Friday, March 08, 2024

03/08 Links Pt1: The war in the Middle East has barely begun; Biden's Bridge to Nowhere; Silence from women in UN is 'deafening'

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: The war in the Middle East has barely begun
Which brings me to my second unreported fact. And I hope you’ve had your breakfast before digesting this.

I was on the Lebanon border 18 years ago, during the 2006 war with Israel. I well remember the shelling and the firing. Seeing the activity there in recent months (where it is much more heated than either side wants to admit) has persuaded me of something. The war in the Middle East has not yet begun. Or at least what we have seen in Gaza is merely an opening skirmish.

No country could cope with significant swaths of its population being permanently displaced from their homes. But what the world outside the region seems not to realise is that Gaza is a sideshow. The real showdown in the region will be with Tehran.

The 2006 conflict came to a halt because the UN Security Council passed a resolution – 1701 – which assured peace with the promise that Hezbollah would not be permitted to rebuild its arsenal on Israel’s border. Since people are very keen on UN resolutions, it mystifies me that they never bothered to enforce this one. Perhaps it is the case that the UN needn’t abide by all its resolutions.

If you stand in a deserted town like Metula, right on the Lebanon border, you can see Hezbollah outposts everywhere, including observation posts. The other week I went into a hotel there that had been bombed the day before, and was told to get out because Hezbollah could see that my cameraman and I had gone in and they were likely to shell it again. Camera footage from the day before showed a UN ‘peacekeeping’ vehicle leave its base along the border. Hezbollah fired off a barrage of rockets into Israel – as they do with some regularity – and the UN vehicle simply did a U-turn and returned to base. That isn’t peacekeeping – it’s war-watching. So since the international community doesn’t abide by its own resolutions and has allowed Hezbollah to re-arm, it seems that it will be left to Israel to do what is needed to allow its citizens to return home. And that’s not possible solely from the air.

I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, or war. But the Middle East war has not begun. Everything so far has been a prelude.
The Transfer of War into Enemy Territory to Remove the Threat of Invasion into Israel
Until the 1980s, the occupation of territory and transfer of the war into enemy territory for the purpose of removing the threat of invasion into Israel were central components in the IDF's perception of warfare. Later, the holding of conquered territory that contained an enemy population prepared to conduct guerrilla warfare was perceived as a liability rather than an advantage.

Ever since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF has immediately withdrawn from every territory it conquered, forfeiting any achievement provided by the occupation of territory.

Yet, occupying territory serves multiple purposes on all levels of warfare. On the tactical level, it can be used to capture advantageous positions from the enemy. On the operational level, it can disrupt enemy formations. On the strategic level, the enemy's capital can be occupied for the purpose of regime change.

Losing territory is a painful loss for Israel's enemies. Hamas in Gaza wants to "return" to Jaffa, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and indeed the rest of Israel. Hizbullah is fighting for the Galilee foothills. Territory remains as important to Israel's enemies as it ever was. Therefore, Israel's holding of enemy territory constitutes a serious loss for those enemies.

Holding territory is also a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations. This was the case with Egypt and Syria in the agreements on the separation of forces at the end of the Yom Kippur War, and later in the framework of the peace agreement with Egypt.

Residents should not be allowed to return to captured territory until Israel's desired diplomatic arrangement is achieved, even if this means the IDF maintains a security zone for months or years in the enemy's territory.

Preventing the return of the population is not for the purpose of punishing them. Rather, it is for the same reason that they were evacuated before the war: to minimize the chances of their being harmed. Territory captured during ground combat will remain largely destroyed and will lack any basic electricity or water infrastructure, and it will be filled with ruins and explosive remnants. Fighting is also likely to continue to occur in the area, even if only sporadically.
First Lady Michal Herzog: Silence from women in UN is 'deafening'
Sexual violence against women – and men as well – in Israel has been ignored systemically on an international level since the war against Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.

Slowly but surely since then, the evidence has been mounting that could no longer be ignored, forcing international human rights and women’s organizations to recognize the suffering that Israelis of the South endured.

Israeli women have been at the forefront of presenting the realities of the Oct. 7 atrocities on the global stage, and no one has been a more prominent advocate for Israeli women than First Lady Michal Herzog.

“The relentless work that Israeli women and Jewish women around the world are doing is having an effect, and it’s causing some change in the way human rights organizations, especially the UN, look at what happened on Oct. 7,” Herzog told the Magazine in an interview at the President’s Residence on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which is marked today.

“It took eight weeks for UN Women to put one phrase of condemnation together – and not a very deep condemnation,” she said.

The interview was conducted prior to the report released this Monday by Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten, who confirmed that she and her team had received conclusive evidence pointing to sexual violence, torture, rape, and necrophilia against Israelis on Oct. 7.

At the time, Herzog had expressed confidence in the report’s revealing, as it ended up doing, the truth about the Oct. 7 massacre.


In State of the Union address, Biden announces temporary port in Gaza
During his State of the Union address on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an “emergency mission” to establish a port in the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies.

“Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,” the president said.

The port, which will be set up in “a number of weeks,” will allow the equivalent of “hundreds” of truckloads of aid to enter Gaza daily, senior administration officials told reporters ahead of Biden’s speech.

