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Friday, March 01, 2024

03/01 Links Pt1: Israel’s heroes will ensure victory; Hamas Seeks to Use Gaza Stampede to Stop the War; If Protests Are Not Anti-Jewish, Stop Attacking Jews

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The terror of the right
Some people dismiss the realities of Israeli opinion about the war and the “two-state solution” because all they can see is the apparently demonic figure of Netanyahu. Such people are obsessed with him. Many Israeli journalists see nothing but this hate-figure looming in front of them. He fills the entire visual space between the hater and the political horizon.

But it’s perfectly possible to dislike Netanyahu and want to see him gone from office, and yet support his determination to destroy Hamas or oppose the imposition of a Palestinian state on the grounds that there is no alternative strategy that would protect Israelis against further genocidal attack.

So why are so many unable to distinguish between the man and the measures?

For a start, it’s so much easier to blame a man who can be removed from office rather than face up to a terrifying reality that’s far harder to address, such as the Palestinian Arabs’ implacable and brainwashed hatred of the Jews.

For exactly the same reason, it’s so much easier to believe that a Palestinian state would end that enmity, rather than face up to the actual evidence of a century of murderous Palestinian rejectionism that continues without end.

There’s also another reason, a clue to which was provided by certain reactions to the October 7 pogrom both in Israel and abroad.

Among many “progressives,” the atrocities produced a profound sense of disorientation. This was because the Palestinians — people whose cause they had promoted as the acme of conscience and enlightenment — turned out to be barbaric savages.

Even worse, people the progressives had opposed and stigmatised as the “far-right” because they had regarded the Palestinians as murderous foes turned out to have been correct all along.

Worse yet again, some people on their own side actually turned on them for supporting Israel against Hamas. This was a terrible and destabilising shock. That’s because the left is governed by a herd mentality. Their views have to conform to the opinion of similarly “enlightened” people. Anyone who isn’t part of the progressive herd is “right-wing” and wrong about everything.

Moreover, since progressives believe that they embody virtue itself, right-wingers aren’t just wrong but evil. Yet the October 7 massacre revealed that the people supported by the progressives were evil.

This put progressives in a terrible bind. They couldn’t accept anything that revealed their own narrative to be so morally bankrupt.

So they exaggerated the plight of Gaza civilians in the war, for which they blamed Israel not Hamas. In response to the tsunami of antisemitism consuming the west as a result of the Palestinian cause they themselves promoted, they focused instead on the evils of “Islamophobia”. And they redoubled the attack on Netanyahu as their scapegoat.

As a result, both the Biden administration and others who demonise “the right” are supporting the insupportable. If they have their way, more Israelis will be murdered, raped, beheaded and taken hostage; there will be more Islamist intimidation, subversion and violence in Britain and America; and the west will find itself in a terrible war for its survival not against “right-wing” bogeymen, but against truly sinister enemies whom western folly has so catastrophically empowered.
Seth Mandel: A Plan for Postwar Gaza
So how might that better future be facilitated?

The task force recommends the creation of an International Trust for Gaza Reconstruction, funded by the U.S. and partner states in the region. The trust would deal with the two sides of reconstruction: on the one hand, humanitarian relief and restoring services; on the other, governance and administration. It would be advised by a council of Palestinians—crucially, the authors suggest, this would include Palestinians in the diaspora alongside Gazans and West Bank residents.

The de-Hamasification of the Strip would be an ongoing process and one that Israel would, from a security standpoint, continue to oversee. For the rest, a coalition of states such as the U.S., Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia would fund and manage the transition to a new Palestinian government in Gaza. The task force envisions the phasing out of the UN refugee agency’s participation, to be replaced by Palestinian civil-society groups.

If the past few months, and especially tragic events like today’s, have taught us anything, it is that security is paramount. Hamas will not go quietly but neither can militant gangs fill the vacuum. Food, supplies, equipment, and people will need to be safely moved in and out of Gaza for an extended period of time. The projects within the Strip will need to be protected not only from Hamas dead-enders but from any armed gangs that would do what they did today and shoot fellow Palestinians while hijacking aid.

