Gaza Strip, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The legislation, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and three of his Republican colleagues, is a response to a 2023 Free Beacon report that revealed the Biden administration exempted itself from anti-terrorism laws to resume funding to the Gaza Strip and West Bank, aid that was frozen under the previous administration.

State Department diplomats warned in an internal assessment at the time that "there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza," but the administration moved forward anyway. Cruz's legislation—filed on Tuesday and backed by Sens. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.)—would block the Biden administration from granting itself future sanctions exemptions in order to pump aid dollars into Gaza amid the Hamas terror group's war against Israel.

The bill, a copy of which was obtained by the Free Beacon, would remove a key authority that the Biden administration uses to bypass federal laws barring the American government from pumping taxpayer dollars into areas controlled by terror factions. The measure is certain to garner widespread GOP backing in both the House and Senate, but it could run into Democratic opposition amid a broader push to increase American aid into Gaza. It is also likely to draw fierce opposition from the Biden administration, which is pressuring Israel to increase the amount of humanitarian aid making its way into Gaza.

When the Biden administration first resumed American funding to the Palestinians in 2021, it petitioned the Treasury Department to issue a license allowing money to flow into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. This authorization was needed, the State Department argued in internal emails, to conduct activities "that would otherwise be prohibited by the Global Terrorist Sanctions Regulations and the Foreign Terrorist Organization Sanctions Regulations."

The State Department claimed it needed "broad flexibility" to bypass counterterrorism laws and fund a range of projects inside Gaza and the West Bank.

"If you have to exempt yourself from American laws prohibiting material support for terrorism to funnel money somewhere, you should not be sending money there," Cruz told the Free Beacon. "The Biden administration exempted and continues to exempt itself from exactly those sorts of anti-terrorism laws."

Prior to injecting more than $300 million into the Palestinian territories, the Biden administration exempted itself and international nonprofit groups from anti-terrorism restrictions.


Hostage families set out on four-day march from Supernova massacre site to Jerusalem
The families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terror groups set out on a four-day march from Kibbutz Re’im to Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, under the banner of “United to free the hostages.”

Before setting off on the trek, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, marchers gathered in Kibbutz Re’im, in the cleared field ringed by eucalyptus trees where some 360 people were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on the morning of October 7.

Forum spokesperson Haim Rubinstein offered condolences for the two soldiers whose deaths in Gaza were announced early Wednesday morning. Touching on the significance of the march’s starting point, he reminded the attendees what happened when “young people who wanted to party and to love found themselves in a nightmare that no one could imagine.”

Returning to the place where his life was turned upside down, Supernova survivor Niv Cohen told the crowd that he can’t begin his rehabilitation until the friends he traveled to the music festival with are back alongside him. Two of his friends — Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal — were taken hostage. Another two — Ron Tzarfati and Idan Haramati — were killed that day.

“I’m still here, standing,” said Cohen. “But my soul was left behind, somewhere among these trees where I hid for so many hours.”

“I joined the march because I know that the people of Israel understand the power of unity at a difficult time,” Cohen said. “I am appealing to all the decision makers — I am sure that you will pursue all political means to bring back my friends and all of the hostages.”


Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America starts campaign to highlight Oct. 7th sexual crimes

ILTV’s Viewpoint: Douglas Murray
Emily Schrader sits down with renowned author and journalist Douglas Murray to discuss the Israel-Gaza war and the cowardice of the West in confronting Islamist terror. Is it too late for the West? We discuss on ILTV’s Viewpoint, bringing the most important voices from the war directly to you.


What's Behind South Africa's ICJ Case | Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein
South Africa's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein joins Eylon Levy for a riveting conversation about the battle of civilizations, African Islamic Jihad, Petrodollar diplomacy, and the moral clarity required to confront this moment in history. An expert in human rights and international law, Rabbi Goldstein is uniquely situated, both in circumstance and in expertise, to unpack the case at the International Court of Justice and explore what it means to be a Jew in the diaspora right no


Biden ‘pressuring’ Netanyahu to do maximum level ceasefire: Greg Sheridan
America is “pressuring” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do a bigger ceasefire than he’s willing to, according to The Australian Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan.