Speaking on background, the officials said that Washington coordinated with Israel and Cyprus, with the shipments arriving from the neighboring island country. U.S. troops will not participate in the operation on the ground in Gaza, and Washington will coordinate security for the port with Jerusalem.

“The president has directed that we look at all options, that we not wait for the Israelis, and that we are pursuing every channel possible to get assistance into Gaza,” one of the officials said.

The Biden administration has increasingly described Israel as an obstacle to aid entering Gaza and has said that it was considering opening a maritime corridor. The U.S. military began airdropping food supplies directly to Gazan civilians on Saturday, but it has acknowledged that the tens of thousands of meals delivered in each airdrop are only a small supplement to the aid requirements of more than two million Gazans.

Once maritime aid arrives in Gaza, the United Nations and “other humanitarian partners” will deliver it, the senior officials said. Gaza SeaThe sea border between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip on Aug. 4, 2022. Photo by Attia Muhammed/Flash90.

Biden allotted a part of the speech to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and his administration’s vision for the Middle East, calling the last five months since the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7 “gut-wrenching.”

“Israel has a right to go after Hamas,” Biden said.

“Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th,” the president continued.

“Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population. But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.”
Biden's Bridge to Nowhere
The DNC speech that the president called a State of the Union address won't change things. Biden may have talked more rapidly and more loudly than usual, but he did not say anything new. He bragged about lower inflation, but hardly dwelled on higher prices and interest rates. His most original policy initiative was his call for the U.S. military to "lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters."

This is insane. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when the Gaza pier found its way onto the whiteboard. Who will be on the receiving end of the pier? What will they do with the aid? How will we know that the food and fuel won't be stolen by or funneled to a terrorist army with genocidal aims? A terrorist army that killed 34 Americans and are holding 6 Americans hostage? Did anyone ask these questions? Or did they ask Google Gemini to design their Mideast policy?

The passage on Israel and Hamas revealed the true purpose of this year's State of the Union. Biden's emphasis on aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, and on pressuring Israel to conduct a just war according to an impossible double standard, was a panicked response to divisions on his left. Indeed, the whole speech was a panicked response to divisions on his left. The Biden high campaign must believe that its problem is the Democratic base—and that the way to boost turnout among the Democratic base is through progressive messaging.

I have no doubt that Democrats will be pleased with the result. But I am also skeptical it will persuade independents and working-class men and women of all races that Biden has the answers to America's problems. And if something doesn't change for Biden soon, he will be the bridge from one Trump term to another.


Seth Mandel: The Real Message From Biden and Sunak to Israel: Get Moving
And if that weren’t enough, the Israelis are about to get another fire lit under them at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address tonight. The president is expected to order the construction of a temporary seaport in Gaza that will be used to ferry humanitarian aid from Cypress.

Why should this inspire Israel to commence the last act of the war? A few reasons. First, because of the motive for the announcement: It shows that Biden is still trying to appease the unappeasable within his coalition. In that, it will fail. Nobody cheering “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is going to change their mind thanks to a hastily constructed port that will simply serve as a more dangerous way of getting aid to Palestinian civilians. Which means when it fails to move the needle of progressive opinion, Biden will try something else to make them happy. Israel needs to accept that this ball is now rolling downhill, and they’re standing at the bottom.

The second reason is logistics: U.S. troops off the coast guiding and guarding U.S. wartime infrastructure projects—i.e., a big fat target—reduce the operational field for Israel.

Lastly, if anything goes wrong and American troops are killed, there is no telling what election-year politics will do with that.

The Democratic National Convention is going to be a powder keg this summer. Now that we are, for all intents and purposes, entering the general election, the war in Gaza will stalk the candidates at every stop, at every press gaggle. Donald Trump is nothing if not mercurial, so the Israelis cannot assume he won’t find counterproductive ways to hit Biden on the issue.

Kamala Harris and the other Americans threw a lot of words at Benny Gantz. So did Rishi Sunak and David Cameron. But they all amount to the same thing: Get moving.
US says Hamas holding up 6-week ceasefire by refusing to release vulnerable hostages
Senior Biden administration officials on Thursday accused Hamas of holding up a six-week ceasefire deal with Israel by refusing to release the sick, elderly and female hostages that it’s holding in Gaza.

“There could be at least a six-week ceasefire today if Hamas would agree to release a defined category of vulnerable hostages, including women, the elderly, the sick and the wounded,” said one of the officials, who all briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. “The onus right now is on Hamas.”

“The fundamental element on [Hamas’s] side is releasing the sick, the elderly and the woman. That is right now the holdup,” a second official added.

While there have been reports that Hamas has walked away from the talks in Cairo after they apparently hit a wall, the US officials insisted that a deal is still possible and that they’re still working to reach one. “We see this as the path to get the hostages home,” one of them said.

Offering new details on the deal being negotiated, the senior Biden administration officials briefing reporters said the ceasefire would start with a six-week-long first stage and be structured in a manner in which two more stages could be subsequently added.

The deal would also see the “repositioning of Israeli forces” during that first stage and also allow for Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings through a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

This has been a sticking point for Israel, which has publicly rejected this demand to date, claiming it would allow for a resurgence of Hamas in that half of the Strip.

