Tuesday, March 26, 2024

03/26 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: Israel alone Weep for America; Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Israel alone Weep for America
America is punishing Israel for a catastrophe that the Biden administration itself facilitated. The atrocities of October 7 that started the war took place because Hamas’s patron, Iran, correctly perceived that America would ultimately abandon Israel rather than itself get stuck in. If the Biden administration hadn’t shown such weakness in defending the interests of the free world from Afghanistan to Yemen and Iraq and Ukraine, Hamas would not have been unleashed on October 7.

After the war started, despite the two aircraft carriers the US dispatched to the region, the Biden administration responded to continued attacks by Iranian proxies — even against its own interests — with a mere limp wrist. It has done nothing to deter Iran’s proxy army Hezbollah from bombarding northern Israel from Lebanon with hundreds of rockets and anti-tank missiles.

It could have stopped the war in its tracks by telling Hamas’s protector Qatar that, unless it instructed Hamas to release the hostages and surrender, the US would end their profitable relationship and treat Qatar instead as a global pariah. Instead, the US is not only feeding Israel to its mortal enemies; by failing to use its muscle to end this war, it is also facilitating Hamas’s war crimes against the civilians of Gaza by using snuff movies of their distress to incite hysterical hatred of Israel in the west.

Biden and Cameron fail to acknowledge that Israel is fighting in this manner because it has no choice. With Hamas almost entirely underground, Israel cannot get at it in any other way. If it doesn’t defeat Hamas, Israel will continue to face genocidal attack. Only by defeating Hamas and killing or capturing its Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, does Israel have any chance of getting any of the hostages back. Only by defeating Hamas does Israel have any chance of avoiding an infinitely more terrible all-out war with Hezbollah.

This is the rupture with America that some of us have seen coming for a very long time. But the US and UK don’t realise what they have now done. This isn’t just about Israel. It’s also about them.

The October 7 pogrom was a clear inflection point for the west. Would it support Israel in the battle for civilisation against barbarism? Now we have the answer.

But there’s a deeper question. The UK is busily destroying itself by making a bonfire of its historic culture and values. Its public administration has all but collapsed, its indigenous people are dying out and it has lost control of its borders.

In the US vicious culture wars are raging, there are unbridgeable political and social divisions, its elites have torn up its historic global mission of exceptionalism — and it has also lost control of its border.

Do the US and UK actually want to survive, or are they now in a death spiral?

Throughout centuries of persecution, the Jewish people have survived against impossible odds — while every civilisation that has tried to destroy them has disappeared. Whatever horrors lie ahead, Israel will survive. The same certainty cannot apply to Britain and America. Today has demonstrated that they don’t even know how to do so.
Richard Goldberg: Bring them home . . . or not — Biden just sold out Israeli hostages at the United Nations
Against the backdrop of a hostage negotiation in which Hamas remains maximalist in demands and the arrival of Israel’s defense minister in Washington to meet with senior White House officials, the United States needed to veto any Security Council resolution that could further embolden the terrorist group.

Biden chose a different path: abstaining on a resolution that decoupled a demand for a cease-fire from a demand for the release of hostages, thus severely undercutting Israel at the hostage-negotiating table.

The resolution had other severe flaws that demanded a US veto.

It made no mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas, let alone note Hamas is a terrorist organization, as if the world woke up one day in a vacuum outraged to find Israel at war in Gaza and Palestinian civilians in distress.

Why Israel is at war, who Israel is targeting and who is to blame for civilian suffering are unimportant questions for a resolution that simply says Israel must lay down its arms and hope a terrorist group that savaged 1,200 people and took 250 hostages will care what the Security Council demands.

These outrageous omissions, however, were no longer automatic triggers for a US veto.

During his recent State of the Union address, the president pledged to the families of Hamas-held hostages, which include American citizens, that “we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home.”

Apparently that vow did not include vetoing resolutions that disconnect demands for hostage releases from any potential cease-fire — reducing the odds of bringing them home.

The State Department claimed Monday the resolution reflected the administration’s “principled position that any ceasefire text must be paired with text on the release of the hostages.”

But that explanation itself reflects how far Biden policy has shifted. No longer must a cease-fire be conditioned on the release of hostages; the two demands must only appear next to each other for optics.

On a policy level, the two demands now exist independently — meaning America supports a cease-fire even without the release of hostages.

Israeli strength backed by American political support is needed to bring hostages home, defeat Hamas in Gaza and deter Iranian threats throughout the Middle East.

To counter the perception of an Israel crumbling under American pressure, Jerusalem must respond with reaffirmed determination to destroy Hamas on the battlefield.

And members of Congress should reaffirm their support for that objective, including a potential operation in Rafah.

Hamas scored a political victory with Biden’s help.

Israel must now fight that much harder to reverse the damage — with or without Biden’s approval.
John Spencer: Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?
In its operation at Shifa hospital in Gaza to root out Hamas terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces took unique precautions to protect the innocent. Doctors accompanied the forces to help Palestinian patients if needed. The IDF also brought in food, water and medical supplies for the civilians inside.

I've never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy's civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history - above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The international community, and increasingly the U.S., barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians - even as it confronts a ruthless terror organization holding its citizens hostage.

The predominant Western theory of executing wars seeks to shatter an enemy with surprising, overwhelming force and speed. No warnings to the civilian population or time to evacuate cities is given. Yet Israel has abandoned this established playbook in order to prevent civilian harm.

