Wednesday, March 06, 2024

03/06 Links Pt1: The New Rape Denialism; Israel Prepares to Go It Alone; The Illusion of a Palestinian 'Demilitarized' State; UNRWA donors likely to resume funding soon

From Ian:

Bret Stephens The New Rape Denialism
On Oct. 7, Hamas invaded Israel and filmed itself committing scores of human-rights atrocities. Some of the footage was later captured by the Israeli military and screened to hundreds of journalists, including me. The “pure, predatory sadism,” as Atlantic writer Graeme Wood described it, is bottomless.

Yet Hamas denies that its men sexually assaulted Israelis, calling the charges “lies and slanders against the Palestinians and their resistance.” And Hamas’s fellow travelers and useful idiots in the West, most of them self-described progressives, parrot that denialism in the face of powerful and deeply investigated evidence of widespread rapes, documented most recently in a United Nations report released on Monday.

The interesting question is, why? Why the refusal to believe that Hamas, which butchered children in their beds, took elderly women as hostages and incinerated families in their homes, would be capable of that?

I’ll get to that in a moment, but first it’s worth looking at the forms this denialism takes. One method is to acknowledge, as one recent article put it, that “sexual assault may have occurred on Oct. 7,” but nobody has really proved that it was part of an organized pattern. Another is to raise questions about various details in stories to suggest that if there’s even a single error, or a witness whose testimony is at all inconsistent, the entire account must also be false and dishonest. A third is to treat anything an Israeli says as inherently suspect.

And finally, there is the point that there are barely any witnesses to the assaults. Where are the women who were allegedly raped? Why aren’t they speaking out?

The answer to that final question is the grimmest: Overwhelmingly, the women who could have spoken out are dead, for the simple reason that any Israeli who got close enough to a terrorist to be raped was close enough to be murdered. As for the credibility of Israeli witnesses, who else — other than the early responders who encountered the victims at first hand — should be interviewed and quoted by anyone investigating this?
The left serves as apologists for Hamas rapists' heinous crimes on Oct. 7
Remember when rape was a sickening crime, and not a form of resistance?

Remember when #MeToo was a universal movement against sexual violence that brooked no excuses or exceptions?

Those landmark advances came after long struggles, and now they are being riddled with exclusions and in danger of being gutted.

All because the latest victims are ­Israelis.

Or, as an Instagram meme put it, “Me Too Unless You’re a Jew.”

Antisemitism takes many forms, and we must add to the list the refusal to accept as fact the horrific scope of rape and sexual mutilation carried out by Muslim terrorists on Oct. 7.

The claim by Hamas that there were no sexual atrocities has given license for despicable apologists in America and abroad to insist that such crimes never happened.

Or if they did, well, there were only a few.

Besides, the Israelis had it coming.

A new report from the United Nations, though belated and imperfect, puts the lie to the denial and excuses.

The report confirms that members of Hamas, other terror groups and Gaza civilians were guilty of committing many heinous sexual crimes that day.

Notwithstanding the authors’ dry language and excuses about not having enough time to be more thorough, the findings leave zero doubt that scores, perhaps hundreds of instances of rape and mutilation took place in Israeli communities near the border.

The investigators also found “clear and convincing” evidence that some Israeli hostages were raped in Gaza and believe some hostages still in captivity could be suffering the same fate.

It is impossible to read the report and not feel sickened by the savage brutality it recounts.
Aviva Klompas: Fresh Evidence That UNWRA Isn't Helping Anyone—Not Even the Palestinians
The notion that a different set of rules applies to only one people in the world is absurd. But that's how UNRWA keeps its mission alive, its 30,000 workers on the job, and its billions of dollars flowing in from foreign governments.

To sustain the system, UNRWA also moved beyond the "humanitarian aid" business and into the education business. It operates hundreds of schools in Gaza and around the Arab world with curricula and textbooks that incite the next generation by dehumanizing Jews, denying Israel's right to exist, and depicting all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as Palestine.

UNRWA also turned a blind eye (or worse) to the terrorism perpetrated by the Hamas government in Gaza.

Over the past few months, the world has learned that a number of UNRWA employees participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack. These included a social worker who carried a murdered Israeli's body into his car and drove the dead man into Gaza. And now the IDF released recordings of an UNRWA teacher saying he had captured an Israeli woman on October 7 as a "sabaya," a Jihadi term for sex slave.

The IDF has also produced evidence that Hamas' network of terror tunnels includes an elaborate command center built right underneath UNRWA's Gaza headquarters.

UNRWA officials claimed they weren't aware, but Western nations are skeptical. The United States and Germany, among others, have begun halting payments to the organization.

Now it's time to take the next step.

Other humanitarian aid groups, forward-looking Arab nations, or even the UN High Commissioner for Refugees could step in to oversee the provision of aid to Palestinians with an eye toward enabling a more peaceful and prosperous future.

UNRWA has failed the people it's supposed to help. It's incited and protected terrorists. And now it's lost the trust of its funders. After 75 years, it's clear the agency will never play a role in ending Palestinian suffering—and even clearer that it needs to go.

Aviva Klompas is the former director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations and co-founder of Boundless Israel, a nonprofit organization that partners with community leaders in the U.S. to support Israel education and combat hatred of Jews.


Seth Mandel: Israel Prepares to Go It Alone
And the Israelis seem to have noticed. Yediot Ahronot reports that Israel went on a shopping spree to stock up on U.S.-made rifles while also setting into motion plans to build similar versions domestically to ease its reliance on American weapons. Israel will also produce a domestic line of bombs for its air force.