“We’re returning people to the north. That is part of the arrangement that has been worked out,” the official asserted.
Ari Harow reflects on the lessons of 2014 and Netanyahu’s view on hostage negotiations
The year 2014 has been on the minds of many Israelis since the war in Gaza began in October. It was the last time the IDF staged a large-scale ground operation in Gaza, following Hamas’ kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers. The American administration – headed by then-President Barack Obama – was at odds with Israeli Prime Minister – then and now – Benjamin Netanyahu. A decade later, many of the key players in Washington and Jerusalem are the same with different titles.

The year 2014 was also when Ari Harow was Netanyahu’s chief of staff.

Of course, when Harow wrote his new book My Brother’s Keeper: Netanyahu, Obama, & the Year of Terror & Conflict that Changed the Middle East Forever, he didn’t know how much of the events nearly a decade earlier would reverberate at the time of its publication in late January.

Harow, 51, was born in Los Angeles, and his family moved to Israel when he was 12. Following his IDF service in the Golani Brigade, he returned to the U.S. and moved back and forth between the countries every few years for about a decade. He ran American Friends of Likud from New York in 2003-2006, before working for Netanyahu, who was then opposition leader, as his foreign affairs adviser and then as bureau chief of the Prime Minister’s Office. After leaving the job for health reasons and starting a political consulting firm the following year, he returned to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2014 as chief of staff.

But Harow is probably best known in Israel for what happened after he departed the PMO; he has spent much of the past decade fighting legal charges against him.

Israeli police began investigating him in 2015, which eventually led them to the recording of Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes discussing with Netanyahu the possibility of passing a law banning free newspapers — meaning the Sheldon Adelson-owned pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom — in exchange for positive media coverage. Harow became a state witness in what’s become known as Case 2000, in which Netanyahu has been indicted on fraud and breach of trust charges.


Caroline Glick: Hamas and the US Pushing Israel into the Ramadan Trap
As Ramadan approaches, dangerous new developments have unfolded: Biden is pushing for a stop in the fighting without guaranteeing the freeing of the hostages and the US Security Council resolution is now calling for an immediate ceasefire while Hamas calls for an intifada.




Daniel Greenfield: While Gazans Throw US Aid in Trash, Biden Builds Pier to Bring Them More
The Biden admin knows that US military personnel will not be safe in Gaza, but millions of dollars will be spent to build a pier to send aid that the Gazans don’t even want and that someone in the admin hopes will become a “commercial facility.”

That’s what they think “American leadership” looks like.

Apart from wasting taxpayer money, this is building infrastructure that, unless Israel finishes off Hamas, will fall into the hands of terrorists.

If only Biden had spent as much time helping the people of East Palestine as he did helping the ‘Palestinians’.
Fact Check: Biden Says ‘No U.S. Boots Will Be on the Ground’ for Gaza Port Project
CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed that “[n]o U.S. boots will be on the ground” to build a port in Gaza for aid.
VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE. The project would require thousands of U.S. troops, either on the ground or close to shore.

Biden used his State of the Union address Thursday, as Breitbart News reported, to propose that the U.S. military build a new port in Gaza to facilitate the transfer of aid into the area. The Israeli government has repeatedly pointed out that unlimited amounts of aid already enters Gaza; the problem is distribution, especially as Hamas steals much of the aid. And the White House itself admitted in a briefing that trucking aid in is a more efficient and effective approach.

Moreover, Gaza had a port before the war. The Hamas terror group controlled it, and used it to launch maritime assaults in the October 7 attack against Israel. Israel destroyed the port in November in a clash with Hamas terrorists.

Still, the idea of a port is a visual concept that, like aid dropped from airplanes, presents a striking image of assistance.

But there is no way to build a port, or to secure it in a war zone, without the presence of American personnel in the area.
Douglas Murray: “It’s Ideologically Incoherent” | Joe Biden Slammed For Temporary Gaza Port Development
During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden announced that the US military would construct a temporary dock on the Gaza shoreline.

The purpose of this dock is to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the territory.

The announcement comes amid warnings of a widespread famine in Gaza.

Esther Krakue slams the policy for being what she believes is “ideologically incoherent” and asserts that “this cannot be allowed to go on”.


Fact Check: Biden Cites Hamas Death Statistics in SOTU
CLAIM: President Joe Biden said: “More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas.”
VERDICT: MISLEADING. The death figure Biden cited comes from Hamas and does not exclude terrorists killed.

President Biden addressed the ongoing war in Gaza during his State of the Union address on Thursday night. He showed empathy for the innocent Israelis who were murdered in the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, and said Israel had the right to defend itself. At the same time, he implied that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza (untrue); suggested Israel does not try to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties (also untrue); and proposed a “two-state solution” to the conflict, which would reward Hamas’s brutality with the achievement of Palestinian sovereignty.

Along the way, Biden cited the “30,000” figure, which comes from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. There is no way to know if the figure is accurate, and the Gaza authorities have lied to the world before, most notably in the Al-Ahli hospital incident in October, when they claimed 500 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike. In reality, the death toll was closer to 50; there was no direct hit at the hospital, but rather in the adjacent parking lot; and those who died were killed by an errant Palestinian terrorist rocket aimed at Israeli civilians, not by any Israeli fire.