We know from Iran and Syria’s long campaign of assassination in Lebanon that standing up a Palestinian government will be seen as a provocation to the colonizing powers in Tehran and that any foreign presence aligned with the U.S. will be targeted. With security, however, can come true representative Palestinian governance and Palestinian-led economic institutions.

None of this will be easy, but it is essential, and it will only be possible with serious investment and planning from those who want to see the Palestinians live free of the terror and tyranny they experienced under Hamas.
Israel’s heroes will ensure victory
The parents of a brave 21-year-old commander at the Erez Crossing military base emotionally but proudly shared the story of their son, who led his soldiers to safety while fighting Hamas terrorists. He chose to leave his men in a saferoom to save others and then fell in battle. His heroism saved lives at the expense of his own. His parents were remarkably brave in telling their son’s story and pleased to share that their 17-year-old son is excited to join the unit in which his older brother served with such distinction. Like so many with whom we met, these parents were focused on Israel’s future, sharing the common understanding that this war must be the last.

One of the hostages told his father several months before the attack that if he were ever kidnapped, he did not want Palestinian terrorists released in exchange for him. His father, rifle slung over his shoulder, explained why he and about one-third of the families of hostages do not want Israel to release terrorists to save a family member. The epitome of altruism is their focus on Israel’s future. They know that every deal made with terrorists will promote more kidnapping and more wars. The father described “the spirit of our house” revolving around a selfless commitment to the future of the State of Israel and that the lives of its nine million citizens outweigh the life of one.

Up north, we visited the Alma Research Institute, founded by Sarit Zehavi, who bravely monitors the border with Lebanon and documents Hezbollah infiltrations and reconnaissance. She refuses to leave her home despite the constant missile barrages and imminent danger. 60,000 Israelis from the north remain displaced. 500 homes have been destroyed by Hezbollah missiles.

The Druze living in the north also refuse to leave. They welcomed us into their homes and shared stories of their personal losses to Palestinian terrorists and their hope for Israel’s victory. As so often during our stay, we heard that Israel must win this war. Former MK Shachiv Shnaan, whose son was murdered in a terror attack on the Temple Mount, shared that not only is Israel the best place in the world to be a Jew, but also to be a Druze.

All of these meetings exemplified the Israeli spirit and determination to win, to defeat Hamas, Hezbollah and all those who seek Israel and the Jewish people’s annihilation. They all recognize that only when Israel’s enemies are defeated will there be peace.

So what does victory look like? Destroying Hamas’ ability to repeat Oct. 7 is imperative. But one soldier shared that victory is not just finding and killing Yahya Sinwar. It is another music festival with dancing and singing, bringing the lush fields back, opening the schools for children to safely attend, bringing critical factories back online, fixing the fence, rebuilding the military’s defenses and bringing life back to people’s homes.

He concluded that the answer to Hamas and what is owed to those who lost their lives is proving that life was not destroyed and that Israel is stronger than ever. I have no doubt that Israel’s heroes will ensure victory.


Hamas Still Believes It Can Survive
It is a cardinal rule when dealing with Islamist terrorists to make it clear that only their total and unequivocal capitulation will bring hostilities to an end. Anything less gives them the impression that they may yet turn a situation, no matter how bleak, to their advantage. It is a policy that has worked extremely effectively in dealing with the likes of al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The Hamas fanatics responsible for carrying out the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history on Oct. 7 look set to suffer a similar fate - so long as the Israel Defense Forces are allowed to continue with their punishing offensive to wipe the movement off the face of the earth, which is the Israeli government's declared aim. Yet, far from conceding defeat, Hamas still believes it can ultimately survive the Gaza conflict.

It is remarkable that those campaigning in support of Hamas fail to grasp the full extent of the movement's total commitment to resorting to acts of extreme violence to achieve its ends. The Palestinian convicts whose release Hamas is demanding from Israeli prisons are not political prisoners of conscience. Many of them are calculating killers similar to those who carried out the Oct. 7 attacks, who think nothing of murdering innocent women and children.
To Save Gaza, the U.S. Needs a Strategy to Restrain Iran
Since the outbreak of war on October 7, America has given Israel much support, and also much advice. Seth Cropsey argues that some of that advice hasn’t been especially good:
American demands for “restraint” and a “lighter footprint” provide significant elements of Hamas’s command structure, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of 10/7, a far greater chance of surviving and preserving the organization’s capabilities. Its threat will persist to some extent in any case, since it has significant assets in Lebanon and is poised to enter into a full-fledged partnership with Hizballah that would give it access to Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps for recruitment and to Iranian-supported ratlines into Jordan and Syria.