As the Times of Israel’s Lazar Berman points out, “A production line is expensive. It wouldn’t be opened if the IDF wasn’t committed to buying from it for years to come.” Berman also suggests this could be related to the recent decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade to challenge the subsidies received by Finkelstein Metals. That company is, as the Jerusalem Post explains, “the sole Israeli producer of brass, bronze, and copper alloy products,” with which it supplies major Israeli defense firms.

Among the systems dependent on Finkelstein Metals: Iron Dome, Israel’s missile defense.

Israeli officials stressed to Yediot that part of this changeover is designed to increase weapons uniformity across IDF brigades that use similar, and now would use identical, guns. “The move will allow for great maintenance flexibility, will prevent [adjustment challenges] for soldiers who will move from regular to reserve, will provide a uniform spare parts market and will save logistical costs over the years,” said one senior IDF officer.

The Israelis hope to have the domestically produced rifles ready in 2025.

Democrats have been locked in a fight over conditioning aid to Israel, which itself is something of a compromise position intended to take the air out of the tires of the progressive wing’s drive to reduce or eliminate military aid to the Jewish state.

Last week, hours after the debunking of the claim that Israel had sprayed bullets into Gazans trying to get food off of aid trucks, Elizabeth Warren stood on the Senate floor and repeated it to support her argument in favor of limiting wartime aid to Israel. Bernie Sanders used the occasion to insist Israel “open its borders” to let more aid into Gaza. “Failure to do so should result in the immediate halt of all military aid,” he said.

The “moderates,” folks like Tim Kaine and Dick Durbin, the latter being among the party’s Senate floor leadership, have been the ones to argue for “merely” conditioning aid to our ally.

The writing is on the wall. And whether it’s written right to left or left to right, Israelis have no trouble reading it. Next time—and unfortunately for Israel, there is always a next time—they might need a Plan B.
John Spencer: I Have Delivered Aid in War Zones. They Were the Missions We Feared Most
I watched the aerial footage of the disaster surrounding the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attempt to deliver aid to Northern Gaza last Thursday in horror. While the complete details are unknown and awaiting further IDF investigation, what I did see brought back memories of my own experiences, ones I wish to forget, trying to deliver humanitarian aid during combat in war-torn cities. These missions were the ones I feared most.

War is chaos and so much of being a soldier is about maintaining a sense of control in utter chaos. Training for war is about preparing for foreseeable scenarios, like attacking an enemy held city, walking down an enemy street, or dodging roadside bombs, and then responding to those threats—often even without a deliberate thought process.

I was a platoon leader in Northern Iraq in 2003. It was a month after the invasion and I was tasked to use my infantry platoon to distribute water with a giant water truck containing over 4,000 gallons of water to a crowded slum in Kirkuk, Iraq, where the bombs to take the city had cut the power and damaged water lines. It was a mission my soldiers and I had never trained for.

But that is war—especially modern wars that center on densely populated urban areas, where soldiers have and will continue to be required to fight what U.S. General Charles Krulak called the "three block war" in which soldiers must simultaneously fight a vicious embedded enemy on one block, conduct peacekeeping operations on the next block, and deliver humanitarian aid on a third block.

Despite the complete lack of training for our mission to deliver water, we made a plan scribbled out in our pocket notebooks, which centered on the basics of security: We planned to secure the water truck inside our convoy and then at a distribution site in the city. We created an outer perimeter of vehicles and soldiers and an inner perimeter around the truck with a circle of razor wire to give standoff and create entry and exit points. Each soldier on the ground and gunners on the vehicles were assigned their areas to watch for threats.

The soldiers did their job. They scanned the hands of the crowd for weapons, scanned the windows for shooters. They pointed, yelled, even shoved to get people to the right places or away from the wrong place.

A crowd of men of all ages and mostly elderly women began to surround us, and it didn't take long for the crowd to turn into a mob. Thoughts ran through my mind of a suicide bomber or a weapon firing from the crowd. No matter the commands to form a line or back up, nobody would listen. They crowded the security trucks screaming in Arabic, making the soldiers extremely nervous. The crowd began throwing women into the razor wire as they shoved each other for a better position. This caused injuries we then had to help care for. It rapidly became uncontrollable, and I had to give the order to pack up and withdraw.
Pentagon to 'Post': Israel did not inspect food, aid airdropped over Gaza
Israel has not been involved in the inspection of US food packages the American military airdropped over Gaza during joint operations with the Jordanian Royal Airfare, according to the Pentagon.

“The goods are prepackaged foods that are inspected at the time they are processed and prior to delivery,” the Pentagon initially told The Jerusalem Post when speaking about Friday’s airdrop.

The Pentagon told the Post that Israel was “not involved” in security inspections for the goods on that drop. On Tuesday, after the second airdrop, the Pentagon told reporters that Israel did not screen those goods either.

Jordan had separately conducted an airdrop last week. The US plans to do more airdrops. Other countries, including Belgium, want to conduct similar operations as a go-around to distribution problems on the ground to the active combat between Israel and Hamas, which according to the United Nations, has created a food crisis in the enclave that is home to 2.3 million people.

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) raised concerns about the security aspects of such operations when he spoke to his faction on Monday in the Knesset.

In a speech attacking the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lapid said, it was “not qualified” to run the war or the necessary diplomacy around it.

Lapid pointed to the issue of the airdrops as an example, explaining that “the Americans’ and the Jordanians’ airdrop into Gaza did not go through a security inspection. Americans have lost faith in this government. They have lost faith in Netanyahu’s ability to run a campaign.”
Int'l law expert: Even after rape report, UN will continue to condemn Israel and not Hamas
Professor Anne Bayefsky, the Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President of Human Rights Voices, spoke to Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the release of the United Nations report stating that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Hamas committed mass acts of rape and sexual violence on October 7.