Even assuming the figure is correct, there is no way to know whether it includes Palestinians killed by Palestinian fire, and it may also include Palestinian terrorists killed inside Israel during the terror attack that they were perpetrating.

Crucially, the “30,000” figure does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists. When Biden says that “most” of the 30,000 Palestinians that Hamas says were killed were civilians, he does not say whether that means 100 terrorists or 10,000 have been killed.

Israel estimates that it has killed upwards of 11,000 Hamas terrorists thus far — most of whom also disguise themselves as civilians during combat. That is an historically low rate of civilian casualties.


Killed by US aid: Five Gazans dead after being struck by airdropped packages
At least five people in Gaza have been reported dead on Friday afternoon after being hit by aid packages airdropped by the US, according to Israeli media citing Gaza reports.

According to the reports, the parachutes on the humanitarian aid packages did not open.

Aside from those killed, it has been reported that several others have been injured by the fall of the aid packages.

Sending humanitarian aid to Gaza

Over the last week, the United States Army has been coordinating with France, Egypt, and Jordan to drop humanitarian aid into Gaza.

During this time, more than 70,000 meals have been delivered to citizens in the northern Gaza Strip.


IDF launches internal probes into missteps, misconceptions in lead-up to October 7
The investigations will be carried out concurrent with ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip. Any major developments in the war are expected to slow the pace of the probes.

Units seen as having a role in the failure to notice Hamas preparations or adequately prepare for the terror group’s October 7 onslaught will investigate the following four main subjects:

- The development of the IDF’s perception of Gaza, with an emphasis on the border, starting in 2018. This examination will also include a look at the army’s conception of its own defenses and its operational plans against threats in Gaza.
- The IDF’s intelligence assessments of Hamas from 2018 until the outbreak of the war. This examination will look at the military’s threat scenarios, the development of the IDF’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, and how the intelligence was audited, including the so-called devil’s advocate unit which is tasked with questioning IDF assessments and conceptions.
- The intelligence and decision-making process on the eve of October 7, as well as the days leading up to it. This examination will look at all the decisions that were made at all ranks to clarify what went wrong.
- The period between October 7 and 10, when troops restored control over all communities and army bases in southern Israel that had been invaded by Hamas. This examination will analyze the battles that took place, and look into each unit’s command and control, formations, and orders given.

The IDF was also set to probe five more subjects: major battles amid the fighting; the mobilization of reservists and the military’s logistical response; long-term planning, including munition stocks and spare parts for weapons and vehicles; the handling of the dead from October 7; and the military’s continued functioning.


At least two Israelis wounded by explosive device in northern West Bank
At least two Israelis are wounded by an explosive device in the northern West Bank town of Silat ad-Dhahr, adjacent to the illegal Homesh outpost, first responders say.

According to media reports, Palestinian gunmen first opened fire at an army post in the area, before the bomb was detonated.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.


IDF aid convoy catastrophe probe: Deaths occurred from looting crush
The IDF submitted its findings on Friday regarding the humanitarian aid convoy catastrophe late last month wherein dozens of Palestinians were killed in a giant crush while attempting to get aid.

The Commanding Officer of the Southern Command, MG Yaron Finkelman, presented the findings of the command review regarding the sequence of events to the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, on Tuesday.

The command review found that IDF troops did not fire at the humanitarian convoy but did fire at a number of suspects who approached the nearby forces and posed a threat to them.

The command review reveals that while the trucks were traveling toward the distribution centers, a crowd of about 12,000 Gazans gathered around them and looted the equipment they were transporting.

IDF launched warning shots against looters
Amidst looting, dozens of Gazans also advanced toward IDF troops posing threats to forces standing by, leading to cautionary fire for deterrence purposes.

It was unclear if the associated Palestinians had aggressive intentions or were civilians caught up in a chaotic moment. IDF sources suggested no special rules were limiting live fire against such civilians in the context of a humanitarian operation or whether the forces could have retreated backward, citing that the area was still a war zone.


Editor's Notes: 'There is no famine in Gaza' - comment
A senior Israeli defense official said Thursday, "The food shortage [in Gaza] and use of the word 'hunger' have been exaggerated," explaining that most of the food that Israel has been sending to Gaza has "immediately been taken by Hamas terrorists, who then sell some of the supplies for ten times more than what it's worth."

"Every family has enough food to survive. Are they eating five meals a day? The answer is no."

"We have been supplying them with aid as well as the U.S., but unfortunately, it wasn't distributed to the citizens themselves."

A former senior Israeli defense official said, "there are those who are hungry since Hamas has taken all of the food and they don't have enough money to pay Hamas on the black market."

Israel and foreign countries bring food and aid into Gaza. Then gangs take the supplies at gunpoint, and a significant portion of the population is left unable to afford necessities.

Even if Gaza were to be inundated with food supplies, hunger would persist because the issue at its core is not about availability but access and affordability.

Hamas controls an enormous amount of food and aid. If it had allowed the citizens of Gaza to have access to this aid, the situation would have been very different - but they want their citizens to starve because it helps them create their false narrative.