Turning to the aftermath of the war, Cropsey observes that it will take a different kind of involvement for the U.S. to get the outcomes it desires, namely an alternative to Israeli and to Hamas rule in Gaza that comes with buy-in from its Arab allies:
The only way that Gaza can be governed in a sustainable and stable manner is through the participation of Arab states, and in particular the Gulf Arabs, and the only power that can deliver their participation is the United States. A grand bargain is impossible unless the U.S. exerts enough leverage to induce one.

Militarily speaking, the U.S. has shown no desire seriously to curb Iranian power. It has persistently signaled a desire to avoid escalation. . . . The Gulf Arabs understand this. They have no desire to engage in serious strategic dialogue with Washington and Jerusalem over Iran strategy, since Washington does not have an Iran strategy.

Gaza’s fate is a small part of a much broader strategic struggle. Unless this is recognized, any diplomatic master plan will degenerate into a diplomatic parlor game.
Hamas terrorists captured while hiding in Gaza school, IDF pushes deeper into Khan Yunis
The IDF’s 7th Brigade successfully captured and interrogated dozens of terrorists hiding in a school in the west of the Gazan city of Khan Yunis, the IDF announced on Friday. The IDF also carried out a number of raids on the homes of senior Hamas operatives, venturing into new parts of Khan Yunis.

In one targeted raid on terrorist infrastructure, the 7th brigade successfully captured dozens of terrorists who had been hiding in a school. Through questioning the captured terrorists, the IDF acquired key intelligence that was transferred directly to the forces operating in Khan Yunis.

The brigade reported encountering dozens of Hamas terrorists within residential neighborhoods, eliminating them by tank fire and close-quarters combat as well as guided aerial fire.

During this mission, the Brigade eliminated five armed terrorists in a vehicle that posed a threat to IDF troops, the military added.

Raids on Hamas operative homes
Over the past week, in addition to targeting Hamas resources in civilian buildings, the 7th brigade carried out a number of raids on the homes of senior Hamas operatives. These raids extended to areas that had been untouched by the IDF until now.

Located in the senior Hamas operatives’ homes, soldiers found ammunition magazines, RPG missiles, explosives, Kalashnikov rifles, uniforms, and Hamas military equipment.
IDF eliminates Oct. 7 terrorists, Hamas infrastructure in Khan Yunis
The IDF successfully eliminated terrorists in Khan Yunis who infiltrated and attacked Kissufim, Ein HaShlosha, Nirim, and Nir Oz on October 7, the IDF confirmed on Friday. Two soldiers were killed during the operation.

Staff-Sergeant-Major Ido Eli Zrihen and Staff-Sergeant-Major Narya Belete fell in Gaza as terrorists opened fire on the Givati Reconnaissance Battalion during the operation.

The two-week operation saw the successful locating of Hamas weaponry and dozens of terrorist infrastructure in Abasan, eastern Khan Yunis. Dozens of terrorists were also eliminated. How the IDF took out the Hamas hideout

The brigade began the operation with targeted aerial strikes on dozens of terrorist targets above and below ground, the IDF reported.

After eradicating some of the threats, soldiers operated on foot in the area of Abasan al-Saghira. It was during this mission that the houses of Hamas operatives were identified.

IDF forces successfully located a Hamas hideout where weapons, including anti-tank missiles, drones, sniper rifles, Kalashnikov Rifles, grenades, explosives, RPG missiles and more, were discovered.

It was during the search of the terrorist infrastructure that soldiers of the Givati Reconnaissance Battalion encountered terrorists who opened fire on them from close range. The forces returned fire and eliminated the terrorists. Staff-Sergeant-Majors Zrihen and Belete were killed in action during this battle.