Mr Sheridan’s comments follow US President Joe Biden's appearance on a late-night US talk show where he outlined his hopes for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war.

“The Israeli Prime Minister is clear, he’ll do a ceasefire if it's temporary and it gets some hostages out. He won’t do a permanent ceasefire or a withdrawal until he’s finished getting rid of Hamas.

“A temporary ceasefire might be a good thing if it allows relief supplies into the population, and it frees some Israeli hostages.

“I think that’s about what Netanyahu will do for the moment.

“Obviously the Americans are pressuring them to do the maximum."


Daniel Greenfield: Michigan Hamas Supporters Got Biden a Slightly Higher “Uncommitted” Vote Than Obama
After weeks of pressure campaigns and threats, Michigan Hamas supporters got their tantrum in with 13% or 100,000 voting “uncommitted” (these numbers may go up as more votes are counted or ‘found’) in the Democratic Party primary to protest Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists who had murdered over 1,000 Israelis.

With 240,000 Muslims in Michigan, they only mobilized 1 in 2 Muslims in the state to interfere in the Democratic primary. The only place with a significant showing of “uncommitted” voters was America’s Jihad Capital, Dearborn.

What does “uncommitted” really mean though?

The media dishonestly compares the uncommitted vote numbers to 2020 and 2016, but neither of those are accurate barometers because none of them involved a virtually unchallenged unpopular incumbent running for a second term.

For a fair comparison, let’s look to 2012.

In the 2012 primary, 10.69% voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary.

The “incredible, historic” uncommitted protest vote by Hamas supporters in Michigan is only a few percent above the numbers that Obama got in 2012. Most of those were not Hamas supporters, but people dissatisfied with the incumbent. That is once again and even more so the case in 2024.

Hamas supporters want to take credit for Biden’s historic unpopularity. Unlike the murders, rapes and kidnappings, not to mention gaslighting, that’s one thing they can’t take credit for.
The Commentary Magazine Podcast: Who’s Afraid of the ‘Uncommitted’?
Hosted by Abe Greenwald, Christine Rosen, John Podhoretz & Matthew Continetti

Today we take up the puny results of Michigan’s “Uncommitted” campaign against Joe Biden and his handling of the war in Gaza. Is a 13 percent protest vote what had the Biden camp so rattled? Maybe it’s time the administration peeks outside the bubble and takes a look at American popular opinion on Israel. Give a listen.
Michigan Democrats who defied Biden in primary claim VICTORY: Progressives, Arab Americans and Muslims furious over Gaza celebrate huge 'uncommitted' vote at party with tributes to self-immolating airman and vow to take fight to the CONVENTION

‘Amazing exclusive footage’: Andrew Bolt reports live from Israel
Sky News host Steve Price interviews Andrew Bolt from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

“Time to check in again with Andrew Bolt,” Mr Price said.

“He is in Israel, he has been bringing us some amazing exclusive footage and information.

“Yesterday Andrew was at the Lebanon-Israel border, he met with a general there – he saw firsthand the war with Hezbollah in action.

“Andrew joins us again from Israel, what a remarkable scene.”


The Israel Guys: BREAKING: Netanyahu Announces Plan to EVACUATE Palestinian Civilians From Gaza’s Rafah City
Hezbollah is shooting a lot of rockets into towns in northern Israel as things are heating up every single day with Israel’s border with Lebanon. President Joe Biden enjoys eating ice cream while simultaneously trying to stop Israel from completely destroying Hamas in Gaza. The IDF just presented Prime Minister Netanyahu with a plan to evacuate the civilians out of Rafah in southern Gaza so the IDF can go in and eliminate the rest of the Hamas terrorists who are holed up there in holes under the ground like the bunch of savage cowards that they are.


The Israel Guys: How CLOSE Are We to 1939 Germany? Holding America Accountable | Feat. Pastor Jim & Rosemary Garlow
Joshua sits down with Pastor Jim Garlow and his wife Rosemary Schindler Garlow to discuss the current situation in Israel and America’s response to the rise in anti-semitism.