Israel Is Not ‘Deliberately Starving’ Palestinians
Mere days after Israel was falsely accused of killing more than 100 Palestinians in a “strike” on crowds waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City, media outlets are once again promoting a vicious and unsubstantiated allegation: Israel is perpetrating a “campaign of starvation” against Palestinians.

According to a statement signed by a group of so-called “UN experts,” “Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October” and it is now “targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.”

As reported by The Guardian:
UN experts have condemned the violence they say was unleashed by Israeli forces last week on Palestinians gathered in Gaza City to collect flour as a ‘massacre’.

In a statement, a group of UN special rapporteurs accused Israel of ‘intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October,’ adding: ‘Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.’

‘Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians,’ said the UN experts, who warned there was mounting evidence of famine in the Gaza Strip.”

The piece, by the outlet’s senior US reporter Nina Lakhani, goes on to claim “Israel has targeted Palestinian food sources and agriculture – bakeries, orchards and greenhouses – as well as blocked humanitarian supplies” since the start of the war.

“The number of trucks allowed to enter the Gaza Strip has since fallen to 57 a day – compared with an average of 147 a day before the ICJ ruling,” Lakhani adds.

This, however, is a tissue of lies; nothing more than propaganda masquerading as news.

To set the record straight, despite the implications made by Lakhani or any other journalist, Israel has not imposed restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Indeed, since Hamas launched its horrific attack on Israel on October 7, thousands of aid trucks have entered the enclave, bringing shelter supplies, medical equipment and mobile water desalination filters.


JPost Editorial: Israel is right to highlight Hamas's sexual crimes
Israel is right to highlight these crimes. The purpose of the State of Israel is to provide a message of “Never Again” in relation to the historic crimes committed against Jews over the last 2,000 years. Tragically, on October 7, Jews were once again at the mercy of their enemies. The attack shows how important the state is in terms of protecting people.

If it were not for the State of Israel, these Hamas crimes would only be the tip of the iceberg concerning what extremists seek to do to the Jewish people. We have seen evidence of this abroad, with protesters and extremists targeting synagogues in the West. In particular, they have been targeting hospitals that have historic Jewish connections and Holocaust museums, and ripping down posters of the kidnapped.

This is an unprecedented global campaign against Jews, and part of it seeks to weaponize sexual-based offenses. For instance, there is a widespread campaign of denial abroad regarding Hamas committing rape and other sexual crimes.

There is also a widespread campaign on social media that is dehumanizing Jewish female victims. For example, it has mocked women released from Gaza, creating images of them smiling during their release to portray them as being “in love” with their captors. This is a systematic anti-Jewish, chauvinist campaign all wrapped into one, with the toxicity of the current pro-Palestinian movement in the West. For that reason, we must be even more vocal in confronting these extremists.

It is time the UN defined Hamas as a terrorist organization. Its crimes against humanity must be punished. Its leaders must be found and brought to trial for the crimes of October 7. The campaign Israel is now waging to shed light on the crimes will include media interviews and pushing messages around the world to engage in meetings with decision makers and find other ways to get the message out.

Toward that end, Patten, President Isaac Herzog, and First Lady Michal Herzog have also held a conversation in the last month.

The abusive terrorist group targeted women, especially during the attack and in the kidnappings, and it has demanded a higher “price” for them in the hostage talks. This is all part of how Hamas views Jewish women as specific targets. A key part of genocidal organizations is often the targeting of women and children. The UN report presents further evidence of how Hamas has carried out these crimes.

We expect world leaders to support Israel in this time of trauma. We expect that countries will mobilize to recognize Hamas’s crimes on October 7 and highlight the abuse of women that Hamas carried out.
The UN abandons the victims of Hamas's sexual violence
Having documented these horrendous war crimes, one would think that the UN would be pushing for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.

After all, the preamble to the UN charter speaks of reaffirming fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person, and establishing conditions for justice to be maintained.

Don’t hold your breath.

While the report says the UN has “reasonable grounds to believe” these things happened, it refuses to attribute guilt for the sexual violence and goes on to cite Hamas’s denial of harming civilians or committing rape.

“Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, including but not limited to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees, have claimed responsibility for the attacks of 7 October 2023,” says the report.

But it goes on, “In its report ‘Our Narrative: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’, Hamas has however denied claims of harm against civilians, including the commission of rape. Given the mission was not investigative, it did not gather information and/or draw conclusions on attribution of alleged violations to specific armed groups. Such attribution would require a fully-fledged investigative process.”

Just who does the UN think committed these foul deeds?

Of course, by giving Hamas a pass with regards responsibility, the UN now doesn’t have to do anything. It doesn’t have to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court, for instance. It doesn’t have to meet in the general assembly or the Security Council and denounce Hamas for the vile terrorists they are.

The UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict has written her report, held a press conference, and now the document can quietly be shelved to gather dust.

Once again, the UN deliberately refuses to point the finger at Hamas. Last December, when the UN general assembly voted for a humanitarian ceasefire, it even refused to name Hamas in the resolution. When the UN’s International Court of Justice ruled in January that Israel should do all it could not to commit genocidal acts in Gaza, Hamas’s deeds got barely a mention.

By not holding Hamas to account — by not even naming them — the UN cannot bring to justice the perpetrators of the horrors of Oct. 7.