IDF: "We Didn't Fire at Humanitarian Convoy" in Gaza
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari on Thursday discussed the incident in Gaza in which more than 100 Palestinians who swarmed humanitarian aid trucks were killed. "We did not fire at the humanitarian convoy, we secured it," Hagari said. "As these vital humanitarian supplies made their way toward Gazans in need, thousands of Gazans ambushed the trucks, some began violently pushing and trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies. Dozens of Gazans were killed and injured as a result of the stampede. Unfortunately, the Palestinian trucks ran over them."

"The IDF was securing the humanitarian corridor so that the aid convoy could reach its destination in northern Gaza. The tanks that were there to secure the convoy saw the Gazans being trampled and cautiously tried to disperse the mob with a few warning shots." Referring to a video from a drone during the incident, he said, "You can see how cautious they were when they were backing up. They were backing up securely, risking their own lives, not shooting at the mob. This humanitarian aid was coordinated by Israel for the people of Gaza. We want the aid to reach the people of Gaza. We are working around the clock to make this happen."


'Absolutely not': IDF slams Hamas figures of aid convoy casualties as 'blatant lie'
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner has addressed Hamas-led claims Israeli forces opened fire on Gazan civilians collecting humanitarian aid by labelling them as a “blatant lie”.

“The IDF did not attack the convoy – The IDF secured the convoy,” he said.

“As things got out of hand, as the looters boarded the vehicles, it appears that much of the wounded and the casualties and even the deaths are a result of trampling, from shoving and even from being run over by the trucks.

“We did not strike the convoy, absolutely not.

“We were trying to secure the convoy and we did fire some warning shots – not at the convoy.”




U.S. Blocks Security Council Motion Blaming Israel for Deadly Gaza Aid Convoy Incident
Amid American opposition, Arab nations failed Thursday to get immediate support for a UN Security Council statement blaming Israel for the more than 100 reported deaths as Palestinians in northern Gaza swarmed an aid convoy. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said, "The problem is that we don't have all the facts here," adding that he wanted the wording to reflect "the necessary due diligence with regards to culpability."

The IDF said it did not fire at the crowd rushing the main aid convoy. It acknowledged that troops opened fire on several Gazans who moved toward soldiers at an IDF checkpoint, endangering them.
South Africa condemns Israel over deaths of Palestinians awaiting aid
South Africa said on Friday the killing of Palestinians awaiting aid in Gaza breached the World Court's provisional orders in a legal case in which Pretoria has accused Israel of committing genocide in the coastal enclave.

The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli forces had killed over 100 Palestinians trying to reach a relief convoy.

Israel blamed most of the deaths on crowds that swarmed around aid trucks, saying most victims were trampled or run over though an Israeli official said Israeli troops had "in a limited response" later fired on crowds they felt posed a threat.

South Africa's statement on the event
"South Africa condemns the massacre of 112 Palestinians and the injury of hundreds more as they sought life-saving aid," South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.

"This latest atrocity is another breach of international law and in breach of the binding provisional orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)."
Hamas Seeks to Use Gaza Stampede to Stop the War
The Palestinians are trying to turn the tragic incident in Gaza into a "massacre" for which Israel and the IDF are responsible, in order to halt IDF ground operations in Gaza. We encountered a similar situation at the beginning of ground operations when an Islamic Jihad rocket fell in the courtyard of a hospital and killed dozens of Palestinians.

Humanitarian aid trucks carrying food entered northern Gaza through an IDF checkpoint. Gazans who stormed and attempted to loot the food from the trucks were either trampled by the crowd or run over by drivers trying to escape. This is clearly seen in drone footage and the IDF had no involvement. In a second incident, armed individuals - likely from Hamas or other terror organizations - fired at the crowd to deter them or to steal from the trucks themselves.

In a third incident, part of the Gazan crowd that tried to approach the trucks came within tens of meters of IDF soldiers. According to an IDF officer on-site, IDF soldiers felt threatened, fired warning shots in the air, and then fired at the feet of the advancing crowd. From the footage taken from the air, it can be shown that most of the casualties occurred in incidents where the military wasn't involved. The Palestinian claims are clearly exaggerated and false.