The Hamas-supplied estimate of over 31,000 deaths in Gaza does not acknowledge a single combatant death (nor any deaths due to the misfiring of its own rockets or other friendly fire). The IDF estimates it has killed about 13,000 Hamas operatives, a number I believe credible because I believe the armed forces of a democratic American ally over a terrorist regime. That means 18,000 civilians have died in Gaza, a ratio of 1 combatant to 1.5 civilians - a number that would be historically low for modern urban warfare.


Ruthie Blum: America’s abstention gives hope to Hamas
All one needs to know about U.N. Security Council Resolution 2728 is that Hamas was pleased with its passage. Following Monday’s near-unanimous vote—from which the United States disgracefully abstained—the terrorist organization that openly aims to annihilate the Jewish state praised the UNSC for its decision.

In an online statement, the murderous regime that rules the Gaza Strip called on the United Nations to “pressure the occupation [its name for Israel] to adhere to the ceasefire and stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people.”

Never mind that Hamas carefully planned and proudly executed the Oct. 7 massacre, committing the worst atrocities against Jews since the Holocaust. Forget that its foot soldiers chose the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, to go on a sadistic spree of sexual abuse, torture, arson and abduction of innocent men, women and children.

Ignore the fact that it still holds 134 hapless victims of its carefully planned rampage in brutal captivity. The simple truth, which Hamas grasps and uses as an additional weapon in its now-shrinking arsenal, is that the world cannot bear to see Israel fight back; certainly not against Palestinians or their Islamist backers in Tehran.

Imagine Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s dismay, then, when the Obama-cloned White House and State Department not only paid lip service to “Israel’s right to defend itself,” but put its money where its mouth was with a supply of arms to assist in the war effort.

He must not have taken into account the cost of going too far. You know, with the perpetrators of gang rapes, baby-burning and other horrific acts gleefully taping and posting their heinous crimes on social media.

He had to have been buoyed, however, by the widespread denial that such abominations had taken place. He was undoubtedly delighted that #MeToo Western feminists remained mostly silent, at best, if not downright dubious.
Seth Mandel: The Death of Genocide
The question of why AOC and so many others insist on leveling such a serious false accusation isn’t the most pressing aspect of the controversy, but it does have some relevance. After all, the end result of this campaign is going to be the delegitimization of the “genocide” accusation once and for all. And that does comport with the goals of the anti-Israel crowd: If “genocide,” the category of crime created to explain what happened to the Jews, is rendered meaningless, then the Holocaust loses its force and so does the victim status of the Jewish people.

That would also mean that the 20th century’s blood-and-soil nationalism, which is gaining favor on the left in the form of “decolonization” and other variations on “the Jews will not replace us,” would see apologists on both sides of the political aisle grow in number and influence.

The tragedy is that for those who may consider themselves humanitarians and thus justify the accusation on the grounds that it will force intervention in a crisis, it will not have been necessary to shred the concept of genocide.

Raphael Lemkin, the man whose mantle these “humanitarians” claim, saw their machinations coming a mile away. In his 1946 essay on the concept, Lemkin made clear that the prosecution of genocide was made possible by the fact that there were already existing international crimes—crimes that justified foreign intervention. There were treaties governing how countries could expect their own nationals to be treated abroad, for example, as well as the minority treaties signed after World War I. “Again, the declaration of the Eighth International Conference of American States provides that any persecution on account of racial or religious motives which makes it impossible for a group of human beings to live decently is contrary to the political and judicial systems of America,” Lemkin wrote. “The Charter of the United Nations Organization also provides for the international protection of human rights, indicating that the denial of such rights by any state is a matter of concern to all mankind.”

Those who have deliberately ruined Lemkin’s legacy, as well as those who have unintentionally done so by dint of their self-image as humanitarians, have set back the cause of true humanitarianism a century or more. And the consequences will not be pretty.
Jonathan Tobin: Biden’s UN betrayal of Israel is a victory for Hamas
This is also a moment when friends of Israel throughout the American political spectrum ought to be working together to apply the sort of pressure on Biden that will cause him to return to a position of support for Israel’s war of survival. But Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer regard solidifying the liberal base behind Biden’s re-election campaign as a priority. Mainstream liberal Jewish organizations are equally unwilling to use their political capital with the same ruthless determination that Israel’s intersectional leftist foes have employed to force Biden to bend to their will.

If Jewish Democrats and liberal Jewish groups are prepared to tolerate this betrayal or are willing to endorse the administration’s gaslighting about it all being Israel’s fault, then that will be just one more nail in the coffin of the bipartisan consensus that they have long touted. Biden will not unreasonably conclude that he will pay no political price for undermining the Jewish state’s security. Or at least none until he finds that there are more votes to be lost in the political center by abandoning Israel to the jackals at the United Nations than on the left from those who think he was insufficiently hostile to the Jewish state.

This is one more signal to America’s Arab allies that they are kidding themselves if they think that Washington would ever defend them against Iran. Worse than that, a world in which Hamas is allowed to win the war it started with atrocities on Oct. 7 is one in which no one, including Americans, should consider themselves safe from terrorism.

Yet as ominous as those consequences may be, the singling out of Israel in this manner must also be viewed as part of the surge in antisemitism since the war began. Jew-hatred from the left has been legitimized in ways that right-wing antisemitism never has been. A policy that lets a terrorist movement bent on Jewish genocide win can only be seen as part of this.