The women and children who suffered unbelievable sexual violence that day, and the hostages who still suffer, have been abandoned by the UN, their human rights secondary to some apparent obscene obligation to a terror group.

The UN has long been irrelevant. By betraying the victims of Oct. 7, it is now unforgivable.


Uncovering Hamas’ S*xual War Crimes | Ayelet Razin Bet Or, Victim's Advocate
TRIGGER WARNING: Sensitive themes are discussed in this conversation including graphic descriptions of s*xual violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

Women’s Rights expert and advocate Ayelet Razin Bet Or has been razor-focused on a singular mission since the horrors of October 7 – fighting on behalf of the victims of gender-based violence.

In this episode taped for International Women’s Day 2024, Ayelet sits down with Eylon to review evidence of Hamas’ s*xual violence as a weapon of war on that day. We find out what’s known, what’s still unknown, and how we can bear witness to these crimes against humanity.

If you have experienced or borne witness to r*pe or crimes of s*xual violence, please make sure you contact the relevant authorities for professional assistance.




Where’s the solidarity with Jewish women?
While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been a subject of intense political polarization and women’s groups have diverse memberships with varying perspectives on this issue, that alone can’t explain the on-going silence about Jewish women being massacred and sexually assaulted in the most horrific ways.

Do women’s organizations need to like a woman’s government to support her right not to be raped for political reasons?

Do international women’s organizations really need to make excuses for Hamas, citing absurd reasons for the behavior of thousands of Gazans like “colonization” and “racism” while the organization gleefully, boastfully, and passionately slaughtered civilians, uses their own as human shields and doesn’t seem to mind if its own women and children are killed in wartime but expects and counts on it? Do the leaders of these organizations seriously believe that these men should rule anyone on earth, let alone women? And why has there been so much disbelief about their acts worldwide?

Leaders of women’s groups must break the silence around the gender-based crimes that its sisters in Israel endured and are still taking place today in Gaza and look deep inside and analyze how their own prejudices that are informing their opinions of what is taking place.

If they do not, these groups have legitimized violence against women, and have made the world a much less safe place for women everywhere, especially for Jewish women. And Jewish women’s groups and their allies must continue to work, using all their formidable resources, in all public discourse platforms including in political, academic, and media frameworks to challenge the false history that is being hardened into untrue “fact.”

It is hard if not impossible to separate the dramatic upsurge of antisemitism worldwide to the cold lack of sympathy exhibited by women’s groups toward the victims of Hamas’s sexual crimes. As Jews are facing an increasingly dangerous moment in time, Jewish women must now be doubly vigilant. Their sisters do not have their backs.


UNSC to debate Hamas’s October 7 sexual violence this Monday
The United Nations Security Council will debate as early as Monday a report which found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed acts of sexual violence during its October 7 invasion of Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry.

On Friday morning, it reported that three permanent members of the UNSC—the US, France, and the UK—had requested an emergency session on the matter. Israel is not a member of the UNSC and can not request a debate on its own.

It had hoped that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would use a rare mechanism to push the Security Council to focus on the issue.

When he didn’t do so, Foreign Minister Israel Katz turned to UNSC members and asked that they advance the issue. Slovenia, one of ten non-permanent members, is also expected to join the call, and Malta is weighing the matter, the Foreign Ministry said.

The United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council have adopted a number of resolutions on Gaza but have yet to condemn Hamas for the brutality of its October 7 invasion of Israel, in which victims were raped, dismembered, and burned alive.

This week, Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, issued a report that complied with Guterres’s request.


Sexual Abuse on October 7: The Campaign to Deny Atrocities & Defend Hamas
On March 4, the United Nations envoy on sex crimes during conflict presented a 24-page report on sex crimes perpetrated against Israelis during Hamas’ October 7 atrocities and against hostages being held captive in Gaza.

According to the report’s findings, there is “clear and convincing evidence” that Israeli hostages suffered (and are likely continuing to suffer) in Gaza and that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that rape and other acts of sexual abuse were committed by Hamas during its invasion of southern Israel.

This report is the latest confirmation that sex crimes were a tool in the arsenal of brutality that defined the events of October 7.

However, in the months that have followed the initial attack, there has been a movement of atrocity denial brewing in alternative media outlets and on social media, which calls into question the incidence of rape and sexual abuse of Israeli victims, accuses Israel of cynically exploiting claims of sexual abuse for military purposes, and seeks to redeem Hamas’ image in the eyes of their selective audiences.

Since December 2023, much of this denialism has focused on “debunking” the claims made by The New York Times in its front-page profile, “‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.”

This crusade against The New York Times’ account of the sexual crimes that occurred on October 7 has been spearheaded by far-left and anti-Israel online publications such as The Intercept, The Grayzone, Electronic Intifada, and Mondoweiss.

Central to these sites’ claims of “debunking” The New York Times’ narrative are pointed questions regarding the newspaper’s evidence, a disregard for the trauma experienced by those who witnessed acts of sexual abuse or were victims of it, and a dismissal of any evidence that does not meet their exceedingly high evidentiary standard.

As part of its investigation, The New York Times interviewed 150 people (including witnesses, soldiers, medical personnel, and rape counselors) and analyzed GPS information, video footage, and photographs.