According to Prof. Bayefsky, the report will not change the UN's behavior in which it has consistently sided with Hamas over Israel since the October 7 massacre.

"Here is what the United Nations has not done in response to the mass brutalization of Israeli women by Hamas - on October 7th and every day since. It amounts to grotesque antisemitism," she said, noting how a wide range of UN agencies and organs that should have been expected to condemn Hamas' atrocities have not done so in the last five months since the massacre.

She noted that "the Security Council has never specifically condemned Hamas, in fact for anything at all.

In addition, "the General Assembly has adopted no resolutions condemning Hamas for its atrocities. (On the contrary, since October 7th the General Assembly has adopted 15 resolutions condemning Israel.)"

Furthermore, "the UN Human Rights Council has convened no special or urgent session on sexual violence against Israeli women. (But they had no trouble convening a special session after the death of 10 radicals on a flotilla that threatened to create a terrorist weapons depot on the Gaza coast.)"

"The World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2023 held its first ever country-specific special session of its Executive Board 'on the health situation in the occupied Palestinian territory,' not on the health situation of the thousands of Israelis maimed, violated, and traumatized by the October 7 terror attacks," she said.
Hamas rejects UN report on Oct. 7 sexual violence
Hamas issued a statement on Tuesday rejecting a United Nations report released the previous day on the Gaza-based terrorist group’s sexual violence during the Oct. 7 massacre and the sexual abuse of hostages.

“We in Hamas strongly reject and condemn the report published by U.N. representative Premila Patten, which accuses the Palestinian resistance fighters of committing acts of rape and sexual violence on October 7,” the terrorist organization wrote.

The terror group called the report’s claims “baseless false accusations” which amounts to the “demonization of Hamas.”

“Patten’s claims clearly contradict what emerged from the testimonies of Israeli women about the good treatment they received from the resistance fighters, as well as the testimonies of Israeli hostages who were released—about the good treatment they received during their captivity in Gaza,” the statement reads.

According to the 24-page U.N. report, there is “clear and convincing” evidence that terrorists committed sexual violence, including rape, against hostages in Gaza, and “reasonable grounds” to conclude that terrorists raped and gang-raped Israeli women in multiple locations on Oct. 7.
Biden under fire for Middle East policy; critics charge he's preventing 'Israel from winning'
President Biden was noncommittal Tuesday when asked about his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it's "like it’s always been." Yet many, including former President Trump, claim Biden is deserting Israel.

Asked earlier in the day by "Fox and Friends" anchor Brian Kilmeade if he believes Biden is "in the process of abandoning Israel," Trump said, I "do believe that."

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have seemingly ramped up pressure on Israel over the last few weeks to accept an immediate six-week cease-fire with Hamas in exchange for the release of the over 130 hostages held in Gaza.

"Biden has been advancing a policy that prevents Israel from winning — and so guarantees Israel is defeated — almost since the outset of the war," Caroline Glick, an Israeli-American expert on the Middle East told Fox News Digital.

The, "Two steps he took at the very early stages placed enormous obstacles before Israel. First, he blocked Israel from taking the most effective action, laying siege to Gaza. Had Israel blocked all food, water, fuel and medicines from entering Gaza, the people of Gaza would have turned on Hamas within a few short weeks."

Hamas terrorists invaded Israel Oct. 7 and slaughtered 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans. The jihadi terrorist movement kidnapped more than 240 people and transported them to the Gaza Strip.

Many Israeli military experts see a six-week cease-fire as dangerous because it could be part of a slippery slope toward a permanent stoppage of Israel’s war campaign and leave Hamas in power. Netanyahu has told the Israeli public his aim is "total victory" over Hamas.

"The hostage deal is in the hands of Hamas right now because there's been an offer, a rational offer," Biden said Tuesday of a cease-fire. "The Israelis have agreed to it." He added that the Israelis are cooperating, and he is pushing to "get more aid in Gaza." Biden’s goal is reportedly to secure a cease-fire before Ramadan begins next week.


Pompeo blasts Biden admin for making 'same mistake' as Obama on settlements in Jewish biblical region
The recent Biden administration decision to revoke the Trump-era "Pompeo Doctrine," which declared Jewish residences as legal in the core biblical region of the Holy Land, has been met with fierce criticism.

Biden’s controversial move unfolded in late February as Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas terrorists after it launched a war against the Jewish state on Oct. 7.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News Digital, "In reversing the Pompeo Doctrine, President Biden has now decided to ignore the truth that Judea and Samaria are Israel's land, obtusely viewing it as an obstacle to peace and making the same mistake favored by his predecessor in the Obama administration."

Pompeo added "Undermining Israel’s right to exist in the Jewish people’s homeland deepens and prolongs the conflict. It is not Israeli settlements that are an obstacle to peace – it is the unwillingness of the Palestinians to come to the table honestly and acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, the gross atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, and Hamas’ continued existence. Those are the true obstacles to peace."
Bassam Tawil: The Illusion of a Palestinian 'Demilitarized' State
[A]ny commitment to a demilitarized state by the Palestinian leadership would be legally worthless.

"Any treaty is void if, at the time it was entered into, it conflicts with a 'peremptory' rule of general international law (jus cogens) – a rule accepted and recognized by the international community of states as one from which 'no derogation is permitted.' Because the right of sovereign States to maintain military forces essential to 'self-defense' is such a peremptory rule, Palestine, depending upon its particular form of authority, could be entirely within its right to abrogate any pre-independence agreement that had compelled its demilitarization." [Italics in original.] — Louis René Beres, professor emeritus at Purdue University, and an expert in international law and political science, jurist.org, December 23, 2023.