Biden’s feckless behavior has created a long list of disasters, including out-of-control inflation, the rout in Afghanistan and the collapse of the border that let in as many as 10 million illegal immigrants. But by extending a lifeline to one of the planet’s most vicious terrorist groups, the president has set in motion a series of events that could undermine American security just as much as he is harming Israel.
NYPost Editorial: Team Biden’s UN sellout of Israel is public, monstrous and final
Desperate to satisfy the Democratic Party’s hard left, the Biden administration just took a giant step toward abandoning Israel by declining to veto the latest UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The measure from the 10 non-permanent Security Council members demands an immediate ceasefire through the month of Ramadan, while also calling on Hamas to release the 100 or so Israelis it still holds hostage from its Oct. 7 terror raid.

No matter that Hamas will refuse; the measure still adds to the pressure for Israel to end its necessary, justified and humane war against Hamas just as it’s getting close to destroying the terror cadre’s last battalions.

And never mind that Team Biden itself has warned that such resolutions only complicate actual talks about a temporary ceasefire in exchange for hostage releases — because they give Hamas fresh hope that Israel’s “friends” will force it to stop fighting anyway.

The focus on Ramadan is a transparent dodge.

Israel’s Islamic-state neighbors have waged war on Ramadan, even against Islamic countries: Egypt and Syria against Israel in 1973, Iran against Iraq in 1981.

Washington should have vetoed this obscenity.
Israeli officials decry UNSC ceasefire resolution, US abstention
Israeli government officials were near-unanimous on Monday in their condemnation of a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a two-week halt to the war against Hamas, with Prime Minister Netanyahu slamming the U.S. decision to refrain from exercising its veto power.

“The United States has abandoned its policy in the U.N. today,” said Netanyahu, according to a statement released by his office. He noted that just days ago, Washington had supported a draft resolution that directly linked a call for a truce to the release of hostages.

While the resolution adopted on Monday does call for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” the text leaves it open to interpretation whether this is actually linked to the ceasefire demand.

The premier’s sentiment was echoed by Likud Party lawmaker Danny Danon, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee who served as ambassador to the United Nations between 2015 and 2020.

“Unfortunately, this reminds me of the U.N. Security Council’s 2016 vote in which the Obama administration decided to abstain rather than exercise its veto power,” Danon told JNS, referring to UNSC resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli construction beyond the 1967 lines.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that although “the resolution demands a ceasefire and separately demands the release of hostages, it does not call for a ceasefire that is conditioned on hostages being released.”

The White House has claimed that the vote did not mark a departure from the administration’s previous stance, but according to Goldberg the decision to abstain does in fact represent a “clear shift in policy.”
The Day the U.S. Didn't Say 'No' to Israel's Critics
Israel, on the other hand, wants to continue degrading Hamas capabilities with the hope that breaking the terrorist battalions in Rafah and destroying the tunnel infrastructure there, will bring the IDF closer to toppling Hamas' rule permanently.

This is a real and legitimate disagreement. That is why senior Israeli officials were supposed to fly to Washington this week to discuss Rafah with their American counterparts.

While this might explain the backstory, we cannot forget that Israel's security is on the line. The U.S.-Israel fight emboldens Hamas, which issued a statement "welcoming" the UNSC resolution. This fight makes the terrorist group believe that Israel is isolated and that if it just holds out a little bit longer, the world will do the job for it and get Israel to stop the war.

This doesn't just put Israel at risk; Hamas's survival endangers the future of the entire Middle East. America does not have to blindly accept Israeli policy—especially when it disagrees—but there is a way for friends to manage their disagreements.

What is happening now is bad for Israel and for the United States. There is a war that needs to be won against an enemy that needs to be defeated. It is time Israel and the U.S. work together, and not—as the UNSC vote seems to show—against one another.
Biden Abstains on Israel and Hamas
The U.S. withheld its veto and abstained as the UN Security Council passed a resolution that demanded a ceasefire in Gaza but didn't make the ceasefire contingent on Hamas releasing its 134 hostages. That condition, on which the U.S. had previously insisted, has been dropped.

The reactions to the resolution tell the real story: Hamas welcomed it and Russia, China and Algeria voted for it, while Israel called it "a clear departure from the consistent U.S. position," adding that it "gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages."

Initial support for destroying Hamas has faded. Administration leaks about international isolation and weapons embargoes drive home the point. But Americans don't want to see Hamas survive to repeat Oct. 7. The March Harvard CAPS Harris poll finds that 63% of voters support a ceasefire only after Hamas releases the hostages and is removed from power. 2/3 say Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.
U.S. Explains Vote on Nonbinding Security Council Resolution on Gaza War
U.S. UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday: "A ceasefire could have come about months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages. Months ago. Instead, Hamas continues to stand in the way of peace, to throw up roadblocks, cower in tunnels beneath Gaza's cities, and under civilian infrastructure, and hide among the civilian population."

"Certain key [U.S.] edits were ignored, including our request to add a condemnation of Hamas. And we did not agree with everything in this resolution. For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote yes. However, as I said before, we fully support some of the critical objectives in this nonbinding resolution. And we believe it was important for the Council to speak out and make clear that any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages."

"A future where Palestinians and Israelis live side-by-side in peace, in two democratic states of their own, [is] something that will never happen with Hamas - a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and killing Jews; a terrorist organization this body still fails to condemn - controlling Gaza."


US says ceasefire resolution non-binding; less influential Security Council members object
The resolution passed earlier today by the UN Security Council is not legally binding, the US asserts.

“It’s a non-binding resolution, so there’s no impact at all on Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas,” White House National Security Council John Kirby says in a press briefing, echoing a stance made after the vote by US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

The position appears to be shared by South Korea and other members as well.