Journalists from CNN and other international media outlets interviewed Palestinians who were present there, with the Gazans recounting that the truck drivers ran over a significant portion of the looters, and that the crowd trampled over many others.
Daniel Greenfield: Hamas Staged a Food Aid Riot to Blame Israel and Retain Control Over Aid
Now Israel is once again under fire, accused of a massacre, and Hamas is in a position to retain control over aid.

The media is carefully not providing any of the relevant context such as why Israel was there distributing aid.

And the question that no one is asking is why Hamas was so bent on maintaining control over aid deliveries?

The answer is that Hamas, like most Islamic terror groups, wants two things from humanitarian aid.

1. It uses the aid as currency, to reward supporters and then to resell for profit.

2. It uses the denial of aid to create a humanitarian crisis that it blames on Israel

It’s hard to say which of these is more valuable, but in the latest incident, we see both prongs at the same time.

Hamas needs to retain control over aid because it can use the supplies to buy loyalty and reward its terrorists, and because denying aid to civilians put political pressure on Israel to stop attacking Hamas.


Daniel Greenfield: Palestinian “Police Officer” Murders Israeli Medic at Gas Station, Taken Down by Israeli Cafe Owner
This is the state of play in Israel now.

The Biden administration is trying to stop Israel from going into Rafah while propping up a plan to build a “Palestinian State” under the Palestinian Authority. That’s a gang of terrorists better known as the PLO.

And while Israel fights in Gaza against Hamas, terrorists keep popping up trying to create small scale versions of Oct 7, including this time by a “Palestinian Authority police officer”. The PA police were members of the terrorist group who were armed, trained and funded by the Clinton administration and subsequently the Bush administration with disastrous results. The “police officers” quickly reverted to being terrorists again. Except they had better training for carrying out their attacks. And it’s not surprising that a PA “police officer” was involved in the latest attack.

Three Islamic terrorists struck at a gas station near the Israeli town of Eli. They killed Yitzhak Zeiger, a 57-year-old Israeli volunteer medic who leaves behind a wife, three children and two grandchildren, and a still unnamed teenager. The terrorist came upon Zeigler while he was filling up his car at the gas station. Zeigler was able to draw his personal firearm and return fire, but was ultimately struck down by the attacker.

The gas station had been previously targeted by terrorists last year.

One of the terrorists was Muhammad Manasra, who is affiliated with Fatah, the ruling PLO group behind the Palestinian Authority, and had graduated from the Egyptian Police College.


The Gaza War Is Testing Hizbullah's Strategic Capability
After Hamas' assault on Israel on Oct. 7, Hizbullah was the first to attack Israel on another front. Despite being the instigator of the fight, Hizbullah is not setting the agenda. Its main priority is survival rather than victory.

Over the last four months, Hizbullah has been trying to retain its credibility as a major actor in Iran's "axis of resistance," while steering clear of escalation with Israel. Hizbullah knows that there is little appetite for all-out war among its supporters - and also that such a war would end up hurting, not serving, Iran.

The majority of Israeli attacks on Lebanon have carefully targeted Hizbullah sites and personnel, exposing the vulnerability of Hizbullah's military and security apparatus. Hizbullah's inability to protect civilians in Lebanon will act as a brake on its actions. Hizbullah is unable to compensate Lebanese civilian households which have been affected by Israel's ongoing operations, in stark contrast to its large-scale compensation campaign in the aftermath of its war with Israel in 2006.

At that time, Hizbullah largely delivered on its promises, due to Iranian backing and Gulf Arab funding of reconstruction in the south. But Hizbullah's ability to harness funding for its supporters is not what it once was, with a financial crisis in Lebanon, the halting of unconditional Gulf Arab aid, and stepped-up Western sanctions on Hizbullah's and Iran's international financial networks.

For now, with Iran unwilling to be drawn into the Gaza war and domestic support uncertain, Hizbullah's hands are tied - despite its large arsenal and an Israeli assault that is set to widen.


Full Monday planned at UN with focus on US vetoes of ceasefire, UNRWA
On Monday afternoon, the General Assembly is slated to hold an urgent session on Israel’s effort to defund and disband UNRWA, the scandal-beset, Palestinian-only refugee and social services agency that is under fire for alleged substantial ties to Hamas.