"Therein lies the jurisprudential core of the Palestinian demilitarization problem: International law would not necessarily require Palestinian compliance with any pre-state agreements concerning the use of armed force. From the standpoint of such authoritative law, enforcing demilitarization upon a sovereign state of Palestine would be sorely problematic." [Italics in original.] — Louis René Beres, jurist.org, December 23, 2023

"Unhidden, both the Arab world and Iran still have only a 'One-State Solution' for the 'Israel Problem.' It is a 'solution' that eliminates Israel altogether, a physical solution, a 'Final Solution.' Even today, official Arab maps of 'Palestine' (PNA and Hamas) show the prospective Arab State comprising all of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria), all of Gaza and all of Israel. They knowingly exclude any references to a Jewish population and list 'holy sites' of Christians and Muslims only." — Louis René Beres, jurist.org, December 23, 2023

No one can stop a future Palestinian state from becoming a lawless and militarized state. Such a state on Israel's doorstep would pose a direct and grave threat to Israel's existence and actually facilitate the mission of the Iranian regime and its terror proxies to murder more Jews.
U.S. pushes for initial Gaza ceasefire without return of hostages - report
While holding out for Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage release proposal, U.S. and Arab negotiators floated a potential short pause to hostilities in the Gaza Strip while the larger deal gets ironed out, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Israeli media were quick to pick up on the U.S. shift away from conditioning any ceasefire on the release of hostages abducted during the Hamas-led October 7 attack, reading in between the lines of official statements, as well as through sources.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement alongside the Qatari prime minister, saying a ceasefire would enable a hostage release rather than being a precondition. A political source told Israel Hayom that was indeed a shift in the American position.

Just last night, U.S. President Joe Biden said "The Israelis are cooperating, and it’s now up to Hamas to agree to a ceasefire.”

Now, according to the WSJ report citing negotiators in the international effort, the latest push would seek to avoid fighting during Islam’s holy month Ramadan, while some are concerned Hamas wants to inflame the region instead, particularly with Israel vowing to expand its ground maneuver to Gaza’s southernmost area of Rafah.

While the shift in favor of Hamas would reward its holdout, the Biden administration was reportedly under pressure to reach a pause in fighting and to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza from getting worse.


Freedom Caucus chair leads resolution denouncing Israel cease-fire calls, demanding end to Gaza aid
A group of House Republicans is formally denouncing calls for a cease-fire in Gaza in a direct rebuke of the Biden administration’s increasingly critical stance on Israel’s war against Hamas.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., is introducing a resolution on Tuesday that, if passed, would rebuke U.S. officials demanding a cease-fire, as well as calls for an independent Palestinian state.

It would also call on the U.S. to totally halt humanitarian aid and other funds flowing to Gaza "until an independent and comprehensive investigation is completed."

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good is introducing a resolution to formally rebuke calls for an Israel-Gaza cease-fire.

The legislation is being rolled out a day after Vice President Kamala Harris intensified the cease-fire rhetoric coming from the White House in a speech at the annual commemoration of the 1965 Bloody Sunday civil rights march in Selma, Alabama.

"Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire for at least the next six weeks. This is what is currently on the table," Harris said.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has been pushing for a temporary pause in the fighting to be part of any deal struck between Israel and Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

"Instead of unequivocally backing our most important ally in the Middle East, both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have undermined Israel’s efforts to defend itself by repeatedly suggesting there should be a cease-fire in Gaza," Good told Fox News Digital on Monday morning.


U.S. ties to Qatar in spotlight, and under scrutiny, following strategic dialogue
Secretary of State Tony Blinken feted the Qatari prime minister in Washington on Tuesday, hosting the Gulf leader for a day-long meeting discussing the countries’ close partnership.

The sixth annual U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue comes at a tense moment in the Middle East, as Qatar plays a key role in mediating a long-awaited deal for the release of Israeli hostages and a temporary pause in fighting in Gaza. In remarks before the event and a summary issued by the State Department afterward, Blinken spoke highly of his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also Qatar’s prime minister.

“Qatar has been an exceptional partner for the United States,” Blinken said. “Qatar has been critical in the last few years in helping to get Americans who are being arbitrarily detained back home to their families in a whole variety of places.”

Blinken’s warm embrace of Qatar comes as the country has in recent weeks begun to face increasing pressure from Israeli leaders and some American Jewish activists due to its close ties to Hamas, and its inability to reach a second hostage deal as the Israelis held in Gaza approached their 150th day in captivity, which was Tuesday.

“I understand the diplomatic language that was used in the document that was put out by the State Department, talking about the vital commercial, economic, military and political ties. And I’m sure all that is true,” said Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “But underneath that, we have Qatar that dupes the United States and takes advantage of our friendship because of their location and actually funds things that are against the values of Western democracies.”

Since January, the JCRC has hosted semi-regular gatherings outside the Qatari embassy demanding that its leaders do more to pressure Hamas. But Halber, too, is cognizant of the fact that Qatar, for better or worse, plays a key role in the Middle East; he has refrained from using the words “protest” or “rally” to describe the events.
Sinwar decided to launch October 7 attack alone, angering Hamas leaders
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief in Gaza, has been the object of criticism within the Hamas leadership for launching the October 7 attack without prior consultation with other Hamas leaders, according to a Sky News Arabia report on Tuesday.