However, Algeria, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone have all disputed this interpretation.

Given that the US can block members from trying to sanction Israel for failing to abide by the resolution, Washington’s interpretation seems to carry more weight.

Accordingly, it demonstrates the highly limited influence the UN has when weighing into conflicts around the world.


America-Israel Rift Widens Following UN Security Council Vote to Which Hamas Objects
While the American mission at the UN exerted pressure on council members, including a last-minute word change to “lasting” from “permanent” cease-fire, administration officials and Washington lawmakers intensified the pressure on Israel to avoid a Rafah operation.

Vice President Harris told ABC News Sunday that she has “studied the map” of Gaza and concluded that Rafah refugees have no place to go. She declined to exclude the possibility of “consequences” if Israel fails to heed the administration’s dictate to avoid a Rafah invasion, such as denial of arms to the IDF. On CNN, meanwhile, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez insisted that Israel is committing “genocide” at Gaza.

Her allegation — that Israel is deliberately starving Gazans and therefore is guilty of genocide — is fast taking hold around the world. It started when South Africa officially demanded that the International Court of Justice declare Israel in violation of its obligations under the anti-genocide convention.

Despite Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel, its foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, announced on Friday that the Kingdom supports the South African ICJ motion. “The Israeli aggression on Gaza and its continued committing of war crimes against the Palestinian people and violating international law with impunity are responsible for the rising tensions witnessed in the region,” Mr. Safadi said.

Israel is facilitating the entry of hundreds of aid trucks a day into the Strip, and the IDF takes caution to avoid hitting civilians as it conducts its war against Hamas’s armed men. Yet, a group of Democratic American legislators, known as the “Squad,” insists that Israel is committing genocide. Election-year pressure from the party’s leftist base has moved Mr. Biden away from full support of Israel.

Separately, President Trump also seems to be calling for ending the war. “The world is turning on Israel, and that’s not a good thing,” he told the Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview published Monday. And so, he added, “you have to finish your war” and move toward peace.
Israel: UN Security Council Resolution Will Only Harden Hamas Stance in Hostage Talks
Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told Ynet on Monday: "It is no coincidence that Hamas welcomed this" UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. "From the onset of the war, it was clear to everyone that Hamas had hoped that the international community would bend Israel's will and force us into a ceasefire before the end of the hostilities and the release of the hostages."

"Until now, the U.S. has withstood this pressure, but this is not a minor change but a dramatic shift." While he noted the resolution's non-binding nature, he said "we are now facing petitions that Israel is violating the Security Council's decision, and courts might intervene. The pressure on the U.S. will increase, and the implications for us are severe."

While Israel appreciates the American support since the beginning of the war, "When facing a terrorist organization, you expect such actions not to play into the hands of our enemies. Hamas now sees the pressure on Israel increasing, so what incentive do they have to agree? This will only harden their stance in negotiations for a deal. It endangers the efforts to free the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that it can achieve a ceasefire without releasing the hostages....The decision... essentially harms our war efforts and the chances of freeing the hostages."
Hamas rejects US hostage deal compromise, 'doesn't meet demands'
Hamas informed the mediators on the hostage deal that it would maintain its original position regarding a ceasefire, Reuters reported on Monday. This includes the withdrawal of IDF troops from the Gaza Strip, returning Palestinians to their homes, and exchanging prisoners.

Hamas's response comes after Israel agreed on Saturday to a compromise proposed by the US regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released and was waiting for the terror group's response.

According to Israeli media on Sunday, citing Israeli officials, Israel reportedly agreed to release some 700-800 Palestinian prisoners in return for 40 hostages.

On March 14, Hamas released a press statement presenting a "comprehensive framework" of "principles and foundations deemed necessary for an agreement." The terror group demanded "to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza and provide relief and assistance to them, as well as the return of displaced persons to their homes, and the withdrawal of occupation forces from the sector."
Qatar: 'UN Gaza resolution has no immediate impact on Doha ceasefire talks'
The United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has not had an immediate impact on ceasefire talks in Doha, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday.

The resolution demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as the release of hostages. The United States abstained from the vote, angering ally Israel which had wanted Washington to veto it. The remaining 14 council members voted in favor.

Hostage deal talk continue
"We haven't seen any immediate effect on the talks. They are ongoing as they were before, as the (UN) decision was taking place," said Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari during a press conference in Doha on Tuesday.

A source briefed on the talks earlier told Reuters that a delegation from Israel's Mossad spy agency, which had arrived in Qatar more than a week ago, was still engaging in discussions. A small Mossad team was returning to Israel from Doha for consultations on developments, the source added.

For weeks, the sides have been discussing a potential truce of around 42 days, during which around 40 Israeli hostages would be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel says it is willing to consider only a temporary pause in fighting; Hamas wants any deal to lead to an end to the war.


American Jewish Committee Statement on Today’s UNSC Resolution
It is outrageous that the resolution adopted today by the United Nations Security Council – by a vote of 14-0, with the United States abstaining – demands “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan” without unequivocally linking that action to its further demand for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” and, unforgivably, fails to condemn Hamas’ brutal terrorism.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) is deeply disappointed by the U.S. abstention, which allowed the resolution to be adopted. Explaining the U.S. decision to abstain from the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated, “any ceasefire must come with the release of all hostages.” We wholeheartedly agree; however, the language of the resolution adopted by the Council, which Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield described as “nonbinding,” is not sufficiently clear on this point.