Don’t miss this timely interview at the NRB convention in Nashville!


Melbourne Writers Festival split prompts warning from Indigenous leaders
A key figure behind the campaign to establish an Aboriginal Voice to parliament warns Indigenous people will suffer a “massive loss” if they alienate long-standing allies in the Jewish community by aligning Indigenous Australia with the Palestinian cause.

Sean Gordon, the chair of the Uphold & Recognise group that lobbied for nearly a decade to build public support for constitutional change, made the comments after the deputy chair and chief executive of the Melbourne Writers Festival quit over its promotion of an anti-Israel line at this year’s event.

Deputy chairman Dr Leslie Reti and interim chief executive Fiona Menzies stood down from their positions at the festival after one of the event’s sessions was framed and promoted as Aboriginal solidarity with Palestine. The proposition is historically contested as it casts Israel as the illegitimate colonisers of Palestine.

Gordon, speaking to this masthead from the remote Northern Territory community of Tennant Creek, questioned the purported connection between Aboriginal advancement and the plight of Palestinians.

“I think those groups aren’t necessarily connecting on the traditional things that Aboriginal people have been advocating and fighting for,” he said. “There isn’t anything that connects us to what is happening in Palestine.

“The Jewish community have been very strong advocates and great allies of Indigenous people for decades in this country. To lose those people because of a lack of education within the Indigenous community is a massive risk. To lose the support of the likes of Julian Leeser and Mark Leibler would be a massive loss to Indigenous Australians.”
'Pro-Palestine propaganda' highlighted as Muslim groups plan to boycott Vic iftar dinner
Sky News host Chris Kenny has pointed out more “anti-Jewish hated” and “pro-Palestine propaganda” as Muslim groups plan to boycott an annual iftar dinner in Victoria with the Premier during the the holy month of Ramadam

“They are doing this because they claim the … state government is not doing enough to protest the ‘ongoing genocide in Gaza’, Mr Kenny said.

Mr Kenny condemned the way the Islamic Council of Victoria President tried to justify the decision through the way he characterised the October 7 attacks on ABC radio this morning.

“When Islamic leaders in this country say anything that attempts to justify or downplay this atrocity, they don't just undermine their own position, they undercut the social fabric of this nation.”

Warning – this video contains distressing content.




Prominent Pro-Hamas Activist in Australia Arrested on Kidnapping and Torture Charges
Australian police on Monday announced the arrest of a prominent pro-Hamas advocate accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man whose perceived offense was to work for a Jewish employer.

Melbourne resident Laura Allam was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, illegal detention, assault and battery against the 31-year-old man, who has not been named by authorities. Working with an accomplice who has also been arrested and charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, armed robbery, threats to kill, intention to cause injury, recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault and assault with weapon, the 28-year-old Allam is understood to have targeted the man solely because his employer is Jewish.

According to a statement from police in the State of Victoria, the brutal assault occurred on the night of Feb. 16 in the Melbourne suburb of St. Albans. “It’s alleged a man was pulled from a car near the intersection of Gladstone and Cleveland streets about 9.30pm,” the statement noted. “He was then allegedly placed in another car and assaulted and robbed before being released in Braybrook.” The victim required extensive treatment in hospital for injuries sustained in the “horrific kidnapping and torture.”

Allam is a prominent member of Australia’s large Lebanese community and the CEO of the Al Jannah Foundation, which bills itself as an Islamic humanitarian organization. While Allam’s social media profiles specify that she is still running the organization, an entry on the Australian register of companies notes that the foundation ceased operations in July 2023, less than three years after it was formally incorporated. The foundation’s website additionally lists a number of projects that it is raising money for — including addressing food shortages in Lebanon and child health challenges — that apparently remain unfunded.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, Allam dedicated most of her time to attacking Israel on social media as well as spreading false information on her TikTok account, which had 20,000 followers before being closed down, as well as X/Twitter and Instagram. One post on Feb. 5 promoted the fabricated claim that a British Royal Navy warship dispatched to the Gulf to combat attacks on shipping by Houthi terrorists in Yemen had “broken down off the coasts of England.”