According to sources who spoke with the news outlet, those who made the decision to attack were Sinwar, along with his brother Muhammad Sinwar, Muhammad Deif, Hamas military chief, and Marwan Issa, Hamas’s Deputy Military Commander. The four had not consulted the rest of the Hamas leadership and its political bureau, who were ignorant of the decision. A-Sharq el-Awsat's January report

A report published by a-Sharq el-Awsat in January, based on Palestinian sources close to the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed that the decision to attack was made solely by five Hamas leaders, among whom were Sinwar, Sinwar’s brother, Deif, Rouhi Mushtaha, a Hamas official close associate of Sinwar and Ayman Nofal, close to Deif and previous leader of the al-Qassam Brigades’ intelligence.

Interestingly, in the January report, Issa was not included in the close list of confidants.

In addition, the report stated that the decision to attack and its timing were taken only on October 6, a day prior to October 7.


IAF slays terrorists who attacked Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak
Israeli Air Force fighter jets killed two terrorists in northern Gaza on Tuesday who participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak in the northwestern Negev.

Five security team members and one Israel Defense Forces soldier were killed and eight hostages were taken at Nir Yitzhak during the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were murdered, thousands more wounded and 253 kidnapped. One hundred thirty-four hostages remain in the Gaza Strip.

Two Hamas platoon commanders and a squad commander in the terrorist group’s Nukhba special forces unit were also killed in Tuesday’s IAF strike.

And in Beit Hanun in the northeastern Gaza Strip, soldiers on the ground directed a fighter jet to target two terrorists who fled to a “military” compound.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to press the offensive in the former Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, killing 20 terrorists over the past day in the central part of the city, including 15 during an IDF sniper ambush. Furthermore, a weapons storage facility was destroyed.

Moreover, IDF soldiers killed several terrorists and confiscated a large quantity of weapons in the area of the Qatari-funded Hamad City residential complex in northwestern Khan Yunis, as part of the “Crown of the West” operation to target terrorists entrenched there.

The Hamad City operation began with a massive wave of strikes overnight Saturday, with the Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery Corps hitting 50 targets within six minutes. Ground forces encircled the luxury complex and created a humanitarian corridor to evacuate thousands of residents, capturing dozens of terror suspects in recent days attempting to hide among the civilian population.


Seth Frantzman: War with the Houthis in Yemen may be on horizon
Houthi recruitments
“During the last three months, the Houthis mobilized 20,000 members from the Sanaa districts, another 20,000 from the Hajjah districts, and 6,000 from the Taiz districts that they control, while the militia leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, claimed to prepare 165,000 members to ‘fight the battle of the promised conquest and holy jihad,’” the report said.

The Houthis also are said to be recruiting children. “The Houthis’ targeting of children and adolescents in particular in recruitment operations extends over two decades… but recently the recruitment rate has increased frighteningly,” a human-rights group told AlAin.

Like Hamas, the Houthis use summer camps to put arms in the hands of children. It is not summer yet, so the new round of child militarization will have to wait a few months if the Houthis intend to use the summer camps for this purpose.

The Houthis exploit poverty and unemployment to recruit people for war, the report also said. The Houthis are now accused of sending 6,000 men to the Marib governorate in preparation for a possible offensive. “Observers believe that these Houthi crowds indicate that the militias are heading towards internal escalation and have nothing to do with ‘Palestine,’” the report said.

It now appears that recognition of the Houthi threat, and how they exploited the Gaza war, is leading to concern in the region. This may represent a turning of the tide in terms of understanding the way Iran has mobilized groups and exploited October 7.

For Iran, the attack on Israel was a huge watershed event. It is now possible that Tehran is using this all over the Middle East to build up its proxies.

The Houthis may want to “return Yemen to the war zone again by leaving the de-escalation agreement for a comprehensive escalation and annexing more land or completing the imposition of absolute control over areas of wealth,” one expert told AlAin News.

It is important to pay close attention to Yemen. If these reports are accurate, the Houthis are now on the move, which could reflect larger ambitions by Iranian groups in the region. They may be preparing something for Ramadan and the months after. If so, October 7 may have been the opening shot of a much larger war.
US Navy destroyer downs suicide drones, missile in Red Sea
A U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea shot down several suicide drones and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired towards it by Houthis in Yemen, AP reported on Wednesday.

The attack apparently targeted the “USS Carney,” an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that has been leading efforts to thwart Houthi aggression against commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.

There were no injuries or damage to the ship, U.S. Central Command announced on X, noting that the attack posed an “imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the U.S. Navy ships in the region.”

The Houthi movement’s “military” spokesperson, Yahya Saree, acknowledged the assault on Wednesday, claiming that the Iranian terrorist proxy had targeted two American warships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” Saree said.

In response to the attack, U.S. forces “destroyed three anti-ship missiles and three unmanned surface vessels (USV) in self-defense,” CENTCOM said. The targets were located in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.


Seafarers reported missing or wounded after Red Sea missile attack
Four mariners were severely burned and three missing after a missile hit a cargo ship off Yemen on Wednesday, a shipping source said, the first report of serious injuries since Yemen's Houthi movement began attacking shipping in one of the world's busiest waterways last year.

The Greek operator of the True Confidence said the vessel was struck about 50 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Aden and was drifting and ablaze.

At least two sailors were killed in a Houthi attack on freighter True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, a US official confirmed, the first fatalities reported since the Iran-aligned Yemeni group began a campaign of strikes against shipping the area.

They said no information was available about the status of 20 crew and three armed guards on board, who included 15 Filipinos, four Vietnamese, two Sri Lankans, an Indian and a Nepali national.

Yemen's Houthis issued a statement claiming responsibility.

The shipping source, who declined to be identified, said the Barbados-flagged vessel appeared to have been abandoned, with three people missing and four badly burned.