AJC echoes Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s reminder to the world that “[a] ceasefire could have come about months ago if Hamas had been willing to release hostages,” and that instead “Hamas continues to stand in the way of peace, to throw up roadblocks, cower in tunnels beneath Gaza’s cities, and under civilian infrastructure, and hide among the civilian population.”

A Security Council resolution proposed by the U.S. that condemned Hamas, directly tied a limited ceasefire to the release of hostages, and called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza was vetoed on March 22 by Russia and China.

AJC maintains, as we have since October 7, that Israel has the right and obligation – based on the principle of self-defense enshrined in the UN Charter – to continue its military campaign in Gaza so long as the following three objectives remain unfulfilled: the return of all of the hostages, the removal of Hamas’ military and terror threat, and the elimination of Hamas as the governing authority in Gaza.
The Conference of Presidents was right to condemn Schumer
One of the bedrocks of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is to maintain and strengthen the vitality of the U.S.-Israel relationship. The leaders of the 50 groups who make up the Conference are from varied and different backgrounds, as are their memberships. For decades, however, we all coalesced on critical Israeli issues and concerns like security, war and American support.

Immediately after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s March 14 speech from the Senate floor calling for the toppling of the elected Israeli government, Conference members inundated CEO William Daroff with requests to respond sharply to the senator—America’s most senior Jewish elected official. Many felt that Schumer’s remarks were divisive and unjust. Worst of all, Schumer essentially put Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on equal footing as impediments to peace.

At Schumer’s request and the consent of the Conference, a decision was made not to make any immediate press statement. Instead, we would wait for a scheduled Zoom meeting with the senator on March 19. The feeling was that Schumer might backtrack a little and try to assuage our disappointment and anger.

But Schumer only made things worse. He used his standard and inaccurate “Schumer = shomer” line several times. He repeated several times that he was the most senior elected Jewish politician ever, as if we didn’t already know. He doubled down on his risible claim that Hamas and Netanyahu are equally to blame for the lack of peace. He mentioned several members of Netanyahu’s coalition he doesn’t like and called them impediments to peace as well. He claimed Americans are souring on Israel—outside a small but vocal minority, they aren’t—and blamed this on Netanyahu. He said that he had to try to reverse these sentiments or Israel would be in “big, big trouble.”

After the meeting, Daroff decided to write his “Jewish Leaders Respond to Schumer’s Speech” statement. It must have been painful to write, but it was necessary and excellent. As a result, the elected leaders of the Conference did not have to consult their 50 individual member organizations in order to criticize Schumer for dismissing Jewish concerns and effectively calling for regime change in Israel. They made it clear that leaders are expected to lead, not capitulate.




Iranian Media Hail UN Resolution On Gaza Ceasefire
Iran has celebrated the UN's resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid the war waged by Iran-backed militant group, Hamas.

"The resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, finally approved by the United Nations Security Council, signifies a crucial step towards ending the suffering of innocent civilians," reported state news agency, IRNA after an overwhelming 14 out of 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution.

"The decisive action by the Security Council reflects the international community's commitment to peace and stability in Gaza,” added IRNA.

After vetoing three similar ceasefire resolutions in the past, Washington chose to abstain this time, enabling the resolution to pass without objection from permanent Security Council members, dealing a blow to its ally, Israel.

Hamas invaded Gaza on October 7, killing 1,200 mostly civilians and kidnapping over 250 more. It led to a relentless retaliation by Israel in a bid to wipe out Hamas and bring back the hostages. Until now, the US has supported Israel's right to defend itself, but pressure on the Biden government has grown in the wake of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), emphasized the shift in US policy, hailing the US's decision not to veto the ceasefire resolution and expressed satisfaction over Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's protest against the Biden administration by canceling an Israeli delegation's trip to Washington.


Daniel Greenfield: State Dept Complains Israel is “Writing Off Their Reputation Damage”
The Israelis are too busy trying to win a war to worry about “reputation damage” since everything Israel does, beginning with merely existing, inflicts “reputation damage” since much of the Left and Islam spend much of their time launching every possible smear at Israel.

Israel was being accused of genocide even before Oct 7 for not letting Hamas invade Israel to kill Jews. Fighting back against Hamas is definitely genocide. Anything short of Jewish genocide is… genocide.

Israel is not going to win a “reputation” game, it can however rebuild its reputation of being too dangerous to attack. That’s worth a whole lot more in the Middle East than trying to win friends and influence enemies with territorial concessions and appeasement.

There are lessons here for America that the State Department is eager that we never ever learn.
‘The goal was a massacre of Tel Aviv’: Hamas's full plan for October 7 revealed
Veteran journalist Ilan Kfir told Israel's Channel 11 that Hamas had an operative plan to reach the heart of Tel Aviv on Oct. 7, but was ultimately thwarted.

"If [Hamas'] phase one plan was successful, they would go on to phase two - and it was prepared with large forces ready on standby and prepared to set off at noon."

"At the heart of the plan was a breach in two areas, in the north as well as in the south and east, towards [Israel's nuclear facility in] Dimona, which was singled out by the group as a very central target."

"The goal of the operation would have been a raid on Tel Aviv. They marked several focal points in the city that were expected to be crowded in the afternoon and evening in order to carry out a mass massacre in the city."

"Towards noon on Oct. 7, when Sinwar and his central command realized that they had achieved success above and beyond what was expected, an order was given to the forces of phase two to set off."

"Here, they encountered a big surprise because unlike in the morning - when...there was minimal IDF presence in the area - there was already an assessment and a huge influx of forces into the Nevatim area where a large blockade was carried out."