Sixteen donor countries suspended funding to UNRWA amid allegations that a dozen of its employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, putting the perpetually financially challenged organization in greater peril.

Parallel reviews of the agency are taking place, with an internal U.N. investigation into the allegations of staff participation on Oct. 7, and a separate, larger review of UNRWA’s neutrality, or lack thereof, which critics expect to whitewash the organization’s overtly political nature.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, is expected to brief the General Assembly in person on Monday in New York.

The Arab Group of Nations, which called for the UNRWA session, is expected to use Monday’s events to push its agenda, per a recent press release from that 20-member alliance.

The group will focus upcoming efforts at the United Nations on “demanding that Israel be punished for its crimes and violations of international law,” it stated, “by freezing its membership in the General Assembly and demanding a stop to supplying it with weapons and ammunition.”

Sources told JNS that the Arab Group, which includes the Palestinian Authority, intends to restart a campaign for the Palestinian Authority, which has non-member status, to become a full U.N. member.

JNS has learned that Pramila Patten, U.N. envoy on sexual violence in conflict, will also hold a press briefing on Monday.

Patten recently made an eight-day visit to Israel to gather testimony and evidence detailing Hamas’s use of sexual violence on Oct. 7.


Hamas claims seven hostages killed in captivity in Gaza
Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel on Friday that seven hostages had been killed during Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas named three of the hostages that had been allegedly killed as Chaim Gershon Peri, 79, Yoram Itak Metzger, 80, and Amiram Israel Cooper, 85. The terrorist group said a later announcement would contain the names of the remaining four.

All three men were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

The information provided by Hamas is unconfirmed, and Hamas has previously shared false information on the well-being of hostages as part of its use of psychological warfare. Hamas has previously named a hostage as killed only to later release them, as was the case of Hannah Katzir. Hamas's latest statement on the seven hostages

“We have previously announced that our contact has been cut off with our mujahideen who are guarding a number of enemy prisoners,” Hamas announced on their Telegram, “and that we believe that a number of the prisoners have been killed as a result of the Zionist bombing.

“After examination and scrutiny during recent weeks, we have confirmed the martyrdom of a number of our mujahideen and the killing of seven enemy prisoners in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Zionist bombing.”

"We confirm that the number of enemy prisoners who were killed as a result of the military operations of the enemy army in the Gaza Strip may exceed seventy prisoners," the statement claimed. "We have been keen all along to preserve the lives of the prisoners, but it has become clear that the enemy leadership is deliberately killing its prisoners to get rid of this file.

"At the same time, we affirm that the price we will take in exchange for five or ten living prisoners is the same price we would have taken in exchange for all the prisoners if the enemy’s bombing operations had not killed them."


POLL: American People Are Not With Biden In His Anti-Israel Policies | Caroline Glick Show In-Focus
A new Harvard/Harris Poll reveals that the American people by-in-large are supportive of Israel's war against Hamas and feel that Biden's Middle East policies are failing.


Call Me Back PodCast: 1948 – with Benny Morris (Part 1)
Hosted by Dan Senor
PART 1 of 2
For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most interested observers in the West, looked to the 1967 Six-Day War as the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If only we could reverse the results of that defensive war in which Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza, the problem would be solved, so the narrative goes. And this served as the basis for all peace talks and agreements that have taken place since.

But, to anyone willing to listen, the story that Palestinian leaders were telling had nothing to do with 1967, and everything to do with 1948. And the story they tell goes something like this: ‘In the 1940s Jews escaped the Nazis, fled Europe, colonized Palestine, and unprovoked – ethnically cleansed the Arabs. A textbook case of settler colonialism.’

They have managed to propagate this false narrative throughout much of Western society, where millions are mindlessly chanting those six words – ‘from the river to the sea.’

So while we never thought we’d need to re-litigate this topic, we invited to the podcast (for a special two-part discussion) one of the quintessential historians of 1948 – Benny Morris. Professor Morris has dedicated his entire career to studying and writing about the war of 1948, the circumstances that led to it and its aftermath – i.e The Palestinian Refugee Problem.