One wounded in Jerusalem terror stabbing
One person was moderately wounded in a stabbing at a bus stop in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Ya’akov on Wednesday afternoon, medical authorities said.

The victim is a 64-year-old Israeli man, according to the Magen David Adom emergency response organization.

He was evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus with “penetrating injuries,” the organization added.

Police said the suspect, a 14-year-old from the eastern part of the city, fled the scene. Large forces were called to the area and a manhunt was launched for the terrorist, who was swiftly apprehended.


Gazan civilians unable to evacuate to Egypt, but families of Hamas officials can
Since the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas, Palestinian civilians who wanted to escape Gaza to Egypt have encountered difficulties doing so, as the cost to do so is from 6,000-7,000 dollars per person, according to a Tuesday N12 report.

The report claims that getting past the Rafah crossing is a "desire shared by many Gazan families, but for most of them is an unattainable fantasy." However, some people who have managed to get to the other side have been Hamas terrorists and their families, N12 said, as the report claims that money is not an issue for the terrorist organization's relatives.

Escapees include nephews and nieces of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and according to the list obtained by N12, the children of Sinwar's sister were smuggled through the Rafah crossing only recently.

Other escaped family members of Hamas' officials
Additionally, the two children of the Hamas police spokesman, Ayman al-Batanji, also managed to escape. Under their names in the list, there is a crossed-out line. The N12 report estimates that this could be al-Batanji himself, but at the moment, it cannot be proven that he did manage to escape to Egypt.

The list also shows the four children of Sameh Elsraj, a member of Hamas's political bureau, who also managed to escape through the Rafah crossing, but he had reportedly been absent since the beginning of the war. There are speculations that he may have already been killed in a targeted counterattack by Israel. The names of senior Hamas official Akil Alhindi and the daughter of a Hamas health minister are also mentioned.

Every few days, more names of family members of Hamas who managed to escape from the Strip appear, according to the report.
Gaza Clans Fear Hamas Reprisals
Some Gazan families have established defensive alliances to protect themselves from gunmen, including Hamas.

Gazan sources reported that some Palestinian families cooperate with the IDF to ensure they receive humanitarian aid and protect their property from robbers and looters.

Israel has been engaging in discussions with clan leaders in Gaza, proposing that they assume administrative responsibilities and manage aid distribution to the population.

However, one clan member said he was concerned about potential Hamas reprisals against families accused of collaborating with Israel.

On Monday, Palestinian clan leaders published a statement rejecting Israel's plan to establish a civilian government in Gaza, reaffirming their loyalty to "the legitimate political leadership" represented by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.


More Than 450 UNRWA Staff Are Terrorists, Israel Says
Expert Analysis
“Like Nazi collaborators playing victims when their war crimes were exposed, UNRWA is trying anything to defend itself from the overwhelming evidence of its years of Hamas collaboration.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“It is difficult to fathom that the leaders of UNRWA were unaware of terrorist groups infiltrating their organization. Thus, it has become clear that the United Nations’ main agency in the Gaza Strip cannot be relied upon to function as a neutral entity. As the war persists, I anticipate the IDF will publish more evidence demonstrating UNRWA’s flagrant actions in the Gaza Strip.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

Funding Cuts for UNRWA
UNRWA said on February 1 that it will “most likely be forced to shut down our operations by the end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region” due to funding cuts. Following Israel’s accusations that 12 UNRWA staff joined the October 7 massacre, 16 donor countries cut $440 million of funding to UNRWA. On February 10, UNRWA head Lazzarini toured the Middle East to drum up UNRWA funding from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

European Commission Announces Audit of UNRWA
On March 1, the European Commission agreed to pay 50 million euros to UNRWA but will withhold 32 million euros until UNRWA properly responds to Israel’s allegations. The commission also intends to audit UNRWA with “independent external experts” and will focus “specifically on the control systems needed to prevent the possible involvement of its staff in terrorist activities,” the commission said. The commission further called on UNRWA to strengthen its Department of Internal Investigations and review “all” UNRWA staff “to confirm that they did not participate in the attacks.”
UNRWA donors likely to resume funding soon, Norway says
Many countries that paused funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Wednesday.

Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations by Israel that a dozen of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Norway, a top donor to UNRWA, has maintained its funding and transferred 275 million crowns ($26 million) in February, its regular annual contribution, and said more could come. It is also lobbying countries that have paused funding to resume.

"I think that a large number of those countries who suspended are (having) second thoughts," Barth Eide told Reuters in an interview, citing the recognition from these nations that "they cannot punish the whole Palestinian society".

"This is increasingly recognised and agreed by many," he said, after meeting Norwegian aid organisations to take stock of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"But then, of course, they need an honorable way out, which means they are hoping, I think - without speaking for individual countries - that they will get something from these investigations that suggest that they can say: "Well, we needed to suspend, but now we're back'."

The UN is conducting an internal probe, while former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is leading an independent review.


Liberal government reportedly poised to resume UNRWA funding
The government abruptly cancelled a press conference announcing new humanitarian funding for Gaza hours before it was set to begin on Wednesday, after reports leaked out that Canada would soon restore funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency, leaving confusion about the status of the aid money.

A little over a month after Canada hit the pause button on funding UNRWA, reports suggest the federal government is prepared to resume sending money by next month.

Citing confidential sources, reports published Tuesday evening by CBC News suggest Canada is preparing to resume sending money to UNRWA.

While the CBC report said an announcement was set to take place Wednesday at 9 a.m. and a media event in Mississauga was scheduled involving International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen and UN Ambassador Bob Rae, the cancellation leaves the government’s position in limbo.