"There is no doubt that if Hamas had carried out its second phase, the trauma and disaster on Oct. 7 would have been doubled."

"Maps found with terrorists indicated that they intended to reach Kiryat Gat. After that, a plan was discovered...to attack Shikma Prison in Ashkelon and release terrorists. Another plan was to attack the Hatzerim air base."
Terrorists who entered Israel from Jordan planned Tel Aviv attack
Two terrorists who crossed into Israel from Jordan and were arrested in the Jordan Valley on Friday night are suspected of plotting a major terrorist attack in the Tel Aviv area.

A civilian security team detained the suspects in fields near Moshav Petza’el, a farming community located some four miles from the border, with at least one of them carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition, the HaKol HaYehudi outlet reported on Monday. Security officials also found Qurans on their persons.

According to the report, the terrorists had crossed into Israel undetected approximately 24 hours earlier, staying in the border area for some time before heading northwest towards Petza’el.

During an interrogation carried out by the community’s chief of security, the suspects stated their intention to continue to Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood and carry out an attack.

The terrorists were transferred to Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) custody for further interrogation. While the security forces have yet to establish if the two are affiliated with a specific terrorist organization, intelligence assessments indicate that a significant attack was foiled.


Hamas fired rockets toward Ashdod from inside humanitarian shelter
Rockets were fired toward Ashdod for the first time since January on Monday. Eight rockets were fired from a humanitarian zone in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Three were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Later, rockets were fired toward Ashkelon as well.

Israeli Air Force jets struck the launcher, with secondary explosions after the strike indicating that weapons were stored at the site. "The attack was carried out precisely while avoiding harm to civilians who had evacuated the area before the attack," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.


Seth Frantzman: How did 500 terrorists return to Shifa Hospital?
Hamas assumed they would get a warning if the IDF was returning to Shifa. They also assumed that the IDF was facing pressure after having raided Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Hamas figured Israel wouldn’t go back to Shifa, and therefore, almost 1,000 terrorists appear to have congregated there. These large numbers of men congregating together would have been clearly visible. They would have seemed well fed, unlike the tens of thousands of others sheltering near the hospital. In some cases, these men would have been armed. They didn’t need to be armed all the time because arms were stored in various places. Hamas operates like a mafia, and mafia members don’t always need to be armed. The weapons are stored in easy-to-reach locations so members can get to them if necessary. Still, Hamas would have felt secure at Shifa, like returning to their homes, so they didn’t need weapons. They assumed the ceasefire would let them set up a command center there to resume control of northern Gaza, where an estimated 30,000 people are located.

Hamas appears to sometimes operate in Gaza in plain clothes and without weapons, except when it needs weapons. For instance, Hamas gunmen have been involved in killing civilians who were trying to access aid. It appears Hamas is responsible for some of the incidents at the Kuwaiti roundabout near Gaza City. This means that Hamas arms its men when it needs to but often, the men seem to mill around without weapons. When the IDF raided Shifa, at least 180 terrorists were eliminated in gunfights. The terrorists also have mortars nearby.

The overall picture that emerges is that Hamas returned to Shifa because it believed a ceasefire would be announced in early March. When the ceasefire didn’t happen, it likely consulted with its leadership, which is based in Gaza and abroad. It likely heard from them that the West was pushing for the ceasefire and that Hamas should not worry too much; they would soon be reconstituted in northern Gaza.

The surprise raid upset their plans. However, Hamas is still operating in the north and also in central Gaza and the south. For instance, it fired rockets at Ashdod on Monday from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the first rocket fire of this kind in two months.

Hamas understands the timeline in Gaza. It can read Western media and watch debates at the UN and the news. It is waiting for a ceasefire. It knows it is hosted abroad by two Western allies and assumes that its hosts and patrons will help return the terror group to power in Gaza and help it come to power in the West Bank. For Hamas, places like Shifa are the natural nodes in their empire of terror in Gaza that they need to reconstitute to take power again.


IDF Unit 504 unveils terrorist confessions of Shifa Hospital's role as a Gaza terror base
Since mid-February, IDF sources said the operation was delayed to pinpoint the best possible simultaneous attack moment.

Although the IDF had said the Shifa takeover operation was purely a professional military matter, some Hamas officials have said that the operation harmed the ongoing negotiations over a potential hostage exchange and ceasefire deal.

Istivi said that his role with Islamic Jihad was building and developing rockets and that he had carried out this role since around 2012.

Further, he added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had purposely defused their operations into multiple command locations to reduce the risk of broader harm to their operations in the event that the IDF took out any one location.

Hamas senior operative Bachar Ahmed Bachar Kanita said that he was in command of defending significant portions of Gaza City, including 143 fighters under his command.

Kanita said he was only at Shifa for around 25 days.

He also said that Islamic Jihad had used the childbirth unit as a mini-headquarters, while Hamas had used the administrative buildings and the specialists unit as a mini-headquarters.

'No safe place' for terrorism
According to the IDF, Gazan terrorists have no safe place, so they have chosen Shifa and other hospitals to hide in, in express violation of international law.

Despite these attempts, the IDF has said it will pursue terrorists in every location, including hospitals while trying as hard as possible to avoid harm to civilians and medical staff.


Seth Frantzman: Hezbollah claims it has six-fold increase in speed of weapons delivery
Hezbollah has increased the speed with which it can stockpile weapons, one of its senior officials told Al Mayadeen, a pro-Iranian news channel based in Beirut.