Why the glorification of Aaron Bushnell is a tragic mistake
The war that started on October 7 has many fronts. In Gaza, in the Red Sea, on the streets of London, people fight with varying levels of intensity. But nowhere do more people argue with more bad faith and less personal investment than Twitter. Every day, thousands of terminally-online people with internet access get on their phones to queue up and try and work each other up to make the nastiest, stupidest observations about the war and convince each other that they are not just correct about everything, but morally above reproach.

The latest episode of this phenomenon may be one of the grimmest. On Sunday, Aaron Bushnell, a member of the US Air Force died outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. He self-immolated to stop what he called ‘genocide’ in Gaza. A tragic death however you look at it, one more death connected to a conflict that has already taken far too many. But to read the musings of various anti-Israel twitter personalities, you’d think he’d walked through a meadow of sunshine and flowers rather than end his life brutally, obsessed by a conflict over which he had no control.

Roger Waters, a man who has long suffered from advanced anti-Israel brain rot, called him an ‘All American Hero’ and posted a video of Bushnell’s death set to (modestly) his own music. Aside from the crassness of using a man’s tragic death to score internet points against people you don’t like, it speaks to a larger tragedy. The idea that it’s a good thing that this young man, who had a whole life ahead of him would wantonly throw away his future is not just mistaken, it’s irresponsible.

I don’t know if Bushnell was mentally ill, as has been speculated. I think it’s largely irrelevant. The act of self-immolation is rarely the preserve of someone with a rational outlook. What matters is the way it has been cynically deployed in service of a mistaken idea that any and all sacrifice for the people of Gaza is justified. In a conflict in which the ante is high enough, raising the tension further, escalating the stakes by praising those who raise them beyond rational protest is inflammatory and irresponsible.

Hamas, rarely prone to logic themselves, praised the act as a “ symbol of the spirit of global humanitarian solidarity with our people.” Words echoed by the usual suspects in the West, people like Cornel West, Owen Jones - in short people who should know better. Does it matter that Bushnell’s sacrifice will not affect the reality on the ground? Do they care that his family are left grieving over a tragedy that simply becomes two days' worth of tweets and talking points?
Reckless lefties celebrate Aaron Bushnell’s suicide — and don’t care if it prompts copycats
Study after study has found that valorizing people who die by suicide prompts copycats, which is why the Reporting on Suicide project explicitly says we should avoid “glamorizing or romanticizing suicide.”

But all that went out the window this time — when left-wing activists decided their agenda was more important.

Because such influential online voices have taken this approach, additional lives may well be lost in this tragic, and ultimately futile, form of protest.

Families could be shattered and promising lives ended prematurely thanks to the reckless response to this incident, all while having no actual effect on the war in Gaza.

(I mean, does anyone really think Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and the Israeli military are going to change course in their war efforts because a random person 5,000 miles away dies by suicide?)

Fortunately, not everyone on the left has succumbed to this madness.

Reliably progressive Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern spoke out against his own side and triggered ample backlash, merely by saying, “I strongly oppose valorizing any form of suicide as a noble, principled, or legitimate form of political protest.”

“People suffering mental illness deserve empathy and respect, but it is wildly irresponsible to praise them for using a political justification to take their own life,” he concluded.

Critics of Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas have every right to make their voices heard.

But it really shouldn’t be too much to ask that they do so without exploiting and endangering countless mentally vulnerable young Americans.


Iran Praises ‘Free Palestine’ Self-Immolator: an ‘Awakened Conscience’
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan’ani joined a growing number of high-profile jihadists and radical leftists in paying homage to Bushnell with a statement published to social media on Monday.

“Bushnell’s cries are the loud voice of the awakened consciences in the US against the government’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide,” Kan’ani wrote, according to a translation by Iranian state propaganda outlet PressTV.