Out of this litany of evidence, The New York Times profiled several people.

One of these was Gal Abdush, known as the “woman in the black dress,” who was killed on October 7. It is widely believed that due to the position of her body, she was the victim of sexual abuse prior to her murder.

In the wake of the publication of The New York Times story, some of these “debunkers” have latched onto claims made by some of her siblings to Israeli television that she was not abused prior to her death.

For these skeptics, if The New York Times is incorrect about Abdush, it must unravel the newspaper’s entire narrative about sexual abuse on October 7.


'154 days in hell': Gaza hostage families enter cages, block Israel's Highway 1
Family members of hostages entered cages, blocking Highway 1 connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Friday, intending to remind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire public that the hostages have been "rotting in hell" for 154 days.

Ayala Metzger, Shahar Mor, Yifat Kalderon, Yael Or and Dan Pelti were reported to be in cages.

'You abandoned them to hell'
In a message directed at Netanyahu, they said, "Mr. Prime Minister, you are the head, and it is your responsibility to bring them home. Go to a deal, ignore Ben-Gvir and Smotritch, and bring home those whom you abandoned and have been in hell for 154 days. There is no complete victory without the return of the hostages, and if you cannot bring about a deal now, make way for someone who can."

Police confirmed they had cleared the road and reopened it for traffic.


Anti-Israel protester destroys painting of Lord Balfour, who paved way for modern Israeli state
A woman apparently associated with the anti-Israel group Palestine Action is depicted in video, which circulated widely on social media, slashing a 1914 painting of Arthur Balfour, the first earl of Balfour, and defacing it with paint.

“Normally our direct action campaign is focused on Israel’s weapons trade in Britain. However, it’s necessary to highlight Britain’s historic and current role in the colonization of Palestine which roots back to the Balfour declaration,” the group posted on social media.

The painting, by the Hungarian painter Philip Alexius de László, is part of the collection of Trinity College, part of the University of Cambridge in England.

Balfour wrote to Baron Rothschild on Nov. 2, 1917, on the advice of Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, in what came to be called the Balfour Declaration, paving the way for the modern State of Israel.

“Written in 1917, Balfour’s declaration began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising the land away—which the British never had the right to do,” stated the anti-Israel group that took credit for the vandalism.


Feminists across America sign letter accusing Israel of ‘weaponising the issue of rape’
A group of US-based anti-Zionist Jewish feminists have instigated an open letter accusing Israel’s government of exploiting acts of sexual violence committed on October 7 for political ends.

Hundreds of professors, rabbis and feminist activists from within and beyond the Jewish community are listed as signatories, including renowned American academic Angela Davis.

The letter states that in its “current war against the people of Gaza, the Israeli government has chosen to weaponise the issue of sexual violence for political outcome”.

Many signatories have “worked on or researched the issue of sexual violence for decades,” according to the letter’s introduction, and have found that history is “replete with examples of rape charges being wielded by stakeholders in armed conflict to render the ‘enemy’ more monstrous”.

The statement, posted on a webpage titled Stop Manipulating Sexual Assault, said it will be delivered to Israeli officials who have mounted “a public crusade” to manipulate the issue of sexual assault claims by Israeli women “to both legitimise — and divert attention from — their campaign of ethnic cleansing, to dehumanise Palestinians and to vilify those who criticise their actions.”

Other listed signatories include Dr Barbara Ransby, a feminist writer, historian, activist and distinguished professor at University of Illinois Chicago; broadcaster and author Laura Flanders; director and playwright Esther Farmer of Jewish Voice for Peace-NYC; academic and writer Yasmin Nair; novelist and activist Sarah Schulman; author and professor at Hunter College, Jessie Daniels.

The letter was also endorsed by London-based women’s group Million Women Rise, which organises an annual women-only march and rally against gender-based violence.


Antisemitic Threats and Violence in the West: A Running Tally
Since October 7, antisemitism has metastasized, growing from chants and signs held at rallies to violence and threats against Jews. This is by no means an exhaustive list — sadly, the incidents are likely too great in number to catalog — but it is a window into the conditions Jews have faced in America and the West since Hamas attacked Israel and antisemites celebrated. We will update this list as necessary, and unfortunately, it seems like it will be necessary.

10/12/23: Israeli Student Assaulted at Columbia University after Posting Photos of Hamas Hostages
10/14/23: Jewish Student’s Dorm Room Set on Fire at Drexel University
10/21/23: Israeli Harvard Business School Student Accosted and Harassed Amid Gaza ‘Die-In’ on Campus
10/24/23: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators batter pro-Israel activist helping old man in Skokie
10/25/23: Minneapolis Man Cast as Anti-Palestinian Agitator Was Trying to Get Home When Mob Surrounded Car
10/26/23: Jewish Students Hid in NYC College Library as Pro-Palestinian Protesters Banged on Doors, Called for ‘Intifada’
10/27/23: Man faces hate crime charges after threatening to kill Jewish family at their Studio City home
10/27/23: Prominent NYC synagogue vandalizes with anti-Israel graffiti, stickers: NYPD
10/30/23: Tulane Student Criticizes School after Being Assaulted While Preventing Israeli Flag Burning


Pro-Palestinian protesters BLOCK Biden's route to the State of the Union: Demonstrators demanding a ceasefire cause chaos just an hour ahead of the president's speech
Several hundred fired-up Pro-Palestinian protesters sat in the street to block President Joe Biden's motorcade between the White House and Capitol for his State of the Union address Thursday.