This is important because Hezbollah has carried out thousands of attacks against Israel over the past five months. It has used thousands of rockets, anti-tank missiles, and drones to target Israel.

Nawaf al-Mousawi, Hezbollah’s head of “Resources and Borders,” said Hezbollah is now capable of receiving as many weapons in a month as it used to receive in six months, Al Mayadeen reported.

“He revealed that what the Lebanese Resistance group used to deliver to its storage facilities in a period of half a year is now being delivered within a month, highlighting that Hezbollah continues to build new storage facilities and bring in new missiles, ones that are more accurate and of new types for naval, ground, and aerial use,” the report said.

Mousawi contrasted Hezbollah’s ability to resupply itself with weapons with what he said was Israel’s logistical challenges. He said Israel “does not have the logistical ability to strike Lebanon, nor does it have the ability to strike Gaza, were it not for the [US air bridge] that works daily to supply Israeli occupation forces with weapons and ammunition.”


IAF attacks deep in Lebanon as Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets into Israel
Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets into northern Israel on Tuesday afternoon as the Israeli Air Force carried out its farthest strike into Lebanon since the start of the war.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the enemy barrage that targeted communities in the Upper Galilee, mostly east of Safed.

The IDF said that fighter jets struck a “military” complex used by Hezbollah’s air unit in the area of Zboud in northeastern Lebanon in response to an attack earlier in the day against the Meron Air Base.

“An aircraft landing pad and a number of other military buildings belonging to the terrorist organization were attacked in the compound,” the army said.

According to Lebanese reports, the IDF also attacked north of Baalbek, in the areas of Wadi a-Nira and Hermel. The attacks represent the deepest strikes in Lebanese territory since the start of the war.

Israel strikes were also reported in Hanin in Southern Lebanon.

A Hezbollah anti-tank missile barrage earlier on Tuesday scored a direct hit on a winery in Moshav Avivim in the Upper Galilee, setting it on fire. There was heavy damage but no injuries were reported. Two fire crews extinguished the blaze.

The Iranian terrorist proxy also fired several projectiles, also apparently anti-tank missiles, from Lebanon at the Mount Meron air traffic control base, the Israel Defense Forces said. The attack caused no injuries and “no harm to the unit’s capabilities,” according to the military.


Hamas will do anything to stop Gazans leaving Rafah
The presence of over a million Gazan civilians in the Rafah area serves as a kind of “armor” for Hamas’s remaining battalions in southern Gaza, which is why any Israel Defense Forces operation aimed at taking control of this last bastion of the terror group must begin with the evacuation of civilians.

In order for the Israel Defense Forces to be able operate freely in Rafah, the civilians there will have to evacuate—and Hamas will do everything in its power to prevent them from doing so for precisely this reason.

Since the start of the war, some 1.5 million Gazans, most of them from northern Gaza and Gaza City, complied with IDF calls to evacuate to the south.

The IDF’s Southern Command and its Population Evacuation Unit possess a state-of-the-art control center and real-time map of Gaza’s civilian situation, enabling evacuation from specific areas and the tracking of those efforts.

By December, the IDF was able to evacuate over a million people from northern Gaza, including 850,000 from Gaza City—setting a vital precedent.

The IDF uses an array of means to communicate evacuation requests to Gaza civilians, including phones calls, text messages, flyers, loudspeakers and social media platforms.

During these past evacuation efforts, the IDF witnessed many attempts by Hamas to stop Palestinian civilians from leaving, with the terrorists then using every possible human-shield tactic imaginable, such as firing on Israeli forces from hospital wards or family living rooms.

The difference this time will be that now, the IDF will need to set up checkpoints to filter out any terrorists attempting to move north with the civilians, with or without Israeli hostages. Such a filter was not required at the start of the ground offensive on Oct. 27, enabling many terrorists to flee to Rafah from other parts of Gaza, possibly taking hostages with them.


NYTs: Israeli Hostage Says She Was Sexually Assaulted and Tortured in Gaza
Ms. Soussana, 40, is the first Israeli to speak publicly about being sexually assaulted during captivity after the Hamas-led raid on southern Israel. In her interviews with The Times, conducted mostly in English, she provided extensive details of sexual and other violence she suffered during a 55-day ordeal.

Ms. Soussana’s personal account of her experience in captivity is consistent with what she told two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed on Nov. 30. Their reports about her account state the nature of the sexual act; The Times agreed not to disclose the specifics.

Ms. Soussana described being detained in roughly half a dozen sites, including private homes, an office and a subterranean tunnel. Later in her detention, she said, a group of captors suspended her across the gap between two couches and beat her.

For months, Hamas and its supporters have denied that its members sexually abused people in captivity or during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. This month, a United Nations report said that there was “clear and convincing information” that some hostages had suffered sexual violence and there were “reasonable grounds” to believe sexual violence occurred during the raid, while acknowledging the “challenges and limitations” of examining the issue.

After being released along with 105 other hostages during a cease-fire in late November, Ms. Soussana spoke only in vague terms publicly about her treatment in the Gaza Strip, wary of recounting such a traumatic experience. When filmed by Hamas minutes before being freed, she said, she pretended to have been treated well to avoid jeopardizing her release.

Ms. Soussana said she had decided to speak out now to raise awareness about the plight of the hostages still in Gaza, whose number has been put at more than 100, as negotiations for a cease-fire falter.

Hours after her release, Ms. Soussana spoke with a senior Israeli gynecologist, Dr. Julia Barda, and a social worker, Valeria Tsekhovsky, about the sexual assault, the two women said in separate interviews with The Times. A medical report filed jointly by them, and reviewed by The Times, briefly summarizes her account.