Canada, along with the United States and other nations, halted their funding after allegations came to light that UNRWA employees were involved in the brutal Oct. 7 terror attacks, which saw Hamas terrorists conduct a campaign of murder, sexual assault and kidnappings against Israeli men, women and children.


UN official won’t say who accused IDF of rape, sexual abuse
Another United Nations special rapporteur is using her platform to deny terrorist attacks against Israel.

Reem Alsalem, a Jordanian national and U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is an author of a Feb. 19 report listing alleged abuses by Israel against Palestinian women and girls, including reports of “multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers.”

It adds that “at least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence.”

The report also alleges that the Israel Defense Forces kidnapped Palestinian babies.

In an interview on an Israeli news program, Alsalem refused to detail even the most basic of information about the accusations, including the identity of the accuser or accusers, that she called “reasonably credible.”

Israeli diplomatic officials vigorously dispute the accusations and believe the information in Alsalem’s report originated with Euro-Med Monitor, a virulently anti-Israel NGO operating under the human rights banner and headed by Richard Falk.

Falk is a noted conspiracy theorist and former U.N. special rapporteur, who was deported from Israel in 2008 after arriving to purportedly investigate Israeli crimes.

Euro-Med Monitor published its own similar report in late February.

Falk’s appointment to the U.N. position was controversial, given his extensive history of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Alsalem refused to admit that Hamas carried out sexual violence on Oct. 7, saying that she had not received the information necessary to carry out her work. She made that claim despite an extensive fact-finding mission and report released this week by Pramila Patten, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict.
UN Special Rapporteur "Unaware" of Rocket Attacks on Israel
Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, spoke with Ynet's Bar Shem-Ur on Tuesday. After Alsalem commented on reports that Israel is committing "war crimes, crimes against humanity, and an unfolding genocide," Shem-Ur commented, "but Israeli cities and Israeli schools are also being bombarded every single day." Alsalem responded, "Every single day? If that is the case, I would recommend that you also send that information to the special rapporteur so that we can look into it."

"Don't you see the reports?" Shem-Ur asked. "Don't you see the missiles coming from the north by Hizbullah and from the south by Hamas?" "At this point, I have not seen that, no," Alsalem confirmed. On the same day, 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Kiryat Shmona, with 17 falling in open areas and 13 intercepted by air defenses. On Monday, one person was killed and 7 others wounded by a Hizbullah anti-tank missile fired at Moshav Margaliot.

Alsalem authored a report accusing the IDF of sexually abusing Palestinian women and abducting their babies. Asked where she got her information, she said it had come from sources she could not cite and Euro-Med. Euro-Med is reportedly run by anti-Israel conspiracist Richard Falk, who claimed that Israel was responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing.


Survivor of Hamas Terror Attack on Israel Recounts How She Survived on Oct. 7
Israelis continue to be surprised at the lack of belief about what they experienced on Oct. 7. Noam Ben David, 27, an artist and a survivor of the Supernova music festival terror attack, recounted her stunning tale of survival. She came with her boyfriend, David Newman. Just after dawn, she thought she heard fireworks - but the thunderclaps were bombs. Someone screamed to stop the music and "just run." On that day, Hamas terrorists descended on the festival and raped, murdered and burned alive 364 civilians in attendance, most of whom were under age 30.

Noam Ben David said she saw people dropping to the ground after they were shot. "David took my hand so we could run faster, and then I fell," she told Fox News Digital. They reached an area where two huge metal trash containers were located, both open on top. Nearby, grenades and bombs were going off incessantly. People were already hiding inside both the containers and Ben David said she instinctively felt they should get into the container on the left. Later, terrorists threw a grenade over the top of the other container, and everyone inside was killed.

For over four hours, the couple stayed in the container with 16 other people. They kept their heads down, trying to be as silent and inconspicuous as possible. "David was all the time holding my leg, and moving his hand to calm me down. I was really scared." Newman texted a friend of his in the army to send help, shortly before his battery ran out. "At one point, a girl raised her head up, and screamed, 'They saw me!'" David "took me with his hand, and he pushed me more inside the container so I could hide inside the trash bags."

Suddenly, the terrorists were there. They stormed the container. "I heard 'Allahu Akbar!' and then I heard the first shot. I heard David try to breathe. I could hear his last breath. Then I heard a bunch of automatic shots everywhere....I wanted to get up and help David, but I knew if I got up I would be dead." Suddenly, she felt "the worst pain ever....I got shot on the left side of my hip." She now realized that practically everyone around her had been killed.

Finally, IDF soldiers came. Newman's text to his friend, which provided their location, saved many lives, Ben David believes. The soldiers had to fight off terrorists while they drove her to an army unit. Since then, Ben David has undergone two surgeries. She recently started walking using crutches after having been in a wheelchair for several months and is hoping to make a full recovery.
A Life Held Hostage
Galon visits Sagui’s family every two weeks in Carmei Gat. The family has grown, with the arrival of their third child, born with Sagui held hostage in Gaza. Avital’s birth was filmed by Channel 12. Cameras are in her face, but she manages to keep in good spirits. “I can deal with terrorists in my home but not with contractions,” Avital says. You can see in the delivery room there is a presence missing: Sagui.

“I’m not the story. Sagui is the story,” she says. “This baby is here thanks to him. He protected us, so it happens thanks to him … Do you realize that my girls and I could have been hostages sitting in Gaza? It doesn’t make sense, really.” Avital named their child Shahar Mazal, retaining her “belly name” Mazal, luck, chosen by Sagui, and adding Shahar, “dawn,” after Siman Tov’s daughter, murdered by Hamas.