“The self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell, an officer of the US Air Force, in protest against the continued crimes of the Zionists in Gaza, showed how much the awakened consciences in the US are ashamed of their government’s support for the genocide of Palestinians,” he claimed.

Iran is the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism and has supported Hamas and similar organizations with funds and other cooperation for decades. A State Department report published in 2020 estimated that Iran “has historically provided up to $100 million annually in combined support to Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.”

Iranian authorities openly celebrated the October 7 siege of Israel, organizing a street party on that night in Tehran featuring fireworks and free lemonade. The Iranian government advocates for the destruction of Israel, rejecting “two-state solution” proposals for the “Palestinian” territories because they would allow Israel to continue existing.

“Israel is occupying the Palestinian land, and we believe that a two-state solution will not help to resolve the Palestinian issue,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian plainly declared in December.

The Iranian government joined prominent American leftists in honoring Bushnell.

“Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell, who died for truth and justice!” radical leftist presidential candidate Cornel West, who has made anti-Israel sentiment a cornerstone of his campaign, declared following Bushnell’s suicide. “I pray for his precious loved ones! Let us rededicate ourselves to genuine solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocidal attacks in real time!”

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is competing with West for disaffected leftist voters, similarly honored Bushnell and his cause, sharing a graphic photo of Bushnell’s final moments to her Twitter profile.

“May his sacrifice deepen our commitment to stop genocide now,” Stein wrote, controversially using the phrase “rest in power” in his honor.
Hamas Joins US Leftists in Hailing Airman Who Self-Immolated: ‘Immortal’ in Palestinian Memory
Hamas, along with some prominent left-wingers in the United States, this week valorized an airman who lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest of the Jewish state's war in Gaza—with the terror group saying he would live "immortal" in Palestinian memory.

"The heroic pilot Aaron Bushnell will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global human solidarity with our people and their just cause," Hamas said in a statement Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera's Arabic news platform.

Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty member of the United States Air Force, stood outside the embassy on Sunday and declared he could "no longer be complicit in genocide" before he poured a liquid on himself and set it ablaze, video showed. He yelled, "Free Palestine," before he collapsed and police attempted to douse the flames. Emergency services then transported him to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Hamas added in its statement that President Joe Biden's administration "bears full responsibility" for Bushnell's death. The group also said Bushnell "gave his life to shed light on the Zionist massacres and ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip."

In addition to Hamas, a presenter on the Palestinian Authority's official TV station made similar comments in a Tuesday broadcast.

"The fact that the American pilot Bushnell burned himself yesterday is nothing more than an expression of the growing anger among the American people against government policy, and it comes as a defense of humanitarian values ​​and the justice of the Palestinian issue," the presenter said in a translation Palestinian Media Watch provided to the Washington Free Beacon.


Jewish Students at Harvard Defy Boycott, Protests to Celebrate Israeli Music with Ishay Ribo
Jewish students at Harvard University defied a boycott Tuesday by staffers at a local theater venue, as well as protests outside, to enjoy an evening of celebration and solidarity with Israeli musician Ishay Ribo, hosted by Harvard Chabad.

Chabad had invited Ribo, a religious singer who became the first Israeli artist to sell out Madison Square Garden in September, to perform for the university and the community to cheer students beleaguered by campus antisemitism.

But staff at the Sinclair, a theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, boycotted the event, forcing Chabad to hire its own staff at additional expense. (The tactic has been used against Jewish reggae musician Matisyahu in recent weeks.)

The concerts went ahead — defying angry anti-Israel protests outside, whose participants included the quixotic “Queers for Palestine,” a group that seems content to ignore the persecution of LGBTQ people in Palestinian areas.

The contrast between the angry anti-Israel protesters and the ecstatic pro-Israel counter-demonstrators was notable, as was the contrast between the hatred outside the venue and the atmosphere of love and camaraderie inside of it.

Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi told Breitbart News that the concerts had been “a Harvard Chabad electrifying evening of unity, solidarity, and love with Ishay Ribo, lifting the spirits of Israeli and Jewish students on campus.”








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

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