“Amit spoke immediately, fluently and in detail, not only about her sexual assault but also about the many other ordeals she experienced,” Dr. Barda said.
Israelis detained at Manchester Airport saved 150 lives on October 7 and were raising money for victims
The Israeli brothers detained for two hours by Border Force officials at Manchester Airport were hailed as heroes after they saved 150 lives battling Hamas terrorists on October 7 in a six-hour gunfight, the JC can reveal. One of their friends was murdered and the other taken hostage.

Border Force officials at Manchester Airport interrogated Daniel Sharabi, 23, and his brother Neriyah, 22, for two hours after discovering they were survivors of the Nova festival massacre, telling them, “I don’t want you to do here what you do in Gaza,” the Israelis have told the JC.

Visiting the UK to raise money for survivors of the terror attacks, brothers Daniel and Neriyah were held after flying in from Brussels on Sunday night to speak at a post-Purim business lunch in Manchester the following day.

“They were asking us what we came to the UK to do and I started telling them that we went through the October 7 massacre and we’re here to share our story. When they heard that, they just flipped,” said Neriyah.

He said two border control officials started to “interrogate” them, asking if he served in the army and what they did. “He was absolutely trying to fail us, to find something that will mean we cannot go into the country,” he said.

Neriyah added: “I could tell on their faces that they didn't like us.”

Neriyah and Daniel gave the officials the details of the event they had flown in to attend, a luncheon hosted by a local Chabad and organised by the Jewish Business Network of Greater Manchester.

One of the officials told them: “I don’t like what you came to do here,” Neriyah said.

He added that they were subjected to questioning for nearly two hours as they watched countless other travellers passing through border control in minutes.

A video taken by Daniel showed one of the officials saying to the brothers: “Just let us do the checks we need to do and keep quiet. Look at me. We’re the bosses, not you.”


The Commentary Magazine Podcast: The Biden Turn
Eli Lake joins the podcast to discuss the American abstention from yesterday’s UN Security Council ceasefire resolution. Why is the Biden administration saying the policy hasn’t changed when the policy has changed? Who exactly is being gaslit and how does this make an Israeli operation in Rafah any less likely? We also talk about the rise in violent crime and how it relates to the larger sense of unraveling.
The Hugh Hewitt Show: Israel Is Going Into Rafah
Dan Senor, host of the “Call Me Pod,” Bethany Mandel and Salena Zito are my guests as we talk about Israel, the war in Gaza (and maybe soon in Lebanon) and the VP who “studied the maps."


Douglas Murray & Rita Panahi: The fall of the West, civilisational decline, Trump v Biden & elitism
Author Douglas Murray has joined Sky News host Rita Panahi to discuss the fall of the West, civilisational decline, the rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and elitism.

Mr Murray is currently on his ‘Uncomfortable Conversations’ tour in Australia.

Ms Panahi said Mr Murray is “among the most principled and courageous writers and thinkers in the world today".

“[He has] a moral clarity and command of language that is unmatched," she said.

Mr Murray’s latest publication is ‘The War on the West’ – a New York Times Bestseller that discusses how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric.


Culture of ‘permissiveness’ created around extremist language
Liberal Senator and former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma says a culture of "permissiveness" is being created around radical comments and hate speech in Australia.

Mr Sharma’s remarks come as New South Wales did not enforce any anti-incitement laws against terrorist backer and radical cleric Abu Ousayd who described Jewish people as ‘descendants of pigs and monkeys’, and urged people to ‘spit on Israel’ so that ‘Jews would drown’.

“What we’ve seen throughout these last several months is a failure of political leaders to condemn this sort of speech resolutely, but also of a failure of our institutions … to actually make clear what the norms and values of Australian society are,” Mr Sharma told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“What we are seeing is a culture of permissiveness being created here where seemingly this sort of comment passes for normal now, and entirely acceptable.

“It’s not only menacing to one community it’s affecting a whole new generation of children now, because this guy’s a teacher.”




‘Social justice activist’ doxes ‘hundreds of Jewish Australians’
Sky News host Rita Panahi has slammed the Human Rights Commission following the doxing of Jewish creatives by a “social justice activist”.

The Human Rights Commission gave a contract to provide “anti-racism resources to a group founded” by the activist, she said.

“Who helped spread the doxed details of hundreds of Jewish Australians,” Ms Panahi said.

“This was a shock, you would think they would know better than this.

“They would at least check where these resources were coming from, who’s behind it, who’s profiting from it, who’s putting it together.”




Men harass staff in Radlett Jewish delis and demand to know if they support the IDF
Two Jewish delis in Radlett have been targeted by men who approached staff to demand they say if they supported IDF and Israel.

A concerned member of the public alerted the Community Security Trust after they noticed a group of three men walking up and down Watling Street in Radlett.

The men who tried to conceal their identity with masks and hoods went into Fress Deli and Noshers, both Kosher-style delis serving staples such as smoked salmon bagels and fishballs.

Fress employee Isobel explained: “We are not normally approached by members of the public who want to know if we support the IDF. We are a Jewish deli selling bagels.

“They came in asking a lot of weird questions about if we support the IDF and Israel.

“We just told them we sell bagels and cakes and pastries.”

She said the unusual line of questioning by the men in masks “made us feel uncomfortable. They were walking up and down the street and going into the Jewish shops.

“It was a member of the public that noticed them and called CST and the police.”




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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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