Sagui’s father, Jonathan, is a powerful, eloquent voice, meeting with Congress and the U.N., writing articles and speaking on television and podcasts, advocating for his son, an American citizen. The last he heard of Sagui was in late November and early December, when the first hostages from Nir Oz were released. Some of the traumatized women and children confirmed they had encountered Sagui in the tunnels under Khan Younis. Since then, no news. How does Jonathan know what to do? “There’s no game plan, no handbook, no guidebook,” he told me.

“This is an unprecedented situation. Day by day, week by week, trying to figure out what is the most effective use of time and resources.”

Jonathan is a scholar of Eastern European history at the Hebrew University and the son of a Holocaust death-march survivor and a refugee from Nazi Germany. Some have compared the events of Oct. 7, events Jonathan is in part grateful his parents were not there to witness, to the Holocaust. But as Jonathan notes in Haaretz and elsewhere, the Holocaust was different. The Jewish people did not then have a sovereign home.

Now they do. And we have put all our eggs in one basket, in this sovereign home. As the late Charles Krauthammer wrote, “It is my contention that on Israel—on its existence and survival—hangs the very existence and survival of the Jewish people.”

Israel wasn’t destroyed on Oct. 7, thank God. But parts of it were destroyed, and pieces of the country are now held hostage in Gaza. Without them, the country is incomplete. Sagui Dekel-Chen must come home to meet his new daughter. He must come home to continue work on his buses. As Galon told me: “I know he will come back. He’s not one in a million, he’s one out of 10 million.” Israel has a population of about 10 million. Without Sagui, and without the other 130 hostages still held in Gaza, Israel’s survival, and the survival of the Jewish people, hangs in the balance.
FM Katz calls on global female leaders to come out against findings of UN sexual violence report
Israeli Foreign Ministry Israel Katz published a post on X on Wednesday, calling on female leaders worldwide to voice their disapprobation following the findings of the UN report on sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists.

The post appealed to “Distinguished women leaders,” stating that “following the publication of the UN report on sexual violence committed by the Hamas terror organization, it is critical to hear your voice as international women leaders in order to put an end to the atrocities that Israeli women are going through in the captivity of the Hamas."

Patten's report finds evidence of Hamas sexual violence
The post tagged some 33 female leaders, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

The report was published earlier this week by Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, following her visit to Israel in the two first weeks of February, in which she met with eyewitnesses of the October 7 massacre, women who returned from Gaza captivity, family members of soldiers still in Gaza, and workers at the Shura camp who identified the bodies of those raped and murdered by Hamas terrorists.

The report found evidence of Hamas crimes, including sexually torturing and raping Israeli women.


Caroline Glick: SHOCKING: New Evidence Proves UNRWA Is Hamas
UNRWA launches an investigation against Israel as further evidence proves their collusion with Hamas, Kamala Harris demands a ceasefire comparing Palestinians to blacks in the US, and Gantz discovers there is an Israel problem not a Netanyahu problem.


This Is the Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard
Michael Moore is suggesting that Israel should focus its attention not on radical muslims like Hamas, but that they should be more focused the "evils" of Christians. This is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard.




Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt Adam Schiff's victory speech, demand cease-fire in Gaza
Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Rep. Adam Schiff's, D-Calif, victory speech on Tuesday after he secured the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat.

The seat was held for more than 30 years by former Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., until her death last year, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint Democrat Sen. Laphonza Butler to fill the vacancy.

As Schiff attempted to introduce his family at his watch party following his victory, demonstrators chanted "cease-fire now" and "Free Palestine," and the chants grew louder as the lawmaker's remarks were drowned out.

At least one person was escorted away from the stage amid the protest.

Schiff addressed the protest following the disruption.

"We are so lucky to live in a democracy where we all have the right to protest," he said. "We want to make sure we keep this kind of democracy."

The California Democrat told reporters Tuesday that he supported the Biden administration’s call for a cease-fire in Gaza on the condition of the release of Israeli hostages.

"My position is the same as the administration, which is there needs to be a deal to release the hostages and have a pause in the fighting," Schiff said.


‘Aggressive mob’ of pro-Palestine demonstrators block Montreal Jews from event at Holocaust Museum
A group of “aggressive and physically intimidating” pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Federation CJA building and Holocaust Museum in Montreal on Monday night to prevent Jewish community members from attending a scheduled event.

According to a statement released by Federation CJA, Montreal’s central Jewish community organisation, the mob surrounded the building in Cotes-des-Neiges where an event titled “Israeli Perspective: Coming to Life” was to take place at 6pm.

The statement, released across Federation CJA’s social media accounts as the demonstration occurred, said that protesters were “attempting to block access to the building and are harassing those trying to enter.”

Featuring Israeli guest speakers Nir Yosef, Ori Itzhaki and Aby Volcovich, the event was part of a Canadian speaking tour designed to “fight against the delegitimisation of Israel” according to a promotional poster shared on social media.

In its statement, Federation CJA said the demonstration was “not about political views or a foreign conflict; it’s an intentional intimidation of Jewish Montrealers. The protests we’ve decried for weeks have escalated into a hate mob targeting Jewish institutions.

“The SVPM (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) are on-site. Arrests must be made. This cannot be tolerated on the streets of Montreal. Calling for intifada, terrorism against civilians, is not a peaceful protest. The time for condemnation is over. Jews must be able to gather without the need for protection. We will never go anywhere again. Now we ask our leaders: what more needs to happen for you to grasp the gravity of the situation?”

According to CTV News Montreal, a small group of people representing the Jewish community formed a counter protest while police monitored the event. A representative of Federation CJA said the event proceeded as scheduled as most attendees were able to enter the building before demonstrators blocked access.




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