A massive Palestinian flag was unfurled on the street with demonstrators sitting and standing around it and others held a banner with the message: 'Biden's legacy is genocide.'

The protesters had bullhorns, held 'ceasefire' signs and wore black shirts with messages demanding Biden get tough on Israel.

They were surrounded by law enforcement officials from all sides as police helicopters circled Washington, D.C.

The stand is mostly symbolic since there are many routes to take from the White House to the Capitol that would avoid the protesters.

Meanwhile, down the street another group of pro-Palestine protesters stood outside Republican Capitol Hill watering hole Bullfeathers and chanted at staffers dining and drinking ahead of the State of the Union.

'Staffers, staffers you can't hide! We charge you with Genocide,' they shouted at Hill employees and demanded they 'quit your jobs.'

'Get a job!' the Republican House staffers shouted back at the protesters interrupting their evening.


London is becoming a no-go zone for Jews, UK's counter-extremism tsar warns ministers: Pro-Palestine agitators have been 'unchallenged for too long' with extremists 'lurking just below the terrorism threshold' - and it 'needs urgently addressing'
Pro-Palestine protesters are turning London into a 'no-go zone for Jews', Britain's counter-extremism tsar has claimed.

Robin Simcox slammed the Government for letting extremists go 'unchallenged for too long'.

The Home Office's independent adviser on extremism warned that the Government had allowed extremists to 'lurk just below the terrorism threshold'.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters have marched through the streets of London.

There has also been a huge increase in anti-Semitism in the capital since Hamas's horrific October 7 attacks that saw 1,139 people slaughtered and 240 taken hostage.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Simcox said Britain has a 'permissive environment for radicalisation developing that needs urgently addressing'.

He added that the Government needed to take a 'leading role' in tackling all types of extremism.

The counter-extremism tsar said Downing Street now had a chance to take charge of the situation while championing 'respect for the rule of law, civility, and decency' - which he said had been in 'short supply' since October 7.

It is believed that Mr Simcox hopes there will be tougher restrictions on protests that could include forcing marches to be static demonstrations instead.
Douglas Murray Debates Whether London Is Becoming A "No-Go Zone For Jews"
TalkTV's Douglas Murray and Esther Krakue discuss the claim that London is becoming a “no-go zone for Jews” during pro-Palestinian protests, the counter-extremism tsar has warned.

Robin Simcox said a “permissive environment for radicalisation” was developing as he welcomed the Government’s forthcoming new definition of extremism.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph newspaper he said the Government should be prepared to “move faster” and “be bolder” in taking action against groups even if that meant a “higher legal risk”.

Mr Simcox, the commissioner for countering extremism, said “we will not have become an authoritarian state if London is no longer permitted to be turned into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend”.

Esther says: “There are certain people that are not buying into what it means to live in British society, which is buying into British values.”




You Don't See "Pro-Israel" Demonstrators Shutting Down Events
Today, in Canada, in 2024, you can be accosted and roughed up by "pro-Palestinian" demonstrators for attending a political event, skating at city hall, shopping in a mall, buying a book at a bookstore, eating lunch at a restaurant, attending university or a municipal council meeting, or living in a "Zionist-infested area."

Can our political leaders please stop pretending these "pro-Palestinian" demonstrations are a mirror image of "pro-Israel" demonstrations?

"Pro-Israel" demonstrators are not marching into or targeting "Muslim-infested" areas of Canada for the purpose of intimidation.

You don't see "pro-Israel" demonstrators shutting down political events, like a gala reception for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Toronto.
Trudeau says some Pro-Palestinian protests cross the line into hate, harassment
Pro-Palestinian protests that include expressions of hatred or harassing behaviour cross a line, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

Trudeau told a press conference in Toronto that he's heard from too many members of Canada's Jewish community who have seen protests at synagogues and community centres and who now feel unsafe.

Nobody can be indifferent to the suffering in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war, and Canadians have a right to protest and make their anger heard, he said.

"This loss of civilian lives and the impact on Canadian families and people who are worried about their loved ones is entirely understandable," he said.

But Trudeau said he expects Canadians, including police, to act within the law and make sure everyone can feel safe.

"There are horrible things that we are seeing, but it is not who we are to take it out on our fellow Canadians," he said. "Hateful or harassing behaviour, particularly against neighbours, is not what we do here in Canada."

"Canadians have a right to protest, absolutely, to make their anguish, their anger, heard by other Canadians. That's important and we will always protect that right," he added. "But when the protests turn to hatred, or to acts of harassment — particularly against fellow Canadians — there's a line that's crossed."

On Tuesday, Quebec's Superior Court granted a Montreal synagogue and a Jewish organization an injunction barring some pro-Palestinian protesters from coming within 50 metres of their buildings.


Hamas supporters hold rally outside historic Montreal synagogue

RAW: Antisemitic protesters clash with Israel supporters near Thornhill, Ont. Synagogue





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

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