Morris’s first book was “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949”. His other books include: “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War”, and “Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001”. He completed his undergraduate studies in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Cambridge.

Links to all of Benny Morris’s books can be found here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Benny%20morris

His recent published essays can be found here: https://quillette.com/author/benny-morris/?gad_source=1


'Palestinian Lady Gaga' whose songs include Intifada on the Dance Floor could represent Iceland in Eurovision - creating political headache for organisers
Palestinian pop singer Bashar Murad hopes to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, and bring a Palestinian voice to the event, he has said.

However, the man dubbed the 'Palestinian Lady Gaga' whose songs include 'Intifada on the Dance Floor' could pose a headache for the event's organisers.

Eurovision, which draws millions of television viewers, bills itself as a non-political event and can disqualify those it considers to be in breach of this rule.

Alarm bells have already been sounded over Israel's entry, 'October Rain' sung by 20-year-old Russian-Israeli Eden Golan - after a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is reported to have informed an Israeli official that the country's entry was overly political and in breach of impartiality rules.

Reports that the ballad was being investigated spread last week after leaked lyrics suggested that the song focused on the October 7 massacre by Hamas.

This year, the contest will take place between May 7 to 11 in the Swedish city of Malmo, against a backdrop of protests and boycotts over the continuing Gaza war - sparked by the attack - that have affected cultural events across Europe.

Eurovision Song Contest organisers have resisted calls for Israel to be excluded from the competition but said last week they were scrutinising the Israeli submission.

Iceland will choose its contestant on Saturday, with Murad competing in the national final with a song co-written by Einar Stefansson of Icelandic band Hatari, known for raising a banner showing Palestinian flags during the 2019 Eurovision.

Murad, 31, has hits including 'Intifada on the Dance Floor' and is aiming to represent Iceland with his song 'Wild West', which is about an artist's desire for freedom.

Its music video, however, suggests it could pose a problem for Eurovision organisers, as it is filled with symbols of Palestinian resistance.
If Protests Are Not Anti-Jewish, Stop Attacking Jews
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Canada have insisted they're not against Jews, just "Zionists" and Israel's military response in Gaza.

But if these protests are not against Jews, why are Jewish neighborhoods, businesses, places of worship, community centers, university students, and a hospital in Toronto founded by Jews which treats everyone regardless of their faith, being targeted?

Why have bullets been fired at Jewish day schools, Jewish gathering places firebombed, and Jewish homes defaced with Swastikas? Why are reported hate crimes against Jews skyrocketing across the country, if it's not about hating Jews?

The reality is that holding Jews living in Canada responsible for the military actions of the Israeli government in Gaza is Jew-hatred.

It is as morally repugnant as holding Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians living in Canada responsible for the terrorism of Hamas in Israel.

So if it's not about Jews in Canada today, stop attacking them.


Pro-Palestine protesters mount Wall Street's famous Charging Bull and challenge NYPD officers to punch them as they crash Governor Kathy Hochul event
Hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors flooded the streets of Lower Manhattan, clashing with police as some mounted on top of Wall Street's famous Charging Bull statue, defacing it with 'death to Israel.'

On Thursday evening, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Union Square before heading to the financial district to condemn US military aid to Israel. The 'Emergency Action For Gaza' rally targeted Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York as she delivered remarks at a Wall Street restaurant.

Video footage captured the chaotic scene, as demonstrators were seen mounting on top of the Charging Bull statue and defacing it with the message 'Death to Israel,' using a black marker to etch the graffiti behind the bull's ear.

Photos shared on social media revealed the graffiti 'Free Palestine' scrawled across its face.

Amidst the chaos, protestors were sene brazenly challenging police officers, with a woman in a hijab repeatedly urging police officers to 'hit me.'

As the protest moved towards City Hall, eight demonstrators were issued summonses for disorderly conduct. At least one is facing charges of resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.

They marched towards Cipriani Wall Street, where Governor Hochul was expected. At least one demonstrator was arrested near Cipriani.

Some protesters, ignoring police orders to clear the streets and walk on the sidewalks, fell to the ground and were restrained by officers before being taken away in police vans.

Nerdeen Kiswani, an organizer with Within Our Lifetime, addressed the crowd outside Cipriani.




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